With the rise of smartphone usage and the internet, online services are also growing at a rapid speed. From that, online food delivery services provide convenience and flexibility for people to order their favorite meals and deliver them to their doorsteps.

Welcome to a food delivery app like HungerStation, this app connects with thousands of reputed restaurants and delivers food items to all grocery items within just a few moments.

As per the global reports, the online food delivery market is valued at around $1.40tn in 2025; it is projected to grow to around $1.89tn by the end of 2029.

By showing the rapid growth, entrepreneurs are ready to build an app like HungerStation, but they have no idea about the overall app development cost.

Here, we provide detailed information about how much does it cost to build an app like HungerStation and what factors can affect the cost of development.

 

What is HungerStation?

HungerStation is an online food delivery mobile application that allows users to order their favorite food items from their selected restaurants and have them delivered to their specific location. It offers a wide range of items such as groceries, pharmacies, flowers, and more.

HungerStation was launched in 2012 as a food delivery application in Saudi Arabia, and it offers deliveries to more than 100 cities in Saudi Arabia. Cross-city food ordering app like HungerStation connect with around 55,000 restaurants and allow users to order food items from their favorite restaurants.

• Real-time order tracking
• Secure payment options
• Product filter options

 

Market Analysis of Global Food Delivery Applications

• As per the recent survey, the food ordering applications are projected to show a revenue growth of around5% in 2026.
• With deep research, China holds the highest revenue-generated country in food delivery apps, with around $500.51 billion in 2025.
• According to the global market, the number of food-ordering application users is expected to increase by around 5 billion by the end of 2029.
• In the global meal delivery market, user penetration is expected to increase by around 2% by the end of 2025.
• According to a study, food delivery applications are expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 83% from 2025 to 2029.

 

 

10 Best Food Delivery Apps Like HungerStation

Are you looking to build a food ordering app like HungerStation? Then, you need to first observe the existing HungerStation alternatives that have already reached higher success rates. So, let’s look at the top food delivery apps:

 

 

Applications	Download Users	Stores Ratings	Apps Launched On	Platform Accessibility
Glovo	50M+	4.5	2015	Android/iOS
Doordash	100M+	4.8	2013	Android, iOS, Web
Menulog	10M+	4.4	2006	Android/iOS
Deliveroo	50M+	4.5	2013	Android/iOS
Seamless	10M+	4.6	1999	Android, iOS, Web
SkipTheDishes	10M+	4.3	2012	Android/iOS
Foodhub	1M+	4.4	2016	Android/iOS
Just Eat	50M+	4.7	2001	Android, iOS, Web
Swiggy	100M+	4.5	2014	Android/iOS
Blue Apron	1M+	4.2	2012	Android, iOS, Web

 

 

Why Do Entrepreneurs Invest in Food Delivery App Development?

As we show in the above sections, how rapidly food ordering applications are growing, and most businesses are ready to invest in it for higher revenue streams. Investing in a meal delivery app like Deliveroo is one of the most profit-generating opportunities for business. Let’s observe the various benefits:

 

 

1. High Market Demand

Let’s start with the first benefit, with the higher market demand for food delivery applications due to busy lifestyles. HungerStation clone app provides convenience and flexibility for people to order and schedule food items and receive them at their doorsteps.

So, it is the best opportunity for businesses to fulfill customer needs and generate higher profits.

 

2. Revenue Opportunities

The second benefit is that, the meal ordering app like Glovo allows businesses to easily create revenue streams by investing in restaurant delivery applications. There are various money-making opportunities, such as delivery fees, transaction fees, subscription plans, a freemium model, in-app purchases, and partnerships and collaborations.

So, these can easily increase businesses’ overall valuation.

 

3. Technology Advancements

This benefit is that technological advancements make every operation of food delivery services easier and also provide efficiency to businesses. Apps similar to HungerStation offers advanced functionalities such as GPS tracking, account management, secure payment options, order management, and user review or feedback. It can enhance the user and business experience.

