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I have a website for high school and college wrestling. It stores data for the users and they can generate reports, see statistics, etc. It's been running for 4 seasons now and I have around 350 accounts.

I'm close to releasing my Android App that will allow users to score matches from a tablet at matside and upload the results to the website vs manually entering the results on the website from a scorebook.

I offer the website free to users; I generate some revenue from ads. I'm having problems deciding on a price for the app, since it's really unique.

Should I charge for the website and give the app out free or charge for both? This app will only be of use to people that have an account on my website.

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  • Hey gowfer, welcome to Freelancing SE! I edited this to put the spotlight on your question and make sure the title matches. Please feel free to clarify further if needed. Hope this helps.
    – jmort253
    Sep 11, 2014 at 3:52
  • go through the blog for cost estimation : blaze-core.com/much-cost-develop-app-game
    – Hemant Metalia
    Dec 15, 2014 at 9:58

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Good question, with such a small user base one cannot do many experiments.

There is a fine line between "covering your costs" and "making a profit". Users tend to accept the first but tend to get unhappy about the second. If you decide on asking a price then you want to explain your decision accordingly. With a good reasoning you can charge a price that your users consider as being reasonable.

So you would want to ensure that asking for compensation is based on the app offering a distinct benefit to the user. You will want to get the user into the mindset of them getting their moneys worth.

On the other hand, with 350 users and not everybody wanting to purchase the app, probably you can expect only a contribution towards the expense of running the website. App prices are on a all time low. A dollar or two is not much to cover developers expenses. The web site will have a ongoing cost, developing and maintaining an app are ongoing expenses, too. Selling an app is a one-off event.

One thing that comes to mind is a subscription model. You could charge the user for access per season. That way you would have a more regular form of income.

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Pump the brakes!

Stop developing the app and see if you can monetize the website first. Marketing!!! Clean it up and make it stable. Make your payment process 100% easy for the users.

It makes no sense to go on to develop an app if you can't do the above first. Then you'd have two products where neither are making money.

An interim would be to make the site mobile-ready, and curtail the need for a separate app completely. But you still shouldn't take this step until you've figured out how to expand past your 350 users.

"If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense."

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  • Releasing the app is a pretty good form of marketing... if he's almost done with it, he might as well finish it.
    – user45623
    Mar 24, 2017 at 1:36
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Why not open a little enquête for your users? Ask what they would be willing to pay for what service, and in what way (per season or once). Like this you get an overview of your target audience and you can calculate the consequences of pricing the app and pricing the website.

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