How Building a Basic App Has Changed in 1.5 Years: A Personal Journey

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Old Way: Freelancers, Agencies, and $12,000 Later
• The New Way: Enter Replit and the AI Revolution
• What This Means for Your Business
• Implications for Development Agencies
• Looking Ahead
• The New Economics of App Development
• How much does it cost to make an app with AI tools?
• How much does it cost to design an app?
• How much does it cost to make an app yourself?
• Will AI replace programmers?
• Conclusion

Introduction

Remember when building an app took weeks, cost thousands, and involved endless headaches? That was me, just 18 months ago. Today, I'm here to share a story that captures the significant changes happening in app development—changes that are reshaping how we build and launch software.

The Old Way: Freelancers, Agencies, and $12,000 Later

Back in 2022, I had what seemed like a straightforward idea: build a web application for event planning and management for gamers. Simple enough, right? Well, my journey started like many others—with freelancers.

Let me tell you, working with freelancers was... challenging (and by challenging, I mean painful). I encountered:

• Passive-aggressive responses to reasonable requests.
• One developer who vanished with my deposit (ouch!).
• Another who was going through a midlife crisis and kept promising deliverables that never materialized.

Despite paying on time and having clear agreements, I found myself dealing more with human drama than actual product development. After this frustrating experience, I did what many people do—I turned to a professional development agency. The most frustrating part? After all this time and money, I didn't even have a functioning application or prototype to show for it.

The agency experience was definitely more professional, but it came with its own stark reality: a $12,000 price tag and a 30-business-day timeline to build what was, essentially, a basic web application. Here's what that money and time bought me:

The application was designed as a Python-based web platform with:

• User authentication system
• Event management features
• Admin dashboard
• User role management
• Responsive design
• Basic notification system

Was it functional? Yes, more or less. Was it worth $12,000 and six weeks of waiting? Well, that's where the story gets interesting.

The New Way: Enter Replit and the AI Revolution

Fast forward to 2025. I recently discovered Replit and decided to conduct an experiment: could I recreate the same application I paid $12,000 for? I expected it might take 4-6 weeks of tinkering. If you're curious about Replit and its AI capabilities, I've written a detailed review of my experience with Replit AI Agent here.

What actually happened blew my mind. Ten minutes. That's all it took. Ten minutes and approximately $5.

To put these numbers in perspective: that's a 99.96% cost reduction and a 99.8% time savings compared to my experience in 2022.

What previously required:

• $12,000 in development costs
• 30 business days of waiting
• Multiple meetings and revisions
• Numerous emails and follow-ups

Now took less time than ordering a coffee at Starbucks during busy morning hours.

What This Means for Your Business

The shift I experienced isn't just about my personal story - it represents a complete transformation in how businesses can approach software development. Consider these practical changes:

1. Test Ideas Without Breaking the Bank: Instead of risking your savings on an unproven concept, you can now validate ideas for less than the cost of a meal.
2. Build, Learn, Adjust - All in One Day: When you can create a working prototype in minutes, you're free to experiment. A failed attempt no longer means weeks of wasted time and thousands of lost dollars.
3. Anyone Can Bring Ideas to Life: Technical skills and deep pockets are no longer gatekeepers. If you can describe what you want to build, you can likely create it.
4. Better Products Through Quick Testing: With the technical heavy-lifting simplified, you can spend more time understanding your users and refining your solution to suit their needs.

Implications for Development Agencies

Traditional development agencies could face significant challenges in the coming years. When clients can build basic applications in minutes for a few dollars, the $12,000 price tag for similar work becomes increasingly hard to justify.

This doesn't mean development agencies will disappear overnight. Complex, custom solutions will still require expertise and careful development. However, agencies will need to:

• Evolve their service offerings.
• Focus on more complex, specialized solutions.
• Provide value beyond basic application development.
• Integrate AI tools into their workflow to stay competitive.

Looking Ahead

Software development is changing rapidly. What took me 10 minutes today might take 5 minutes next year, or 1 minute the year after that. We're entering an era where the limiting factor isn't technical capability or cost—it's imagination and creativity.

For entrepreneurs and startup founders, this is incredibly exciting. The barriers to entry aren't just being lowered; they're being removed. Ideas can be tested and validated faster than ever before, leading to more innovation and better solutions for end users.

The New Economics of App Development

I've received numerous questions about AI app development. Here are answers to the most common queries:

How much does it cost to make an app with AI tools?

Based on my experience, AI app development costs can be as low as $5-10 for basic applications using platforms like Replit. This represents a significant reduction from traditional development costs, which typically range from $10,000 to $100,000+ depending on complexity. The AI app development cost varies based on:

• The AI platform subscription fees (usually $5-20/month)
• Any extra services or integrations you might need
• Complexity of your application requirements
• Whether you need custom design elements

For context, what cost me $12,000 through an agency now costs about $5 using AI tools.

How much does it cost to design an app?

App design costs have also been changed by AI tools:

• Traditional app design: $2,000-$10,000 for basic UI/UX design
• AI-assisted app design: $0-50, as many AI development platforms include design capabilities.

Modern AI tools can generate responsive designs based on simple text prompts, eliminating the need for separate design services for basic applications. For custom work, you might still want a professional designer, but even then, AI tools can help lower costs.

How much does it cost to make an app yourself?

Making an app yourself in 2025 is quite affordable:

• Using no-code platforms: $15-100/month subscription fees
• Using AI coding assistants: $5-20/month subscription fees
• Traditional DIY coding: Free (aside from your time investment)

The real cost now is the learning curve and time investment rather than money spent. What took months to learn now takes days or even hours with AI assistants guiding your development process.

Will AI replace programmers?

This is the most provocative question in the industry today. After experiencing both development approaches:

• AI won’t fully replace programmers in the near future.
• Instead, it's transforming what programmers do and how they operate.
• Programmers embracing AI tools will become more productive.
• The role is shifting from writing every line of code to "AI whispering" - crafting precise prompts and requirements that help AI tools generate accurate, functional code.

Professional developers will focus more on complex problem-solving, architecture, and guiding AI systems rather than writing basic code. The field is evolving, not disappearing.

For entrepreneurs, this means you can either build simple applications yourself with AI or work with developers who use AI tools to create more complex applications at reduced costs than previously possible.

Conclusion

If you're sitting on an idea, waiting for the "right time" or "enough funding" to get started, my advice is simple: just start. Today's tools let you build and test your ideas faster and cheaper than ever before. The real question isn't "Can I afford to build it?" but rather "Can I afford not to try?”

With tools like Replit making app development available to everyone, there's never been a better time to turn your ideas into reality - without breaking the bank or waiting months for results.