More and more companies in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies want to create their own NFT-marketplace. Developing such a platform from scratch, however, can be a very complicated task that requires a lot of time and resources. There is another, simpler and more affordable option - white label for launching your own Polygon NFT-marketplace. In this article we will consider how much it costs to develop your own white label solution for launching NFT-marketplace.
What is NFT-marketplace? How it works?
NFT-marketplace is a platform for buying, selling and storing digital assets that are issued in the NFT (Non-Fungible Token) format. NFT is a unique and non-fungible token run on a blockchain-based network that confirms ownership of a specific digital object, such as a photo, video, music track, text or in-game item.
For the average user, an NFT marketplace works just like any other marketplace, such as Amazon or eBay: the user logs into the platform, where he sees a list of available digital NFT assets. He can select the asset he is interested in, read its description, images and price. If the asset meets his needs, the user can place a bid or buy it for a specified price. After the transaction is completed, the NFT is transferred to the user's wallet, which now becomes its rightful owner.
For content creators, the marketplace provides an opportunity to sell their creativity. He can create his NFT, upload it to the marketplace and set a sale price. When the buyer purchases the NFT, the author gets paid for the sale. The author retains the rights to the original content, and the owner of the NFT gets ownership of the unique digital NFT asset.
Here are the top 5 most popular NFT marketplaces:
What is a White Label solution for launching NFT-marketplace?
A white label is a ready-made product or service created by one company and allowing another company or brand to use it under their name and brand. This approach allows partner companies using white labels to enter the market quickly and expand their business without much effort to create their own product, as they can use a completely ready-made solution and without spending time and money on software and design development.
In case of launching an NFT-marketplace like Opensea clone script with a white label you immediately get a ready to use website and/or mobile application, where you only need to customize the operation of some functions and design. Whereas the white label provider is responsible for functionality development, design, integration with third-party services, setting up payment systems, etc., and it's also responsible for backend maintenance.
The main advantages of using a white label include:
- Saving time. Developing an NFT marketplace from scratch is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. With a white label, you can save time and effort because most of the work is already done. This means you can create your NFT launchpad and marketplace much faster and with less hassle - literally in a day or two.
- Strong budget savings. Using white-label software can significantly reduce costs. You can avoid the cost of developing and maintaining your own platform by using an existing one.
- High scalability. As your NFT market grows, your company will need to scale its technology to handle more traffic and transactions. White label shifts this problem from the shoulders of the metaverse NFT marketplace host to the shoulders of the white label solution provider.
- Third-party integrations. With an NFT marketplace running with a white label, you can easily integrate with other third-party services such as payment gateways, social media platforms, and analytics tools. This means you can provide a better experience for your users and make it easier for them to use your marketplace.
- Security. A white label solution can provide a high level of security for your marketplace. These platforms have built-in security features such as encryption and secure data storage.
What influences the development cost: the main factors and their description
In this section we look at the main technological and business factors that can affect the cost of developing a solution for
building NFT music marketplaces and give practical examples.
Technology Requirements
Technology requirements play a key role in determining the cost of developing white label NFT marketplace solutions. The more complex and diverse the functionality required from a marketplace, the higher the development cost. For example, if a marketplace must support multiple cryptocurrency wallets, as well as have integration with multiple blockchain platforms, development costs can increase significantly.
Another important factor that can affect development costs is the choice of technology stack. Some technologies and tools may be more expensive than others and may require more time and effort to develop. For example, the use of smart contracts may require a greater level of expertise from developers and increase development costs.
Location of Developers
The location of developers can also have a significant impact on the cost of developing a solution to
build a NFT art marketplace. Developers in different countries may offer different prices for their services, depending on the level of salaries and the cost of living in their region. For example, a company located in the United States may offer a higher development cost than a company in Ukraine or India, where developer salaries may be much lower.
In addition, the location of developers can affect the speed and efficiency of work. If the team is in the same time zone as the customer, it can speed up communication and problem resolution. However, this is not true in all cases. If the developer has good communication with customers in other time zones, then working with that team can be a more efficient and cost-effective solution.
