How Much Does It Cost to Develop An NFT Marketplace?

The use of non-fungible tokens has increased in the fully featured marketplace due to their incomparable abilities. NFTs (Non-fungible Tokens) are emerging with newer opportunities for the world. Tokenization of unique collectibles or assets gave the space for tokenization possibilities over a different sphere. The scope for NFT tokenization has been expanded for virtual lands, game assets, artworks, trading cards, and many more.

Growth in the NFT development services along with the huge inclination of millennials have not just benefitted the NFT owners but also the marketplaces. With this, top NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea are seeing high revenue and a flood of funding. The unchangeable tokens are turning every raw input of industry into gold. People are finding a new way of proving ownership over unique assets, most prominently over Digital art.

With the help of Blockchain, the metadata of the ownership is stored and the owner of NFT can create scarcity for building a new market for artists and events. Amidst the vision of huge profitability, the NFT marketplace is reaping amazing benefits. This is possible because NFT marketplaces like Rarible and OpenSea allow hosting multiple tokens together. It increases the source of revenue much larger than direct selling.

Here in this article, we will provide an in-depth understanding of the NFT & its marketplaces, including its working, features, and a step-by-step guide for NFT marketplace development to create a famous marketplace like Open Sea. You will also get a rough estimation of the cost to develop NFT marketplace. Let’s start with the introduction of NFT-

What is NFT?

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are tokens that can be also called digital assets or collectibles. These tokens are developed cryptographically where the main difference lies in the changeable prowess of the tokens. Unlike other tokens available on the Blockchain, NFTs can’t be replaced with other NFTs.

The Non-Fungible Tokens are a concrete unit and can’t be divided. Each non-divisible token has different values and therefore, they can’t be swapped with other NFTs. This unique token represents unique data that is transparently available on the Blockchain. A Blockchain Development Company uses NFTs to represent any object considering that it will stay unique.

On the other hand, fungible tokens are transferrable with addresses and can be divided into several small units. Each token carries the information known as Meta equivalent to the information on the other token on the Blockchain.

What is an NFT Marketplace?

OpenSea, SuperRare, Rarible, etc. are some of the top NFT marketplaces you must have heard about. An NFT marketplace is similar to the general marketplace where an NFT development company sells virtual assets or products. Buyers use the marketplaces like Open Sea and acquire virtual assets using cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. Marketplaces levy a fixed charge upon the transaction amount of purchased NFT.

Once the NFT is purchased off the marketplace, some fee is charged, upon which the buyer gets a unique identifier token with ownership proof. The token contains the author’s authenticity and provenance information. Users can also place a bid in the auction organized by the NFT marketplace to get different assets like game items, art, memes, accessories, and others.

Working Procedure of NFT Marketplace

Choosing a top non-fungible token development company is necessary for NFT marketplace development as it is the most suited online platform. It provides access to users to discounts while buying or selling NFTs. There are multiple NFT marketplaces such as SuperRare, OpenSea, Rarible, etc. that allow users to issue exchange, collect, and buy NFTs.

Let’s look at a standard NFT marketplace working involving some of the easy steps mentioned below-

1. At first, users must register or sign up on the NFT marketplace by creating an account.
2. After that, they have to set up a crypto wallet to collect the NFTs and different cryptocurrencies.  
3. Now, when the user has reached the initial level of creating an NFT, they can configure the auction parameters and process to sell the NFTs.
4. They can also upload a digital collectible or asset to tokenize for displaying their artwork.
5. Here, users have two options including setting a fixed price or putting the item for auction and selecting a suitable bid later.
6. After that, the chosen platform does the item moderation, and if it passes, it will be listed as NFT for sale and buyers can buy them by placing a bid. 
7. Then, NFT owners will be notified about the bids.
8. At last, the platform will handle the asset transfer along with the funds and deal closing. Here the NFT platform charges a fee for transferring funds according to the selling amount.

