Building a mini program, or a website, can be done on a shoestring or done properly. Most people want the shoestring, and would prefer it free. Nothing is free, and some money will be spent either way. So here is where the money goes, and where it can be avoided.
Step one: register the account
Start with an email address, which costs nothing, and register the mini program. At this point there is a choice: if you need to take payment, the 300 yuan verification fee to Tencent is unavoidable. Without payment, this step can genuinely cost nothing.
That is the first honest fork in the road, and it is worth deciding before you start, because it determines what the product can be.
Step two: get the functions
If you can write code, find source online, install it, modify it: zero cost, and the only input is your own time.
If you cannot, use a third-party platform that includes free service. Basic functions are generally free at that tier, and a straightforward display product can be put together for nothing.
Step three: review and launch
On a free platform the login is usually by authorisation: scan a code with the administrator’s WeChat, pick a free template from the market, change the information.
Then submit for review from the admin panel. It generally passes in one to three days, and publishing takes one more click.
At that point you have a mini program that cost only your time. That is a real outcome, and it is the right one for a product that is being tested rather than run as a business.
The other way
The fuller version starts at around 2,000 yuan and goes up with the function list. What you are buying is not only the software but the arrangement: someone else does the work, and you specify what you want rather than assembling it yourself.
One condition, though. Settle the functions with the developer before anything starts. A project that begins with a vague brief ends with both sides unhappy, and the argument is always about something that could have been written down in the first week.
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