Design and user interface
The usability and attractiveness of a platform for users depends on how well the UI/UX design of a project is thought out. This in turn affects its popularity and consequently the success of the business. An example is OpenSea - one of the most popular NFT-marketplace. It has an intuitive and aesthetically pleasing interface that makes the process of buying and selling NFT assets accessible to a wide audience.
Developing an equally effective UI/UX design with customizability will require an experienced design team and a lot of time, and therefore a lot of money. Roughly, white label NFT marketplace design development can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the complexity and design requirements. For example, a simple design for a small marketplace can be developed in a few weeks, while a more complex design can take several months.
To give you an idea of how much it can cost, here are the salaries in the US for different levels of professionals who are involved in UI/UX design.
A set of basic and advanced features
Functionality is another major factor influencing the cost of developing a marketplace. The more functionality you need to implement, the more time and resources you will need to develop it. For example, if a marketplace must have the ability to create and sell NFT assets, support multiple blockchains, and work with auctions and pre-orders, then launching such a white label may take a significant amount of time and require a large development team. On the other hand, if a future white label will allow launching storas designed to sell a certain type of NFT, such development will be faster and cheaper.
Besides, it is worth keeping in mind that the cost of implementing the functions in a white label solution for launching an NFT marketplace can vary depending on many factors, such as the level of implementation complexity, the amount of work required and the availability of ready-made modules that can be used to implement them. However, in general, implementing the entire functionality of a white label solution to run an NFT marketplace will cost you between $25,000 and $70,000.
Here are the white label features that can be implemented for that money:
- Registration and authentication. Functionality that allows users to create accounts and authenticate to the Marketplace using various authentication methods (e.g., email, social networks, or mobile number).
- User account management. Allows users to change their profile, including information about themselves, contacts, payment data, crypto wallet address, favorite NFT categories, etc.
- Multiple blockchain support. An important function for NFT-marketplaces, as it allows to place NFT on different blockchains and thereby expand the user base of the platform. To implement this feature, it is necessary to create a special tool for interaction with different blockchains, which allows creating, buying and selling NFT on different blockchains. The unification of the interface and user experience also needs to be addressed, so that sellers and buyers can easily switch between blockchains in a few clicks.
- Showcase of available NFT assets. Functionality that allows buyers to browse NFTs for sale. Search for NFT assets by categories, filters, tags, keywords and more. It should be possible to sort by various parameters, view descriptions, view images, view transaction history, and more.
- NFT creation and management. This feature of the marketplace allows users to create and upload their NFTs, add descriptions, images, videos and other information, and manage them.
- Buy and Sell NFTs. Allows you to buy and sell NFT assets using cryptocurrency, such as ETH or BTC, or fiat. Set price, trade at auction, or sell at a fixed price.
- Basket and checkout. Features that allow you to add items to your cart, manage cart contents, and place orders, including selecting delivery options, payment and order confirmation.
- Order and transaction history: In this window, Store users can view the history of their orders and transactions on the Marketplace.
- Notifications and alerts. Functionality that allows you to send notifications to users about various events on the platform. For example, notification when an NFT-artwork is sold, notification when an item is removed from sale, notification when a new NFT-artwork is added, etc. This feature allows users to be aware of all important events related to their activity on the platform.
- User Support. This functionality allows users to communicate with technical support representatives of the marketplace. With support, NFT buyers and sellers can resolve problems and consult on any issues related to using the NFT Marketplace. This feature is especially important for new users who may have difficulty at first.
- Wallet management. This function allows users to manage their cryptocurrency wallets, store, send and receive cryptocurrency, as well as view the history of transactions.
- Analytics and statistics. Gives the opportunity to view the statistics of platform usage and evaluate the popularity of this or that NFT.
- Popular collections. Some of the NFTs are sold at a higher price than usual, if they are displayed in the section "Popular Collections" or "Favorites Collections". Consequently, an NFT marketplace should have these sections with information such as NFT collection characteristics, average price, total bid volume, bidding volume, and seller name.
