The Best Software Development Firms in 2019

We have evaluated every highly ranked company in great detail to bring you the businesses that will understand your unique vision and software requirements clearly and build you user-friendly, working software.  They will also include you in the development process to build a fool-proof cooperation that exceeds your expectations.

The average life of development companies is diminishing fast, so staying competitive and relevant is becoming increasingly more difficult. Developers must react quickly and aggressively to meet the ever-increasing industry demands. That’s why we chose to focus not only on experience, but also on the ability of every US software company to keep up with the newest trends and provide a cutting-edge product. We considered client interviews, the number of finalized projects, the company’s famous clients, company reviews on their website and elsewhere, innovation in their development process, and company culture to bring you the best in the business.

Here is a list of the many factors included in our evaluation process:

1. Company service focus
2. Current success in the industry, market presence, and famous clients
3. Ability to meet quality goals
4. Client feedback, reviews, ratings, and interviews
5. Company culture, management type, and customer support
6. Cost efficiency and value for money

Now, before we move on to how exactly we conducted research on every one of these evaluation factors, let’s take a moment to mention several different types of software product development so you can better understand what you need.

Software can be developed for a variety of purposes, the two most common ones being to meet the specific needs of a business or a client (in the case of custom software) and to meet the perceived needs of potential users on the market (commercial software). System software underlines the programming process and is developed separately. Your requirements and business plans will differ significantly depending on which one you need. There is also embedded software, where the development process has to be integrated with the building of a physical product (for example, elevators or power suppliers).

What you need—and what most companies we’ve listed offer as their service focus—is custom development, web-based software development, and mobile app development, likely within a more specific industry focus, such as healthcare or gaming, or even some software testing services. To help you understand how we chose and evaluated these companies, we’ll list some basic service focuses, emphasize the advantages and disadvantages we considered, and discuss how they fit into industry standards.

This type of development is performed by every company we listed. It’s the best way to develop software if you want to stay in control of the process and keep in touch with the way your vision is technologically enhanced throughout the entire SDLC, or software development life cycle.  Once you have this custom software, you don’t have to worry about being burdened with unnecessary features that only add to the cost, as well as the overall complexity.

Companies that create custom software offer an infinitely better experience to users because they can understand how you work. If you’re doing a facelift of your own legacy software, hiring a custom software development company can reduce the processes that previously took days or even weeks by as much as 50% or more, and human error can be dramatically reduced, bringing in substantial revenue.

If you’re building software for outside users, your company can leverage the market research and build easy-to-optimize software you know will scale over subsequent years and evolve with the ever-increasing business demands. Even though custom software is more expensive than a simpler, off-the-shelf solution, it’s more cost-effective in the long run.

Desktop Application Development is the kind that requires your user to download and install the app before using it. The app is otherwise inaccessible in-browser. Desktop apps run on desktop operating systems like Mac, Windows, and Linux. Every operating system has its own set of tools and commands for opening or saving files, sending and receiving data, etc. You need to make up your mind what OS you plan to support. They often offer the richest user experience, as they respond immediately. When reviewing these software developers, we paid special attention to user experience and speed.

Mobile Application Development produces apps that run on a mobile OS, like Android, iOS, and Blackberry, and are used anywhere, at any time. The user has to install said apps in order to use them, but the iOS and Android app stores make this process a breeze. Every time you produce a new feature or an update, your users are notified. The lack of screen space compared to web and desktop apps makes building user-friendly mobile apps a challenge. Still, rich content and an easy user interface make up for it, especially in today’s mobile-first industry standard. When evaluating companies that develop mobile apps, we put special focus on user flow, staying true to the brand, and the user experience in general.

Web Application Development is also very popular, because these apps run online and can be accessed via browser. With web-based software, the user doesn’t have to download the app in order to use it, and it can be easily updated. The downside is that this means less control on your part, as data relies on a server. Security is also an issue, which demands its own separate knowledge and experience base. This sometimes means less responsiveness for users, but the right company can easily overcome the challenge.