Unique Characteristics of Non-fungible Tokens

NFT marketplaces are popular because of the different characteristics associated with the tokens. NFT tokens are leveraging varied industries with different abilities while giving a continuous push to Blockchain development services across the globe. Before understanding the NFT marketplace, it is always better to gain in-depth knowledge of NFTs and their characteristics. Here are a few prominent characteristics associated with NFT:

• Non-fungible Token Standards

Standards directly control the NFT behavior and its interaction. These standard guarantees how the asset will behave and show how to interact with basic functions. There are two main standards:

ERC721: It is an open standard that details how to create the non-fungible token on Ethereum. ERC721 tokens are unique and offer a permission method for transferring the asset.

ERC1155: ERC 1155 is the only type of token which allows the creation of an asset of any type. Be it a currency or real estate or any digital gaming items, the identifiers are not just denoting a single asset but a class of assets under ERC1155.

Read Also: Blockchain App Development Cost and Features

• Unique Metadata

Presenting the information or properties of a digital collectible is called NFT metadata. Each NFT is unique and contains unique information. No two NFTs can be swapped because the metadata of each NFT is different and cannot be altered. The uniqueness of metadata gives authentic ownership. Creating the metadata is essential to mint NFTs but it is just considered an initial step as there is a lot to go for.

• Cost Ownership

The simple law of supply and demand applies here too. The scarcity of the article and the demand for it in the market determine the price. Similarly, the scarcity and demand of NFT play a key factor in determining the value in the marketplace. When you hire an NFT developer, the token development into NFTs is done under certain limitations to maintain the scarcity which can regulate the NFT marketplace development cost.

• Authentic Possession

The NFT development company possesses the private key for the account containing NFT. Creators can transfer NFT to any account which facilitates complete control over the virtual asset. The provided private crypto key is the proof that a person holds an original NFT or not. The owner’s private key and the creator’s public key also determine every NFT’s value.

• Transparent Ownership

All the information relevant to the token transfer can be verified publicly. Buyers can verify the information and check the authenticity of the NFT. The ledger used in the NFTs provides an authenticity certificate as an act of ownership proof, similar to cryptocurrencies. In the same way, NFTs also act secure and decentralized.

• Indivisible

The features and characteristics of the NFT make it unique and therefore, NFT cannot be divided into parts. An NFT is considered an unrepeatable, unique, and indivisible digital collectible that is somewhere connected to Blockchain development. These NFTs are created on smart contracts same as DAI and ETH and NFT contracts comprise particular data that makes them unique and unable to swap with any other NFT.

• Secure Trade

Secure transferring of NFTs is the main reason why there is a huge demand for NFT marketplace development services. At present, there is a huge risk of fraud involved when it comes to the ownership of digital or physical assets, hence it becomes difficult to transfer them. With the high security provided by Blockchain technology, it is easy to process the exchange of NFTs while using their uniqueness. It also transfers the ownership of items across platforms and can be interoperable across varied services such as NFT marketplaces, games, or anything.

• Legal Compliance

If a business has understood the importance of legal documentation at the time of acquiring NFT marketplace development solutions, there is nothing that can stop them from having the finest solution. The following are the required documents for NFT marketplace development:

• Company Formation Document
• Terms of Service
• Community Standards
• Privacy Policy
• IP Consideration Details

Benefits Associated with NFT Marketplace Development Solutions

The extraordinary increase in NFTs has stemmed to benefit not only the owner but also development firms as there is a high requirement for NFT development services. Businesses also seem interested to hire an NFT marketplace development company to create a marketplace or solution accomplishing their requirements while expecting a lot of benefits through it. Here are those benefits below-

• Visible NFT transactions with the help of Blockchain technology.
• Due to the decentralized nature of the NFT marketplace, it is easy to trade NFTs freely.
• Each NFT is unique and indivisible with its digital ID and feature that makes it attractive.
• Decentralized NFTs and a lack of standardized regulation led to enhanced liquidity in the NFT domain.
• NFTs can be accessed publicly and are impractical to forge.
• With Blockchain, it is very easy to process secure transactions without any modifications to them.
• NFT ownership can be traced and verified to evaluate its value.

