Cost to build a social media app 2025 for startups

Social media is more than just a fun hobby. More than 5.4 billion people use it globally, according to Statista. There is always space for new platforms, as seen by the success of Threads and BeReal. How much does it cost to develop a social media app that can truly compete with your idea for the next big thing or a specialized community?

The average cost of developing a social media app in the United States is a range rather than a single number. It costs about $30,000 for a basic app and can easily surpass $500,000 for platforms with a lot of features. As you may have heard, TikTok budgets can amount to billions, which can be overwhelming. 

This article will help you comprehend all of the aspects that affect the ultimate price. We’ll examine features and development phases to determine how much it costs to create a social media app. Thus, it’s easy to create a reasonable budget for app development and maintenance.

What Is the Price of Developing a Social Media App?

In the USA, the typical cost to develop a social media app varies greatly. A basic version can be purchased for $30,000, but a complicated social media platform with advanced capabilities will cost at least $500,000.

Aside from features, other important aspects of the overall cost include the app’s design and the developer’s level of experience. To help you understand the cost of developing a social media app, we split it down by complexity.

It is important to note that the average cost of developing a Reddit social media app is frequently significantly less than expert estimates. This is because they frequently talk about minor freelance work or hobbies.

According to Clutch reviews, reputable app developers in the USA with extensive professional projects charge more. This explains why there is such wide variation in the average cost of developing a social media app in the USA.

Elements Affect the Total Price of Developing a Social Media App? 

Five key criteria determine the ultimate cost of developing a social networking app. The cost is determined by your app’s functionality, technology selection, design, compliance, and the location of your development team. Let’s examine each of them.

Features and Complexity of Apps

The final cost of your app is primarily determined by the features you provide. Every feature, from an intricate live video to a basic user profile, costs expense and time. This is where the complexity of the app lies.

A simple app might only feature a content feed and a profile. Complex social media app features, where the prices actually rise, could be included in a complex app. These include AI-powered content feeds, augmented reality (AR), and live streaming, which can be costly yet provide a significant competitive advantage.

The stack of technologies

Your app’s basis is the tech stack you select. It consists of frameworks and programming languages. Cost and performance are impacted by the correct decision. One codebase is used for cross-platform app development in order to save money and time.

There are two primary components to your app’s technology. The backend development powers the app’s inner workings, whereas the frontend development is what the user sees. Since backend development manages all the data and heavy lifting, it can account for as much as 30% of the overall cost.

Security and Compliance

There is more to developing a social app than merely adding features. You must also safeguard user information. This is significant, and it has a price. Both iOS and Android app developers must include user permission forms and “right to be forgotten” capabilities in response to regulations like the CCPA and GDPR, which take a lot of development time.

According to a Ptolemay analysis from 2025;

“Sophisticated security features like end-to-end encryption can raise a project’s costing by hundreds of dollars. to incorporate safe data processing and user permission forms.”

Design and Branding for UI/UX

An excellent app does more than just work. It must also be user-friendly and attractive. Custom UI/UX design, a significant expense, enters the picture here.

While adopting templates can save money, developing a custom app provides you a distinct corporate identity. The price range for app creation is between $10,000 and above $80,000. To draw in and retain users, app branding extends into marketing. You will require social media marketing services for that. This is a crucial next step in creating a platform that works.

The development team’s location and size

One of the most significant cost considerations is the location of your development team. In the USA, developing a social media app typically costs a lot more than in other countries. For instance, employing app developers in the USA is probably going to be more expensive than in Europe or Asia.

Your team’s size is also important. Your app may be developed more quickly with a larger team, but the hourly rate will increase. In a similar vein, a basic app simply requires a project manager and one or two developers. A complicated app, however, necessitates a huge team of experts, which raises the project’s overall cost.

Cost of Developing a Social Media App – Stages of Development & Timelines

The four main stages of a full social media app development timetable are;

• Quality assurance – QA, 
• UI/UX Design, 
• Development, and 
• Discovery. 

The table below illustrates how the amount of time spent on each of these phases affects the typical cost to develop a social networking app.

Strategy Development & Discovery: (1-2 months)

Your app’s strategic planning serves as its roadmap. You conduct extensive market and competitor research to determine the viability of your proposal for roughly 10–15% of the project’s overall cost. Making sure you’re building the correct thing for the right people is the goal of this phase.

Design of UI/UX: 1–3 months

Your app becomes user-friendly and captivating during this phase. For each screen, the team develops visual designs and wireframes. According to GoodFirms, UI and UX design work in the USA typically accounts for 15% to 20% of the budget.

Growth: 4–9 months

The app’s main coding is completed here. The real code is written by frontend and backend engineers. They integrate databases, install servers, and develop the functionality. This stage accounts for 50–60% of the total cost and is the most time-consuming and costly.

Testing and QA: (1-2 months)

Bugging and other performance issues on various devices are addressed in the final phase. Final technical inspections and server setup are also included. This step, which usually accounts for 10–15% of the project budget, is essential for a successful launch.

Launch and Deployment (1-2 months)

This stage entails preparing the app for public usage and submitting it to app stores. A solid marketing strategy is also necessary in this situation. Read our social media marketing guide to learn more about that.

Cost to Create a Different Type of Social Media App? 

There is no universally applicable cost for developing a social media app. The kind of network you desire has a big impact. While the development of video-first professional or educational platforms requires greater costs, messaging apps are frequently less expensive.

The cost of developing a social networking app varies depending on the category, as indicated below:

How Do the Costs of Social Media Apps and Platforms Vary?

One product that runs on a mobile device is called an application. A social media platform is an ecosystem in its entirety. Consider an app as the front entrance, and the platform as the entire structure behind it.

A social media platform is far more expensive to develop than a single app. The reason for this is that a platform necessitates ongoing development and a substantial server infrastructure.

What is the price of creating a social media platform?

The expense of developing a social media platform is far over $1 million. You require advanced data analytics to make full-scale apps like Snapchat or Threads with a web version, and ad systems may make both the original development and continuing maintenance costs far higher.

The cost and scale differences between apps and platforms are displayed in the following table:

Annual Cost of Maintaining a Social Media App? 

A social media app’s yearly maintenance costs are a recurring expense that usually accounts for 15% to 20% of the initial development budget. This means that the app’s annual maintenance will probably cost between $22,500 and $30,000 if you invested $150,000 in its development.

Numerous services and tasks are included in this app maintenance cost, including:

• Server storage and hosting costs can range from $500 per month for a small community to over $10,000 for platforms with a lot of video.  As your user base grows, so do these bills.
• After that, there are regular upgrades that include UI redesigns and bug fixes to ensure the app is compatible with the latest iterations of iOS and Android.
• In order to keep people interested, you will also need to pay for post-launch marketing efforts and additional features.

Since security threats and performance problems can ultimately cause an app to fail, many companies allocate a certain portion of their budget for app maintenance in the USA.

Conclusion

Building a social media app in the USA can cost anything from $30,000 to over $500,000, as this tutorial demonstrated. Your ultimate cost is not random. Important decisions like the functionality you desire and whether to create a basic app or a comprehensive social media platform will determine it.

vativeApps make this procedure easier. As a reputable mobile app development agency in the USA, we help you from the start by ensuring your budget is reasonable through open communication and thorough project planning. Our group makes sure you spend money on features that are most important to your business plan.