How Much Does A Fitness App Development Cost in 2024?

‘Health is wealth’, quite literally and economically too in the current times. The profitability of these on-demand fitness apps has attracted many big businesses and enterprises to pour their money to develop and designing the best fitness app solutions for meeting various health and fitness requirements of different segments. People across the globe have started taking their fitness more seriously due to the recent pandemic and other health complications.

Another factor that has helped raise the number of fitness-aware populous is the ease of getting started these days with easy-to-use and follow mobile fitness apps that provide various functions such as exercise routines, calorie tracking, pulse and steps counting, to name a few. This is helping individuals gain more control and have more affordable access over tracking and improving their health and fitness. Fitness is not limited to gym subscriptions or yoga classes anymore.

In a survey conducted by Statista, it is seen that there is a significant rise in the number of health and fitness app users in the United States from 2018 to 2021 and that the numbers are only increasing in the coming years. As you can see, there were 62.7 million users in 2018 who used at least one or more fitness apps once per month. This figure is forecasted to reach 86.3 million U.S. users by 2022. This clearly shows the interest is only rising in fitness apps, and it is a profitable venture to get into.

Fitness App Development Strategy

Now that we understand the importance and popularity of fitness apps, we should focus on developing a fitness app development strategy to ensure you are mentally, financially and physically prepared for covering all aspects of a great fitness app in your solution. Here are some of the most important considerations of a fitness app that you should prioritize

1. Fitness App Monetization Models
2. Type of Fitness Apps
3. Basic and Advanced Features of Fitness Apps
4. Technology Stack used for Fitness Apps
5. Fitness App Development Team – In-house vs Outsource

1. Fitness App Monetization Models

Any fitness app is built to earn a profit from the services you provide. To develop a genuinely profitable fitness app, you need to understand the factors affecting fitness app development costs and how to monetize your app to create revenue streams from your app. Let us first focus on the monetization strategies you can use to earn from your fitness apps

1.1. Subscription-based Apps

Subscription-based apps allow users to download your fitness app free with a limited set of features, at times for a limited duration. This is to initially greet the customer and give them a chance to experience the functionality and usability of your app. Hence, they understand its value and go for a premium subscription once their trial period gets over. It can get tricky to decide which feature to include in your primary plan and charge a premium on.

1.2. In-App Purchases

The in-app purchases pricing model works by offering additional purchasable items or power-ups within an app. The most common example of this is seen in gaming apps in the form of extra lives. An in-app fee is any cost beyond the initial downloading cost (if any) that an app may charge for any additional features they offer.

Generally, such purchases are optional and aim to give users additional features to enhance their user experience and unlock better capabilities.

1.3. Rewarded Videos

You can also add rewarded videos in your fitness app, an ad format that prompts full-screen ads to the users that they can choose to skip or watch entirely to get valuable rewards. The publisher can earn for every video their users view on their app platform. This is one of the most engaging and trending fitness app monetization methods these days.

Also Check – How to Build & Monetize Your Fitness App?

2. Fitness App Types

Another important consideration for developing your best fitness app is understanding and identifying the type of fitness app you want to develop. There are bunches of different types of fitness apps available for different fitness requirements. Depending on what fitness app type you want to develop, the cost of developing a fitness app would change accordingly. Here are some of the broader categories that can help you identify which kind of fitness app category your app falls into

Activity Tracking Apps

• Adidas Running By Runtastic | Nike Run | Map My Ride

Nutrition and Diet Apps

• Calorie Counter By MyFitnessPal | Healthy Diet| My Diet Coach

Yoga Apps

• Sweat |Gymondo |Daily Yoga

Meditation Apps

• Headspace| Calm| MyLife Meditation

Workout Fitness Apps

• My Coach| Pro Gym Workout| 7 Minute Workout

Also Check – Developing Health and Fitness App: Types & Features You Must Know

3. Core and Advanced Features of Fitness Apps

Once you have selected a category for your fitness app, you should create a list of basic and advanced features you want in your fitness app. Start by dribbling down ideas and brainstorming with your team. This will help you get an exhaustive yet helpful list of features that can be added to your fitness application. Next, you should also identify some competitors in the marketplaces of the same size, scale and niche as you and check their app to understand what unique services they have to offer.

This will give you a more practical insight into what features work and what does not. Additionally, you will also be able to identify some unique features that are missing from the most popular fitness apps in the marketplace, which can become your app’s USP. Each feature contributes to the overall cost to develop a fitness app; hence, you should always make sure not to include features that do not serve any purpose.

4. Technology Stack used for Fitness Apps.

For any on-demand fitness app, you need to combine and use several technologies for covering different aspects of app building. The durability and quality of your fitness app will be determined based on the robustness and thoroughness of your tech stack is. Naturally, there are various options for all requirements, and you can choose the ones that best fits your fitness app development budget.

5. Fitness App Development Team – In-house vs Outsource.

Next, you should decide whether you want to hire a team from an in-house fitness app development company for your fitness app project or if outsourcing your fitness app development project is more viable.

Suppose you are working on a large-scale fitness app project where your revenue generation can overcome the cost of maintaining fixed-salary employees. In that case, you should go for in-house app development.

Alternatively, suppose you are not that sure about the generated revenue to cover the costs or yield big chunks of profits. In that case, you should outsource your fitness app project to a reliable offshore development centre. By doing so, you can significantly reduce the cost to develop a fitness app while possibly earning better profits.

