Want to Build an Uber Clone? The Pros and Cons of White Label Taxi Booking Software
Tuesday November 06, 2018 , 5 min Read
There are two ways to develop taxi apps: order a custom app development or use a white label solution. White label applications are brand-free commodities. Their providers create analogs of already existing apps with a standard set of features and sell such apps to clients. Customers, in their turn, can minimally adjust the apps to their needs. Yet a set of functions of a clone app will most likely differ a lot from the functionality of the applications built from a scratch.
There are two types of white label apps. In the first type, you cannot change the data layer, but it is possible to edit the frontend. In other words, with this solution, you receive a ready-to-use app, to which you can stick your brand. The second option is to buy a tenant application, which runs on a server and serves multiple tenants (customers). In this case, you can add some specific configurations to your app.
undefined
(Image source: IndiaMART)
The first type is more relevant to taxi app developers. Usually, entrepreneurs choose such solutions because they are faster and cheaper to get. A white label solution is indeed a good option if you want to create a taxi service like Uber. With it, you can save money and get a simpler product instead of spending a whole fortune on custom app development. But are there any pitfalls behind such market attractiveness?
A white label app for taxis generally contains integrated driver and rider apps and a dispatch panel. It offers support for payments, payouts for drivers, data archive, cloud hosting, analytics, and reporting. It is possible to customize the presentation layer but the app's scaling possibilities are rather limited. As the issue is double-edged, let's find out what pros and cons the white label apps have.
Advantages
Affordable cost
Building mobile apps from scratch requires a lot of time and money. That's why white label solutions like Uber Clone look very interesting. Even though Uber Clone does not offer a price list on their website, people who used it say on Quora that white label apps with customizable scripts cost from $6,5 thousand depending on the complexity. Further development of an app for iOS and Android platforms can approximately reach $15 thousand. This is half as much as a custom-made app. The price for creating a custom taxi on-demand service can start at $40-45 thousand and reach $75 and even $100 depending on the complexity and features.
Speed
Building an app from a scratch takes a long time - from three to six months. On the contrary, with a white label solution, you can easily get an application similar to Uber in a week or so. Time is an important criterion if you're operating in a competitive market. That it is why white label apps are in demand.
Maintenance
Many white label app development companies provide mobile apps with support and maintenance services after the first release. These services update the code and check if the app works well making the entrepreneur's life much easier.
Disadvantages
Quality control
You cannot edit the code in the white label app. Also, you must fully rely on the app provider without being able to examine their level of work and the quality of code. Paying for a white label app is a bit like buying a pig in a poke. The quality of an app is totally under their control, not yours.
Limited possibilities to customize
White label apps have a limited set of features. If you need to expand your taxi service with diversified payment options, add advanced maps or other tools, the ready-made apps will not suit you. First, check which features are essential for your app and then decide whether you can buy a ready-made solution or you need to build an app from scratch.
undefined
(Image source: casp.ga)
Exclusion from the app store
Apple App Store and Google Play reject low-quality products. App Store takes measures to clean their platform from spam, poorly tested apps with lots of bugs and from app copies. You cannot be sure about the capacities of your clone app. It would be a disaster to get it removed from the store after you've invested your ideas, money, and time into the apps' creation.
Scalability and the lack of updates
In the taxi business, you need to be ready for growth. It is important to measure the approximate number of users and be able to adjust your software architecture to it. If the number of riders increases rapidly, and the architecture of your clone app does not let you handle this load, your app will crash. If this happens you would need to develop the app from scratch.
How to build a trustworthy taxi app?
Although a white label app seems to be a smart solution for getting a taxi app quickly at a reasonable price, it entails dangers related to software reliability. The quality of the app is hard to check and you need to be very careful before signing a contract. It is worth wondering about technical support, security and data backups.
If the reputation of the white label solution provider is questionable and you want to build an original and definitely safe software, it's better to develop a custom taxi app. Because trying to pay less you might actually end up paying more.
