How Much Does Clubhouse-Like Social Media App Costs?

Clubhouse is one of the most popular audio sharing apps in the social media space. When launched in early 2020, this social media app came like a wind of change and redefined the way users interact with each other. The app was capable of gaining immediate popularity ever since its launch and left behind even the biggest and influential players of the market like Facebook and Instagram.  

The major reasons for the hype of the app was the community’s instant support. The app was further supported by multiple investors, influencers and more and was able to receive more than $100,000 million in investment while surpassing more than 10 million users worldwide. 

The audio-sharing app created such a storm in the social media app ecosystem that it forced various other market leaders to offer the same for their apps. Facebook started to create an app like Clubhouse while Twitter introduced Spaces, the invite-only audio chat feature. In addition to this, Telegram also introduced a new functionality that allowed users to add “n” number of listeners to an audio-chat. 

Major startups and established organizations now strongly believe in investing in similar audio-based Clubhouse-like apps that can offer them a competitive edge in the market while ensuring maximum ROI.

If you too are planning to build a similar app, let us help you determine the Clubhouse social media app cost. The Clubhouse-like social media app development cost will not only help you determine the right budget for your project but will also give you insights into the various factors and key considerations that you will have to make to build a robust and profitable product in partnership with a social media app development company.  

To give you a brief idea, the social media app development cost for an application like Clubhouse can vary from $40,000 to $250,000. The overall budget for the app can further increase or decrease based on the app’s complexity, the hourly rates of development, the platform used for the app, etc.  

Now, before diving deep into the cost and the various factors impacting it, let us first take a quick look at all the hype about the social audio app, Clubhouse and how investing in a similar app can offer your business gain trajectory in the ecosystem. 

Understanding the Popularity of Social Media App – Clubhouse 

After two years of its launch, Clubhouse had crossed around 10 million users globally. The rise to fame of the Clubhouse social app was very consistent from the start, but its popularity skyrocketed at the beginning of 2021. This is where some of the most iconic personalities from the world of tech, including Elon Musk and Mark Zukerberg, not only admitted to using Clubhouse but also engaged with other users on the platform. 

Here are a few latest statistics of Clubhouse that can help you understand the increasing popularity of Clubhouse and why investing in an app similar to it can be beneficial for your business:

• The app has more than 10 million users as of December 2022
• The app is now worth $4 billion, witnessing a sharp increase since 2020 where it was just worth $100 million
• Being into the $4 billion dollar club, Clubhouse is recognized as a unicorn startup
• The number of total downloads for the app has crossed the 20 million mark
• It has raised more than $10 million in investment over the years from over 180 organizations

Clubhouse social media app has been making news across a number of platforms. By letting people chat in real-time, collaborate, share stories, or simply bounce ideas off of each other through voice and zero other equipment, Clubhouse is bringing the feel of media out of social media, leaving behind nothing but the social aspects.

There are a number of ways Clubhouse is redefining social media presence and engagement for businesses and marketers:

• It provides the ability for engaging and connecting with professionals from your industry 
• It comes with rooms that are filled with real-time chats on a number of topics
• The focus area of Clubhouse is not on produced content but on high-value conversations
• It brings audio chat to the forefront of the social media app space

Now that you have got the gist of the popularity behind the social media app Clubhouse and how it has made a unique presence in the social media ecosystem with its intriguing features, it is now time to move towards the main point of conversation – clubhouse social media app cost. 

How much does the Clubhouse app cost?

As revealed earlier, the social media app development cost for a mobile app like Clubhouse can vary between $40,000 to $250,000. Now depending on an extensive set of features, the technology used, the design parameters assigned during development, the underlying platform, etc, the cost can vary greatly. 

In simpler terms, the overall app complexity is the deciding factor that determines the app development budget. For instance, a highly complex app with an extensive feature list will cost you more as compared to a simple app with nominal features. 

Let us try and give you the social media app development cost as per its varied complexity levels:

Now one other most important factor that can help you determine the exact cost of development for your project is the hourly rate of development. So here is a reliable formula that you can use to estimate your social media app development budget. 

Here the total development hours can be summed up as the total number of hours it takes to complete the app’s wireframe, its UI/UX design, coding process, quality assurance, etc. 

Now, as for the other factors that can affect the cost for Clubhouse app for business, let us now discuss them in detail below.

Factors affecting the cost of Clubhouse social media app:

1. UI/UX Design

Creating a seamless UI/UX design is one of the most important aspects that define the app’s success. Since creating a design that resonates with the brand’s essence requires us to carry out multiple testing procedures, the overall cost of development can vary as per that. 

2. App Platform

The underlying platform for creating Clubhouse like apps is one of the most important factors that affects the overall app development budget. For instance, you can either choose between Android and iOS platforms or simply fo for a cross-platform app development. 

