Cost Breakdown of App Like Facebook: Features, Factors, & More

Ready to develop an app like Facebook but confused about how much it will cost?

No need to bother, the cost to develop an app like Facebook totally depends on the factors impacting it.

On an estimate, the average cost to make an app like Facebook can vary from $30,000 to $150,000.

Well, we have broken down this structure for your convenience with details, here.

Let’s start this journey together.

Facebook: Power to Build Community and Bring the World Together

How to create an app like Facebook?

Before learning how let’s study the basics.

All of you must be aware of the Facebook app, although there is a brief on the same for those who are not.

Facebook is a social media networking platform that allows users to sign up for free profiles, and connect with friends and work colleagues. The main role of the platform is to connect people and find a way through which the users remain updated on the activities.

It is one of the Meta platforms that provides people the power to build communities and bring them closer.

This app organizes communities of interest on just any topic. The platform offers free and quality communication and offers a global village of information.

Facebook is the market leader and is the first platform to surpass one billion registered user accounts. Currently, the platform has three billion monthly active users.

Well, this is an opportunity to enter this diversified market. Let’s consider the list of top features of Facebook in the next section.

Top Features of Facebook

How to make an app like Facebook?

With the help of ultimate guide to develop a social media app, you will be able to know all these nuances rules.

From the guide, here are some of the features to look at before developing it completely. Features are the blood of apps. Social media app features vary according to the types of functions you select.

Well, let’s consider the list beneath about Facebook app features. This will assist you in developing your next dream app.

1. Facebook Live

Facebook Live can help you forecast live video from a mobile device or with streaming software.

Through this app, viewers can react, share as well as comment during the stream. Users can go live on Facebook to share conversations, performances, Q&As, and more.

2. Newsfeed

This is the place where all of the friend’s posts appear. Here they can see updates from the business pages liked by the users.

The main purpose of this feature is to keep the user engaged by displaying them relevant and interesting content according to their preferences.

3. Push Notifications

Push notifications assist the users to know about the current status of the app. It helps to inform them about any activity so that they don’t miss it.

This feature keeps the users engaged and notifies them when someone they follow posts a picture or video on their account or even goes live.

4. Groups

Facebook users can build their own community with similar interests and might find it helpful to create a group on the platform.

Users can use these features to interact with like-minded people and may perform collaborations for useful activities.

5. Social Plugins

These are the tools over Facebook that help users share their experiences on other social media networking sites or platforms with similar friends over Facebook.

Such plugins enable high-quality discussions, allow people to connect with each other later, and bring the best of Facebook content to the site.

6. Timeline

Timeline is not to be confused or merged up with the newsfeed, however, it’s about keeping a personal record of all the different kinds of posts shared or interacted.

This feature assists the users in having all the posts and activities as well as other activities over one page, which is arranged in a reverse chronological order.

7. Pinned Post

The pinned post feature over social media platforms allows users to pin a specific post and save it to view or repost it later.

This feature keeps the posts permanently at the top of the profile page until it is unpinned again.

8. Sponsored Stories

Sponsored stories are packed with cool features and are ideal for grabbing the audience’s attention. This feature is used within mobile app marketing or even by influencers.

This is a paid social advertising feature that assists small and large brands in promoting their products and services successfully.

9. Story

This is a feature to connect individual users and business pages. It is a short-lived content which is viewable for only 24 hours by those whom you want to see it.

Brands use this feature to connect with a wider audience and attract the target users to the website page or app. This can provide you with a business to earn from brands’ marketing posts.

10. Likes and Reactions

Users prefer the social media platform where they feel participated and engaged. Thus, providing them the option to post likes and comments can help in increasing engagement.

Other than this, the comment option assists the users in posting comments where they like to. This feature is essential and makes the users feel valued.

These were some of the common features to develop an app like Facebook.

Are you still puzzled about whether to build an app like Facebook or not?

Consider the next section for the same.

Why Develop an App Like Facebook?

Before learning about the cost to make an app like Meta, let’s understand why develop it.

