How Much Does It Cost to Make a Fitness App? Full Guide

Health and getting in shape are major trends now, plastered all over social media and encouraging people to change their lifestyles. But, without fitness app development, none of that would be possible. Handy solutions make fitness more accessible and easy to try out, leading many to pick it up as a lifestyle.

However, the companies that actually want to do fitness app development need help getting into it as well. As always, the most pressing concern is the cost of doing business. So today, JetBase will use our 10+ years of experience to answer the question, “How much does it cost to build a fitness app?”

We’ll cover the aspects of development, show real-world examples, and offer a comprehensive look into the financial side of fitness app development. This guide will give you ideas on streamlining the work, as well as monetizing your app to recoup its cost. From general cost info to getting by on a budget, you’ll learn everything there is to know.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into developing fitness apps and navigating their cost.

What Influences the Cost of Developing a Fitness App?

Before discussing hard numbers and which corners you can cut to save your budget, let’s discuss which factors determine fitness app development cost. It’s a pretty logical line-up, and we’ll take them one by one. The shortlist is as follows:

As you can see, it’s a lot of moving parts, but we’ll keep things simple and highlight exactly why they influence the cost to develop a fitness app.

App Type

Our first factor is the type of app you develop. As you might know, the market has a lot of variety, and it’s a huge one at $9.25 billion. Depending on which niche you’re aiming for, you could be looking at a higher or lower cost. For example, a workout diary app will be pretty affordable. Conversely, an AI-powered personal training solution with video streaming, like Peloton’s, would be much pricier.

For reference, here are some app types, what they do, and general cost implications:

Here are the examples of workout apps.

Features and Functionality

It’s a double-edged sword: you want your app to be feature-rich to draw people in, but each new function you implement pushes the cost further up. It’s important to balance your app's usefulness and managing the budget. When you ask, “How much does it cost to make a fitness app?” always have a list of your desired features ready to include in the budget.

Third-Party Integrations

Workout apps need much data to be truly useful, such as the user’s movement, heart rate, and general activity. Gathering all of that without integrations with wearables and other gadgets is pretty much impossible. The same goes for scanning barcodes, which are used heavily for dieting apps. Therefore, expect to spend a chunk of your budget on third-party integrations, enhancing your app.

UI/UX Refinement

Good design is essential for any product, and fitness app development is no exception. Finding the perfect look and feel for your app is rarely instant. Every iteration raises the final cost. This is why it’s crucial to work with professional designers and always state your vision clearly, as well as use test focus groups. That way, you will have minimal setbacks before you reach the final design.

Tech Stack and Multi-Platform Capability

As you might expect, the cost will change depending on which technologies you use to build your app and how many platforms you want to release it on. Picking newer, trendier tech will inevitably cost more but could ensure your app’s stability and optimization. Thus, you will have to choose and pick technologies that deliver quality but don’t break the bank.

Team Make-Up and Location

This connects to your desired tech stack, of course, as you’ll have to expand the team based on the features and platforms you opt for. The bigger the team and the more experience they have, the higher your cost to develop a fitness app will be. Plus, the location plays an important part too, as teams from North America or Western Europe traditionally have pretty high rates.

In order to save money, some companies hire teams from Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, or South America. If you can verify their experience and guarantee that you’re working with professionals, this is a good way to have an expert team at a reasonable cost.

Support and Updates

It’s important to remember that fitness app development doesn’t stop at release. You’ll need to put further resources into app maintenance and updates. This can include new features or simple bug fixes, but either way, it’s another expense that influences your bottom line. Consider it when outlining your budget and include it as a specific part.

Real-World Fitness App Development Costs: Case Studies

To truly understand what the cost of fitness app development is like, let’s take a look at an actual app. For example, we can use Hevy, an app for tracking and planning your workouts. It’s a typical, multi-platform app with wearable integration and community functions. This type of app usually does pretty well, and Hevy is no exception, with over 5 million users.

You might think an app of this scale and popularity is highly expensive, but that’s not really the case. Total development time can be estimated at around 1120 hours, with 440 spent on features per platform and another 400 on the backend. The design took around 200 hours, with iOS and Android each requiring special tweaks.

