E-wallet application cost is a popular question today because such applications have become an essential part of our daily lives. This increasing demand for e-wallets is basically to save or integrate an online payment system, or use it to manage reward points. In this article, you’ll find the key factors that determine e-wallet development costs, stages of creating such an app, and overall cost estimation.
E-wallets or digital wallets are applications that allow users to store their payment details on their mobile devices in a secure manner. Transactions can be further made and facilitated where money can be sent and received. Digital wallets can also store cards, loyalty points, and other information. However, some of the major examples would include Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and PayPal; they provide an alluring tap-to-pay experience for goods and services.
The convenience offered by such apps has driven their acceptance to be widespread, especially in a world where contactless payment is usual. If provided, it's essential to acknowledge the key building blocks that secure your e-wallet app and guarantee its successful operation.
Let’s break it down and explore the key factors.
Many factors influence the overall cost of building an e-wallet app, starting with the selected platform and ending with the feature pool. Also, don’t forget about the app maintenance cost. To simplify, we collected all the main factors that affect the e-wallet development cost.
As much as you add features, your development cost increases. A couple of basic applications, like balance-checking and money transfer, can be very cost-effective compared to sophisticated ones such as multi-currency support, bill payments, or the integration of rewards programs. Expect a higher cost for the investment if you want a feature-rich app with biometric authentication, P2P transfers, and multi-platform support.
Development cost depends on the platform you choose - iOS, Android, or any combination of the two. Generally speaking, it will cost more to develop a project for both platforms, as there will be additional costs associated with cross-platform development. You can save on costs if you need to spend on just one platform; however, this may limit your potential user base.
Due to the numerous financial transactions performed, security is the primary priority. Creating a hard-encrypted system with secure authentication methods, such as 2FA, and compliance with regulatory standards like GDPR or PCI-DSS incurs a cost in development expenses.
A well-designed, intuitive interface is key to user retention. A simple and functional design is often cheaper, but you will need to invest more in a custom, high-end UI to effectively engage the user.
There is also a charge for integrating third-party payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, and others. Integrations become more expensive and complex the more payment methods you want to provide in your app.
In the building of the e-wallet app, a very important development phase is the one that practically determines the final cost. Here is what to expect at each stage of development:
At this time, the project is just entering its introductory stages. The development team works out all important details with the customer, such as defining the project scope, identifying the essential features, and creating a roadmap. The design phase basically consists of wireframing an application's user interface (UI) and developing prototypes in the process of enhancing user experience (UX). It is most useful to cover a very smooth and intuitive interface, since bad design can frustrate the user.
This phase usually takes 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how complex the app is, what features need to be integrated, and is valued at nearly 15 to 20% of the total development. So while it may seem to be brainstorming, well in advance, saving that money in avoiding unnecessary repairs later on, well, seems to be the answer.
This is where all coding gets done. The development team proceeds to implement core functionalities such as transaction processing, user authentication, and security features, like encoding. The phase lasts from eight to sixteen weeks, being the most resource-hungry and time-consuming phase.
Integration of third-party services, payment gateways, and advanced-security features introduces the complexity of the e-wallet application, making this phase more time-consuming and costly, up to 50% of the entire budget. Developing a stable application greatly increases development costs due to maintaining compatibility across various devices and platforms.
Testing is performed through top-down approaches to ensure that each function created functions properly. It checks the aspects of functionality, security, usability, and performance. The testing team detects and repairs bugs, security loopholes, and compatibility issues across various handheld devices and operating systems. Security testing is very important since e-wallets are responsible for handling sensitive financial data. It usually takes around two to four weeks, at nearly 10% to 15% of the overall development effort. It is of utmost importance to perform exposure testing because even a small fault may cost a fortune and affect the reputation of the whole application.
Once testing is successfully completed, the last phase involves deploying the app. The behind-the-scenes work during this phase includes preparing the back-end servers, ensuring compliance with app-store requirements, and verifying the establishment of customer-support channels. The app is then submitted for approval to the app stores for subsequent public release.
Depending on the complexity behind the deployment of the backend configuration and the approval processes, this phase takes one to two weeks, accounting for 10% of the total costs for the project. Anything can set back the launch, however small, thereby delaying the users from getting into your app.
The developmental process is kept alive. Full maintenance ensures an application continues to work and remains protected. Bugs can be fixed, patches and security measures added, new functions implemented, and performance tuned. The nature of ongoing requirements also tends to be founded upon user feedback.
An e-wallet app requires getting updated often since the security standards and regulations keep changing. Maintenance charges can, however, highly differ, depending on the level of effort for the update, but generally could come in around 15% to 25% of the total costs for development each year. Maintenance, therefore, is an important aspect in any budgeting considerations towards security and performance upgrades.
The cost of developing an e-wallet app in 2025 depends on its features and complexity. Basic applications cost from $30,000 to $50,000. Very feature-rich, multi-platform wallets with full security might charge up to $100,000, sometimes $200,000, or more.
With that said, it's an expense-heavy affair, with the following suggestions to save money:
Author bio
Yuliya Melnik is a technical writer at Cleveroad, a software development company that offers AI development services. She is passionate about innovative technologies that make the world a better place and loves creating content that evokes vivid emotions.