A web development company basically has to run on two apps, the browser and the server, and as far as the user is concerned, these two have to be in perfect sync and act as one. This requires expert knowledge in multiple technologies, namely, CSS, HTML, JavaScript for the client, and PHP and AJAX for the server.

That’s why, while evaluating companies that provide web-based services, we put extra effort into examining their development team’s communication, as well as their development management. Good development team communication guarantees good communication between your software and users, thus, creating the best software development websites.

Now that we’ve covered the different types of software, let us give you a summary of what we considered when determining whether a company has the sufficient qualifications to be on our list.

These are some quality checks we conducted to make sure you’ll be working with the best in the business:

• They use the best available technology and are in sync with the latest industry developments. They write working software that can easily be optimized to meet future goals and last you for a long while, without becoming obsolete.
• Their management and development teams are aware of the high stakes of smooth-running, bug-free development. We evaluated a huge number of software development company websites. We then conducted tedious interviews to make sure they have a good ear for customer plans and requests and can carry out thorough pre-development discussions. Your company of choice has to be capable of understanding your perspective and then expanding your vision.
• They provide pre-launch quality assurance testing and debugging services, automated tests, and peer code reviews. Firms that test regularly and thoroughly can ensure the level of quality you need. Moreover, we focused on the timing of the software testing—the sooner the better. Firms that start developing test plans before they start writing code were our priority.
• Existing and working post-development support is essential for a top software development company aiming to assure long-term quality. During the final, maintenance phase of your SDLC, some users might email you to let you know there’s a bug in your software. You can simply send this info to the development team, and they will fix it in no time. Since databases grow, and many other unpredicted changes take place, proper post-development support is essential.
• Having a high number of completed projects is essential. With 33% of software development projects extending past schedule, it’s very important to make sure that the company you work with stays dedicated and persistent without dropping the pace, or your case. Software development companies showing off a large number of projects don’t mean anything if they don’t also have an extremely high percentage of finished projects. That’s why we decided to dig deeper.

As you can see, we paid attention to the entire development process. With everyone following the rules, the demanding compilation and software-building process won’t crash and burn. There will be no duplicate definitions of the same variables, or unused software features, and no loops created by improperly written software features. This will eventually result in smooth-running software and increase cost efficiency.

There’s a large number of software development companies that brag about their years of experience in the field but can’t showcase their efforts. That’s why we took the time to investigate customer satisfaction, online presence, and every other aspect of each company’s public image and reputation.

Apart from the reviews and testimonials found on their website are helpful, but so are other online platforms and company evaluation sites, including employee reviews like Glassdoor or Indeed. Treating your employees terribly is an obvious sign of a poorly functioning team, since employees are the soul of every project.

Certifications, awards, and acknowledgments are worth consideration, although some awards are easily attainable. They play second fiddle to client interviews, the number of completed projects, and other, more reliable evidence pointing to a quality software development agency.

The best credentials a company can have are their clients. We’ve listed in the table whether the company has ever worked with big names like Dropbox, Jaguar, Universal Pictures, or even Coca Cola. Mind you, a mere name on the resume is not where we called it quits with our investigation. We also checked if said projects were completed to the customer’s satisfaction.

A dynamic, active Facebook, Instagram, or even Twitter page helps support the best software development company image, as it demonstrates a transparent attitude. It’s a place where anyone can post comments and brag about or criticize the company’s work.

A heart-to-heart conversation can reveal many invisible flaws and setbacks. We did numerous client interviews with small and midsized companies, as well as enterprises, to find out if everyone was treated equally.

An SDLC could take a year or longer. Time and money could go do waste because of potential setbacks. We interviewed clients, checked company reviews, and even called companies ourselves and asked what they could do for our pretend projects.

This is what we learned:

If the custom software development company readily admits uncertainty early on and points out potential mistakes in your software plan and requirements through honest communication, it’s easier to resolve issues on time. Your users and your future on the market are a priority, not your potentially unrealistic or damaging ideas.

Imagine you had a misunderstanding during the software development planning phase. Without you knowing, the development team might build their own interpretation of your requirements. Frequent communication during every phase stops this from happening. That’s why every software development firm we listed lets you in on their progress regularly.