- Payment Gateways. Integration of payment gateways that allow users to buy and sell NFTs.
- Ratings. Allows users to leave reviews about your platform. These reviews can be useful for all NFT marketers.
Integrations with other platforms
As the number of integrations increases and the integration process with other services becomes more complicated, the more time and effort it takes to develop. Some of the platforms to integrate with include payment systems,
white label crypto exchange platforms, data storage services, etc.
An example of integration could be the integration of an NFT marketplace with a cryptocurrency exchange to exchange NFT assets for cryptocurrencies or fiat money. To implement this integration, it is necessary to create a special module that will process token exchange and transfer requests, interact with the cryptocurrency exchange API and ensure transaction security. Depending on the complexity and required functionality, the development cost of such integration can be from several thousand to several tens of thousands of dollars. That may include the development of necessary API, setting up a connection between the marketplace and trading platform software, testing and debugging of the system.
Here is a list of the most popular white label integrations of the NFT-marketplace with external services and platforms:
- Integration with cryptocurrency exchanges (e.g., Binance, Coinbase, Kraken). Allows Marketplace users to manage their funds and make transactions on exchanges directly from the Marketplace interface.
- Integration with cryptocurrency wallets (e.g. MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger). Allows Marketplace users to manage their cryptocurrency assets from the Marketplace interface.
- Integration with IPFS and other data stores. Allows you to store NFTs and their metadata on decentralized storage, which provides a higher degree of storage security and reliability.
- Integration with social networks and messengers (e.g. Twitter, Discord, Telegram). Will allow Marketplace users to easily communicate with other community members and share information about NFT.
- Integration with analytics and reporting services (e.g. Google Analytics), allowing marketplace owners to get detailed statistics on site traffic, user behavior, conversions, etc.
- Integration with financial services (e.g. PayPal or Stripe). It will allow users to buy and sell NFT using credit cards or other electronic payment methods.
The cost of each integration can vary depending on the complexity and time required to implement it. Typically, developers estimate the cost of the integration separately from the cost of the underlying project development.
Security and Data Protection
This is another important factor affecting the cost of a white label solution to launch an NFT marketplace. After all, users will trust the NFT platform with valuable assets that can be worth millions of dollars. As part of the development, you need to ensure the security of asset storage and data transfer. This requires developing encryption, authentication and authorization algorithms, as well as establishing mechanisms to detect and block suspicious activity.
An example is the NFT platform Nifty Gateway, which uses advanced security techniques such as two-factor authentication, distributed asset storage, monitoring systems, and automatic fraud detection. Implementing these methods requires significant development costs as well as security auditing and testing, which can have a significant impact on the cost of developing a white label solution.
However, it should be noted that the cost of security and data protection can be much lower than the cost of a data breach or theft of valuable assets, so you should not skimp on security measures.
Legalization and Regulation
The last factor that has a big impact on the cost of creating a white label NFT marketplace is its registration. Different countries have different rules and laws regarding cryptocurrencies and NFT, so it is necessary to consider local laws and standards in each country where the marketplace will be launched.
For example, in the US, NFTs are considered securities, which means they can be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Thus, when bulding a marketplace in the US, it is necessary to adapt the future b2b marketplace software for the SEC rules and other laws, which may take additional time and resources to develop.
The cost of such adaptation depends on how much the existing features of the marketplace need to be changed to comply with the legislation and whether it needs to be done for a single country or for several countries at once. For example, it may require changes to the user identification system, tax settings and intellectual property rights notices.
White label NFT marketplace cost
The table shows the development of a standard NFT marketplace. As you can see, the cost differs by region, but it differs even more from the features that need to be integrated. Our NFT marketplace development company has experience in creating NFT marketplaces. We can confidently say that the minimum cost of developing NFT marketplaces starts at $20,000. More complex solutions can reach a price of $80,000. It all depends on the functions, for example, whether there will be a promotional system, whether the user will be able to mint their NFTs, how many networks will be connected, what features need to be integrated into the admin panel for the platform owner. A project that looks like OpenSea will cost $300,000 or more.