Market Size and Share of Non-fungible Token

Let’s navigate to the insights of the non-fungible token market before you hire NFT marketplace developers or start to assess the NFT development cost. The NFT market size worldwide has been valued at $15.54 billion in the year 2021 along with $4.1 billion in the USA. The global market is predicted to evolve at 33.9 CAGR from the year 2022 to 2030.

The below graph has depicted all these stats clearly. The reason behind this growth is the uniqueness, security, transparency, and individuality provided by NFTs.

Now, get an understanding of the largest NFT marketplaces according to the all-time sales volume. The stats shown in the below representation has been recorded in the last 30 days as of November month’s end. Among all, the OpenSea marketplace is gaining the highest popularity.

Most enterprises want NFT marketplace development services to create an OpenSea clone solution and are ready to bear the cost as well. Apart from the OpenSea, Magic Eden, CryptoPunks, Axie Marketplace, NBA Top Shot, etc. are some of the famous NFT marketplaces. OpenSea and Sushiswap are two marketplaces that act like decentralized exchanges where people can purchase either cryptocurrency or NFT.

Look at the Most Popular NFT Marketplaces

NFT marketplace development is gaining high popularity nowadays. In the next coming years, the NFT sector is forecasted to fetch a larger customer base to flourish the marketplaces with heavy profit. Until then, let’s commemorate the current popular NFT marketplace. Here are some of them-

• OpenSea

OpenSea is one of the most renowned names. Users can smoothly buy and sell the NFTs or digital assets, fetch custom statistics, understand analytics, and make more revenue from the traded items.  It is the first P2P marketplace for crypto goods such as collectibles, virtual game products, and virtual things secured with blockchain. The company started in 2018 and has a strong list of proud partners such as QuantStamp, BlockStack, Founders fund, etc.

• SuperRare

SuperRare is another popular NFT marketplace for trading and collecting unique digital artworks. Each artwork is authentically created by an artist that is tokenized as a crypto collectible. You can own and trade these tokenized collectibles. The platform charges a 15% commission for primary sales whereas, for secondary sales, creators gain a 10% royalty as passive revenue from an artwork when it continues to trade in the secondary market.

• Rarible

Rarible is a community owned NFT marketplace that majorly has its focuses on art assets. The owners of Rarible hold the ERC-20 RARI token. Users selling or buying NFT tokens on the platform are awarded RARI tokens. The platform distributes 75000 RARI tokens every week.  Creators can create new NFTs to sell artwork such as movies, digital art, and music albums. For enticing the purchasers, creators can show a sample sneak peek to everybody on the platform with the complete project available for buyers.

• Hoard Exchange

Hoard Exchange is also a well-known NFT platform that largely targets the video game sector. This marketplace facilitates the users by providing actual possession of digital items and content with the help of Blockchain technology. In simple words, the Hoard Exchange delivers downloadable content. Similar to other marketplaces, this platform also permits users to purchase, sell, trade, loan, or rent NFTs such as digital art, in-game assets, and domain names.   

• Foundation

If you have any development budget constraints or limited NFT marketplace cost, Foundation is a good option to go for. This marketplace is the most suitable platform built on the Ethereum Blockchain including NFT art listings. Here users can buy digital art from other artists with live bidding or can sell and mint the non-fungible tokens. With multiple selling options on this platform, it is easy for users to buy or sell NFTs. Foundation can be a better choice for those who are famous creators and are not able to handle the collection on their own.

• Axie Infinity

Are you interested in crypto video games? If yes, then, the Axie Infinity marketplace is the most suitable platform for you which uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies. It was created by Sky Mavis, a game company. It enables users to sell or buy NFTs such as digital items, virtual lands, creatures, etc. used in the same marketplace. Users need to have three axies to start the game, hence using the marketplace is considered the quickest method to begin.

Prominent Features of NFT Marketplace

There are several popular NFT marketplaces available in the market such as OpenSea, Decentraland, and NBA Top Shot. All these platforms allow users to smooth NFT trading, buying, and selling. There are integrated amazing features with these marketplaces to make the NFT platform power-packed and both front-end & back-end processes easier.

