NFT Marketplace Development Cost: A Guide to Building an NFT Platform in 2024

Popular NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, Binance, Nifty Gateway, etc. have become the most common sources of earning higher revenues and funds these days. As Statista reports, the NFT marketplaces are expanding their dimensions, and the number of users in the market is expected to amount to 19.62 million by 2027. In 2023, user penetration was 0.2% and is expected to hit 0.2% by 2027 as well.

It seems that whichever business model would join NFTs would definitely succeed and make the associated businesses flourish with this trending opportunity. Thus, enterprises and startup companies are now confidently entering into buying and selling non-fungible tokens and investing in developing NFT marketplaces. So, if you are also looking to have a strong hand in NFT marketplace development, seeing the rising trends in the NFT market, it is essential to go through all the points related to the subject. Maneksoft directs you to the whole ideology behind how you can develop the best NFT marketplace apps despite keeping an eye over the costing measures for the same.

Let’s discuss all that in this article to have a clear insight into the NFT marketplace app development cost in the USA

NFT Marketplace Development

Non-fungible items provide you with ownership of collectibles like music, videos, artwork, etc. by trading in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that exist on blockchains. Blockchain is an innovative technology that underlies cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. These items are traded in the NFT marketplace, which is a popular digital platform to buy and sell NFTs. These digital platforms allow people to store and display their NFTs, along with selling them for cryptocurrency or money.

As per BeInsure’s analysis, approximately $17.7 billion of NFT sales were recorded in the first half of 2023, which is similar to the sales recorded in the second half of 2021. This covers nearly 10-fold growth on a yearly basis in comparison to the first half of 2021.

As a digital asset on blockchain, NFTs have a unique identification code that helps in maintaining their uniqueness. In fact, you cannot temper or replicate an NFT in any way, which presents an interesting aspect of trading in such a commodity. NFTs and cryptocurrencies are different, but both are built using similar kinds of programming. Cryptos are fungible tokens with equal values, but NFTs are unique.

As happens with Bitcoins and other fungible tokens, direct trading in NFTs is not allowed. For this, a special platform called the NFT Marketplace is needed to trade such tokens. NFT marketplaces are virtual shopping places or online spaces where users can sell and purchase NFTs. An NFT marketplace actually heads the e-commerce of the crypto world, where users can create an account and upload all digital assets, artworks, etc. for making sales and purchases. The tokens or digital assets are here available for easy purchases, auctions, and sale at a fixed price. You will need crypto wallets for storing and trading the NFT tokens in the NFT marketplace.

NFT-based marketplaces have emerged across the entire crypto world and are becoming ubiquitous. Seeing the multifold growth of this sector, companies are constantly trying to find ways to engage with the world of NFTs through the development of world-class NFT marketplaces.

However, before stepping into the actual development process, let’s first explore what the must-have features of an NFT marketplace are.

Essential Features in an NFT Marketplace

Your NFT platform should be power-packed with all the prominent features needed to support the NFT marketplace’s smooth and seamless functioning. Here comes the list with all the features you need in an NFT marketplace solution.

1# Storefront - The storefront feature that functions like a dashboard is always available in most of the NFT marketplaces. This feature attracts users to the platform by supplying them with all the information about an NFT, i.e., related to its bidding, owners, previews, transactions, price history, and so on.

2# NFT Rankings – These ratings are given by the traders with reviews written about the NFTs as per their price, volume, trading, and other factors. These NFT rankings help other users know more about the standards and ratings of the NFTs.

3# Advanced Token Search – The token search feature ensures that users can easily search for NFT assets as per their preferences. At the backend, all the assets should essentially be sorted based on different categories like pictures, videos, memes, music, art, etc.

4# NFT Listings – All the creators or users who have registered with the platform are allowed to mint their assets before listing them further. After doing this, customers can sort assets based on diverse parameters.

5# Listing Status – Listing status seems imperative for the suppliers in the NFT marketplace where the products are passed through an authentication process. The listing status helps in tracking the position of the confirmation process and helps in executing the NFT verification.

6# Crypto Wallet Integration – To deal in the NFT marketplace, crypto wallet integration is essential because users need to register with a crypto wallet to store and trade the NFTs.

7# Selling and Auctioning – Bidding helps increase the chances of selling and earning the highest possible price. Therefore, your marketplace development should include real-time bidding rights for users to trade in NFT marketplaces. As the auction finishes, the digital asset will be sold to the highest bidder. For selling, the users can opt to sell their NFTs at a fixed price.

Emerging Trends in NFT Marketplaces for 2024

Today the market is coming with new NFT startups every day and it will also continue to rise in the future too. Forbes India research finds that the NFT marketplace development platform is likely to reach a $231 billion market by 2030.