To keep the budget optimized at the initial stage, it is further recommended to start with a single platform first and then switch to a cross-platform app as it gains traction in the market. 

[Also Read: Android vs iOS: Which Platform is Better for Mobile Startups?]

3. Location of the App Development Organization

The location of the app development agency further defines the overall app development budget. For instance, the hourly rate of development in regions like Asia or Eastern Europe is comparatively less compared to the rate of development in the US or UK. Here is the estimated rate of development as per multiple regions of the world. 

4. Team Size

The hired team size for development of social media apps like Clubhouse will help you estimate the overall cost of the project. It is usually recommended to outsource your project to a dedicated app development organization considering their professional expertise can be leveraged as an optimized cost. 

Comparatively, hiring an in-house team is a tedious task that requires micro management as well as can increase the overall budget. 

The minimum team requirements to create a social media app like Clubhouse:

• 1-2 project managers 
• 1-2 business analysts
• 2-3 frontend developers
• 2-3 backend developers
• 1-2 designers
• 1-2 quality assurance analysts

5. Maintenance

The app development process doesn’t just end with the deployment of the app in the app store. The success of the app is further affected by the app maintenance. It is important to constantly make sure that the app runs smoothly over all the platforms while is bug-free and offers a seamless user experience. Maintaining the app after its release can affect the overall cost of development extensively. 

6. Tech Stack

A strong tech stack lays the foundation for the app’s success and is one of the most important factors that can help the app to stand-out amongst the competitors. Now, backing up your app with scalable technology comes at a cost that further affects your budget for development. 

Here is the tech stack for creating an app like Cubhouse:

7. Feature List

The feature list of the app further affects the overall cost of development. An extensive feature list is capable of putting your app on the trajectory while offering a seamless user experience to your target audience. 

Now that you have a clear understanding of various factors that impact the Clubhouse pricing and its development, let us now discuss in detail the multiple features required to create a robust Clubhouse-like social media app. 

Must-Have Features for Clubhouse Like Application Development

1. Profile Creation

The application comes with a very basic profile creation process. Users have to put in their name and phone number when they sign up. The name (or username as it’s commonly called) is one that the users have to book in advance – for the time they don’t get an invite to enter the application. 

2. Clubhouse Hallway

It is the main feed of the audio networking app Clubhouse. This is where the users can view the present and ongoing chat rooms. The clubs or scheduled rooms that you follow also are listed on top of the hallway. 

From the Hallway itself, you can:

• Search for someone using their keyword or name 
• Invite someone to join Clubhouse
• View calendar with upcoming rooms’ dates
• Manage your Clubhouse profile

3. Clubhouse Rooms

Clubhouse Room gives you a view of the name of people in the room and the topic they are conversing about. You can see Room as a podcast. The section gives you the feasibility of listening in on a conversation or mute/leave the room to explore other active rooms in the hallway. 

Inside the room, you get details of the name of the speaker, moderator, and the listener/ audience listening in to the conversation. 

4. Clubhouse Voice Chat App Clubs 

The application gives you the ease to create clubs within the app. This enables you to create communities inside the platform wherein you can host “n” number of conversations and meetups with the other members. 

There are primarily four types of memberships active inside a club:

• Founder
• Members
• Admin
• Follower

5. Notifications 

Clubhouse app’s push notification strategy is fairly direct. When you click on the notifications icon, you can see a number of notifications like – 

• Your new follower
• When your connection is speaking in a room
• When your connection invites you into a room
• When someone you’re following schedules a room. 

6. Clubhouse Invitation 

For inviting someone to Clubhouse, they should be a contact in your phone. When you connect your address book with Clubhouse you can see the people who are already on the application and also search and invite people to the application. 

7. Moderation

One of the areas where Clubhouse is facing major backlash is the poor moderation in chat rooms. There have been numerous complaints from the users about racist, abusive talks. There should be a proper moderation space in every room which should drop the speaker or limit the interaction of an audience who is hurting the sentiments of people through hate speech.

8. Reminders

In the Clubhouse app, the live conversations cannot be recorded or stored, and therefore, the users should be promptly notified whenever their favorite speaker or topic-based room is started. They should not miss the same, and this is ensured by a solid and prompt reminder and notification system.

9. Following Speakers & Trends

There is the following option for the speakers and trends that the user can use whenever they come across what they like to tailor their activity area. The following feature allows the user to be updated on all the activities of the speaker or around the trend.

10. Activity

The Activity area will create a history of all your interactions. You will be able to see all the accounts that you follow, what you have been doing lately on the app, and find out who joined the application recently. You can also see the clubs people are in and the upcoming occasions.

