Exploring The Cause Of Skyrocketing App-Development Costs

Almost anything worth doing online these days can be accessed through a mobile app of some sort. From productivity tools to social media to meditation techniques — all it takes is a click in your favorite app store.

The hidden dark side

Of course, before you can download an app, a developer somewhere has to create it. That’s complicated enough on its own, but the real issue these days relates to the costs associated with using an application programming interface (or API for short).

In broad terms, this is simply the method by which computer programs communicate with each other, and it’s a pivotal part of app operations.

While small-scale operations can often get by with a relatively inexpensive setup, increasingly big bucks are required when dealing with major players. That’s become a deal-breaker for folks like Christian Selig, who developed the Apollo app used to host Reddit on iOS.

Third-party problems

Selig’s company pays an API fee to Reddit in order to send users to the site, and in return, some percentage of users pay Apollo for its premium service. There was room for a profit, he said, until Reddit announced its latest fee hike.

The site will be charging roughly $12,000 for every 50 million API requests, Selig said, which would amount to a staggering $20 million per year at the current rate of use. He could limit service to just the Apollo Ultra paid subscribers, but even that wouldn’t give him enough income to cover his costs.

Although he acknowledged that Reddit “has been communicative and civil” while negotiating the terms, he said he’s “deeply disappointed” and doesn’t think that “this pricing is anything based in reality or remotely reasonable.”

Chris Agee June 2nd, 2023

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