The final assessment of the cost is $65,100 for the backend and $224,000 for the two versions on iOS and Android. It’s not exactly a low cost but a very reasonable one, considering the quality and the eventual success, which most definitely recouped the investment. This brings us back to our core point: always opt for quality, as it’s the only way to make the cost worth it.

No matter which company you work with or the specific type of app you want to develop, it will not be worth it unless you make the best possible product. Investing $400.000  may seem like a lot, but if you make a good app, you will make back that money and then some more. Note that JetBase usually offers a more flexible price tag. But more on that later.

Fitness App Development Cost Breakdown

We’ve talked about factors influencing the cost and showed you some examples of successful development projects from real life. But what most people want is hard numbers, if only to understand better what the final price will be like. This section is dedicated to that, with data that we sourced from the market, our direct competitors, and, of course, our own experience.

You may find some fluctuation in the general cost of fitness app development depending on your app type, the region you’re working with, or your app’s complexity. But the overall level will remain within the same range, so you will have a good idea of the budget your project will require. Let’s take a look at the market first.

Average Cost Overview

So, if you’re entering the fitness app development market, you can expect to have the following average expenses:

All of these have their own associated price tag. Our research across several apps shows that the average cost is around $160,000, while the minimum one is at about $100,000. The latter is, as you may guess, for just a basic app with very few killer features. We advise you to think of it as an MVP price, if anything, especially since costs are always on the rise.

Meanwhile, the “upper limit” doesn’t truly exist when it comes to development. Obviously, you won’t be spending millions (or even a million), but your expenses are limited only by your ambitions. Want a lot of powerful, modern features? Expect the price to rise by another $60,000 or more. A late-stage redesign can also impact the total cost, resulting in a $15,000-20,000 increase.

In total, we’d expect the following cost breakdown for an average app:

Building from Scratch vs. Enhancing an Existing Solution

As you might guess, creating a fitness app from zero is more expensive than using an existing solution and just enhancing it. For example, if you have a simple white-label app with its design in place and a basic set of features, you could be shaving off nearly 75% of the cost.

Meanwhile, building from scratch does mean that your fitness app development could end up having avoidable expenses. Nobody wants to pay more than necessary, not to mention doing work that isn’t actually required. It’s entirely possible to create an architecture for your app that relies on pre-made services and components, eliminating at least part of the development work.

Now, on the subject of cost, we’d estimate the creation of a fitness app from scratch at the same level as the market-average price. So, a minimum of $100,000 with an average of $160,000. How come it’s on the same level? Well, most fitness apps are made from scratch anyway, so that is the default price level to assume.

If you want the opposite - building an app off of an existing base - it’s a whole different estimate. For that, we suggest getting in touch with a team to consult you and give an exact number.

Team Location Considerations

We’ve considered a team from the same region as our company and one from a different one, both with a similar level of experience. The former cited a price of $180,000 and up for a “cutting-edge application.” This is on the same conditions as usual - development plus some limited post-launch support.

It’s higher than the average rate, but it may seem downright cheap compared to a North American team. We looked at a few competitors, and the most reasonable rate we saw was a starting price point of $240,000. Granted, you will work with people with experience in the North American market and probably deliver strong quality.

What’s crucial here is understanding that neither of these teams is better or worse overall because each has its own specific strengths. One offers competitive rates, while the other has in-depth knowledge of a specific region. Depending on your goals with your fitness app, any of these can be preferable. Or, instead of choosing between two good options, you can go for a great one.

How Much Does It Cost to Create a Fitness App with JetBase

In all modesty, we can confidently call ourselves a great choice for outsourcing. More than a decade of varied experience and plenty of happy clients in our portfolio speak for themselves. What’s equally important, though, is that we provide competitive rates. All these factors make JetBase a prime choice for fitness app creation.

In fact, let’s be upfront and show the average cost of creating a fitness app with our team:

As you can see, we quote a more affordable rate on average, all while providing high-end development services. For example, our post-launch support is guaranteed to cover multiple app updates and any necessary maintenance. Plus, we do extensive consultations and research to ensure your project succeeds.

