How much does a mobile app for a community cost?

An app for your community, yes. But at what cost, and for what exactly? I’ll walk you through the three ways to pay, and what each one includes.

It is often the first question I get. And it is a fair one: between an agency quote and a ready-made solution, the gap can be huge.

The right price depends less on the app itself than on what it has to do for your members, and on what it will cost you in two or three years.

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What a community app budget should cover

A community app is not a simple showcase. Before comparing offers, check that each one really includes:

• Community features: Activity feed, spaces, chat, private messages, profiles, search.
• Your courses, with each member’s progress.
• Push notifications, to announce a live session or a new lesson.
• Your brand: logo, colors, community name.
• Updates, as phones and WordPress evolve.
• Your data: where is it stored, and who keeps control of it?

A low price that leaves out half of this list always ends up costing more.

Custom build, subscription or lifetime license: three ways to pay for your app

1. Custom development

An agency designs your app from scratch. You get exactly what you asked for, but it takes specifications, several months of work and a matching budget. Then comes maintenance, new iOS and Android versions, fixes. It is the right choice for a very specific project, rarely for a community that already exists.

2. A platform subscription

You rent a community and its app, often with a price that grows with the number of members or features. Getting started is fast. In return, your members and your content live somewhere else, and the bill arrives every month for as long as the community exists.

3. A lifetime license on your own site

Your community already runs on WordPress with Fluent Community. You add a plugin that gives it a real app, and you pay for it once. That is what FC Pulse does: a lifetime license, updates and support, and data that stays on your server.

FC Pulse plans, the mobile app for Fluent Community

FC Pulse comes with a lifetime license, and every plan includes all the features:

• 1 site, for your community.
• 10 sites or 25 sites, with white label, if you build communities for your clients.
• The 1 site + app pack: FC Pulse and Maymoune Ultra lifetime, your iPhone and Android app under your name on the App Store and Google Play.

During the launch, every plan is available at Founder pricing, for a limited time.

With every license, your members get everything: the Activity feed, spaces, courses, chat, messages, and push notifications that you write, target and schedule yourself.

Compare over three years, not one month

The right math is done over time. Add up what each option will cost you over three years, updates included, then look at what it brings in: members who come back, completed courses, announcements that get read.

The FC Pulse dashboard shows exactly that: app opens, active members and notification subscribers. You know what your app brings, with numbers to back it up.

If your community already lives on Fluent Community, a lifetime license is the simplest way to give it a real app. The Founder offer is limited to the launch.

To go further, read how to create the mobile app for your community, find out why I built FC Pulse or browse the FAQ.

To follow what’s new in FC Pulse and talk with other users, join the FC Pulse community on Sdravobiz.

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