Best 20 Mobile App companies - May, 2025

Mobile apps have taken over the world already, there’s no doubt. As of April 2022, there were 2.87 million apps in Google Play Store, and 1.96 million apps in Apple's App Store. The process of designing, programming, building and launching an app is called mobile app development. Apps must be useful or entertaining to users, have excellent design, certain set of features, and, of course, be stable and functional. Thus, a practice has been established to delegate this task to expert mobile app development companies.

Whether platform-specific, like iOS apps or Android apps, or cross-platform, or wearable apps, or IoT apps, etc., app development is the ongoing process which does not halt with launching and publishing. Mobile apps tend to grow, extend in functionality, upgrade to new versions, redesign or rebrand, as well as have to provide maintenance and support. Obviously, most of businesses cannot sustain those operations in house.

Best 20 Mobile App companies - May, 2025

Created at: 05/10/2018, 11:38:41
Updated at: 14/04/2022, 08:29:33

What is an app development company?

We need to take a step back here and go to basics. A development company is a team of experts that develop something, some product or service. In our case, it is mobile apps. Building, designing and launching an app is called "mobile app development" and that's what these companies (aka agencies, studios, developers) provide.

It's a rather complex set of services, involving software programming, project management, design and UX, quality assurance, support and maintenance. Yet, with stunning rise of app popularity, development companies started popping up all over the world in hundreds. As a rule, these agencies are small teams up to 2-3 dozens of coders, designers and marketers, most of whom are young, creative and skilled enough experts.

Today's app agencies are quick to adapt to market realities, and thus their services include: mobile strategy (to make a proper business plan), development, design & UX, quality assurance, marketing, launching & maintenance, as well as innovative aspects, e.g. AR, VR, Artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, Machine learning (ML), Big data, etc.

In regards to coding, there isn't a problem to find any kinds of experts in a specific language, framework, library, database, SDK or whatever else. There are companies that provide native app development - like exclusive iOS or Android apps, cross-platform development - aka hybrid development of apps working similarly on all devices, custom app development - coding an app with unique set of features from scratch and without using presets, or even all types of app development.

How to choose the right mobile app company

Start with your app itself: idea, concept, type, prototype, business model, etc. Clear-cut vision will help both to find the right app development agency and to meet the deadlines of development stages. Finding a company is known as “discovery stage” and it encompasses several steps/aspects, ending ideally with a project price offer from 2 or 3 companies.

A thorough research will typically include:

Website and portfolio - the face and first presentation, offering a glance at company’s work, style and capabilities. Professional mobile app development services should be able to have a professional and perfect website, hinting at the fact that clients should expect the same.
Team - see who will be working on a mobile app as developers, designers, project managers, marketers (LinkedIn or social media profiles), check their skills and spirit, as those are the people you will be communicating with over next few months and entrusting them your business idea execution.
Customer reviews - but be sure to find the authentic feedback, as often testimonials of the official website are generic and doubtful. Check other sources, tech portals and topical directories, social media to learn more about the reputation of a given mobile app development company.

By the way, the goal of our present ThinkMobiles directory with Mobile developers category is to aid such research. Here you may find information about location, size, expertise area, portfolio, customer reviews about each app development agency. You might also visit our blog post - 20 top mobile app development companies all over the world for some really great suggestions.

Important things to explore

To answer the question “how to select a mobile app development company” you might want to take a closer look at few factors. Based on the specifics and business goals, we recommend researching the following aspects: type and/or size of mobile company, location, hourly developer rates, similar projects in portfolio. There’s always temptation to choose the one that will cost less, but that’s a really huge risk to the quality of the end product.

Size/type/structure

Enterprise mobile app developers or boutique app development agencies - which would suit your better? On the one hand, big guys like Fueled or Savvy Apps offer proven skills to build any kind of apps, capable of hosting up to millions of users. On the other hand they work at high rates and personal touch might fall prey to company’s production standards. Smaller teams, 10-30 members as a rule, may offer close relationship throughout the process, more dedication and creativity. There’s no good or bad here, the question is what type does one prefer?

Location

The market of app development services provides 3 options: onshore, nearshore and offshore teams. This is about communication and supervision preferences. Onshore companies are your fellow countrymen, which means the same language, culture, time zones and maybe even a city. For Northern America and Western Europe the downside is that onshore app developers work at high rates.

Nearshore companies are located in neighboring or close countries, probably in the same time zone, and working at lower rates. For US clients, nearshore app developers are typically from Latin America, for example. Offshore companies are the ones from countries far from yours, say Eastern Europe to the USA. Of course, there are risks to such type of mobile app development outsourcing, although modern tools of communication and strict process guidelines may smooth things out.

Hourly rates

There might be an option to set the fixed price for the whole project, though, as practice shows, most contracts imply hourly developer rates. For cases with limited budgets, this often turns out to be the crucial factor. US and Canadian app development companies are known for the highest rates - according to Statista, $100 to $150 on average.

Rates in Western Europe vary from country to country, the average range for hourly work is $70-$115. Companies in Eastern Europe, e.g. Poland or Ukraine, one of the most popular choices due to talent, charge between $30 and $60.

Relationship

One final point to make is relationship. Things may be very bright and promising on paper, and yet one will always discover the real situation when talking to the team. One extra step is also finding out about a company’s past projects that are similar to what you are planning. Meet the CEO in person or talk to developers on the phone and you’ll see if their values and possibilities match your goals, think how well would you get along in the process.

Best 20 Mobile App companies - May, 2025