As the healthcare industry is undergoing a digital transformation, with mobile apps playing an important role in improving patient care, medicine delivery, and telehealth services.
Platforms like Healthmug have gained popularity for providing smooth access to medicines, healthcare consultations, and wellness products.
If you are business owners, planning to develop a healthcare mobile app like Healthmug, you may be thinking: How much does it cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug?
The healthcare app development cost depends on various factors, including features, mobile app development platforms, third-party integrations, and compliance with medical regulations.
In this blog, we will share with you the cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug, its key features, and the overall investment required for a successful healthcare mobile app development project.
So let’s get started to understand in detail.
What is Healthmug?
Healthmug is an online pharmacy and healthcare marketplace that provides users with access to medicines & healthcare products, doctor consultations (telemedicine services), health and wellness products, and lab test bookings.
This makes it a complete health tech solution that caters to the growing demand for digital healthcare services.
Healthmug integrates multiple revenue streams, making it a highly profitable health-tech business model.
If you are considering healthmug alternative mobile app development, understanding these revenue channels is important.
Types of Healthcare Apps Similar to Healthmug
If you are planning to build an online pharmacy app like Healthmug, it is essential to understand the various healthcare app categories.
Each type of healthcare mobile app gives a unique purpose and targets different aspects of healthcare services.
1. Online Pharmacy Apps
The online pharmacy mobile apps allow users to order medicines and healthcare essentials directly from their smartphones. They typically offer features like prescription uploads, medicine search, and doorstep delivery.
Some of the examples include Healthmug, Netmeds, and PharmEasy.
2. Telemedicine Apps
Telemedicine mobile apps enable video consultations with doctors, allowing patients to receive medical advice without visiting a clinic or hospital.
These telemedicine mobile apps often integrate appointment scheduling, electronic health records (EHR), and AI-based symptom checkers.
The telemedicine app development price depends on factors like real-time chat, video call integrations, and multi-specialty doctor listings
3. Health & Wellness Apps
These mobile apps focus on fitness tracking, diet planning, and mental health. They provide users with personalized health insights, workout plans, meditation guides, and calorie-tracking features.
Some of the popular mobile apps like MyFitnessPal and Calm fall into this category.
The health and wellness app development cost depends on whether AI-powered recommendations, wearables integration, or personalized coaching features are included.
4. Medical Marketplace Apps
A medical marketplace connects patients with pharmacies, clinics, diagnostic centers, and healthcare professionals.
It acts as a one-stop platform where users can book doctor appointments, order medicines, and schedule lab tests.
The cost to develop a healthcare marketplace like Healthmug depends on the complexity of integrations, vendor management features, and secure payment processing.
Each of these healthcare mobile app categories serves a different audience and purpose. If you are looking for healthmug alternative app development, choosing the right model based on your business goals is important.
If you are thinking how mobile apps are transforming the healthcare industry, this guide provides in-depth insights into their impact and key advancements.
Key features that impact the Healthcare App Development cost
The cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug largely depends on the features you choose to implement.
Below, the table provides a breakdown of some essential features and their impact on mobile app development pricing:
| Feature | Description | Impact on Cost |
| User Registration & Profile | Secure sign-up via email, phone, or social media. | Low |
| Search & Browse Medicines | Users can find medicines, compare prices, and order. | Medium |
| Online Doctor Consultation | Video and chat-based doctor appointments. | High |
| E-Prescriptions | Digital prescriptions for medicine orders. | High |
| Order Tracking | Real-time order and delivery tracking. | Medium |
| Secure Payment Gateway | Integration with multiple payment options (UPI, credit/debit cards, wallets). | Medium |
| Push Notifications | Alerts for medicine refills, offers, and appointments. | Low |
| Multi-Vendor Support | Allows pharmacies, clinics, and doctors to join the platform. | High |
| Telemedicine Services | Integration for online doctor consultations. | High |
| AI-Based Health Recommendations | Personalized health suggestions based on user data. | High |
Adding advanced functionalities like AI-driven recommendations and multi-vendor support will increase the healthcare mobile app development cost.
Factors affecting the cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug
Many essential factors are affecting the cost to build a healthcare app like healthmug. So it is important to understand these factors that help you to make an informed decision.
The medical app development pricing is influenced by various factors such as:
A. App Complexity & Features
The cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug largely depends on its complexity and features. A basic medicine delivery app with essential functionalities like user registration, medicine search, and order tracking will cost significantly less than an advanced healthcare marketplace mobile app.
Adding features such as telemedicine consultations, AI-based recommendations, multi-vendor support, and real-time order tracking increases mobile app development costs.
If you want to build a medicine delivery app like Healthmug, starting with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and scaling later can be a cost-effective strategy.