Besides, our skill with artificial intelligence and cloud solutions makes the JetBase team a perfect choice for modern solutions. We can upgrade a regular fitness app to include killer features like AI-powered personal training and instant workout data processing. With these, you offer more to users and stand out from the crowd based solely on your app’s quality.

So, instead of trying to balance budget and quality, why not have both? Do fitness app development with JetBase, and we’ll do it right.

How to Optimize Your Fitness App Development Timeline

Wasted time is wasted money, especially when it comes to fitness app development. Backtracking to re-do your app’s features, pausing the work to reassess, and reconfiguring your goals all come with extra costs that accumulate and end up bloating the budget. This is why it’s vital that you structure your development processes in a way that keeps things on the move.

Optimizing your work on the app will affect both the final price and the quality of the product. So, in this section, we’ll share tips on timely fitness app development. These are methods we use ourselves and rely on to expedite development and limit costs.

Start with Research

Well, everyone knows the importance of researching the market and analyzing your project beforehand. However, this still doesn’t stop some companies from trying to speed through this process, as they believe they grasp the market situation fully. JetBase recommends taking the time to explore the discovery stage of your project and understand your needs and goals.

For example, you do your original bit of research and find that AI-powered features are popular. The obvious conclusion is to invest in that and release a fitness app that uses AI for personal training… right? Well, the right path is to keep analyzing to determine whether the investment that AI requires is easy to recoup and whether all that popularity boosts monetization.

After all, if you’re concerned about the budget, then fitness app development must center around being sustainable first and foremost. Your analysis must include a breakdown of how, exactly, the app will recoup its cost and sustain your business.

Take It Step by Step

Spoiler alert, but the next chapter of our guide will talk about the value of limiting your development to just an MVP. This logic of only doing what you need instead of rushing to the finish line helps keep things under control. You may find that limiting your ambition helps prevent any sort of chaos during fitness app development, as well as put money into essential parts of the app.

It also makes it possible to carefully consider your decisions about the app’s architecture and your approach to building it. Should you create modules from scratch, or is it better to rely on others’ work? Weighing your options is much easier when you’re not tackling the whole project as a monolith but having some flexibility in your development.

Find Places for Automation

We don’t recommend automating every aspect of fitness app development, but handling certain simple processes without manual work is a great way to optimize. For example, automating some of the testing processes is a very effective choice. It not only frees up staff to handle other tasks but also guarantees quality, as a machine doesn’t overlook details.

Thus, automation can be both a money-saver and a quality booster, provided you outline a solid plan for it. Consult with the team and establish which areas could use this and what advantages it will bring. A cost-benefit analysis will help make exactly the right decision with this step.

Communication is Key

Your fitness app development hinges entirely on the team doing the work, making communication one of your most valuable tools. Gather feedback from your team members and make sure you incorporate it into the workflow. As they develop the app, they gain invaluable insight into its optimization and current state. This helps you set realistic goals and lead the project according to your own capabilities.

In fact, this is why outsourcing teams are such a popular choice for fitness apps. Their tight-knit collaborations and managers who have experience with the team provide excellent comms. As a result, you can delegate the difficult task of managing the project without losing out on quality.

Starting Your Own Fitness App on a Budget

Despite the fact that fitness app development cost will never be mere pennies, there are still ways to get the product you seek without spending too much. Or, since “too much” is a relative term, let’s just call these what they are – tips on minimizing the costs. These aren’t about squeezing every last possible opportunity to save money but rather just a smart approach.

We will split this into three parts, each with its own practices or decisions you can make. In the end, this will hopefully help you spend only what you’re comfortable with while still getting the quality product you deserve.

Initial Investment for Fitness App Development

It’s no secret that any endeavor is easier with friends on your side, and if those friends can lend you a bit of budget for your app? Well, all the better. It’s a good idea to try and source some external funding for the project with a killer pitch. This can be vital in expanding your initial concept with powerful features and new ideas.

Aside from that, you should also assess the initial budget with care. Include points such as post-release expansion, potential roadblocks and derailments, and team expansions. Drawing up a clear list of expenses for your fitness app development is essential. This helps see whether the project is financially viable, as well as understand where you can make cuts.

