Short-video social app development cost
Upload, transcode, rank and serve video at consumer scale. Priced as an app with similar functionality to TikTok or Reels, at US rates and launch scope.
Planning range, not a quote. Every figure comes from the same engine the calculator runs on.
What makes it expensive
Video is expensive on every axis at once: client engineering, transcoding compute, storage, bandwidth and moderation. The feed ranking is a machine learning system with an evaluation loop, not a sort order, and bandwidth becomes a permanent operating cost that scales with watch time rather than revenue.
What is in scope
- In-app capture and editing
- Transcoding pipeline and adaptive playback
- Ranked feed with a recommendation model
- Moderation at volume
Where the money goes
The six largest disciplines in this build. The calculator shows all 11, itemised down to individual features.
| Discipline | Hours | Share | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineering | 2,925 | 34% | $430,000 |
| DevOps & cloud | 960 | 11% | $145,000 |
| iOS engineering | 870 | 10% | $125,000 |
| QA & testing | 1,225 | 9% | $120,000 |
| Project management | 880 | 9% | $115,000 |
| Android engineering | 640 | 7% | $95,000 |
The same product at four standards of finish
Identical answers, four levels of depth. This is usually the most useful comparison on the page, because it is the decision you actually control.
Advanced is highlighted because that is what this example is configured at.
What it costs to keep running
Separate from the build, because operating cost scales with usage and development cost does not.
per month at 400,000 monthly users
21% – 28% of build cost
1,175 peak concurrent users