How much it Costs to Build an App like Instagram

Business Model, Features, Technology Stack & Design & Development Cost

If we have to give a quick answer to this question, we would say it may cost you $50,000 to $105,000 to develop a mobile application with Instagram like features. For exact features and cost estimates, you get an estimate from a social media app development company.

The price fluctuates due to the numerous factors involved. These factors include design, technology stack, the complexity of the features, and other factors such as the location of the development company, number of operating systems on which the app can run, rates and abilities of the development team, and project management, etc.

A simple photo posting app is a favorite social media app of billions today. Don’t believe us?

Here are a few stats and facts about Instagram that help you understand why Instagram is the ideal app to follow in 2020:

• Maintains more than one billion monthly active users
• Has more than 500 million daily active users
• Instagram Stories’ daily active users are also more than 500 million
• 75.3% of the United States’ business is on Instagram
• 89% indicated that Instagram is the most important channel for influencer marketing
• Every 7 out of 10 hashtags on Instagram are brands related

Source: TechCruch

In a Nutshell: According to the above statistics, Instagram has worldwide dedicated users that prefer this photo-sharing app over other apps like Flickr, and Vine, etc. and has also set a benchmark for social media and influencer marketing.

Table of Contents

• What is Instagram?
• From Photo Sharing App to A Hallmark in Influencer Marketing
• Benchmark Features of Instagram
• Cost of Instagram MVP
• Technology Stack of Instagram
• Best Instagram like App Development Approach
• Conclusion

Let’s get deep into each point for better understanding:

1. What is Instagram?

It was an originally IOS based mobile application that has been acquired by Facebook. It was developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger and is used to edit and post photos and videos ranged between 15 to 60 seconds.

Source: Dataportal.com

However, many technology companies are still not clear, how Instagram became the world’s #1 photo-sharing application?

Here are a few reasons;

• Ability to apply filters and effects on the photos captured by smartphones
• Enhanced photos-sharing experience
• It acts as an instant telegram, instantly posts the photos
• Unplugged evolution in app’s features and algorithm
• In 2012, Facebook acquired it and gave it a breakthrough
• Global visibility for brands
• Smooth UI/UX design

Instagram is no more a simple photo-sharing app; it has evolved into a multi-purpose platform!

2. From Photo Sharing App to A Hallmark in Influencer Marketing

Instagram was originally an IOS based MVP app named Burbn used to gather photos in a square box. The combination of photo editing and photo posting features became its unique selling point, albeit the two mobile applications existed independently before in the market.

The inclusion of the features like direct message, IGTV, explore feed, Instagram stories has made Instagram a haven for brands and users. As of today, Instagram is a home place for more than one billion photo lovers and 25 million brands. It is rumored Instagram is planning to build a separate platform named IG Shopping for brands on Instagram.

Here is the development time that has been used to build an application for Android and iOS platforms;

3. Benchmark Features of Instagram

The key functionalities of Instagram and the development time included are;

Authorization: Users can get authorized with an email address, phone number, and Facebook. This step includes the integration of more complex features like password recovery, password reset, 2-factor authentication, and sign out. It can be done by using a database at the back-end; it stores usernames, passwords, and other details from which data can be fetched upon the need. It would require 60–80 hours to develop these factors.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Phone number authorization
• Email authorization
• Social media sign in/ sign out

Profile Setup: The user can create a unique user name, and password, also set a profile pic, and business profiles can also be set up using this feature. It requires developing interaction between client and server-side of the application which can take somewhere between 55–80 hours approximately.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Backend Development
• User Profile
• Add or Modify Personal Data

Filters and Effects: A number of effects and filters can be applied to photos for editing purposes before posting to make them more eye-catching. For it, developers have to make the choice between using standard files and creating your own files. The development may take up to 60–75 hours.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Cropping/Rotating/Resizing
• Filters

IGTV: Using IGTV, users can post videos up to an hour-long. It can take up to 100–120 hours to develop this feature.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Video Streaming

Geolocation Determination: Using the Google maps app can determine the location of the user, or it can also be updated manually. For automatic updates, the developer would need to integrate APIs into the app. The data is sent by a sensor to the front-end, from where it goes to the backend. The server shows the images of the map based on the data sent by the front-end. It needs 25–40 hours for developing such a feature depending upon the set of expertise of the developer.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Integrating post with world-map
• Location of Photo

Search: Users can search other users by typing their unique username and the database at the backend will provide the desired information.