Low-Cost Development Options

If you wish to develop a full product but still need a way to limit the fitness app development cost, there are some common ways. For one, reassessing your developer needs and picking a team from a more affordable location. While places like Germany or Canada offer excellent quality, they also request pretty steep rates for dev teams.

On the flip side, regions such as Eastern Europe can cite much lower prices yet have experienced teams to choose from as well. The core thing to keep in mind is that you must always verify a team’s experience before hiring them for fitness app development.

Another way to curtail the expenses without sacrificing quality is to limit the size of the team. Traditionally, you should have a robust selection of developers and designers working on a project, but if you want to take the chance, a tight-knit collective can do the job too. Also, as we’ll mention below, it’s possible to handle some of the development through your own internal team.

Plus, you can reuse components from open-source libraries to streamline development, minimizing the amount of work your team has to do. That, along with automated processes, helps free the team to do the more complex tasks and saves money.

MVP Approach

The simplest way to reduce your initial cost to develop a fitness app is to stick to making an MVP - minimum viable product. Instead of starting off with all the fancy features you envision, make the most basic working version of your app. Assess how it performs, what it feels like to use, and, of course, what it costs.

By creating an MVP, you can limit the money you spend and still get a sense of what you’ll get in the end. Then, if you deem the project worth pursuing, you can invest extra resources or even try to source more external funding. The MVP will serve as a good proof of concept and help you outline the budget for the full project, too.

Plus, as the MVP is easier to make than a full-fledged app, you might be able to save on fitness app development by doing the work in-house.

The Fitness App Development Process with JetBase

This guide wouldn’t be full without us talking about the way JetBase approaches the creation of fitness apps. After all, we told you how much does it cost to make a fitness app with us and the general factors influencing development. But it’s equally important to learn what goes into the process itself. This will help you structure your budget as well as set the baseline for quality that you want to achieve.

Initial Consultation and Project Discovery

Our work on fitness app development begins with a discussion, where we help you outline your project’s priorities, set deadlines, and analyze the market. We want to make sure that our work is centered on the right choices and serves your brand well, making this step crucial.

We will provide specialists to assess the app and outline its potential cost, as well as make any suggestions you may need. This helps us start off work on the right foot and understand your needs that the team can cover.

Development Stages

Development begins with UI/UX design iterations, as our team agrees the look and style of the app with you, connecting it to your brand. Then comes the creation of the MVP and initial testing and feedback rounds. We want to make sure that the client is happy throughout fitness app development, so this stage is crucial to understanding what you need.

Our team will create release builds for each platform that you want to target while the QA team tests them, uncovering ways to make the final product better. Meanwhile, throughout the process, our efficient managers will communicate the team’s progress and incorporate your feedback. In the end, once everything is done, we’ll let the QA team focus on one last batch of testing.

Quality Assurance and Testing Protocols

We always provide rounded testing to ensure both the app’s quality and its usability. Aside from simply polishing and optimizing the product, JetBase finds user feedback integral. Without having their approval, it’s impossible to know whether you’re giving the market what it needs. Therefore, we do lots of A/B testing in addition to quality assurance.

All of this is included in the fitness app development cost, as it’s an indispensable part of making a quality product. We provide testing for each feature, guaranteeing that the final version runs smooth as butter.

Deployment and Launch Strategies

Our work doesn’t end after development is done, as we offer comprehensive support and maintenance services. But that’s not all, as the team will also manage the deployment of the app and consult you on the best way to launch. JetBase will advise you on the rollout strategy and provide a roadmap for post-launch updates, guaranteeing that users will stay interested.

If you want some more details on how we structure fitness app development, reach out to set up a quick call. We’ll take you through our future collaboration, discuss what we can offer, and introduce you to our practices. This way, you’ll have full confidence in our abilities and skills.

Long-Term Costs of Managing a Fitness App

We’ve already stressed that asking, “How much does it cost to make a fitness app?” should always come with an asterisk. That asterisk is the follow-up question - “and how much does it cost to keep that app going?” After all, you don’t just abandon your product on release, not unless you want it to succeed. This involves all-new expenses and we’re here to help you learn all about them.