But you have to be careful while choosing these features for your marketplace as combining more than necessary features can have a direct impact on your estimated NFT marketplace development cost. Get to know about some essential NFT marketplace features below-

• Storefront

Here users can get the details of the NFTs such as ownership, history, cost, and relevant bids. Just like ordinary marketplaces, NFTs are here arranged to showcase and attract customers. They can get a sneak peek of the marketplace functions while the full version is available upon purchase.

• Listing

For sellers, the NFT marketplace allows them to mint and list their products. Sellers get the feasibility to create a list and sort their NFTs according to different aspects. Creators can also include the cost and other details about their NFTs.

• Buy and Auction

The efficient NFT buying system is the most crucial part and basically the objective of having NFT marketplace development services. Users can add bids, set expiration dates, and add a watch list for checking the status of the bid. It enhances the chances of sales and earning the highest profits.

• Integrate a Crypto Wallet

It is required to ask your chosen Blockchain development company to integrate the crypto wallet into the NFT marketplace. Users need wallets to trade, receive and store cryptocurrency and NFT. You can create your own in-app wallet or integrate the existing wallet to gain a better experience.

• Search Bar

An NFT marketplace must have this feature to enable users with an easy search process. It should include different categories and requirements to sort the NFTs as per the users’ demand.

• Trending Collection

Among all the NFTs, there are some tokens with the highest selling price. This feature will help users to see those NFTs at the top of the home page with the tag ‘Trending Collection’. It contains useful information such as price, seller name, overall supply, trading volume, and many more.

• Multiple Payment Gateways

If you want to integrate this feature within the NFT marketplace, you must be ready for increased NFT marketplace development cost. Combining different payment gateway services such as credit or debit cards, wire transfers, net banking, etc. makes an NFT marketplace worth using for sellers and buyers both.

• Instant Notifications

This feature helps users to get notified about the NFT marketplace updates via text message, notifications, or email. These updates are comprised of upcoming auctions, highest bids, new NFT collections, and others.

• Transparency

Due to the transparency feature, acquiring Non-fungible token development services is useful. Each transaction made on the NFT platform can be verified publicly. Users get a clear view of each transaction in the marketplace; hence they prefer to use them. Here Blockchain technology ensures error-free payment and smooth transactions.

• Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are initialized via a digital sign on the agreement for the prevention of fraudulent activities and the elimination of intermediaries resulting in trustless transactions.

• Security

Security is the core feature of the NFT platforms that is essential during token transactions between traders. The optimum security saves from transaction loss and other unwanted activities.

• Decentralization

It enables all the data to be copied and distributed to all Blockchain networks. Every time a new block is introduced, the NFT platform’s network needs to update the Blockchain for displaying changes.

Blockchains Used for NFT Marketplaces

There are many kinds of chocolate candies on supermarket shelves. While choosing one blockchain, you get the same feel. Blockchain is the founding brick of the NFT marketplace and even the most technical person in the world would also get confused while picking the one for deciding the cost to develop the NFT marketplace. Ethereum is powerful and has its own reputation for promoting NFT. But there are many other Blockchains available in the market, which are really faster and give their own reason.

If you are enthusiastic about NFTs and want to create your own campaign, it is the first question to decide how much does it cost to create NFT marketplace. A major part of the answer lies in the blockchain you choose. Delve into some tech-ocean and know the most popular Blockchains such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Solano, EOS, Flow, etc. for NFT marketplace development.

Let’s take some overview from the below data:

	Ethereum	Flow	Binance Smart Chain	Cardano	Solana	EOS	Wax	Algorand	Tezos	Tron
Number of Transactions per second	24,000	Over 10,000	1.4 million	1 million	50,000	4000	8000	1000	1 million	2000
Native Token	ETH	FLOW	BNB	ADA	SOL	EOS	WAXP	ALGO	Tez	TRX
P/L	Solidity	Cadence	Solidity and Vyper	Haskell	Rust, C and C++	C++	C++	Teal	Michelsonm, SmartPy and Ligo	Solidity
Consensus Mechanism	PoS	PoS	PoS	DPoS	PoS/PoW	DPoS	DPoS	PoS	PoS	DPoS
Famous Projects	Cryptokitty, cryptopunks, OpenSea, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, Decentraland	NBA Top Shots, tuneGo, BloctoBay	BakerySwap, Battle Pets	SpaceBuds, CardanoKidz, CryptoMaor	Degenerate App AcademySolPunks, Sollamas, Solsea	Atomic Market,Upland,Crypto dynasty, Blockchain Cuties	AlienWorlds, R Planet, Farmers World, Atomic Hub, Nefty Blocks	ANote Music, ALGOeggs, Dahai	Kalamint, BazzarMarket, OneOfObjkt	TPunks, TronMeebits, Kraftly, NFTOne.

NFT Marketplace Revenue Model

The only way to recur the non-fungible marketplace development cost and earn a maximum profit is to apply a suitable revenue or monetization model.

You can choose among the below-mentioned monetization models, have a look-

• Royalty

At the time of NFT trading, the NFT marketplace charges a small amount of commission for every token that is sold. This is the most common and used tactic to cover up the NFT cost.   

• Listing

The NFT’s creator might have to pay a specific amount for the process of tokenization. For example, anyone who is signing up to create the listing or place the NFT has to pay a certain fee.

• Bidding

The NFT auction that occurred on the NFT marketplace is counted as one more suitable option for monetizing. This way, it becomes acceptable to get a fee for every NFT auction that is completed successfully.   

• Promotions

This technique allows users to occupy a special space on the NFT platform for their banners to do promotional and marketing events. NFT owners find advertisement the most suitable way to fasten up the NFT trading procedure and earn huge profits.

Step-by-Step Guide to Develop NFT Marketplace

If you are not thinking to go with the white-label NFT marketplace development solution, then building the marketplace from scratch can be a long process but it entitles you to a number of benefits. To create an NFT marketplace, you will definitely need the help of an experienced development team.

They will help you to implement a number of features and other functions by following some necessary steps. The final solution will help you stand out from the competition and attract more customers. The NFT marketplace development consists of the following phases:

Step 1: Put All Your Focus on the Niche

While going for custom NFT marketplace development, you need to ensure that the NFT marketplace design is aligning with your chosen niche. For this, you must analyze the current market and its needs. Your solutions must fulfill the requirements of three kinds of audiences including creators, buyers, and admins. It will help you to draw the attention of a wider audience and drive more traffic.

Step 2: Choose the Appropriate Blockchain Network

An NFT marketplace needs a secure, fast, and robust interoperable Blockchain network to store all the transactions that occurred during the buying, selling, or storing of NFTs. Hence, you must select the right Blockchain network. There are various popular Blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Cardano, etc. you can choose from as per your suitability. The following are the aspects you should consider before picking a Blockchain network:

• Transactions per second and NFT development cost
• Transaction speed
• Smart contract robustness
• How fork-proof is the Blockchain?

Step 3: Select Advanced Features to Add

Integrating prominent and most advanced features into the NFT marketplace will make it the most desired by the users. Amazing features can help your solution stand out from other competitors along with increasing its worth as well in the industry. This is why focusing on features and functionality is needed at the time of NFT marketplace development. While choosing the necessary features, consider your project requirements and be careful about them. You can add features like social media linking, 3D displays, interoperability, security, and many others.

Step 4: Get an Attractive User Interface

Before working on the final NFT marketplace design, it is necessary to get the approval of the client. Therefore, the designer first creates a prototype including the functionality of the solution and how it will look finally. After approval, they focus on delivering an intuitive, engaging, and wonderful interface without any bugs or glitches. It is necessary to have a fantastic UI as it leaves a good impression on the targeted audiences. Ensure to display the features and functions most easily. Along with it, you can also add tutorials or signposts to make the navigation simple for users.

Step 5: Development Phase (Build IPFS, Database, & Smart Contract)

In this phase, the whole NFT marketplace development work will take place. The considerable aspects in this stage will be functionality, performance, efficiency, reliability, and operations. Here database integration will help in storing all the sensitive NFTs information. The interplanetary file system (IPFS) collects and distributes data in shared file and database systems. IPFS helps NFTs to showcase the data available in different Sizes & formats securely.

Adding third-party services such as crypto wallets, payment gateways, email services, social media, and others will depend on your business requirements. In the development stage, NFT marketplace developers will also build smart contracts for initiating transactions and minting NFTs automatically after meeting the sales conditions. Apart from that, these smart contracts tend to be reliable and trustworthy.

Step 6: Testing & Launch

In the testing phase, all the bugs and errors will be removed as they are intended to disrupt the user’s experience. Hence, the testing team applies different kinds of testing to ensure the app is working flawlessly and ready to launch. They will test varied aspects like functionality, usability, and others to check the solution’s quality. After getting certainty about the product quality, the launching process will get started. The software will serve to intended audiences.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an NFT Marketplace?

‘How much does it cost to create NFT marketplace?’ is such a question that wanders in a person’s mind throughout the development process. The cost assessment is difficult as it depends on several factors that comprise:

• Level of Complexity & Customization
• List of Features
• Applied Technology Stack
• The Development Team
• Consumed Development Time
• Third-party/APIs Integration

These all factors are accountable to differ the overall cost to create an NFT marketplace. Mainly, the integration of moderate features with advanced features can highly vary the total cost. To say, the NFT marketplace development cost will range from $50,000 and above. Let’s have a brief discussion on this topic to find out the exact cost:

Based on Different Categories:

Categories	Cost
Open & Medium Scale NFT Marketplace	$50,0000 to $100,000
Curated & Non-curated Marketplace	$70,000 to $150,000
Game NFT Marketplace	$80,000 and Above
Collectibles Marketplace	$70,000 and Above

Based on Different Factors:

Factors	Cost
Designing Phase	$15,000 to $25,000
Development Phase	$25,000 and Above
Server Integration	$7000 to $10,000
Integration of Third-party	$2000 to $5000
Updating Applications	$2000 to $3000
Security Updates	$10,000 to $12,000
Testing Phase	$10,000 to $30,000

We hope, this cost breakdown has answered your question ‘how much does NFT marketplace development cost?’. To be noted, this estimated cost can differ based on your requirements. Integrations, and updates, so you must be ready for that as well.

Meet a New Entrant: Metaverse

NFT Sector and Metaverse hold a great future and potential together. Metaverse provides an efficient way to display the owners’ resources, create scarcity, and monetize the whole content. It is also a blockchain-based technology. But unlike others, Metaverse is an immersive space powered by virtual reality. You can participate and traverse through the digital environment, which is way beyond just sharing and selling collectibles.

From visiting real estate property through VR to buying houses using tokens such as MANA, everything is possible in Meta. These tokens can be availed by a Cryptocurrency Exchange development services provider for use in a Metaverse environment. With NFTs, users can also have exclusive access to a specific location in the Metaverse. Apart from that, let’s see what we are going to witness with the merger of NFT and Metaverse.

Wrapping Up

NFT marketplace development is a new trend in the digital world. The NFT values are rising day by day and have not dropped since its inception in the marketplace. With the rising value of the NFT token, users are more attracted to the platform and its enticing features. Also, investors are considering the blockchain platform for its high trending graph. Not only NFTs and Blockchain, but NFT marketplaces are also drawing the attention of business enthusiasts and they are going for NFT marketplace development without worrying about the NFT marketplace cost.

Launching the NFT marketplace is considered one of the next gen & profitable business ideas. It is high time when you can invest in this sector to get incredible benefits. For developing an efficient NFT marketplace, you can discuss the idea with an experienced NFT Development Company. SemiDot Infotech will be a suitable option for this from where you can hire NFT developers to enjoy the process of creating an NFT marketplace.

FAQs

Check out the below FAQs to get a complete understanding of the cost to create an NFT marketplace-