How Much Does it Cost to Build an App Like Pinterest?

Pinterest is a creative powerhouse. It’s a platform that inspires millions of people to explore, save, and share ideas through images, videos, and links. As one of the top visual discovery platforms, Pinterest has grown into a multi-billion-dollar company. This has sparked the interest of many entrepreneurs and businesses who want to create something similar.

But before jumping in, one of the most important questions to answer is: 

How much does it cost to build an app like Pinterest?

The cost to build an app like Pinterest ranges from $50,000 to $100,000+. The truth is, building an app like Pinterest requires a detailed understanding of its features, development process, and ongoing maintenance costs. 

So, let’s break it all down in this blog and provide you with the estimated costs and considerations for building a Pinterest-like app.

Key Features of an App Like Pinterest

The cost of your app ultimately depends on the features you will include in it. So, before we dive into the costs, let’s explore the key features that an app like Pinterest needs. 

Pinterest’s success is built on a simple yet powerful set of features that allow users to discover, save, and share visual content. These features will play a significant role in shaping your app and, ultimately, your development costs.

User Profiles

User profiles are an essential feature for any social or content-sharing platform. In a Pinterest-like app, users should be able to create and customize their profiles with basic information, profile pictures, and biographies. 

Additionally, users can follow others, check their boards, and engage with their content. Profiles are also where users can see their saved pins and boards. 

Cost Impact: A strong user profile system will require secure authentication, linking to social media accounts, and the ability to personalize based on user preferences. This will require proper integration of authentication features. 

It will also need storage to store customer data. The cost of these can range from a few dollars to tens of thousands based on the requirements. 

Pins and Boards

Pins are the heart of Pinterest-like apps. Users can upload images, videos, and links to save their ideas. They can organize these pins into “boards” based on themes or categories (e.g., “Home Decor” or “Fitness Inspiration”). This gives them a personalized space to curate and share their interests. Additionally, boards can be either private or public, allowing for different privacy settings based on user preferences.

Cost Impact: The pin and board system involves designing the media storage backend and ensuring smooth image/video uploads and categorization. The complexity lies in storing these media files efficiently and ensuring that the data syncs seamlessly across devices.

Image/Video Uploading and Editing

Just like Pinterest, users need to be able to upload images and videos, with some basic editing capabilities. This includes cropping, rotating, and applying filters to enhance content before posting. Additionally, the ability to add captions, links, or tags to content can help users provide context for their saved pins.

Cost Impact: Developing media uploading functionality with advanced editing tools (e.g., filters and cropping) requires additional back-end resources for image processing and storage. The complexity of video uploading and processing also increases the cost, especially if you’re storing and streaming large files.

Feed and Discovery

A personalized feed lets users see posts or pins that align with their interests. Pinterest’s algorithm analyzes the types of content users interact with and uses that data to populate the feed with recommendations. This discovery feature keeps users coming back, presenting new ideas tailored to their tastes. 

Cost Impact: Developing an effective and fast algorithm for content discovery is technically demanding. You’ll need machine learning algorithms to predict user preferences and a back-end system capable of delivering personalized content. The more accurate and fast the recommendations are, the more expensive the development process will be.

Social Sharing and Collaboration

Pinterest allows users to share their pins and boards with others. This feature fosters collaboration, enabling users to share and interact with content across the platform. 

For example, users can collaborate on boards, add pins, and comment on each other’s posts. Social sharing allows users to post content on different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, extending the reach of pins and increasing visibility.

Cost Impact: Building a seamless and real-time collaboration system adds complexity. It requires database management for multiple users interacting with the same board and real-time updates. Additionally, integrating third-party sharing capabilities (like linking to Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp) requires additional API development.

Search Functionality

Pinterest’s search functionality is a core part of the user experience. Users should be able to search for pins, boards, people, and categories using keywords, hashtags, or even images. Advanced search capabilities like image recognition (where users can upload an image and search for similar images) can significantly enhance user experience. 

Furthermore, providing filtered search results based on location, trends, and categories will add more user value.

Cost Impact: Developing a fast, efficient, and scalable search engine is one of the more expensive features. It requires significant back-end work to support keyword search, hashtag tagging, and image-based search. You’ll also need a high-performing database that can handle millions of queries in real-time.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are a great way to engage users and bring them back to the app. These notifications can alert users about new pins from people they follow, comments on their boards, new followers, or trending content. 

Personalized notifications that remind users of pins they saved or suggested content based on their interests will increase app engagement. These alerts should be real-time and highly customizable by the user.

Cost Impact: Implementing an effective push notification system requires integrating cloud-based notification services, which can add to costs. Real-time notifications and the necessary backend infrastructure can quickly become a resource-intensive feature.

Admin Panel

For large platforms like Pinterest, an admin dashboard is critical to monitor user engagement, flag inappropriate content, and manage ads or monetization efforts. An effective admin panel ensures that the app runs smoothly and gives administrators all the insights needed to manage the platform.

Cost Impact: Building an effective admin panel requires significant back-end resources. You’ll need a dashboard that displays detailed data analytics, user management features, and the ability to oversee content in real-time. As the user base grows, so will the need for more robust admin features.