Ongoing Maintenance and Updates

While a well-made app won’t incur too many expenses in terms of fixes, it’s still going to need some maintenance and tuning up. As operating systems change and technology marches forward, you’ll want the dev team to keep your app relevant and optimized. This is why maintenance needs to always be included as part of the cost to develop a fitness app.

Server Costs and Infrastructure Management

All that data your app generates and works with needs to be stored somewhere, either on the premises or in the cloud. That means server expenses. Working with your app’s infrastructure is just part of its lifecycle, and as it grows, this budget will increase. However, server costs tend to rise proportionately to the money you’ll make back with monetization, so this shouldn’t bother you too much.

Marketing Strategies and User Growth

Few apps become overnight successes, as marketing plays a key role in their long-term prospects. The modern landscape requires marketing efforts, whether through social media or alternative means like mailing lists. And, as we just mentioned in the server cost section, user growth comes with extra profit but new expenses too. Accommodating increased traffic and storage is another expense that some fail to anticipate as part of their fitness app development cost.

Support and Community Engagement

Maintaining a support department to cover your users’ needs can get pretty pricey as your community grows. However, thanks to automation tools and AI-powered chatbots, you can cut into this cost and minimize it. This makes fitness app development less pricey overall.

Meanwhile, engaging with your users and providing special events, content releases, and social media activity is a vital aspect of running an app. It’s both a part of your marketing campaign and a way to hear your audience’s feedback.

Monetization Strategies for Fitness Apps

No matter how much you end up spending, you’ll definitely want to recoup your fitness app development cost. The only real way to do that is by making a profit on your app, which is why it’s time for us to talk about monetization. Different projects will require a variety of monetization techniques, and it’s important to know your options. Here they are.

Subscription-Based Revenue Models

You can establish several tiers of subscriptions to support your fitness app development and new content. This can include a free tier with limited access, paid, and some Premium versions with bonus features and customization. By offering users several options, you entice them to support you monetarily while getting exactly what they need.

In-App Purchases and Add-Ons

Another option is to offer paid content, such as custom workout guides, consultations with trainers, and meal prep plans. Generating new content is an extra expense. Still, if you offer enough value, it’s possible to easily recoup the cost. The important thing is to provide unique and relevant content that people will actually want to purchase.

Advertising and Brand Partnerships

If you wish to keep all content available to all users, you can opt to recoup the fitness app development cost through in-app promotions. This can take the form of regular ads, the kind any app has, or you could connect to specific brands that are relevant to fitness apps. For example, a partnership with a sportswear brand or a gym network would make money and offer good ads to your users.

Affiliate Marketing Opportunities

Similar to regular ads, affiliate marketing means inserting branded links and content into your app. This is a less reliable way to monetize your fitness app development, though, as it depends on specific partnerships and user interactions. On the flip side, though, it’s one of the least intrusive and allows you to recoup a bit of the cost without interrupting the users’ experience.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide which specific monetization option will work best for you. It’s easier to imagine a Premium subscription for an app that has unique, modern features. Meanwhile, a simple calorie-counting app would, perhaps, be better suited with just ads. In matters like making back the cost to develop a fitness app, it’s vital to think of every detail.

Make Your Own Fitness App with JetBase

We’ve given you the theoretical base that you need for fitness app development, covering ways to limit the cost of the project and recoup the money you put into it. However, knowing how to handle the project and actually doing it are two very different things. The only way to guarantee your app’s success, financial or otherwise, is to put it into capable hands.

This is why you should consider JetBase for your fitness app development needs. Our developers have more than a decade of experience crafting custom solutions. We always put quality and client’s needs first, making sure to incorporate feedback and surpass all expectations. As a result, our solutions have won recognition, and our clients are always happy.

We use our knowledge of the industry and market expectations to create apps that capture an audience’s attention and deliver unique value. This is exactly what makes these solutions successful in the long run. So, if you want your fitness app to be in the spotlight and recoup your fitness app development cost, there’s no better company to turn to.

Send us a message today to start our collaboration.