11. Topics

The topics are like the tags of the rooms. Clubhouse offers a large list of topics to make it possible for people to find the right room. The speakers can assign topics when they create the room, and the user can use those topics to find the room. This makes the app experience simple and intuitive for all.

Now, when we talk about the Clubhouse app, we recommend taking the same route as they did – create and launch a Beta version first before the actual application launch. This way, you will be able to measure users’ interest before creating a feature-rich product. 

Our social media app developers advise that entrepreneurs should start with creating a set of features’ list, on the basis of which we can discuss the technological and resource aspects – something that will help us finalize the social media app development cost. 

Now that we have looked into the different aspects which have to be considered for developing apps like Clubhouse, let us conclude by looking into the different ways an entrepreneur can make money from their Clubhouse like application. 

How to Earn Money from a Clubhouse-like Application?

The fact that the USP of Clubhouse like application is to make popular personalities approachable opens multiple monetization avenues for the businesses looking to enter a similar model. Especially since there’s already a number of ways Clubhouse App for business is already proving profitable, it offers the opportunity to connect with others in your industry, as well as to network with other business leaders. Beyond the mentorship potential, you can also use it to become a thought leader yourself. As more people slowly receive invites to join, it will pay off big to have spent time positioning yourself as an expert and start gaining followers early.

Clubhouse app is helping entrepreneurs open up to opportunities by

• Asking users to tip speakers 
• Giving out tickets for live talks or streams 
• App subscription
• In-app advertisement. 

Looking ahead to social media marketing, audio based social app Clubhouse represents a changing demand for our audiences. People want to see more engagement, value, and transparency but they don’t necessarily want the production and endless waves of content that come with following a brand on social media.

As for now, the Clubhouse app is available for free. However, the app has launched a payment feature that will allow the creators to earn money for their content. Clubhouse further charges a commission from the creator while the rest of the payment goes entirely to them. Moreover, advertisements are the best monetization strategy to keep any app free, and therefore, sooner or later, the Clubhouse voice chat app will adopt this monetization strategy.

Now that you understand the different monetization strategies you can adopt for your voice-based application, let us get to knowing how Appinventiv actually helped a social media startup build an innovative voice assistant app that led to the client bagging a funding worth $1 Million.

How Appinventiv Helped Vyrb Build a Next-Gen Social Media Voice Assistant App Leading to $1 Million Funding

Appinventiv successfully created a social media app called Vyrb that allows users to exchange audio messages further optimized for Bluetooth wearables. The users can create, listen, and respond to social media posts with the help of exclusive Bluetooth glasses, without even having to look at their smartphones.

The app was integrated with audio command features as well as voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant. Also, to make the voice assistant social media app more engaging, a unique autoplay functionality was implemented that compiled all the user feeds and made them audible in a single stream.

Vyrb was capable of bagging a whopping $1 Million funding from investors and witnessing 50K+ mobile app downloads. 

Wrapping Up

Clubhouse is a rapidly growing social media app that’s already gained millions of users. People fell in love with these newly discovered audio discussions. The possibility to talk about various topics with experts and amateurs where people can share their thoughts no matter how many followers they have is very much appreciated. 

The possibility that well-known social media players will try to create a similar solution is relatively high, as and when the app goes public. Also, the marketers and ecommerce business owners will start entering the space as soon as the app is publicly available. So now is the time to exploit the domain before it too becomes mainstream. Let our social media app developers help you.

FAQs

Q. What is the Clubhouse app?

A. Clubhouse is an audio-sharing social media app that allows users to enter virtual chat rooms and interact with multiple other users. The users can interact with each other by creating several chat rooms, joining groups, or simply holding an audio conversation in a meeting hall. The voice-only social media app is a gateway for users that are wary of interacting via videos but wish to hold pleasant conversations with others over social media.

Q. How much does it cost to make an app like Clubhouse?

A. Creating an app like Clubhouse requires a budget of $40,000 to $250,000. The cost can further increase or decrease based on a number of factors like location of the app development agency, the app’s design, development process, etc.

Q. How long does it take to create an app like Clubhouse?

A. The time frame for developing an app like Clubhouse depends on the overall complexity of the app. For instance, if you wish to create a simple app with minimal features, the overall time for development can vary between 3 to 6 months. On the other hand, a highly complex social media app can take around 9 months for development.

Q. How to build an app like Clubhouse?

A. Creating an MVP for an app like Clubhouse requires you to carry out the various steps:

• Create a business strategy by analyzing the target audience and the market
• Start with the app’s UI/UX design and test the prototype multiple times
• Choose an effective monetization strategy
• Finalize the MVP features and the technology to be used
• Hire a dedicated app development team
• Complete the coding process
• Deploy the MVP in the app store
• Ensure proper maintenance of the MVP

THE AUTHOR

Prateek Saxena

DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER