The reasons behind the success of the Zomato app have revolutionized how consumers find and order food. Hitting millions of users, relying on these apps for convenience, variety, and quality, therefore, it’s more than obvious why many entrepreneurs want to raise just such platforms. If you are going to develop an application similar to Zomato, you would certainly ask yourself the first question that comes to mind: How much is it going to cost?
There are many factors when building a food delivery app, starting from the platform, features, design, and even the development team. In this blog, we will focus on the parts of an app like Zomato, the requirements for such an app, and an estimated cost for development.
Components of a Similar App like Zomato
While developing an app like Zomato, it is important to consider the major components that would allow for smooth functioning for both users and businesses. The user app, restaurant panel, admin panel, and delivery agent app are major among them. Let’s get to understand each one in detail.
1. User App
A user app is the face of your food delivery service, so it will need to be intuitive and smooth for customers. Some of the principal features of the user app include:
Restaurant discovery by cuisine, place, or dish.
Menu browsing in detail: price, description, image, nutritional information.
Create Order: Users can select any food item and can generate a customized order, like add extra toppings or special instructions, and can directly place the order on the app.
Track Real-Time: Customer will be able to track his order in real time to know the status of his/her orders.
Accept Multiple Options: It accepts most payment options available, like credit/debit cards, wallets, or UPI.
Rating/Review: Users would be able to provide feedback about food as well as restaurants, hence making it a clear as well as trustworthy platform.
2. Restaurant Panel
A restaurant panel is an interface between restaurants and their owners/ managers through which they control various aspects related to an application’s functioning in the operational sense. This includes:
Menu Management: There will be an option to update menu items and prices as well as availabilities in real time.
Order Management: Restaurants can track incoming orders, manage kitchen employees, and prioritize deliveries.
Analytics Dashboard: Analytics on sales, customer rating, and operational performance metrics.
Profile Management: One can manage his profile which may include business hours, contact information, and delivery zones.
Promotions: There is an ability to run specials, discounts, or loyalty programs to attract more people to your app
3. Admin Panel
Admin panel: it is the panel behind the app allowing administrators to control users, restaurants, and overall app’s performance. Some key features of this panel are:
User management: admins have the ability to approve or suspend a user account, resolve complaints against users, and monitor the activities of users.
Restaurant Validation: Manage the validation of newly added restaurants to ensure high-quality listings
Transaction Administration: Keep a check on payments, commissions, and money transactions across the platform.
Analytics & Reporting: This is the feature of reporting analytics regarding app usage, order statistics, customer preferences, and other crucial metrics
Support: A Help Desk for resolving disputes among users or restaurants
4. Delivery Agent App
There should be a special application for delivery agents that can help them perform their work without any hitch. The functionality will include:
Order Acceptance: Delivery agents can accept or decline any delivery request that comes in based on their avails.
Route Optimization: Integration with mapping software like Google Maps or Mapbox to help know the quickest routes to use for deliveries.
Requirements for Building a Similar App Like Zomato
Developing a successful app like Zomato has to fulfill different needs in such a way both technically, in design, and legally.
1. Technical Needs
Select a Platform: You have to decide whether you want to make a native app for iOS and Android or a cross-platform application (using React Native or Flutter technologies). The majority of the native apps are expensive, but they will provide better performance compared to the cross-platform application which is relatively affordable.
All the backend infrastructure: This powerful back-end deals with orders, restaurant data, user accounts, and so on. The common back-end frameworks include Node.js, Django, or Ruby on Rails.
Payment Gateway Integration: Integrate secure payment options for any food delivery service, including the use of the safest payment gateways, like Stripe, PayPal, and Razorpay, which will ensure easy transactions.
Location Tracking: Geolocation is an important feature of real-time tracking for delivery. There would need to be integration with services such as Google Maps API or Mapbox to allow for accurate and efficient routing.
Push Notification Service: A push notification service is also an important aspect because it needs to be included in order to keep users informed about their orders, promotions, and updates.
Cloud Hosting and Scalability: With such cloud platforms as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, your application will be able to scale up with your increasing user base.
2. Design Requirements
User-Centric UI/UX: UI/UX should always be user-centric. Easy navigation, clear calls to action, and an aesthetic interface should also be considered.
Responsive Design: It should respond equally well to many devices such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
Custom Design: Depending on the nature of the app, different custom designs according to the brand identity help differentiate an app from the competition.
3. Legal Requirements
Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: Ensuring that your application complies with all data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA will be inevitable. Your privacy policy and terms of service must be well-defined to explain to the user how you would use their data.
Licensing and Permits: In some locations, you would need permits before opening up a food delivery business as a result of licensing, especially if you handle food, operate delivery logistics, or take payments.
How to Create an App Like Zomato?
Building an app like Zomato is a step-by-step process. Here is a general guide on how to start.