 

4. Competitive Advantage

Connect to the second last benefit: HungerStation app clone with unique functionalities allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage in this virtual world. Users can track their orders in real-time and receive notifications about the order status.

According to the iPhone app development company, With the help of automated operations, businesses can focus on their complex tasks to gain more advantage.

 

5. Data-Driven Insights

In this last benefit, data-driven insights are one of the best ways for businesses to identify areas for improvement and increase overall sales. Users’ valuable data allows businesses to observe or analyze their daily activities, behaviors, habits, purchasing patterns, preferences, demographics, and more.

By knowing users’ personalized recommendations, businesses can offer special discounts and early access to limited sales.

 

7 Key Steps to Build an App Like HungerStation

To develop a similar app like HungerStation, there are various essential steps that provide detailed information about each step. We offer the development process from market research to post-launch maintenance services that make it easier for businesses to understand every step of in-depth knowledge. So, here we provide the food delivery app development process:

 

 

1. Define Needs and Research

Let’s begin the first development stage and identify the basic needs or requirements of your project. After that, research in this competitive market to determine what type of applications are in high demand and observe the existing restaurant delivery apps. Make a plan for competitors and how you can compete with them.

 

What are your app’s core or advanced requirements?

Clear your project’s future goals.

Which food-ordering apps are more successful and trending in this competitive market?

 

2. Core and Advanced Features

Moving to the second stage of development, detect the core and premium features that must be integrated into your project. Hire mobile app developers to create a list of features that can reduce confusion and data redundancy. Analyze the existing online food ordering platforms to understand their working process and functionalities.

 

What are your app’s basic features and functions?

Observe the existing online meal ordering app for the best and unique features.

Make an organized sheet of features and functions to reduce data redundancy.

 

3. Best Tech Stacks

In the third stage of development, choosing the best tech stacks is the most important task, and businesses can also observe similar food delivery apps tech stacks. It includes robust tech stacks such as HTML, CSS(For the front end), Python, Java, C++(For the back end), MYSQL, MongoDB(For the Database), and more technologies.

 

Which type of tech stacks are used in your HungerStation food delivery application development?

Define your scalability requirements.

Choose advanced or basic tech stacks.

 

4. Design UI/UX

Let’s move to the fourth stage of development: hire dedicated developers to design a simple user interface for your food transport app. It involves various designing interfaces such as premium templates, themes, in-built plugins, layouts, colors, and elements. It can enhance the user experience by navigating all the functionalities in just a few moments.

 

What are wireframes in UX design?

What tools do you use for prototyping?

How do you ensure a responsive design?

 

5. App Development

Moving forward to the fifth stage of development, real coding begins for the back-end and front-end processes. You need to assemble a highly skilled development team to easily integrate all the operations or resources, such as third-party integrations, APIs, designing, and more.

 

Do you want to create hybrid or native apps?

Choose highly talented mobile app developers.

Integrate a high number of features and functions.

 

6. Testing and QA

In the sixth stage of development, hire a mobile app development company to conduct the testing methods to test the app to reduce the errors and bugs. After the successful testing, check the app’s overall quality and make sure all the functionalities are working correctly.

 

Make sure that all features and functions are working properly

Use various testing methods, such as functional and usability testing.

Check the app’s quality and make sure the quality remains the same.

 

7. Publishing and Maintenance

Let’s move to the final stage of development: publish the meal delivery app on selected platforms such as Android, iOS, and cross-platform. After that, conduct maintenance services to maintain the app’s actual speed, update older features, provide regular updates, and more.

 

Launch your app on selected platforms like Android, iOS, and Cross-platform.

Use the best marketing techniques.

Assign the post-maintenance phases to maintain the app’s performance.

 

 

The Cost to Build an App Like HungerStation

The cost to develop an app like HungerStation is around $8,000 to $25,000 or higher, based on various factors. These are the factors such as higher complexity, development team, project size, features, functions, deployment platforms, and infrastructure.

The food delivery mobile app development cost can fluctuate and change the fixed budget of development. It has also additional expenses such as networking, security, testing, designing, maintenance, and more. So, let’s check the estimated cost with the app’s complexity:

 

Food Delivery App Development	Estimated Cost	Time Frame
Simple App Development	$8000 – $12000	3 to 6 Months
Mid-Premium App Development	$13000 – $20000	6 to 9 Months
High-Premium App Development	$25000+	9+ Months

 

5 Key Factors That Affect Food Delivery App Development Cost

There are various factors that affect the food delivery app development cost; it involves the development team, design, functionalities, basic and premium features, and more. So, here we provide detailed information about cost-affecting factors.

 

 

1. Design UI/UX

Let’s come to the first cost-affecting factor: if businesses design a complex design, then it can simply increase the overall . There are various paid themes, templates, layouts, and more. It looks attractive, but it can easily fluctuate the development budget. You design a simple user interface that can maintain a fixed budget.

 

Design Quality	Cost Estimation
Basic Design	$8,000 – $12,000
Complex Design	$15,000 – $22,000

 

2. Development Team

Let’s connect to the second cost-affecting factor: if your project is more complex, then you need to hire highly experienced developers with rich skill sets. Higher experienced developers demand a higher salary package, and it can increase the development cost. If the project’s complexity is mid-premium, then you can hire average, experienced developers to reduce the cost.

 

Developer’s Experience Level	Cost Estimation
Entry-Level Developer	$15 – $18/ Per Hour
Mid-Level Developer	$18 – $22/ Per Hour
Senior-Level Developer	$25+ / Per Hour

 

 

3. Basic and Premium Features

Basic and premium features are among the most common factors that affect the cost of building an app like Foodhub. Premium features like real-time tracking, account management, order management, and payment integrations can increase the cost to create a food delivery app like HungerStation. So, select the features according to the fixed development budget.

 

Features	Cost Estimation
Core Features(User Registration and Order Placement)	$8,000 – $12,000
Advanced Features(Personalized Recommendations and Advanced Tracking)	$13,000 – $17,000

 

4. Back-End Development

In the second-last cost-affecting factor, backend processes are one of the most crucial factors that highly affect the overall development cost. Developing a secure and robust infrastructure, API integrations, and third-party integrations can increase the cost to build an app like HungerStation. So, integrating the simple backend services can reduce the cost.

 

Backend Development	Cost Estimation
Basic Backend Process	$10,000 – $18,000
Premium Backend Process	$20,000 – $28,000

 

5. Maintenance and Support

Moving to the last cost-affecting factor, food delivery app maintenance services are necessary for every app development; it includes fixing bugs or glitches and updating outdated functionalities, and regular updates can be very costly.

Managing the customer’s issues and problems is also a cost-affecting factor, and the customer support team also charges more fees for 24/7 availability.

 

Maintenance Phase	Cost Estimation
Simple Maintenance Phase	$2,000 – $4,000/year
Complex Maintenance Phase	$7,000 – $9,000/year

 

How to Reduce the Cost to Create an App Like HungerStation?

Reducing the cost of developing an app for food delivery involves strategic planning, efficient use of resources, and using core or basic functionalities. These reducing phases allow businesses to develop HungerStation alternatives in their fixed iOS and Android app development budgets.

 

 

1. MVP Approach

Let’s start the cost-reducing phase by developing a Minimum Viable Product(MVP), which is one of the most common techniques for reducing costs. It basically focuses on essential features such as order tracking, order management, user profiles, secure payment gateways, and more.

 

2. Outsource Development

In this case, hiring highly skilled developers from different regions, such as Eastern Europe and more, is recommended. Those area developers demand a lower salary package. First, check the developer’s skill sets to ensure they match your project requirements and have experience in developing meal delivery apps like Just Eat.

 

3. Use Pre-built Solutions

Let’s move to the third reducing factor: observe the pre-built framework, templates, and deployment platforms such as React Native and Flutter. These pre-built frameworks allow the creation of cross-platform businesses that can access the application on both platforms, such as Android and iOS, which can reduce cost and time.

 

4. Focus on Core Features

In this, focus on the core or basic functionalities instead of premium features because premium functionalities can increase the cost to develop an app like HungerStation. Integrating core features such as user profiles, order placement, payment processing, push notifications, and more. These core features can maintain the fixed restaurant mobile app development cost.

 

5. Use Open-Source Tools

Let’s connect to the last reducing phase: use open-source tools and libraries to reduce the cost. many tools are available that are paid at a lower cost or free of cost. Using these free tools, businesses can avoid the higher cost of custom app development and manage their expense at a lower budget.

 

 

5 Money-Making Techniques of Food Delivery App Like HungerStation

It’s great to create a mobile app like HungerStation, but you are confused about how to make money from a food delivery app. No need to worry about it. We provide the best monetization techniques that allow businesses to generate higher revenue streams. So, let’s take a look at the robust money-making opportunities:

 

 

1. Subscription Plans

In this money-making technique, meal delivery app like Doordash offer paid subscription plans to access the premium services and functionalities of the app. These plans involve basic, premium, and enterprise, which users can purchase as monthly, quarterly, and yearly subscriptions. So, these plans can increase the overall valuation and generate revenue streams.

 

2. Delivery Fees

Moving to the second profit-generating technique, HungerStation clone apps allow businesses to charge delivery fees for every food delivery. Delivery fees can be based on the order size, location, delivery type, and more. These smaller delivery fees can generate higher revenue streams and a new income source.

 

3. Freemium Model

Let’s connect to the third monetization technique. Food ordering apps like Seamless offer a basic version with limited functionalities for new users. If users want to access advanced features, they need to purchase additional features or subscription plans. This can easily generate higher revenue streams.

 

4. In-app Purchase

In the fourth profit-making opportunity, if users want to use the premium services for a limited time, they can purchase the individual functionalities inside the app. After that, users can cancel the plan at any time, which can increase their flexibility and convenience. So, these in-app purchases can be one of the most popular income sources.

 

5. Partnerships

Let’s move to the final money-generating technique: food-ordering apps like SkipTheDishes allow businesses to partner with local restaurants to sell their food items in your online meal-ordering app. You can charge a commission-based fee of around 10% to 13% on each food order. So, it can easily generate a new income source and increase the overall valuation of businesses.

 

Conclusion

We are standing at the last thoughts about this blog. We explored with you how much does it cost to build an app like HungerStation and what factors can affect the overall development cost. Investing in the cheapest food delivery applications can be a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs; it can enhance the business experience to generate higher sales and revenues. It offers a wide range of services, such as food ordering or delivery, grocery delivery, flower delivery, and more.

Are you planning to develop a food delivery app like HungerStation? So, what’s holding you back? Connect with a leading food delivery app development company to offer cost-effective development solutions.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How Much Does It Cost to Build an App Like HungerStation?

The cost to make an app like HungerStation lies between $8,000 to $25,000 or more. The cost depends on various crucial factors such as higher complexity, premium features, functions, project size, and development team.

 

Q2. How Much Time Does It Take To Make a Food Delivery App like HungerStation?

To build a food delivery app like HungerStation, it mainly takes around 3 to 9 months or based on the business’s specific requirements. The time depends on several reasons, such as developers working hours, a higher number of features, and the size of the project.

 

Q3. How Can I Monetize The Food Delivery Application?

We offer many robust monetization techniques that allow businesses to earn higher profits and generate new revenue streams:

• Advertising
• Subscription Plans
• Freemium Model
• Collaborations
• Transaction Fees

 

Q4. Is it More Expensive to Develop for Both Android and iOS?

Yes, developing food-ordering apps for both Android and iOS is more expensive. You can go for cross-platform development to reduce the cost and easily access the application on both platforms.

 

Q5. How Can I Reduce the Food Delivery App Development Cost?

There are various techniques that can easily reduce the cost of building a similar app like HungerStation:

• MVP Development
• Outsource Development
• Use Open-Source Tools
• Use Pre-Built Solutions
• Focus on Basic features