Mentions: Users can mention each other in posts or comments section.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Enable hashtag working
• Prepare activity log of user
• Search data per various parameters

Direct Message: Enables the user to send other users photos and messages in private. This feature is a complete social media app on its own. It should notify the messages in real-time. Developers can use the API on HTTP as a replacement for permanent socket connections. By using GCM or APN, the developer can link the app with an android or IOS server. This can take up to 120–150hours.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Push in notifications
• Sending and receiving videos and images
• Message transfer in real-time

Analytics: The business accounts or other public accounts can see the data related to each post by them. The developers would be needing to integrate one analytic tool for it. The tool for analytics can be Flurry or Google Analytics/ Firebase or MixPanel, etc. It can take up to 40–60 hours for this feature to be developed out.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Integration of Analytic Tool

Settings: Users can delete, deactivate their own accounts,s and block others under this section. It can take up to 80 hours for developing these features.

Features

• Mobile Development
• Back-end Development
• Account privacy
• Language selection

Depends upon the syntax and semantics of different languages like Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew, English, and Spanish, etc.

Push Notifications

Let’s see the development costs of these hours;

4. Cost of Instagram MVP

The golden rule for calculating the cost of the Instagram MVP is;

The basic features we have pinpointed need almost 700–800 hours of development and per hour development cost in the United States is $150 per hour.

Total App Development Cost= 150 x 700

Total App Development Cost= 105,000

Need to know, what technologies are working behind?

5. Technology Stack of Instagram

Frontend

• HTML/ CSS/ AngularJS

Backend

• Ruby-on-Rails Framework, PHP, .Net, Java

Database

• Postgre SQL Database

Web server

• Nginx

Cloud Platforms

• Amazon Web Services (AWS, EC2, S3, etc.)

Integrations

• Google Maps API
• Facebook SDK
• Instagram API

6. Best Instagram like App Development Approach

Step1 — Requirement Gathering

This step includes gathering the requirements you want your app to deliver to you. Deeply analyze the idea and how these ideas can be translated into functionalities. Check the feasibility of these ideas getting translating into features or functionalities. Now, prepare the project plan optimization.

STEP 2 — UX and Wireframing

The secret ingredient in the perfect recipe of Instagram is the smooth and seamless experience that comes from the smooth UI and UX design. It includes two phases 1) UX Modeling 2) HLD & Documentation. The phases in this step include the preparation of the flowcharts and sketches of the user needs and functionalities. Prepare the information architecture design. Prepare the use case scenarios.

STEP 3 — UI Design

The third step is to build the User Interface design. The UX/ UI team needs to determine the UI strategy first of all. This strategy includes building a strategy that should facilitate the user interface experience. Incorporate art direction, storyboarding, and mood board creation in making the full UI design.

STEP 4- Agile Development

Nowadays, agile development is preferred. This is quick and team-based software development. The Project Manager and technical lead should create milestones, plan the sprint, conduct scrum meetings, and show the sprint demos to make the development really quick and impeccable.

STEP 5- Testing and Launching

The test codes and user test scenarios are written down by the quality and assurance team and the testers perform automated or manual testing to check the functionality of the app. The bugs are removed by the developers after which the product is launched.

Usually, a minimum viable product with the least features is developed and released. This is called a beta-version. After the bugs are reported, the app is updated accordingly.

Let’s sum it up!

7. Conclusion

It is important that this era belongs to the age of social media apps. Having a social media platform such as Instagram would offer an all-round advantage to instigating your business prospects.

Don’t forget people like to use new social media platforms and if you provide them with that extra benefit, you can become the leader of the race.

For starters, you can begin with a simple and sophisticated approach, but as time progresses you can boost more fuel into your app.

If you are also looking forward to creating an app similar to Instagram, feel free to get in touch with us!