2024 is almost half gone and about to end. We have researched some of the key trends of the non-fungible token market that create the best opportunities in 2024 and in the future also.

1. NFT Gaming Expansion

Nowadays many gaming industries are integrating NFT in games to provide realistic experiences. The main reason why gamers love NFT is because it allows them to earn money by trading virtual assets. Axie Infinity has already crossed $4 billion in sales by investing in the NFT marketplace. 

Research shows that by 2024, majority of gaming industry has already integrated in NFT gaming. Example: Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Spliterlands are some of the gaming platforms that are successfully running in the market. Axie Infinity has already gained 

2. Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization

Today RWA tokenization is one of the growing trends in the NFT market because it allows people to invest in digital assets for a better future. This trend is about where people invest in expensive real estate, rare digital art, or any other luxury commodities. These physical assets are turned into digital tokens that can be traded and sold by the owners in the NFT marketplace.

This is a highly secure way of investment in today’s time because every transaction happens using blockchain technology and you can easily hold multiple properties and commodities digitally at your ownership.

3. Hybrid NFTs

In simple words, Hybrid NFTs combine digital assets with physical world benefits. This hybrid NFT trend is getting crazy among today's Genz generation because they get to own digital versions and physical versions all at the same time. 

For example: if you are booking the tickets to your favorite singing concert in advance, you book the ticket in advance before the date and get ownership of the ticket in advance. This is your digital asset and you can also get a physical ticket when you visit the concert location. 

4. Ordinals: Bitcoin-based NFTs

Previously, people used to create NFTs in ethereum. Ordinals are the new and effective way of creating and trading on NFTs using Bitcoin technology. Here they have the smallest unit called satoshi where user can attach their data and create NFTs.

5. Utility NFTs

Utility NFTs are famous because they provide extra benefits apart from digital ownership. In simple words, it offers a more practical solution by giving you real-world benefits with your digital assets. 

Let us understand with an example:

If you have purchased utility NFT for your favorite singing band, you can also enjoy other perks like free concert passes, early access, and other freebies. So, overall it offers you a VIP facility as compared to regular members.

How do I create an NFT marketplace?

Here are some of the crucial steps to be followed for building an NFT marketplace for your business.

#1 Focus on Your Niche Market – You can start by selecting your market niche and choosing a custom design that fits best with your NFT marketplace. Your selected niche could be game content, digital artwork, sports memorabilia, a soundtrack, or other collectibles.

Never forget to optimize the layout of your NFT platform to fulfill the requirements of your specific target audience. This will help you drive more traffic to your business and increase your customer base.

#2 Select the Right Network of Blockchain – It is obvious that the blockchain is a distributed database that records all the transaction data for NFT trading. The NFT platforms, or marketplaces, are used by the platform creators to sell their NFTs and attain royalties. Similarly, the same platforms are used by other users for buying, storing, and reselling NFTs.

All such transactions taking place in the NFT marketplaces are recorded on the relevant blockchains, and these marketplaces need secure, scalable, interoperable, and robust blockchain networks. Hence, the most crucial step in the development of NFT marketplaces is to make the perfect choice of blockchain network. Ethereum, Tezos, Stellar, Polkadot, etc. are some of the most popular blockchain networks that you can consider. Ethereum is the most popular of all of them.

Before deciding on which network to choose, you can look for the following factors:

• Cost of transactions and development of NFTs
• Smart contact with robustness
• How efficient and fruitful is blockchain
• Transaction speed

#3 Choose the Advanced and Top-Notch Features – Never forget to ensure implementing all the top-notch features in your NFT platform, along with optimizing its functionality. Unique features can make your NFT marketplace different from similar platforms and prove worthy for the industry. Hence, you should pay careful attention to the functionality you want in your product.

You should be very specific about selecting features for your project based on your requirements. Other than adding the mandatory features, you can use a variety of options, like 3D display, social media interaction elements, interoperability, and others.

#4 Create an Intuitive User Interface – Creating an intuitive, engaging, straightforward, and user-oriented interface is essential to be included in your NFT marketplace to ensure the secure and hassle-free trading of the NFTs free from all bugs and glitches.

Moreover, an extraordinary UI always seeks the attention of the users towards your NFT marketplace. Hence, following the trick to keep your platform straightforward, responsive, and user-friendly is important for ensuring that the features are displayed in the best possible manner. You can also include signposts and tutorials to help first-time users of the marketplace, along with focusing on the UI of the portal.

#5 Integration of Other Party Services – There are many third-party services that should essentially be integrated to make your marketplace successful, like payment gateways, social media, crypto wallets, email services, and many more. You should check what type of integration services your platform needs after reviewing your business requirements and proceed further.