How Much Does It Cost to Build an App Like Pinterest?

Now that we understand the features, let’s examine the costs associated with building an app like Pinterest. The total cost will depend on factors like the features, development team location, and platform choice (iOS, Android, or both).

Design (UI/UX)

The design of your app is crucial. Pinterest’s simple yet effective design is part of what makes it so easy to use. An intuitive, aesthetically pleasing interface ensures that users stick around.

• Basic Design: $5,000 – $15,000
• Advanced Design: $20,000 – $40,000

For an app like Pinterest, you’ll want a design that makes it easy to browse and interact with pins and boards. Custom animations, smooth transitions, and a minimalist approach could raise costs.

Development Cost

Platform Choice (iOS, Android, or Both)

The cost will vary depending on whether you choose to build the app for iOS, Android, or both platforms:

• iOS App Development: $50,000 – $150,000
• Android App Development: $50,000 – $150,000
• Both Platforms (iOS & Android): $100,000 – $300,000

Building for both platforms may require separate codebases, which is why the cost is higher for two apps. Alternatively, using cross-platform development tools like React Native or Flutter can help reduce costs while still delivering a high-quality user experience.

Development Breakdown by Feature

Certain features in your app will cost more due to their complexity. Below is an estimate of what you can expect to spend on key features:

As you can see, features like image/video uploading, feed/discovery algorithms, and push notifications can add significant costs due to the underlying technology required.

Back-End Development

A powerful back-end is crucial to ensure smooth functionality, especially for handling user data, storing media, and scaling as the user base grows.

• Basic Backend: $15,000 – $40,000
• Advanced Backend: $50,000 – $100,000

For a Pinterest-like app, the back-end will need to support features like content categorization, real-time interactions, and a search engine—making it one of the most expensive parts of the development process.

Maintenance and Updates

Once your app is live, maintenance is an ongoing cost. You’ll need to provide bug fixes, and updates for new OS versions and possibly introduce new features.

• Maintenance: 15% – 20% of the initial development cost annually

For instance, if the initial development cost was $200,000, expect to spend $30,000 – $40,000 yearly for maintenance.

Additional Costs to Consider

These were only the costs of building the app. There are many additional costs that you should include while planning the budget of your app.

Server and Hosting Costs

As your app grows, you’ll need servers to handle the load. The more users and media (images, videos) your app has, the more server capacity you’ll need.

• Annual Server Costs: $5,000 – $50,000

Marketing and User Acquisition

No app can succeed without an effective marketing strategy. Especially when you are creating an alternative for an already popular app. To bring in users, you may spend on:

• Paid Ads: Google, Facebook, and Instagram ads
• Influencer Marketing
• Social Media Campaigns

Marketing costs can range from $5,000 to $100,000+ in the early stages, depending on your target audience and the channels you use.

3. Legal and Compliance

When you launch an app that deals in or collects user data regularly, you need to comply with privacy laws (like GDPR or CCPA). Creating a solid terms of service and privacy policy will require legal consultation.

• Legal Fees: $5,000 – $20,000

Build a Scalable Pinterest-like App with Supersourcing

You might think building the app yourself will be the most cost-effective solution. Yes, you can build the app yourself. But if you don’t have any experience in building an app like Pinterest you could end up spending way more.

The app’s complexity needs an expert app development team that understands design, development, and scaling for social apps.

That’s where Supersourcing comes in. We have a pool of developers who have worked with brands like Adani, Impetus, and more. Our development teams specialize in building scalable, visually driven applications.

With Supersourcing, you get:

• Access to highly skilled developers who have experience building social and visual discovery platforms.
• A structured process that ensures efficient development and cost savings.
• Expert guidance on choosing the right tech stack and architecture for long term scalability.

Instead of struggling to assemble a team and manage the entire development process yourself, Supersourcing helps streamline everything, reducing risks and ensuring a successful product launch.

Is Building an App Like Pinterest Worth the Investment?

Building an app like Pinterest is a big investment, $50,000 to $100,000+, depending on features, platform, and development team. But if you’re ready to build a visually driven platform that attracts millions of users, the potential return on investment is massive.

To get started, consider building an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to test the waters and see how your target audience responds before scaling up. A thoughtful, phased approach will help you manage costs while building a strong foundation for success.

FAQs

• How much does it cost to build an app like Pinterest?
  The cost can range from $30,000 to $300,000+ depending on features, design complexity, and development team rates.

• What key features should a Pinterest-like app have?
  Essential features include image uploads, pinboards, search, recommendations, social sharing, and a user-friendly UI.

• How long does it take to develop an app like Pinterest?
  Development can take 4 to 12 months, depending on the app’s complexity and team size.

• What factors affect the cost of a Pinterest-like app?
  Major cost factors include app design, backend development, third-party integrations, and scalability requirements.

• How can I reduce the cost of building a Pinterest-like app with supersourcing?
  Supersourcing helps cut costs by hiring top remote developers, optimizing resources, and leveraging pre-built solutions.