HyperEther
Many business owners whose business grows at a fast pace need to launch a mobile app. This is usually the case with ventures in eCommerce, communication, and some fields of marketing. Pressurized by the demands of their business, some entrepreneurs go for a fast, open-source solution for their mobile app.
While this can be a purposeful move, rushing an app can turn out to be completely counterproductive. As a result, it could cost you more time and money than building an app from scratch in the first place.
In this article, we’re going to analyze what you get by using open source as a starting point vs. building an app from scratch.
Building speed vs. usability
Let’s say that you’re an eCommerce entrepreneur and you’ve used Facebook for your work so far. However, now you want to make a step forward in your career and create your very own online shop. In that case, you can use one of the open source eCommerce platforms. You can use anything from Woo Commerce and Magento to numerous alternatives. They require either no coding or just some technical modifications of the existing code.
What’s more, most of these tools come with a ready-made mobile app. So, once you launch the platform, you’ll already have a mobile app, as well.
While this is a fast and efficient way of getting an app for your business, it also hides some potential issues. If the open source platform you opt for is a reliable, high-scale solution, the number of potential problems is lower. Still, even in that case you might not be satisfied with the scope of the features that you get here.
As opposed to that, you can choose a less known open source option that has more practical elements for your business. Although there are thousands of app-developing teams trying to come up with such useful free solutions, they’re more likely to contain some bugs and malfunctions (the solutions, not the developers).
Building an app on a versatile but incomplete platform can result in wasting more time and money on fixes than you expected.
The takeaway: if you already have to build an app on short notice, go for mainstream open source platforms and give up on some elements on account of reliability and quality.
Price vs. durability
In the previous paragraph, we illustrated a situation in which a business owner is hurrying to launch an app. However, urgency isn’t the only reason why entrepreneurs would give advantage to open source apps over those made from scratch.
Simply put, some business owners, especially new ones, can’t afford a full-scale, tailor-made app. They have no or little money, which is why their budget dictates the choice they make. In most cases, new kids on the business blog are forced to use open source apps.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t hire a team of app developers to improve your app once you make a budget for that purpose.
In a way, this is a reasonable set of events. When you’ve just launched a business, an open source app should meet your demands. Then, as your profits are growing, you can turn that app into a more advanced solution with a large number of features. It will add to the durability and usability of that app, as well as improve the entire online experience that the customers have with your venture.
Quality vs. instantaneity
Obviously, an app created on an open source platform can be completed instantly. For some types of businesses and business owners, its functionality will suffice to the given moment.
What’s more, if the open source software used for making an app is developed and updated by skilled developers, you can even use that app for a longer period of time.
However, it’s highly likely that you won’t be able to compete with the rivals that have wide-scale apps built from scratch. In some specific fields, like the aforementioned eCommerce, each and every second wasted on app load time or any glitches within the app lead to lower conversion rates.
So, although your open source app serves its purpose for a longer period of time, you can’t expect that it will stand the test of time when compared with other apps on the market, made from ground zero.
The bottom-line when talking about quality and instantaneity regarding mobile app development is that building an app from scratch is a more logical option for full-blown, long-term operability.
Maintenance in open source and scratch apps
You don’t have to be an app-developing genius to conclude that maintaining an open-source app is cheaper than handling your own app. Here you don’t have to pay developers to come up with custom-made updates and plugins. You simply rely on the additions developed and implemented by the community on the platform you’ve chosen.
But if you have a fast-growing project that demands constantly adding new features to your app, this is something that no open source community can follow. They have their closed set of features and updates which you can’t change.
As opposed to that, building and running your own app means that you can change it frequently. What’s more, if you collaborate with experienced and well-organized app developers, you can have those things added at the spur of the moment.
Therefore, for quickly-evolving ventures that will constantly need some additions, making an app from scratch is a more appropriate choice.
The final word
When you’re at the crossroads and you have to choose between an open source app and its counterpart made from scratch, take into account our considerations from this article. Even if your budget is sufficient enough for a fully custom-made app, don’t waste your money unless that app will pay off through your business. Contrary to that, if you don’t have enough money to build an app from scratch but your venture desperately needs one, try to find a way to finance it. In a nutshell, your current and future business needs are the major criteria that should be used when making this decision.
If you’re still in two minds over this question, our developers can advise you and give you even more details about each of these two options.