X-StudioX-Studio

Guides

Before you hire anyone.

Plain answers to the questions people ask before they commission a website or an app: what to build first, how to choose a team, what it costs, how long it takes, which technology fits, and how to brief it.

  1. How to choose an agency to build your website or app

    To choose an agency to build your website or app, look for shipped work similar to yours, meet the people who will actually do the work, and get a written scope with a fixed quote and milestones before you sign. Make sure the code, design files and accounts are set up in your name from day one. An agency is the right choice when you need design and engineering together and a team that stays through launch; a freelancer suits a small, well-defined site, and an in-house team makes sense once the product is your core business.

  2. How much does a website or app cost?

    At X-Studio, a landing page or small website starts from $200, a company website with a CMS from $400, a web app or SaaS MVP from $600, a mobile app for iOS and Android from $1,200, and a website and app together from $1,800, all in US dollars. Maintenance starts from $100 a month. Where a project lands above its starting price depends on scope: the number of pages or screens, whether users sign in or pay, the integrations it needs, and whether the app has to be native. Every project gets a fixed quote after a free scoping call, so the price is agreed before work starts.

  3. Website or app: which does your business need first?

    Most businesses need a website first, because it is how people find you on search, judge whether you are credible and sign up. A mobile app is worth building when customers use your product often, several times a week or more, or when it needs the phone itself: notifications, the camera, location, offline use or payments on the go. If you are unsure, start with a website or a web app, see how people use it, and build the app once the habit is there. Built on a shared backend, the app then reuses most of what the website already does.

  4. Native vs cross-platform app development: how to choose

    Cross-platform development, with React Native or Flutter, builds one app for iOS and Android from a single codebase, and is the right choice for most apps that are mainly screens, forms, lists and content. Native development, in Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android, is the better choice when the app depends heavily on the phone's hardware, needs the newest platform features on release day, or has demanding graphics and performance. Cross-platform is usually faster and less expensive to build and maintain, because one team ships both apps; native gives the most control at the cost of building most things twice.

  5. How to write a brief for a website or app project

    A good website or app brief explains why the project exists, who it is for, what success looks like, what exists today, and the constraints: budget range, deadline and anything that cannot change. It does not need to be long or technical; one or two pages that an agency can read in five minutes is better than a long specification. Describe problems rather than solutions, share a budget range so the advice you get is realistic, and list what is out of scope as clearly as what is in it.

  6. How long does it take to build a website or app?

    A landing page or small website typically takes about a week, and a larger company website with a CMS up to two months. A first version of a web app, SaaS product or mobile app usually takes four to eight weeks, and an AI product typically needs one to two weeks to prove the idea and eight to twelve weeks to reach a first version people can use. The biggest variable is not the build but decisions: projects with one person who can approve work quickly, and content ready on day one, finish fastest.

  7. Next.js vs WordPress: which is better for a business website?

    WordPress is the better choice when a content team needs to publish a lot, the budget is tight and an off-the-shelf theme and plugins cover what the site needs. Next.js is the better choice when speed, a custom design, security and app-like features matter, or when the website will grow into a product with sign-ins and dashboards. A Next.js site paired with a headless CMS gives editors the same easy publishing as WordPress, without the plugin updates and security patching that a WordPress site needs to stay safe.

  8. React Native vs Flutter: which should you build your app with?

    React Native and Flutter both build one app for iOS and Android from a single codebase, and both are mature enough for production apps. React Native, from Meta, is written in JavaScript or TypeScript and renders the platform's own interface components, which suits teams with React web developers and products that share logic with a website. Flutter, from Google, is written in Dart and draws its own interface, which suits apps with a highly custom, brand-led design that must look identical on every device. For most business apps the deciding factors are your team's skills and whether you also have a React website.

  9. Website redesign checklist: how to redesign without losing traffic

    To redesign a website without losing traffic, record what you have before changing anything: every URL, the pages that bring in traffic and enquiries, their titles and descriptions, and your current analytics and Search Console figures. Keep the pages that work, map every old URL to its new one with permanent 301 redirects, and carry over titles, headings and structured data. Test the new site on a hidden staging copy, launch it, submit the new sitemap, then watch Search Console closely for the first few weeks and fix any errors quickly.