Date
5 June 2025
Category
App development, Development, Web developmentThe benefits of choosing custom app development
In the best case scenario, your app succeeds – becoming the core of your business, your brand, and your relationship with your customers. That’s why choosing between a custom mobile app and an off-the-shelf solution is one of the most critical early decisions you’ll make.
This article was written by:
Tuukka Vauramo, Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board
When looking into investing in an app, speed and affordability might initially steer you toward no-code or low-code solutions. These solutions are great for B2B environments and products with simple logic and design. Their limitations start to show as your business grows in complexity, however.
At this point, you shift focus from how quickly you can launch to whether you can scale sustainably and adapt as your business evolves. This makes custom mobile app development the strategic choice.
Read this article to learn more about the benefits of custom development compared to no-code and low-code solutions.
What are custom mobile apps and when are they worth your investment?
A custom app is a software solution designed and developed specifically to meet the requirements of a particular business. It is built from the ground up. This gives you total freedom in everything from technology choice to design, rather than relying on prebuilt templates.
Unlike no-code or low-code tools, custom offers maximum flexibility and control. However, it requires a longer timeline and some professional designers and developers to create.
Custom development makes the most sense when your app is central to your customer experience, revenue model, or differentiating your business from competitors.
Custom gives you freedom over technology
Your choice of technology isn’t just a technical detail, but an important business decision. With a custom build, you get to make choices that fit the purpose of your product – balancing cost and timeline.
Overall, you get to opt for frontend, backend, database and API solutions that fit your needs. And, make the choice between native, cross-platform, or a web-based solution. All of these approaches have their pros and cons, depending on your growth strategy.
For example, whereas native iOS and Android apps give you the best performance and user experience, cross-platform tools like Kotlin Multiplatform and Flutter enable a faster development cycle. Native apps require a bigger initial investment, but are often cheaper as complexity grows – and safer to use.
Your technologies will also affect your hiring roadmap, and the skills you’ll need. Whichever choice you make, with custom you’ll know exactly what you’re paying for. Read more about choosing the right custom technology in our article below.
Full control over your product and its data
One of the biggest upsides of custom development is that it puts you in full control of your product roadmap. You own the codebase and manage integrations. This makes custom apps ideal for businesses with complex or unique requirements.
Unlike with no-code and low-code, with custom you’re free to make your moves – whether you’re launching new AI-powered tools, changing payment providers, rebuilding your user experience, or just adding features. You’ll have no dependencies or restrictions.
Because of this, custom apps also offer full control over data and compliance. You’ll have visibility into how information is collected, stored, and managed, making it easier to meet compliance requirements and adapt to regulations.
A custom mobile app lets you evolve your business and customer experience
Custom apps also give you the ability to build for scalability. You can build an architecture that supports optimal performance, prioritize flexibility in design from the beginning, and evolve the product without accumulating significant technical debt.
When it comes to user experience, you can design interactions to reflect your brand and meet your audience’s needs. Differentiation in your space is something no-code and low-code solutions rarely achieve.
Wolt – an inspiring example of a successful custom app
Wolt has built an impressive custom platform for its delivery business, including their entire logistics and delivery system, courier app, merchant app, and iOS and Android consumer apps.
Their custom solution for logistics and delivery has enabled e.g. real-time optimization of courier routes, precision in estimated delivery times, and scalable performance across countries. Building custom gave Wolt a major edge in providing a smoother, faster experience compared to its competitors relying on third-party solutions.
Wolt’s separate, custom apps for different user groups – consumers, couriers and merchants – built with different technologies, enabled:
- A native, sleek, intuitive user experience on both iOS and Android for consumers
- Fast updates, reliability, and real-time order management for couriers (app built in React Native)
- Fast development time and smooth order management for merchants (app built in Flutter)
Wolt’s custom approach also meant they were able to build for scale, enabling expansion. Wolt’s platform now accommodates local regulations, currencies, and languages in over 30 countries globally.
Building the future of your business
Although custom apps require a higher initial investment, the cost contributes to building a product that you fully own – a custom app grows in value over time as part of your intellectual property.
We specifically recommend a custom approach for any advanced apps, scalable SaaS or regulated environments, but it always depends on your budget and goals.
Whether you’re building from scratch or migrating away from platform limitations, we’ve got the strategy, design, and development muscle to help you get there – let’s talk!