We stayed away from companies who agreed with all of our requirements and kept assuring us everything is doable. It’s not, and making big promises is a sign of poor quality. A realistic requirement analysis and knowledge of the industry is key for creating a successful, productive plan, and that’s why working with an experienced company that has integrity is a priority.

All of the companies listed are located in the US; however, some work with outsourced teams. We are here to assure you that, either way, you don’t have to worry. We thoroughly checked team communication and organization tools in every company, and both will serve your needs equally well. The company and team communication aspect was important for the overall company evaluation. Software development is a long, complex, and demanding process, and team cooperation dramatically affects the entire production. Some companies also hire freelance software developers, but this is no challenge for a well-connected team.

Asana, Dapulse, Trello, and Slack make communication easier. The manager has to keep track of development among different parts of the software. If part of the product is behind schedule, they have to rearrange resources or even hire new people to finish a particular component. Usually software components are dependent on one another, and if one is falling behind, it can affect the whole project. Software development agencies’ managers need to keep an eye on these dependencies and how these may affect the overall progress of the project.

During the interview phase of our company evaluation, we ask multiple, complex, tedious questions and observe the company’s response. Kindness, extensive knowledge, and patience were a huge evaluation factor. You’ll have to talk to these people for a while, and enjoying quality cooperation is vital.

The manager usually coordinates with the software developers to set reasonable deadlines for certain features. The deadlines set by a software development firm, once set, have to conform to the product delivery timelines. Even though we already warned you that development lasts longer than expected almost every time, we made sure the listed companies’ rough completion estimations were realistic.

A successful company is able to adopt the right mechanism to cope with the continual developments in technology and offer exceptional products and services to clients. The most successful companies that develop software today are empowering their customers to achieve greater heights and excel in a world where excellence is a minimum requirement. With 66% of all large projects running past their deadlines, the cost of software development can be unpredictable. That’s why we insist on transparency and quality, early-stage communication.

Remember, being cheap with this is not the answer. Instead of focusing on a particularly expensive or cheap solution, we chose the cost-effective ones.  With increased efficiency comes higher value. We observed the price per defined result, keeping your long-term software revenue in mind.

Having reviewed the info we shared with you, take a look at this step-by-step guide to choose the company that best suits your needs.

Find a company that has some experience in your area. A custom solution is tailored to your business processes so there are no redundancies. With a lesser software development company, you’d end up obsolete or lacking features. While its upfront cost may equal to or exceed a quality packaged system, the proper software solution helps lower costs in the long run. You need to choose which one will fit your business best, so read the short company descriptions closely.

Some businesses only work with big enterprises, while others are specialized in small to midsized companies. This criterion is listed in the table. As we mentioned before, we did in-depth research and conducted client interviews to check up on software services companies. All listed companies that work with enterprises treat small businesses with equal respect and consideration. You’ll be in good hands.

We’ve listed a minimum project cost for every company. Be aware that, as we have already mentioned, project costs tend to change as the project advances. Still, the companies we’ve listed make realistic, reliable business plans, so this is the best you can count on.

What’s your software niche? E-commerce development? A sports equipment purchasing application? A web-based service that helps people fulfill certain educational needs? Do you plan on cashing in on a particular software development industry, or are you just looking to revitalize your legacy software? We listed industry focus information in our table to help you take all this into consideration while choosing the right company for you. We strongly advise you to hire a business that has worked in your niche before to leverage their experience and expertise.

Although finding a trusted company that will build you smooth-running software and also happens to be located close to you is not the most straightforward process, you can check locations on our table and figure out if working like this suits you. As we mentioned, outsourced teams in far off places won’t disappoint either, quality-wise.

Once you know what software services you want to acquire and are clear on the above-listed specifications, you are free to choose any company listed in our table. Check which companies work with your business size and which ones have previous experience in your particular niche, and you’ll be halfway there. Decide on your software development firm location and pricing preferences, and you’re good to go. Enjoy the process, and your fast, user-friendly, working software.