How to Calculate the Cost to Develop an App like Uber? Deep Estimation

The growing demand for Uber-like clone applications is accelerating at the speed just like your car at a highway. Just a bit of modification in the existing Uber business model and a new Taxi app is ready to rule the market.

When all the heads turn towards Uber-like taxi booking app development the only question that itches in the head is “How much will it cost to make an app like Uber?”

Here is the list of features that influences the cost to develop an app like Uber. Let’s take a sneak peek.

The Basic Features of Taxi App

While talking Taxi App, make a note an Uber will always have 2 separate applications and one admin panel each having different functionality.

1. Passenger App

2. Driver App

3. Admin/dispatcher Panel

Passenger App Modules

As the name depicts the passenger app is for users who book the taxi. Check out the basic features of passenger app essentially needed.

• Register/Login : Easy onboarding through email, social media logins, accounts etc.
• Book a Ride : An interface to set the pickup location, call a taxi, select the type of cab.
• Contact Driver : Coordinate a pickup by calling or messaging the driver.
• Track Driver’s Location : Check the driver’s real time location through GPS tracking.
• Price Calculator : Check the estimated cost of a ride from point A to point B.
• Payment Option : In-app card payment through credit/debit card. If not this, passenger can pay directly to driver by cash.
• Cancel Booking : Customers can cancel trips anytime in case of any plan changes.
• Push Notifications : Keep your users updated on order status, estimated time of taxi arrival, car model, drivers name etc.
• Trip History/ Ratings and Reviews : Check booking history, messages, ratings & reviews etc.

Driver App Modules

• Easy Registration : Drivers can request a signup and add the necessary details.
• Real Time Requests : Drivers get notified for new ride requests with all the pickup details.
• Accept/Reject : Drivers can accept or reject ride in limited time frame.
• Trip Information : Drivers get the pickup and drop information about their customers.
• Navigation : Built-in navigation with Google Maps to provide the best route and ETA information.
• Contact Passenger : Drivers can make calls to passenger to clarify pick up location.
• Start/End Trip : Drivers can start and end the trip to generate the automated bill.
• Track Earnings : View entire job history and daily earnings.

After building these two applications, the Admin/dispatcher panel is required who will manage the operations and performance, manage drivers and customers.

An Admin Can:

• Manage customers.
• Manage vehicles.
• Manage dispatchers.
• Track trip.
• Create new booking requests.
• Start/end trip.
• Contact passenger.
• Track earnings.
• Rate customers.
• Provide help & support to passenger and driver.

The Cost Components Depends upon these major portions of work that is involved into an app like Uber.

The Backend Work Include Following Nuggets of Tasks:

1. UI/UX Design

UI, UX designs for taxi app must be handcrafted keeping in mind the holy grail of the domain. It demands more simplicity, intuitiveness and clarity.

Design Timeline : The Design timing of taxi app massively depends upon your choice of to-do list for us that will include the list of functionalities, features and other interactive elements. Check out our design style.

2. Users Registration/ Login Page

For Users : Traditionally, users are required to create a profile on the taxi app before booking their ride. But in order to increase the user base in your early stages “no profile bookings” can serve as a great giveaway. Email registrations are again conventional but social media integrations are more effortless and time savior.

For Drivers : For driver app the registration process can be much demanding and complicated requesting for a photo, car license, plate number, driver’s license copy etc.

User Profile Add Ons : You may opt for integrating a rating and reviews system for better app security and increased customer satisfaction. This feature will allow your customers to rate and review about your services like driver’s behavior and hospitality which further can be of great help to you in deciding whether to charge a fine or gift a bonus.

Development Timeline : Typically user registration and profile creation requires 120-140 hours of time. (Not to mention, time decreases as the manpower increases) It’s all depended on the project deadline.

3. Geo-location Services and Routing

While Uber is hailed as a location-based startup from day one, routing and GPS technology from the bandwagon comes as a holy need. GPS technology helps you identify your customers’ current position, help your users fetch the neighborhood taxis and build the best route for the driver.

Technology Stack

• To identify a device’s location:

The Uber app for iOS uses the Core Location framework to locate a user’s device. While Geolocation for the Android version of the Uber app was implemented using Google’s Location APIs.

• To provide driving directions:

To display point-to-point directions on a map within the app, developers of the Uber app for iOS used MapKit. Android routes and directions are made possible by the Google Maps Android API.

• Integrating with mapping software:

Initially Uber was paying Google for accessing their solutions (Google Maps for both Android and iOS versions of their app). But later on the taxi giant buyed mapping technology companies to solve their logistics issues. In you early stages, you can simply ace up the game with Google maps integration with your taxi app.

Development Timeline : It takes approximately 120-140 hours to build location and routing functionality.

4. Push Notification and SMS

Uber uses push notifications and SMS for informing passengers about on-ride updates like driver details, ride details and other discounts on ride fare etc. and uses messaging for bridging the communication between the driver and the passenger.

Technology Stack For Push Notifications, the Google Firebase Framework or Apple Push Notifications service must be used.

While Uber uses twilio for sending messages, you can also ask your developer to pick Nexmo or Plivo for powering text messages.

Development Timeline

• Push notifications – 36 hours.
• SMS integration – 20 hours.

5. Payment Integration

Uber uses a cashless system. And its main early selling point was using an in-app payment which eliminates any human-to-human cash transfers from the equation and hence resisting the drivers to overcharge customers. Next comes is Dynamic pricing where depending on the traffic situation and car availabilities Uber takes out the pricing quote like discounts or add-on fare during peak hours. While the prize quote comes out as base fare, cost per mile, cost per minute etc.

Technology Stack To offer in-app payments you can choose to offer following payment gateway integration:

1. Braintree
2. Paypal
3. Stripe
4. Apple Pay and Google Wallet

Development Timeline : It takes around 100-120 hours for integrating the right gateway.

How Much Does It Cost To Build UBER?

When you go for developing an app like Uber, you would need to pay for following services:

• Design
• iOS and Android Native App Development
• Backend Development
• Web Development
• Project Management
• Quality Assurance

According to our estimation and developing similar kind of taxi apps with customized features for different clients, the costs heavily depends upon the hourly rates the taxi app development company is charging which vary greatly from $20/hr-$50/hr. A total of cost for a simple taxi app may land to $25,000-$40,000 and can go as high as $100,000-$150,000.