How much does it cost to develop an app like Paytm

prashanthi vadla
4 min readJun 3, 2021

Paytm is India’s largest online top-up company headquartered in Delhi, India where the company is owned by One97 communication.

Paytm.com first started with mobile-only top-up, which later expanded to online shopping, the Paytm marketplace, wallet and more. Booking bus tickets, paying electricity bills and at the same time getting cash back in the wallet have helped paytm rise through the ranks of success. Since India goes digital, the market demand for online charging apps and app development companies is increasing.

How much does it cost to develop an app like Paytm

Well is that really a tough question !! The cost of developing any mobile charging application depends on the features, the platforms on which you plan to launch your application, etc. Some of the main factors that determine the cost of the application are shown below:

Application platform:

The cost varies from platform to platform. The cost of the Android app is always higher than that of the iOS app, as the Android app required more code written as well as testing on a number of devices. If you are looking for the hybrid solution rather than the native one, it might not be as efficient as the native one. For more information on the Hybrid Vs Native app, you can check out our article here.

Application design:

Application design is the crucial part and the reason for the success of every application. The design of the application should be designed in such a way as to ensure smooth interaction with the user. Engaging and eye-catching design will always bring you a loyal customer. Designing an app requires the use of advanced technology, material design, and more, which goes beyond the role of the app developer and will obviously weigh on your pocket, but well worth it. It will take an average of 80 to 170 hours to design the application.

Let’s take an average of 140 hours to design the complete application, in which:

Wired required 30 hours

A user interface will take 50 hours

The user experience will take approximately 60 hours.

Application features:

When we talk about an app like paytm, it doesn’t necessarily mean an app that is completely similar to paytm. You may want additional features and not the full functionality as it is present on Paytm. Frankly, Paytm is not an app made in a few months. Developing the Paytm app takes dozens of developers and years to build the full app with all the features.

In my opinion, if you are planning to have your own charging app, start with the few required features and later, once your app starts gaining popularity, you can add features and functionality to it. Developing and launching applications is not a one-time job, but rather an ongoing process aimed at building customer loyalty and facing the competitive world. The size of the application can be reduced to give preferences only on base values ​​in version 1 of the application.

Depending on the functionality, if you consider the basic functionality like mobile and other recharge as well as basic commerce functionality, it will take around 390 hours to complete which includes backend development of administration cost and implementation. elements with user interface.

Third-party API integration:

As for the development of the app like paytm, especially the reloaded one, it all depends on the implementation of the third party API. When it comes to online mobile top-up, or nth top-up or if you want to book a movie or bus ticket, you need to be fully reliant on third-party APIs so that corporate customers and service providers can connect. directly while using your application platform.

Implementing third-party APIs requires between 200 and 400 man hours depending on which APIs you need. Also at third party APIs implementation times also depend on how the third party supports the mobile app development company in the implementation of their APIs.

Thus, the API implementation part will take an average of 300 hours to implement the APIs.

Mobile wallets:

The wallet acts as a lifeline for any charging application. The Recharge app is nothing without a wallet. Developing mobile wallet applications and integrating it requires additional hours as needed. When talking about paytm mobile wallet, it allows you to add money to the wallet, send money to your friend, pay seller money, transfer money to your bank account and much more.

Full wallet functionality as present on paytm wallet will cost 270 man-hours.

Many other features and functionality can impact the app cost estimate, such as push notification, news feed, geolocation, SMS gateway integration, etc.

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