Facebook assists the users to sign up for free profiles and connect with friends, and even with people that they don’t know.

Creating an app like Facebook is an opportunity for you to successfully lead the market. There are a lot of reasons to go for developing an app like Facebook.

Here’s a list to go through.

• Growing Market Demand

There’s a high demand in the market for developing an app like Facebook. The global social networking sites are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.2% from the year 2023 to 2030.

This market is expected to boost further creating an opportunity for you to invest in the development process of an app like Facebook.

• Source of Revenue

Developing an app like Facebook will provide you with a lot of opportunities to make money from things like subscription models, targeted ads, in-app purchases, and premium features. The main source of earnings of the Facebook app is from advertising.

Hence, through implementing multiple revenue-based models, you can earn a handsome amount of profits.

• Helps to Capture the Target Market

Social media is all about networking and creating bonds among people. These networking sites and applications are built to connect people and build communities. Thus, creating an app like Facebook can assist in capturing a wider market.

An app can help you reach the target audience and enhance their trust in the platform. It builds a strong connection between users and the brand.

• Enhances User Engagement

Cost to create a social media app like Meta can help you to increase overall user engagement. There are a variety of tools in these platforms such as likes, comments, and shares that build a key to ensure user engagement for long intervals.

Therefore, you should build an interactive app, considering its design which is helpful to attract more users.

• Brings People Closure

Through developing a platform like Facebook, you will allow the users to connect over the digital platforms, effectively. This helps them to build a community with like-minded people that reflects their real-life cycles online.

Here users can share their life activities that bring them closure. It does assist businesses to connect people across the globe.

• Develops Innovation

You might a feature to your next social media app that can grasp the attention of multiple audiences and address their issues. Thus, building an app like Facebook can help in developing innovation and creating business ideas, respectively.

This assists you in identifying users’ needs by validating their ideas and changing preferences. This further can engage users and improve their trust in the platform.

Well, learning through these reasons you might have gotten yours for developing an app like Facebook, right?

Now, the question is “How much does it cost to develop an app like Meta?”

Let’s consider the following section for the same.

Cost to Build an App Like Facebook

Want to know the right cost to build an app like Facebook?

Well, then you must learn that identifying the actual social media app development cost requires to go through a list of factors that might impact it.

However, an estimated cost to develop a social media app like Meta’s Facebook can vary from $30,000 to $150,000.

This range depends on elements such as the complexity of an app, its design, features, and a lot more impacts the mobile app development cost.

Let’s learn them all in the next section.

Factors Impacting the Cost to Make an App Like Facebook

To identify the exact Facebook-like app development cost, you should be aware of the factors.

Here’s a list to check.

♦ Complexity and Size

The more complex features the app will have, the more cost it needs to build.

Yes, you should be aware of the fact that size and complexity are two crucial parameters, where the large size and more complex features may lead to high cost and vice-versa.

Simple apps with minimal or basic functions can cost you $30,000 to $50,000, however, large and complex apps with advanced functions can cost you $100,000 to $150,000.

Let’s consider the table below to know more about this factor.

♦ App Design

Another important component to consider here is app design. The apps with customized animations, complicated UI elements, and high levels of designs can cost you high. UI/UX design cost depends on the features of an app.

Additionally, the number of screens as well as its complexity can impact the overall cost to make an app like Facebook. A complex UI/UX design can cost you $10,000 to $20,000, however, a simple app design can make you invest an amount ranging from $30,000 to $40,000.

Thus, social media app design is what to consider here. Let’s check out the table below for more.

♦ App Compatibility

The platforms you select for launching your app, matter. The decision to select the right platform is important as it not only impacts the cost but also the overall brand image.

To develop a social media app like Facebook will depend on the type of platform. Such as creating it for iOS app development or Android app development can cost you less.

However, choosing a hybrid app development and its related tools as native or react may cost you more, but will help you to have a wider user base. You can check out the given table for more info.

♦ Tech Stack

The selection of technological frameworks and databases impacts the Facebook clone app development cost.