Also Check – How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Health & Fitness App like 8Fit

Factors Affecting Cost of Developing a Fitness App

The overall cost of developing a fitness app depends on several factors. To accurately calculate the fitness app development cost, you need to understand the individual costs and average hours required to complete those tasks to build a fully scalable and efficient fitness app. Here are the various fitness app development cost factors that you should take into consideration for estimating your overall fitness app development budget.

1. Platform Choices for your Fitness App

One of the most fundamental deciding factors for estimating any app development cost is deciding the platform on which you want to launch your app. Android and iOS are two of the most popular mobile app platforms that dominate the entire mobile app market. You might also want to consider a web app for the admin panel aspect of your complete fitness app solution.

Generally, creating an app for each platform using native code would take double the time and cost as specific programming languages are used for the web, Android and iOS. Unless your project is extremely large-scaled or targets only Android or iOS platforms, you should choose cross-platform app development solutions instead. By doing so, you can save up to 50% development time, cost and have an app solution that works seamlessly on Android, iOS and the web.

2. Type of Fitness Apps as per Fitness App Categories

We briefly discussed the various type of fitness apps in the fitness app development strategy section. Knowing what kind of fitness app you want to develop would help significantly understand the estimated cost of developing a fitness app for your specific business requirements. Here are some of the most popular fitness app categories and fitness app types for you to have a clearer understanding of.

3. Location of the Fitness App Development Company

Where you get your fitness app developed will significantly impact the overall cost of developing a fitness app. Hiring Professional Developers from different regions have different hourly rates. Generally, countries like U.S., UK, Canada and others tip on the expensive hiring location side, whereas hiring dedicated and skilled developers from Ukraine and India is most cost-effective. Hence, depending on where you get your fitness app developed, your cost of developing a fitness app would differ significantly.

4. Fitness App Development Cost of Acquiring the Ideal App Development Team

When you outsource your fitness app development project to a credible offshore app development company, they consist of a full-stack team of skilled and experienced talents needed to develop your fitness app in the best manner possible. This is also a reason; why hiring a Healthcare & Fitness IT Solution company is always better than hiring individual talents. The minimal general team required to build your fitness app will include the following talents

Your users need to create an account and log in to create their profiles on your fitness app. This is important as by having a profile, the user can input essential metrics such as weight, height and other attributes alongside the goals they want to achieve. It is advisable to allow social media logins too for ease and convenience.

5. Cost and Hours of Development – Adding Fitness App Must-Have Features

We briefly discussed some of the fundamental and advanced fitness app features in the fitness app development strategy section. If you genuinely want to create a functional and high-performing fitness app, you should include these must-have features in your project. Each feature contributes to the overall development time and costs, impacting your project’s overall fitness app development cost.

5.1 Login and Personal Profile Creation

Your users need to create an account and log in to create their profiles on your fitness app. This is important as by having a profile, the user can input essential metrics such as weight, height and other attributes alongside the goals they want to achieve. It is advisable to allow social media logins too for ease and convenience.

5.2 GPS Integration

If you plan to create any fitness-tracking app, you would naturally need to add a GPS feature in your fitness app to provide real-time location tracking services. In other fitness apps, geolocation services can assist users in connecting with other users around their proximity or searching for gym locations near them.

5.3 Workout Plans

Naturally, your workout apps will have several workout plans for your users to choose from based on their weight gain goals, weight loss or muscle gaining. It is important to keep the navigation simple and straightforward, allowing users to customize their workout plans by choosing from various training programs.

5.4 Calorie Counter for Diet Apps

If you plan to build a diet app, you need to include a calorie counter in your fitness and diet app with a reliable and extensive food database enabling users to log their meals and set their weight goals. You can/should also include diet plans, recipes and other such features for providing a more comprehensive diet app solution.

5.5 Push Notifications

For any small-scale or enterprise-grade fitness app, integration of push notifications is an absolute must for grabbing the attention of your users, driving better engagements and constantly keeping your app in the mind of your users. It can be used for driving sales and increasing conversion when you have a special offer or discounts on workout routines and more.

5.6 Gamification and AR/VR functionalities

Gamification in any kind of app can help improve overall user engagement while reducing app uninstalls. Make your fitness app interactive, engaging and more fun to use by adding game-like elements that captivate the audience’s attention. Some examples of gamification can include bonuses for regular training, badges for completing specific achievements, and other reward systems like getting a month of free subscription for inviting more users to install the app.

You can also add more AR/VR functionalities to create better capable fitness apps that use deep-learning patterns to identify users’ progress and suggest changes in the diet or workout plans accordingly. Fitness A.I. app costs generally tend to be higher, but they are worth every penny if you integrate them wisely.

5.7 Live Streaming and On-Demand Videos

If you want to create the best fitness app in your niche, you should leverage the feature of live streaming and on-demand videos to provide unparalleled value to your app users. On-demand videos and live streaming features allow users to workout with several other users in real-time, making them feel like part of a community.

6. Cost to Develop a Fitness App as per Development Phases

For any sized fitness app development project, there are certain mandatory stages that the app needs to go through for ensuring it is entirely functional, usable and scalable. Your cost of developing a fitness app depends on the hourly rates of developers and total time estimation for project completion.

Wrapping UP

These are the several considerations you should keep in mind before deciding on your budget for developing a fitness app. Make sure to first decide on the mission and vision of your app, your short team goals, and long-term goals. Figure out what health and fitness services you want to offer and hire a fitness app development company or build your fitness app in-house, accordingly.