How Much Does it Cost to Develop MLM Software?

Building software for network marketing companies entails multiple stages of software development where each stage accounts for fixed or variable costs. To develop an effective software that supports multi-level marketing (MLM) business model, software engineers are accountable for quick and accurate estimations. The cost of developing MLM software can be deduced from such estimations and calculations.

MLM software development is a custom software development project, where the costs can vary or fluctuate depending on the features being included or excluded. These costs determine the MLM software pricing and have a crucial role in assessing how the software would perform in sales with the assigned prices.

However, it is not easy to estimate the costs of MLM software development. There are several factors that influence these costs and their impact varies on the basis of client, software developer, and project. If there is a clearly defined set of features, then an average cost of developing MLM software can be figured out.

Average Cost of MLM Software Development

Generally, the cost of building an MLM software is incumbent upon the time and effort that is put through. Software development projects usually cost somewhere between $25,000 and $75,000. However, some projects, where more time and effort is spent, can take up nearly $100,000 in development. These estimations denote that developing MLM software is an expensive affair.

Perhaps, that is the reason why software engineers and developers have to make accurate calculations on the costs of developing MLM software before commencing the project. Inaccurate calculations can lead to major problems for software development companies. Besides the fact that they can easily exceed the software development budget, there is also a looming fear of an unwanted increase in the pricing of the software. If the cost of MLM software development increases, its commercial pricing increases. And, at high prices, it is difficult for a software developer to generate more sales and stay competitive.

Hence, to deduce the average cost of developing MLM software, there are several components that need to be considered and calibrated. The total cost of building MLM software comprises direct and indirect expenses.

MLM Software Development – Direct Expenses

Here’s a list of some of the key components that directly affect the cost of developing an MLM software:

• Human resources: Salaries of software engineers, developer teams, etc.
• Computing resources: Purchasing hardware and software for gaining development capabilities.
• Shared resources: Licensing of software resources for cost-effective and distributed development.
• Amenities: Bills of power supply, internet connection, and other infrastructural components.

These costs can also increase if the MLM software development project needs to allocate specific funds for mitigating risks specific to the development.

MLM Software Development – Indirect Expenses

Some of the key components that indirectly affect the cost of developing MLM software include:

• Quality control: Spending on software engineering procedures to ensure that the MLM software product meets the goals and creates a best-value proposition for the end-users.
• Audits: Expenses accounted for by external and internal reviews of the MLM software for checking its adherence to project roadmap.
• Security checks and mitigation: A systematic expenditure of products and tools used for improving the security of the MLM software without compromising on the functionality.
• Regulatory compliance: Conformance costs of compliance to international IT and software development standards.

Estimating these indirect expenses is usually less accurate as they tend to have a variable component that keeps fluctuating the costs on a per-case basis.

What is the average cost of developing MLM software?

When an accurate calculation of direct and indirect expenses is completed, a software development company can estimate the average cost of its MLM software project. Based on the market research, MLM software takes less than $50,000 for development, which leads to comprehensive pricing of $2,200 for single licensing. Some software development companies offer their MLM software products at a higher price for a perpetual licensing agreement.

Also read: What is a Realistic or Efficient Time-frame to Start an MLM Business?

MLM Software Development Cost Breakdown

Like any other software, MLM software development involves multiple stages. These phases of software development play a key role in the distribution of costs across an MLM software project. The key stages of MLM software development include:

1. Platform
2. UI/UX Design
3. Development
4. Testing & Deployment

Here’s an estimated breakdown of the MLM software development cost across these stages:

#1 Platform

The first cut of the software development project goes to the selection of the platform being used for the MLM software. This involves the selection of the targeted operating system(s) on which the MLM software would be used. It also involves using the tools that ensure the software development supports the targeted platform and its configuration prerequisites.

MLM software developed on the Microsoft Windows platform is less expensive than others. A majority of network marketing companies are bootstrapped to their budgets and use Windows OS for their operations. This stage can take up nearly 10% of the total MLM software development costs. Programming of Windows OS applications and software is pretty much streamlined, so there are very few chances of exceeding the estimations.

#2 UI/UX Design

Product design is a critical component of the MLM software development lifecycle. Designing the User Interface of the MLM software is a craft that involves A/B testing. Different versions of UI are created and tested to meet the functional and graphical expectations of the MLM software. Out of these, only one or two UI designs are selected and finalized as the skins for the MLM software. Hence, this is the first stage where cost estimations need to be effective in order to avoid overspending on unwanted UI designs.

Designing the User Experience components of the MLM software is also a major task in the development process. This part focuses on the usability of the MLM software. Most software development companies do not shy away from spending generously for an improved UX design. In MLM software products, designing the UX takes a lot of effort but less time.

To sum it up, the average cost of UI/UX design for an MLM software also added, which roughly takes up 20% of the total MLM software development costs.

#3 Development

A major chunk of MLM software development costs goes into the development. More than 50% of the project budget ends up being spent in this stage. The development of MLM software applications requires less time compared to other software products. However, a majority of human, hardware, and software resources are consumed in this stage. The software developers have to take care of user support while developing the software.

Here’s an estimated breakdown of costs entailed by the development stage:

• MLM software features – 30%
• MLM Plan complexities and support – 10%
• Web development – 20%
• Working hours – 5%
• Third-party integrations – 20%
• Customizations – 15%

Developing features takes a lot of time and effort both. At the same time, the software faces challenges when developed for complex MLM compensation plans. Integrating third-party tools, especially payment gateways, entails annual licensing charges. There is also a specific amount of money spent on CMS integrations and front-end/back-end web development. The major variable costing component in the development phase is the instances of customizations requested by clients and faced by software engineers.

#4 Testing & Deployment

In the last phase, the remaining costs of MLM software development are spent wisely on quality assurance services. This helps software developers prevent and resolve possible bugs. Depending on the complexity of the MLM software product, the testing expenses could vary. In addition to this, software developers also spend invariably on the deployment of the software into real-world end-user environments. There is also a significant amount of money spent on providing support to the software during the initial pre-sale period.

MLM Software Development Costs – Non-Technical Factors

Before the project gets wrapped up, the software development company may also be spending some extra bucks on additional, non-technical elements of MLM software development.

• Staff experience – Seniority of software engineers and developers
• IT modernization – Infrastructural upgrades
• Regionalization – Migrating to different locations and marketplaces

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