E-wallet application cost is a popular question today because such applications have become an essential part of our daily lives. This increasing demand for e-wallets is basically to save or integrate an online payment system, or use it to manage reward points. In this article, you’ll find the key factors that determine e-wallet development costs, stages of creating such an app, and overall cost estimation.
E-wallets or digital wallets are applications that allow users to store their payment details on their mobile devices in a secure manner. Transactions can be further made and facilitated where money can be sent and received. Digital wallets can also store cards, loyalty points, and other information. However, some of the major examples would include Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and PayPal; they provide an alluring tap-to-pay experience for goods and services.
The convenience offered by such apps has driven their acceptance to be widespread, especially in a world where contactless payment is usual. If provided, it's essential to acknowledge the key building blocks that secure your e-wallet app and guarantee its successful operation.
Let’s break it down and explore the key factors.
Many factors influence the overall cost of building an e-wallet app, starting with the selected platform and ending with the feature pool. Also, don’t forget about the app maintenance cost. To simplify, we collected all the main factors that affect the e-wallet development cost.
As much as you add features, your development cost increases. A couple of basic applications, like balance-checking and money transfer, can be very cost-effective compared to sophisticated ones such as multi-currency support, bill payments, or the integration of rewards programs. Expect a higher cost for the investment if you want a feature-rich app with biometric authentication, P2P transfers, and multi-platform support.
Development cost depends on the platform you choose - iOS, Android, or any combination of the two. Generally speaking, it will cost more to develop a project for both platforms, as there will be additional costs associated with cross-platform development. You can save on costs if you need to spend on just one platform; however, this may limit your potential user base.
Due to the numerous financial transactions performed, security is the primary priority. Creating a hard-encrypted system with secure authentication methods, such as 2FA, and compliance with regulatory standards like GDPR or PCI-DSS incurs a cost in development expenses.
A well-designed, intuitive interface is key to user retention. A simple and functional design is often cheaper, but you will need to invest more in a custom, high-end UI to effectively engage the user.
There is also a charge for integrating third-party payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, and others. Integrations become more expensive and complex the more payment methods you want to provide in your app.
In the building of the e-wallet app, a very important development phase is the one that practically determines the final cost. Here is what to expect at each stage of development:
At this time, the project is just entering its introductory stages. The development team works out all important details with the customer, such as defining the project scope, identifying the essential features, and creating a roadmap. The design phase basically consists of wireframing an application's user interface (UI) and developing prototypes in the process of enhancing user experience (UX). It is most useful to cover a very smooth and intuitive interface, since bad design can frustrate the user.
This phase usually takes 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how complex the app is, what features need to be integrated, and is valued at nearly 15 to 20% of the total development. So while it may seem to be brainstorming, well in advance, saving that money in avoiding unnecessary repairs later on, well, seems to be the answer.
This is where all coding gets done. The development team proceeds to implement core functionalities such as transaction processing, user authentication, and security features, like encoding. The phase lasts from eight to sixteen weeks, being the most resource-hungry and time-consuming phase.
Integration of third-party services, payment gateways, and advanced-security features introduces the complexity of the e-wallet application, making this phase more time-consuming and costly, up to 50% of the entire budget. Developing a stable application greatly increases development costs due to maintaining compatibility across various devices and platforms.
Testing is performed through top-down approaches to ensure that each function created functions properly. It checks the aspects of functionality, security, usability, and performance. The testing team detects and repairs bugs, security loopholes, and compatibility issues across various handheld devices and operating systems. Security testing is very important since e-wallets are responsible for handling sensitive financial data. It usually takes around two to four weeks, at nearly 10% to 15% of the overall development effort. It is of utmost importance to perform exposure testing because even a small fault may cost a fortune and affect the reputation of the whole application.
Once testing is successfully completed, the last phase involves deploying the app. The behind-the-scenes work during this phase includes preparing the back-end servers, ensuring compliance with app-store requirements, and verifying the establishment of customer-support channels. The app is then submitted for approval to the app stores for subsequent public release.
Depending on the complexity behind the deployment of the backend configuration and the approval processes, this phase takes one to two weeks, accounting for 10% of the total costs for the project. Anything can set back the launch, however small, thereby delaying the users from getting into your app.
The developmental process is kept alive. Full maintenance ensures an application continues to work and remains protected. Bugs can be fixed, patches and security measures added, new functions implemented, and performance tuned. The nature of ongoing requirements also tends to be founded upon user feedback.
An e-wallet app requires getting updated often since the security standards and regulations keep changing. Maintenance charges can, however, highly differ, depending on the level of effort for the update, but generally could come in around 15% to 25% of the total costs for development each year. Maintenance, therefore, is an important aspect in any budgeting considerations towards security and performance upgrades.
The cost of developing an e-wallet app in 2025 depends on its features and complexity. Basic applications cost from $30,000 to $50,000. Very feature-rich, multi-platform wallets with full security might charge up to $100,000, sometimes $200,000, or more.
With that said, it's an expense-heavy affair, with the following suggestions to save money:
Author bio
Yuliya Melnik is a technical writer at Cleveroad, a software development company that offers AI development services. She is passionate about innovative technologies that make the world a better place and loves creating content that evokes vivid emotions.