#6 Building IPFS and Database Storage – Developing an immutable and secure database is essential to responsibly holding all the sensitive and private data of the user and admin profiles. The database also contains information about their NFTs. The Interplanetary File System, or IPFS, stores and shares data through database systems and distributed files and allows NFTs to represent data in any size and format in a secure and distributed manner.

#7 Develop Smart Contracts – Here, developing smart contracts is helpful to start transactions and mint NFTs automatically after getting the suitable conditions for sales. Many other reasons are also there to build smart contracts, and the foremost of them is the trustworthiness and reliability of their customers. Therefore, your smart contract should be aligned with the dedicated functions your NFT marketplace intends to perform.

#8 Testing and Deployment – The role of bugs and errors is quite disruptive for any platform and its users. Hence, a testing process is implemented to give users a hassle-free experience. As you get your NFT platform developed for use, testing facilities are allowed, following a number of parameters like usability, functionality, and other elements of the marketplace, with the assistance of quality testers. Your thoroughly tested products are always better to launch as they eliminate all the expected and unexpected real-time discrepancies and loopholes.

Reasons Impacting the Cost of NFT Marketplace Development 

There are three main reasons to succeed with an NFT marketplace. The first is to start with a discovery stage where you get acquainted with your target audience, competitors, and a clear idea of the dos and don'ts of this field. Second is entering the market with an MVP, which is a way better strategy to avoid costly adjustments and prioritize the key functionality of your product before actually launching it in the market. The third is to employ a test-driven development approach for creating smart contracts, where you need to identify all the possible combinations of conditions that will decide whether a contract will work or fail.

There are individual requirements that play an important role in deciding the cost and timeliness of the development of an NFT marketplace. The major factors impacting the cost of developing an NFT marketplace are as follows:

• The sophistication of the design of your NFT marketplace.
• The number of integrated blockchain networks.
• The number of integrated digital wallets.
• The number and complexity of smart contracts.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an NFT Marketplace?

Now, when you have perfectly understood all about the NFT marketplaces and wish to start developing your own platform to let your users trade in, taking the development cost into consideration is important. The cost of NFT marketplace development ranges from $45,000 to $50,000 on average. Still, there are a lot of factors that remain the important basis for deciding the cost of developing an NFT marketplace app.

• Features of an integrated NFT marketplace
• Complexity of the system
• Level of customization
• Required technology stack
• Total time of development
• Third-party API integration
• Wallet integration
• Security features

We have created a list of some more factors that help in determining how much it costs to develop an NFT marketplace, and the cost breakdown is shown through an analysis given below. This will definitely help you get an estimate of how much you need to spend on developing an NFT marketplace for your business.

What Maneksoft Offers: End-to-End NFT Marketplace Development?

At Maneksoft, we can help you create your NFT marketplace with just four steps to grow your business. Our NFT marketplace development process includes consultation, design, development, and ongoing support. 

• Consultation:

We begin with the first step of consultation to understand the goals and features you would like to have in your NFT. Once we get your point of what you want, our team suggests the best advice on what can be done to make it better.

During this phase, we also answer your questions like cost to develop the NFT marketplace, and overall investment, future profits, and more.

• Design:

After the consultation phase, we pass the requirements list to our team, and the design team starts preparing wireframes. During this, they focus on user-friendliness and make sure that the design is easy to navigate so users can easily browse, buy, and sell NFTs on the platform.

• Development:

After the design is ready, we work on developing the authentic NFT marketplace for you. Based on the consultation discussion done at the first step, we use the front-end and back-end technologies that fit your needs. 

Moreover, we also consider wallet integration, payments, security tools, and other factors for smooth NFT trading.

• Ongoing Support

The slow transaction is the most common issue people face while using the NFT marketplace. Even if your NFT is live, our Maneksoft team is always with you to help you fix unexpected issues. We make sure everything is up to date and run a routine maintenance check to keep the network secure and prevent compatibility issues.

Being the reputed eCommerce app development service in Texas, USA we know the importance of a secure and well-performing NFT platform hence everything from our side will be done professionally.

Conclusion

A typical NFT marketplace development project runs for 4 to 6 months from its initial stage to its final launch. Based on deep analysis of a large group of development firms, it was determined that the cost of development varies depending upon the client’s requirements and many other factors associated with it. The type and complexity matter a lot too.

Maneksoft, one of the leading web development and mobile app development companies in the USA, takes all of its clients’ projects seriously and offers impeccable solutions that help customers from startups, mid-level enterprises, and huge businesses in the United States of America. The company specializes in world-class NFT marketplace development and assures that all trading activities are securely executed for their customers without risking their hard-earned money.

Read more:
Coming Trend in SaaS Application Development in 2024

Supply Chain Management Software: Reduce Supply Chain Risks