Tech Stack comprises programming languages, tools, and platforms that you may use to build and run your app.

The basic technology can cost you $10,000 to $30,000, while advanced tech with cutting-edge technologies such as AI and machine learning may cost you $50,000 to $70,000. It does include front-end and back-end tools along with APIs. Here’s a table to check out for more information.

♦ Development Team

One of the last and most important factors to be considered while developing an app like Facebook is the development team.

Hire mobile app developers who can understand the value of your investments and help create a social media app like Meta Facebook.

Here, two factors should be considered including location and expertise of the team. A team hired from a high-standard-of-living city such as London with skilled professionals can cost you more from $100,000 to $150,000. Let’s consider the table below to know more.

Hence, for analyzing the actual cost of building an app like Facebook, you should go through the above factors and then decide on the cost figure.

Now, one of the important resources to be bothered of is ‘time’

The following section will help you to get it.

How Long Does it Take to Make an app like Facebook?

How long does it take to make an app?

To build a Social media app like Facebook, time plays an important role. Let’s consider the table below to know more.

The overall time undertaken to develop a social media app can be 10-15 months. Well, this time can differ based on the app development process and strategy.

Till now, we have covered features, reasons, costs to build a Facebook clone app, and factors impacting it.

Now, let’s talk about some money-making strategies.

Are you interested in having an effective social media app monetization strategy for your app?

You can switch to the next section to know more.

Effective Monetization Strategies to Make Money from Facebook App Development

Determining the cost of creating a Social media app like Facebook is all about investments.

However, making money is another important concept here to keep your business sustainable in the competitive environment.

Here is the list of app monetization strategies to cover the Facebook-like app development cost. Let’s proceed with the same here.

► In-App Purchases

This is one of the primary models which is used for monetizing apps. It is any fee in addition to the cost to download the app.

It is an extra content or subscription that you might buy inside an app. Within social media apps, users can buy additional content or services here.

► Advertising

Advertising can become the prime monetization model for your social media app. Here you can provide brands a space to advertise their product and services via video ads, banner ads, etc.

In exchange, you can charge a fee that will act as a permanent source of revenue for your social media app.

► Subscription Plan

You can offer some of the features for free to the users and for premium features, a nominal fee can act as a source of monetization strategy for your app.

A diversified range of plans can assist you here to reaching the target audience. This will influence the users to select the right subscription plan within your app as per their preference.

► Influencer Marketing

This can seem different from monetization strategy but it’s the powerful one. These influencers over your app can help you to engage a large user base.

Along with this, through affiliate marketing, they can help the commercials to reach the target consumer. This can provide an advantage to your app, to increase its demand in the public. The more popular the app will be, the higher the amount you can charge for placing ads.

► Data Monetization

Social media apps have a lot of data on the users. This data can be monetized in exchange of money with the brands and other platforms.

You can create useful reports from the collected data and may sell these reports. Under this strategy, you should obtain consent from the users to monetize their data.

These were some of the common monetization strategies that you should prefer to cover the Facebook-like app development cost.

Partner with Nimble AppGenie to Create an App Like Facebook

Looking for a well-advanced company to build an app like Facebook?

Partner with Nimble AppGenie to create your dream app like Facebook. We have a team of experts who can help you in deciding the complete budget for your social media app.

Additionally, our professional developers can build an app with advanced technologies to address the needs of your end users.

We are the best Social Media App Development Company, that knows how to create a competitive app.

Conclusion

To develop an app like Facebook, you must add up features such as Facebook Live, newsfeed, push notifications, groups, social plugins, timelines, pinned posts, sponsor stories, etc.

You should develop an app like Facebook because it’s in demand, it can act as a source of revenue, helps to capture the target market, and develops innovation. Additionally, you should be aware of the cost of developing an app like Facebook along with the factors impacting it.

Here these factors comprise complexity, app design, compability, and tech stack. Additionally, you can earn money to cover the cost by implementing monetization strategies such as in-app purchases, advertising, influencer marketing, data monetization, etc. Connecting to an experienced app development team can help here.

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Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.