Modern technologies have changed not only man-machine relations but also significantly impacted the interpersonal relationships. Can you remember when you last sent a hand-written letter or notified anyone about the upcoming meeting personally? Today we hardly use such means of communication due to the abundance of electronic tools.
More and more people are going online to find a life partner. That is why creating apps, chats, sites of a dating background have become extremely popular these days. If you're going to develop one you should definitely pay attention to one of the brightest representatives of such services - Tinder app. This is a mobile application that allows searching for people who are ready to meet and communicate within a certain area.
Are you interested in how to make a Tinder app and how much it costs? Go ahead and check the article below.
How much does it cost to make an app like Tinder?
In short, the Tinder app development cost depends on the complexity of its functionality and the development company you choose. Roughly, the basic Android or iOS app will cost you $50-55K at average Eastern Europe hourly rates of $50. If you want to build apps for both platforms simultaneously, your budget will strike and exceed $100K.
Let's move forward to find out the details.
Algorithms behind Tinder success
The aspiration to build a Tinder clone doesn't fade over the years. Obviously, that's due to its stunning popularity. Just take a look at the figures below:
Popularity of Tinder
The statistics are quite impressive. So you may be interested in what makes the dating app like Tinder so in-demand. First of all, Tinder functionality is really simple for users. Actually, it lies in swiping right and left for liking or skipping a particular person respectively. In case the other person returns the affection, Tinder creates a match.
Tinder is open for integration with Instagram. Users can access the Instagram profiles of their matches. Note that Tinder supports logging in with the user's Facebook account. So users can see whether they have common friends, common interests and favorite places.
Techniques that make a Tinder app popular
Despite the fact that the Tinder functionality may seem very simple at first glance, it hides fairly complex algorithms invisible to users. Consider the following peculiarities when you create a Tinder-like app:
- Users can see only one person at a time but there are thousands of users swiping left and right simultaneously;
- Each user (or, at least, particular groups of users) sees people in a different order. It means that the developer's task is to structure the profiles into different groups;
- Attractive and unattractive people are intentionally mixed up and shown to diverse users with non-repeatable frequency;
- A specific algorithm must be in charge to define who, when, and to whom should be shown to create a match in applications like Tinder.
Tinder's matching flow
The logic described above should be implemented on the server-side of the application. The backend can be made with the help of PHP, .NET, Java, Python, or other server-side technologies. In this matter, you should approach with great care to the choice of the server-side Tinder app developer.
What is the cost of Tinder app made up of?
All the listed above features require a certain time for development. Take a look at the table below to know how many hours iOS and Android developers need to deliver the basic functionality of a Tinder-like dating app.
- Authorization - 22 hours
- GPS location - 7 hours
- Settings - 60 hours
- User profile - 85 hours
- Matching functionality - 90 hours
- Notifications - 25 hours
- Communication - 125 hours
- 3rd party services integration - 30 hours
However, it's never enough to know the time of development. The project delivery process covers the points that significantly add up to application costs.
Underneath, we’ve estimated an approximate time required to build a Tinder-like app. The total price is based on an average hourly rate in Eastern Europe (Ukraine) — $50/h.
Project development time
| Type of work | iOS | Android | iOS & Android |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web (back-end, admin panel) | → | → | 670h (equal for one and two platforms) |
| Mobile development | 619h | 622h | 1241h |
| DevOps and meetings | 122h | 122h | 244h |
| Demo preparation | 90h | 90h | 180h |
| Release to production | 22h | 22h | 44h |
| Design | 100h | 100h | 180h |
| Total time | 1623 hours | 1626 hours | 2559 hours |
| Total cost | $81,150 | $81,300 | $127,950 |
Please note that quality assurance time isn't included to this estimation and should be calculated additionally.
