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The question usually arrives as a cost comparison: salaries against a quote. For a company whose main business is not software, the more useful question is who carries the app in its second year, when the launch is over and the fixes, updates and new requests keep coming.
Build in house when the app is the product itself, it will change every week for years, and you already have someone who can lead engineers. Hire an agency when the app supports a business you already run, when you need a first version without a hiring round, or when you would be hiring your first developer. Often the best fit is a third route: an agency builds version one on a fixed price, and you bring the work in house later, with the handover in the contract from the start.
Most articles on this topic list pros and cons. The decision is easier from the other end: start from the situation your company is actually in. For the side by side comparison of both models, see build in house vs outsource app development.
A startup whose revenue is the app, planning frequent releases and a roadmap measured in years.
Our readBuild a team in house. An agency can still build the first version while you hire.A contractor, clinic, manufacturer or service company that needs software for its crews, customers or office, such as custom HVAC software or a construction crew app.
Our readUse an agency. A permanent team would sit idle between phases of work.No technical leader inside the company, and the plan is one mobile developer who does everything.
Our readUse an agency, or hire a technical lead first. One developer alone carries every risk of the project.An internal team with a backlog and a deadline it cannot meet on its own.
Our readAdd capacity rather than a separate project: a developer who joins your existing team.More than one developer. An app that reaches customers needs mobile development, a backend, design, testing and someone who owns releases to the App Store and Google Play. Few companies need all of that full time.
The common plan is to hire one mobile developer and let them handle the rest. It works until that person is on holiday, leaves, or reaches a part of the project they have never done, such as the backend, a payment flow or a store review. From then on the whole app depends on one calendar and one memory.
Recruiting also takes months before any code is written, and a new hire spends the first weeks learning how your business works. For an app with a clear first version, that is usually slower than a team that already works together and has shipped similar products.
Mostly day to day proximity and, if the contract is careless, ownership. Proximity can be managed with a steady demo rhythm. Ownership has to be settled on paper before work starts.
The real risks are rarely about talent. They are about who holds the keys: developer accounts registered to the agency, a repository you cannot open, a backend running on someone else's cloud bill. Each of these turns an ordinary change of supplier into a rescue project.
Ask for the opposite from day one: store accounts in your company's name, the repository in your organisation, infrastructure billed to you, and documentation delivered with the code. On our own projects, the delay we see most often sits exactly here, with access to accounts and third party services arriving later than planned, so we ask for all of it in the first week.
Here is how the same app typically moves through its first year under each model.
The in house column is not the worse one. It ends with capability that stays in the company. The real question is whether you need that capability every month, or mainly need a first version that works and is looked after.
Whoever builds the app, this list decides whether you can change suppliers, or bring the work in house, without starting over.
An agency for version one, your own people for the years after, with the handover planned before the first line of code.
A fixed price first version gets a working app into real use without a hiring round. Once it has proven itself, you choose: keep the agency for maintenance and further phases, or hire one or two developers who take over a codebase that was built to be handed over. How fixed price delivery works is covered in fixed price app development.
A handover is complete only when your own team can publish a release without calling the previous one. What that transfer involves, and in what order, is described in taking over a live mobile app. Larger contracts with us also include a one year warranty on the software, which covers the period when your team is still learning the code.
For a single app with a defined first version, outsourcing is usually cheaper, because you pay for a project rather than a permanent team. In house becomes cheaper when the app needs full time development for years. Our price bands are on the pricing page.
Yes, and for companies outside software it is often the best route. Put code ownership, accounts in your company's name and documentation into the contract, so your own developers can take over without a rescue project.
Working builds on real devices every two weeks, one decision maker on your side, and a written scope in which changes are agreed before they affect the price.
The source code in your own repository, design files, store developer accounts in your company's name, cloud infrastructure billed to you, and documentation. Delivery should close with a signed acceptance protocol.
Usually not a lone mobile developer. If you plan a long term team, a technical lead who can make architecture decisions and hire the next people is the safer first hire.
Outsourcing hands over a project with a defined result. A dedicated developer joins your existing team and works under your direction, which suits companies that already have engineers and a backlog.
Thomas sets the company's long term strategy and direction, identifies market opportunities, and owns business development and client acquisition. He builds strategic partnerships that last beyond a single project. He works with clients from the first strategy conversation, so their business goals, not just their feature list, drive every decision.
Tell us what the app has to do and who would look after it after launch. We will tell you honestly whether an agency makes sense for it, and what the first version should include.
30 minutes, no preparation needed.