Do You Need an App for That? Take This Quiz to Find Out. A self-service platform or website might do the trick. But here's a way to be sure.

By Maria Seidman Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Maliha Mannan | StockSnap.io

With 80 percent of the US population owning a smartphone, I suspect you have thought about whether you need your own mobile application for your business and beyond. Yet, less than one third of businesses have a mobile application and 90 percent of websites are not mobile optimized.

The average cost to develop a mobile app ranges from $38,000 per platform on the low end, to $270,000 on the high end and can easily climb to $500,000 or higher. The actual cost can vary widely and depends on a lot of factors from which operating system you need to be on, the functionality you need, and the design elements. And, it's not just building an application – which on average takes more than seven months – but you need to maintain it to make sure it works as the operating systems evolve.

So, how do you decide whether the investment is worth it? I often get asked this question. So at Yapp, we developed this quiz to help you decide whether you really need a custom app for that, or whether a self-service platform or mobile website will do. Take the Quiz Now.

Related: 3 Strategies for Winning In the Hyper-Competitive Market for Apps

Maria Seidman

CEO and Co-Founder of Yapp

Maria Seidman is the CEO and co-founder of Yapp, an award-winning platform where anyone can create and instantly publish a mobile application for your event, group, or promotion. Before founding Yapp in 2011, she ran mobile for Warner Bros. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children, one of which was born while launching Yapp. She is passionate about women in technology, mobile trends, media, and enterpreneurship. Seidman was named Enterpreneur Magazine's Emerging Enterpreneur of 2014. 

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