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What Will it Cost to Build a Python Application?

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Anna Sharland
What Will it Cost to Build a Python Application?

What does it cost to build a Python application? If you’re not an experienced software developer, you probably haven’t thought much about this. But as your project grows, you might start to wonder what it will cost to get your application built. It doesn’t help that there are so many different programming languages and frameworks that can make it difficult to estimate how much it will cost to build a Python application of any particular size.


Read in this Blog - How Much Does it Cost to Build a Python Application?


The answer depends on the language

There are many factors which go into making an accurate estimate of development costs. But, when it comes to cost estimation, there’s one question that is almost always asked: How much will it cost to build my application in Python? The short answer is – A LOT! Although Python boasts its simplicity and code readability for its popularity; quite simply, building high-quality software on top of Python is not cheap... or fast. At least not inexpensively or quickly. That said, we won’t stop anyone from trying – but they should be prepared for battle (if they know what I mean). To make an informed decision before going to battle (in other words before starting your project), you need to first identify your current developer demographics and technical expertise as well as your estimated budget constraints (they have got to be constrained right?) and goals for releasing a new version of your product or service within a given time frame.


The development environment

Typically, you will be working in an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) such as PyCharm or Atom. While either of these are great tools for most developers, there is no denying that both of them can be resource hogs. They do offer excellent code completion and debugging capabilities, but if you're trying to run your application in Docker containers on machines with minimal RAM or processing power then you might want to look into cloud-based IDEs like Cloud9 instead. With their online platforms and instant collaboration features, they'll get you up and running quicker than any local installation possibly could. Plus they have version control integration built right in!


How much does an engineer cost per hour?

A common piece of advice that startup founders are given is not to hire developers but rather learn how to do everything on your own. While there’s certainly some wisdom in trying new things, a better approach might be to first determine what you need, then go out and hire someone who can get your job done right. Hiring an experienced developer is far more cost-effective than wasting time learning something yourself—and can save you months if not years of development time. The cost per hour of building a software product depends on several factors like experience level and type of work but ranges from $50/hour (for junior developers) all the way up to $500+/hour for senior-level engineers.


Development tools, libraries, and frameworks

To build your application, you'll need development tools. For example, if you plan on using a web framework like Django or Flask, then that's going to require installing something called pip to help manage dependencies for you. pip is typically installed via an executable like easy_install or pip install. If you're planning on deploying code as standalone scripts (instead of inside of a framework), then nothing extra is required - just grab whatever libraries are required and start coding! Again, once you've written your code and want to test things out in production, you'll need some kind of server(s) and deployment software.


Keeping track of your expenses

If you have an idea that’s worth pursuing and decide to start a business around it, then it’s critical that you keep track of your expenses. Though you may be ready to spend all of your time working on your new startup, you won’t find any new customers or clients if your startup is dead broke.


The implementation

Traditionally, web applications were written in languages like Java and PHP. These days, however, there’s an increased focus on developing with programming languages such as Python and Ruby on Rails. The benefits of writing with these newer languages are clear: you get higher productivity through tools such as REPL (read-eval-print loop) environments and libraries for just about any task. But how much does it cost to build a python application compared to other technologies like Java or .NET?


Conclusion

What’s Next for your Company? With that being said, you might be wondering how much it will cost to build a Python application. At its core, Python is free and open source. You can download and use it as long as you want without paying any licensing fees. Even if you want support and/or training, there are some paid offerings available (not necessarily from independent developers). In addition, most companies that rely on Python need developers who already know how to code in another language or framework first before they can contribute their skills to create applications with the language. Many organizations choose Python because of its ease of use and efficiency over other options.

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Anna Sharland
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