How Much Does It Cost to Create an App Like Gopuff? Share: Arka Softwares Date Published 17 March 2023 Categories Blog Reading Time 6-Minute Read Ever wondered how much it costs to create an app like Gopuff? Let’s discuss Gopuff’s business revenue model, development cost, and other areas of its business . Gopuff is one of the most popular on-demand food and alcohol delivery apps in the U.S. Although it was launched in 2013, it already has over 2 million customers. However, achieving such a milestone wasn’t easy for Gopuff, given the increasing popularity of on-demand delivery services during and following the Covid pandemic. So, if you want to launch a successful grocery and alcohol delivery app like Gopuff, there are specific facts that you should know. This article explains how you can develop an on-demand food delivery application like Gopuff and how much it will cost you. Which Factors Affect the Development Cost of an App Like Gopuff? Before you focus on the process for developing an on-demand food delivery app, you must have an estimate for your entire project. When Gopuff started its business, the capital investment was modest, but it cleverly estimated the total development cost to reduce its market bleed. To help you, we have discussed some factors that affect the development costs of an on-demand food delivery app. Application Type One of the significant factors that affect the development of an on-demand food delivery app is the type of app. Here you have two different options: native and hybrid. A native mobile application will run on specific operating systems. If you want to execute the codes on a different operating system, you have to develop multiple code bases for the same, thereby increasing the overall costs of the entire project. On the other hand, if you opt for a cross-platform or hybrid application, a single code base is needed to execute the functions across multiple operating systems. Therefore, it will reduce the overall development charges. Technology Stack The next factor that should be considered when developing an on-demand food delivery app like Gopuff is the technology stack. You need frameworks for backend development, frontend or user interface development, as well as a database for storage, API development, and so on. The more complex the framework or technology used, the higher the project budget will be. For example, suppose you want the application hosted on an SaaS platform instead of an on-premise server. In that case, the cost will automatically increase because you will need to pay a subscription price for the cloud hosting provider. Offshore Development Company If you want to reduce your development costs, the best option will be to go for an offshore mobile app development company. Usually, when you hire dedicated developers from an offshore IT company, you have to pay for their services using the currency that’s used in the country where the company’s located. For instance, let’s say your company is based in the U.S., and you want to hire an offshore development company from India. Since Indian rupees are cheaper than US dollars, you must pay less. Custom or Standard Development If you want customization to be included in the development process for an on-demand food delivery app like Gopuff, the project budget will skyrocket without any doubt. This is because developers will have to work more on customizing the features and functionalities. Furthermore, they’ll also need to ensure that all the features to be included in the application, along with the UI components, are ideally aligned with your business model. If your capital is limited, you can go for a standard development process and scale it up later. Third-Party Integration APIs Another factor on which the total development cost for an on-demand food delivery app will depend is third-party integrations. You must run your business based on something other than the food delivery application. This will require a database, POS software, and CRM software, among other elements. Therefore, you need integrations or APIs to easily connect all these different software programs with your primary food delivery application and create an embedded system. Functional and Behavioral Complexity Naturally, the price to create an app like Gopuff will increase if you include more functional and behavioral complexity. For example, having multiple security layers, like a 256-bit encryption program, a user authentication system, biometric authentication, and so on, will automatically increase the overall development costs. Similarly, you’ll probably want a user interface with complex elements such as a draggable slider, dynamic images, animations in the background, and so on. If that’s the case, you’ll need to set your budget higher than the stipulated market prices. Quality Assessment and Control Developing an application is one of many tasks needed to launch your app business on the market. Gopuff successfully created an application to order food, grocery, and alcohol. This involved investing in quality assessment and control to ensure that customer problems could be solved promptly and that bugs could be removed easily. Therefore, if you want your application to provide an excellent customer experience, you need to invest in quality assessment and control so that any defects can be resolved promptly. Such actual functionality can be restored without any hassle. Revenue Model Options Last but not least, you must determine the revenue model that will be most appropriate for generating an income for your on-demand food delivery app. Usually, there are three revenue models that businesses like Gopuff typically use. Supplier fees: you can charge different restaurants, grocery shops, alcohol shops, and other such businesses to feature their products and profiles on your application. Subscription fees: you can also choose the subscription fee base where different food and alcohol-related businesses will choose a proper subscription package based on their convenience. Advertisement fees: based on this revenue model, you can generate profits by displaying ads of different restaurants and their dishes or products on your application. Out of these three models, the first two are the most successful and promise higher revenue yield for any on-demand food delivery business. Conclusion This article introduced you to some significant factors that should be considered when clarifying the costs for developing an on-demand food delivery app. From discussing the features of an application like Gopuff to providing you with an idea about the cost estimates, we have briefly shared insights on almost every fundamental element you should be aware of. Therefore, your job will be to collaborate with the best app development company to create an innovative on-demand food delivery app.