Feeds, profiles, follow/friend graphs, real-time chat, and content sharing — shipped in 3–5 weeks.
Timeline
3–6 weeks
Starting from
$5,000
Full platform
up to $50,000
React Native / Expo
Mobile apps (iOS + Android)
Supabase Realtime
Feed, notifications, chat
Cloudflare R2 / S3
Image and video storage
Mux
Video transcoding and streaming
Social apps need content to be engaging. An empty feed kills retention. Seed your platform with content before public launch — even manually — or launch in a closed beta with a very active group.
A simple chronological feed is the right v1. Algorithmic ranking requires data and ML — save it for when you have 10,000+ DAUs. Over-engineering the feed is the #1 mistake in social app MVPs.
Content moderation is required. Start with user reporting and manual review. Add AI moderation (AWS Rekognition, Perspective API) once volume demands it.
Rough estimates per feature. Our fixed-price MVP bundles all of these — see the full Social App cost guide.
| Feature | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Auth + profiles | $400 – $1,800 |
| Feed + posts | $800 – $4,000 |
| Follow graph | $300 – $1,500 |
| Real-time notifications | $400 – $2,000 |
| Direct messaging | $700 – $3,500 |
| Media upload and storage | $400 – $2,000 |
| Moderation tools | $300 – $1,500 |
| Total estimate | $3,300 – $16,300 |
We ship production-ready social app MVPs in 3–6 weeks at a fixed price. No hourly billing, no scope creep surprises.
A social app MVP with feed, profiles, follow, comments, and messaging costs $15,000–$35,000. A TikTok-style short video platform adds $30,000–$60,000 for video ingestion, transcoding, and the recommendation engine.
The main models are: premium membership (paid features), creator tips / virtual gifts, in-feed sponsored posts, and marketplace (if user-generated products or services). Don't monetize too early — growth trumps revenue in social.