Step 1: Market Research
Know your target market. Analyze the competitors, Zomato, Uber Eats, and Swiggy, and know the pros and cons of this prior analysis. Then, analyze the gaps already established in the market where your app can be differentiated. Discover what the users value the most-whether it is an uninterrupted payment option, a variety of restaurants, or the speed of delivery.
Step 2: Feature Definition
Determine which features are more important for your app. Start with the core features and add other advanced functionalities when providing future updates. Core features to concentrate upon:
Restaurant discovery
Menu browsing
Live order tracking
Multiple payment options
Review and ratings system
Choose the right development team
Step 3: Choose a Development Team
You can either hire developers who could then develop it in-house or outsource the development to an app development agency. Ensure that the team has experience in developing similar applications, particularly in the food delivery or e-commerce space. A good team would bring in not only technical expertise but also valuable insights into user experience and best practices.
Step 4: Design and Prototyping
Design wireframes and prototypes beforehand in visualizing the app, so proper alignment of design for the app meets the expectations of users. This phase of design includes UI/UX design as well, making it intuitive and aesthetically pleasing.
Step 5: Development and Testing
In this stage, the developing team will do both the front and back end. Testing is continuous in this stage to ensure all ends are met in the functionality of this application, more so in the real-time ordering and payment. Test for bugs crashes and security vulnerabilities, too.
Step 6: Launch and Marketing
Now is the time to roll out on platforms such as the App Store and Google Play Store. Ensure a proper marketing strategy, which would include social media ads, influencer marketing, SEO optimization, and referral programs.
Step 7: Post-Launch Maintenance
The development process does not end here. To make a successful app work, support is very important, including constant tracking of application performance, bug fixing, and updates as per user requests. It keeps your app functional and competitive with proper maintenance.
Cost to Develop an App like Zomato
Many factors determine the cost of building a Zomato app, including the complexity of the app, the features included, the platform chosen, and the location of the development team. The following is an approximate distribution of the cost:
Minimum Viable Product: $30,000 – $50,000
This version will include basic features such as the discovery of restaurants, placement of orders, and integration of payment gateway.
Full-Featured Application (Multi-Platform, Advanced functionalities): $60,000-$100,000
This also included some of the advanced features real-time tracking, user review, and the admin dashboard integrating facilities.
Premium Application (Customized Design, Scalability, Advanced functionalities): $100,000-$150,000+
An app completely bespoke to a client and with premium design and functionalities that could be adapted according to growing users.
How Much Money Can Be Made Similar to Zomato for Food Delivery?
Several revenue-generating methods can be applied to make money from a food delivery application:
Charge a Restaurant Commission A commission on every order obtained on the platform from the restaurants.
Fee for Delivery Charge users for delivery based on the distance to the restaurant location.
In-app advertising Allows the restaurants to place their listings or adverts on the platform after a fee
Subscription Fees Apply premium services like no delivery charges or priority delivery for a monthly or yearly subscription charge.
Some Factors That Determine the Cost To Build An App
While the above are some of the most important factors that determine the cost of an app, there are a few other key factors that you need to consider. Let us look at some of them here:
The Size of the App
This can again, depend on various things, like the number of features you want to include in the app. The bigger the app, the more features that you can include.
Now, one way to work around this is to start a minimum value product (MVP). This is a way by which you start small and improve as you go.
This way, you can build your app based on the feedback you receive and the features you think are popular in the market, according to your customer’s reviews and advice.
You could begin by just building on the core features, and start incorporating new ones as the needs and demands come up. This you can do by constantly tracking the analytics and feedback, as you understand what features are more relevant to your clients.
Testing
And then, before you declare that you’ve finished., there is always the testing that you need to do. This way, you won’t have problems and additional costs to put up with after deployment. You can ensure that everything goes on smoothly and that you have a good start. So, make sure that you perform all the bug fixes and other forms of testing that you need to do.
Marketing
And then, when you are done with the initial building and all, there is always the social affairs to put up with, that is, if you want to gain more visibility. You will need to find a way to market the app, with things like conferences, interviews, or at least small advertisements, and these are going to cost you some amount.
Now, this may require staffing teams of its own to build on strategies and do the work for you.
And at the end of the day, don’t forget that there are things like licensing fee, a hosting fee, and other such things to think of, all of which can contribute to the overall cost of the app you plan to build.
Conclusion
Application development like Zomato is very crucial in planning, and substantial investment and a skilled development team go into it. In that case, focusing on user experience with seamless functionality and strong marketing can result in an impactful food delivery app both for the user and the restaurant. Estimates of the cost to develop are based upon the features, complexity, and design of your app-from $30,000 to $150,000 or more. However, the rewards for the correct entrepreneur should be colossal if the food delivery company is successful and profitable; therefore, such an investment should pay off.
Want to Make an Online Food Delivery App Like Zomato?

SEE MORE:-
- Single and Multi-Vendor Food Delivery App Solution
- Top 5 Food Delivery Apps In USA
- Top 5 Food Delivery Apps In Europe
- How much does it cost to build an app like Grubhub?