Cost depends on the levels are as follows:
- Basic Healthcare App – $10,000 – $30,000
- Medium Complexity App – $30,000 – $80,000
- Highly Advanced Healthcare App – $80,000 – $200,000+
B. App Development Platform
Choosing the right development platform significantly impacts the cost to build a healthcare app like Healthmug, as each platform has different mobile app development requirements, testing needs, and user reach.
- iOS App: Developing a healthcare mobile app for iOS requires Swift or Objective-C, ensuring smooth performance and security compliance with Apple’s guidelines. iOS app development tends to be slightly more expensive due to strict quality standards.iOS App Development cost: $20,000 – $50,000
- Android App: Android apps are built using Kotlin or Java and require extensive testing across multiple devices and screen sizes. Since Android has a larger user base globally, it is often prioritized for wider market reach.Android App Development cost: $20,000 – $50,000
- Cross-Platform (Flutter, React Native): Using frameworks like Flutter or React Native allows you to launch your mobile app on both iOS and Android with a single codebase.
This is a cost-effective option for those looking to build a medicine delivery app like Healthmug while reducing mobile app development time and expenses.Cross-Platform Development (React Native, Flutter) cost: $40,000 – $80,000
C. UI/UX Design
A user-friendly and intuitive mobile design plays an important role in increasing user engagement, ensuring smooth navigation, and improving overall app usability.
A well-designed healthcare app like Healthmug should have a clean interface, easy-to-use search functionality, and a better checkout process.
However, implementing advanced UI/UX elements, such as custom animations, interactive dashboards, and personalized user experiences, increases the healthcare app development cost but helps in retaining users and building brand trust.
The cost of UI/UX design is as follows:
- Basic UI/UX Design: $5,000 – $10,000
- Moderate UI/UX Design: $10,000 – $20,000
- Advanced UI/UX Design: $20,000 – $40,000
D. API & Third-Party Integrations
APIs increase functionality by enabling secure payments, telemedicine, AI chatbots, and location tracking. Integrations like Stripe for payments or Twilio for video calls improve user experience but also increase the telemedicine app development price due to setup and licensing costs.
API Integration Costs: $5,000 – $15,000
E. Compliance & Security
Healthcare mobile apps must comply with regulations such as HIPAA (USA), GDPR (Europe), and PIPEDA (Canada) to ensure patient data security.
Implementing secure authentication, encryption, and compliance measures adds to the mobile app development cost.
Security Implementation & Compliance: $10,000 – $30,000
F. Development Team & Location
The cost to develop a healthcare marketplace like Healthmug varies depending on where your development team is located:
- USA/Canada – $100-$250/hour
- Europe – $50-$150/hour
- India – $20-$50/hour (affordable yet high-quality development)
For cost-efficient Healthmug clone app development cost, outsourcing to mobile app developers in India can be a smart choice.
Estimated Cost to Develop a Healthcare Marketplace Like Healthmug
Below is an estimated cost breakdown to develop a Healthcare marketplace like Healthmug:
| App Complexity | Estimated Cost | Development Time |
| Basic App (MVP) | $15,000 – $30,000* | 3-6 months |
| Medium Complexity | $40,000 – $80,000* | 6-9 months |
| Advanced Features & AI Integration | $100,000 – $200,000* | 9-12 months |
A Healthmug alternative app development with telemedicine, AI-powered features, and an online pharmacy will likely cost between $50,000 – $150,000, depending on the complexity and number of features.
How to Reduce the Online Pharmacy App Development Cost?
If you want to build a medicine delivery app like Healthmug on a budget, you must consider these cost-saving strategies:
- Start with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product): You must begin with essential features like medicine search, ordering, and payments, then gradually expand. This helps minimize initial costs while validating the mobile app idea.
- Use Pre-Built Modules: Instead of building everything from scratch, integrate ready-made solutions for login, payments, and notifications to reduce mobile app development time and expenses.
- Outsourcing to India: Hiring skilled developers from AlphaKlick can cut costs by 50-60% while maintaining high-quality healthcare mobile app development.
- Use Open-Source Technologies: Using frameworks like React Native or Flutter for cross-platform development reduces the need for separate iOS and Android mobile apps, which lowers costs significantly.
If you are planning to build a medicine delivery mobile app, be sure to check out our blog “What Are the Key Steps to Successfully Create a Medicine Delivery Mobile App?” for a detailed, step-by-step guide.
Conclusion
The healthcare app development industry is booming, with more people depending on telemedicine and online pharmacies for their healthcare needs. Investing in a Healthmug clone app development can be a great opportunity if planned properly.
If you are looking for affordable and high-quality healthcare mobile app development, Alphaklick can help you with cost-effective solutions based on your business needs.
You can contact us today to get a detailed quote!
