Exploring the Economics of Mobile App Hosting Costs
People might think that they know everything about app development. But sometimes, this knowledge is limited to features and app design. And while these are very important parts of the process, as well as having proper knowledge of them, there is still more to learn about app development. One of the veiled mysteries in the app development process that many may not know about is app hosting. App hosting is one of the most important steps in creating an effective and efficient application. So, what is app hosting, and most importantly, what are mobile app app hosting costs?
In this article, we will shed light on this exciting and fundamental step of app development and how it can transform a mediocre application into a superb one.
What is Mobile App Hosting?
Mobile app hosting might sound like an unfamiliar term that users don’t know. However, developers and people involved in the tech realm are very aware of it. After developing an application, writing codes for each part, and ensuring that everything falls into place, developers try to find a way to run all of these components and manage incoming users’ requests. And this is where app hosting joins the group. App hosting is the process of running and storing all the components and databases of an application on an infrastructure. It is how developers will be able to handle requests and user demands. App hosting is also what makes an app ready for usage at all times by developers and users.
The Process of Mobile App Hosting
The process of hosting an app usually consists of four steps. The first step is the server and infrastructure setup. The developer would start choosing the type of server and looking for the service provider to make sure that the app’s requirements align with what he chooses. The second step is deployment. After choosing the type of hosting and the provider, the developer gets ready to deploy the apps with all their contents. This involves codes, files, databases, and so on.
The next step after deployment is configuration. Developers can’t expect that only uploading the app’s contents will be the green light for running the app. First must come configuration, which involves adjusting the infrastructure for the deployed application. After that, the app should be ready to run and be accessed by all users. The last step is maintenance and scaling. As the application grows, developers will discover some drawbacks, especially with performance. This will require a constant process of maintenance as well as scaling to adapt to the growing demand. Now that we are done with the process, let us move on to the types.
Types of Mobile App Hosting
Cloud Hosting
The practice of “cloud hosting” involves storing mobile applications on virtual servers made available by cloud service providers. By allowing users to simply increase or decrease the amount of resources allocated, this hosting model provides scalability, flexibility, and dependability. Hosting in the cloud frees up developers to concentrate on creating and releasing mobile apps rather than managing physical infrastructure. Cloud hosting companies also provide a plethora of features and services, such as storage solutions, databases, and content distribution networks, so developers may pick and choose the resources that work best for their apps. Mobile app data is protected and always available with cloud hosting’s powerful security measures, and backup capabilities.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is a service where a single user or organization has exclusive usage of a server, in this case for mobile applications. With this hosting model, all of the resources of the server are devoted to running only one mobile app, which results in peak speed, dependability, and security. Dedicated hosting gives developers complete command over the server, so they may tailor the server to their app’s needs in terms of hardware configuration, software dependencies, and security. Apps with a lot of users, business apps, or systems that are vital to the operation of the company should use dedicated hosting since it provides the best performance, reliability, and security.
Serverless Hosting
Serverless hosting, also known as FaaS, is the process of deploying the algorithms of a mobile app’s backend as separate functions. These functions run in a managed serverless environment. It is a very advanced technology that many apps are now considering and utilizing. By concealing the details of the underlying infrastructure, developers may concentrate on creating code instead of managing, scaling, or provisioning servers. The advantages of serverless hosting include automatic scalability and decreased operational overhead. This is due to the dynamic allocation of resources in response to incoming requests. With serverless platforms like AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, or Azure Functions, developers of mobile apps can construct scalable, event-driven app architectures. This means that the app’s backend functionality can be activated in reaction to different events or user actions.
How Does Effective Mobile App Hosting Benefit Apps?
As we have illustrated above, the process of mobile app hosting is not an easy one and requires much attention and focus to prevent any drawbacks. So, what about doing everything right and completing the process as it should? In this case, how would effective hosting impact the application? Let us find out!
Enhanced Performance
When an application runs on a solid, efficient infrastructure, it performs better. This is in terms of measures like latency, navigation uniformity, and speed. Users will have a better time using the app because of the improved performance; they won’t have to deal with annoying delays or disruptions as often. Additionally, optimized hosting settings can easily handle traffic spikes, keeping the app responsive even during peak demand periods.
Reliability and High Availability
Regardless of external factors like server outages, dependable hosting services keep mobile apps operational and accessible to consumers at all times. An efficient hosting solution will lower the possibility of downtime and increase the uptime of mobile apps. This is through using failover methods, load balancing, and redundant infrastructure. Users are more likely to stick with the app and participate often when they realize they can always count on it.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
To reduce the impact of server outages, cyberattacks, and other unexpected occurrences, effective mobile app hosting solutions can provide strong disaster recovery and operational safeguards. Powerful hosting platforms guarantee the security and accessibility of app data through the implementation of backup mechanisms, and reliable infrastructure. In addition, disaster recovery plan strategies are designed to automatically transfer traffic to an alternate infrastructure in the event of an outage. This ensures the user experiences minimal disruptions and that services remain available.
What Should You Take into Consideration When Hosting Your App
An effective mobile app hosting process looks like a delight to have, given its many benefits. However, such an important process can’t pass normally. There have to be factors that developers should take into consideration to ensure an effective mobile app hosting process. And since we are also talking about the mobile app hosting costs, we will mention how each would affect the total cost. Without further ado, let us explore a few.
Amount of Data
The first thing that affects the mobile app hosting process, as well as the costs, is the amount of data. Through the hosting processes we have illustrated before, the developer would need to deploy everything that the app contains, including the data. So, if a developer has an app, for instance, an educational app, he would expect large volumes of data to be included. This involves photos, material, and so on. In this case, the hosting process would be more complex given the time and effort that would be invested in deploying the large volumes of data.
APIs
Another factor that adds to both the complexity and costs of mobile app hosting is APIs. APIs are major parts of any application now, so it is no surprise that an app would include one or two. However, the more the developer would need APIs, the more he would expect a different and more complex hosting process. This is because he would need different infrastructures, providers, environments, and so on. And of course, this comes with different mobile app hosting costs.
Number of Users and Requests
Lastly, what would affect the process and posts of mobile app hosting is the number of users you would be expecting. App hosting makes handling users’ requests and scalability more possible. However, the possibility of this is impacted by the number of users you would be expecting. So, let us say you are expecting a small number of users, even in the future. Then, you will look for hosting requirements and infrastructure that can handle a small number of requests effectively and not necessarily large numbers. On the other hand, if your app can gain a large number of users and requests, then you should be looking for an infrastructure that can handle them and is scalable.
Breaking Down Mobile App Hosting Costs
The last thing we are going to talk about in this article is the total cost of mobile app hosting. Now that we know the factors that affect the process as well as the costs, what does this leave developers with?
Well, there is no definite cost a developer would get for mobile app hosting. Typically, he would get different total costs from one provider to the next. So, for instance, hosting with Amazon Web Service as the main service provider would have a totally different cost than hosting with Heroku. Each one of these service providers has different pricing for deploying each GB and traffic; some have pricing per user. So, let us say you choose a provider that charges a dollar per GB, you need 50GB, and you expect to have 15,000 daily active users. Each of the users would make data transfers and requests over 10 MB per day. With these inputs, you could be looking at some hundreds of dollars needed per month for hosting. And this price will increase as the app grows.
Although these numbers are very dynamic and change from one provider to the next, this doesn’t erase the fact that mobile app hosting costs are high. A developer needs to expect an even larger number with expansion and growth. This, in addition to the development costs, can be a burden to many developers and cause many budgetary constraints.
