For founders and business owners pricing up a new app or web platform. By the end you should be able to sanity-check a quote and choose how to pay for the build.
In the UK, a simple app typically costs £3,000 to £18,000 to build, a moderate one £20,000 to £80,000, and a complex one £80,000 to £150,000 or more. Running it then costs roughly 15% to 20% of the build cost every year in maintenance, updates and hosting.
In brief
- The biggest drivers of cost are the number of user types, the features each one needs, and how many other systems the app connects to.
- A small senior team for eight weeks works out at around £66,000 at typical UK contractor rates, which sits in the middle of the moderate band.
- Most quotes leave out the running costs. Budget for a fifth of the build cost each year once the app is live.
- Many first versions should be web apps, which cost less than separate iPhone and Android apps and are quicker to change.
- You can pay for a build as a fixed project, by the day, through a monthly product team, or in some cases with equity instead of fees.
How much does it cost to make an app in the UK?
Most UK apps fall into one of four bands. The ranges below come from published 2026 figures for UK app development.
| Type of app | What it usually includes | Typical build cost |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | One main job, basic login or none, content managed by you, no payments | £3,000 to £18,000 |
| Moderate | User accounts, payments, an admin dashboard, one or two integrations | £20,000 to £80,000 |
| Complex | Several user types (for example buyers and sellers), real-time features, AI features, many integrations | £80,000 to £150,000+ |
| Enterprise | Large user base, strict security and compliance, connections to core business systems | £150,000 to £500,000+ |
The band your app lands in depends more on how many types of user it has than on how many screens it has. A booking app for one café is simple. A marketplace where customers book, providers manage availability and the business takes a cut of each payment is complex, even if it looks similar on a phone.
What does the money actually pay for?
Almost all of the cost is people’s time. A typical build needs product design, development, testing and someone managing the work, and each of those is billed by the day whether you see it or not.
Here is a worked example for a moderate app: a web platform with user accounts, payments and an admin dashboard.
| Role | Days | Cost at £550 a day |
|---|---|---|
| Two developers, eight weeks | 80 | £44,000 |
| Product designer | 20 | £11,000 |
| Project management and testing | 20 | £11,000 |
| Total | 120 | £66,000 |
We’ve used £550 a day, the UK median contract rate for a senior developer in the six months to May 2026, for every role to keep the arithmetic simple. Designers and project managers are often a little cheaper, and London rates are higher.
Add the first year of running costs at 15% to 20% and the real first-year figure is about £76,000 to £79,000.
What do most app quotes leave out?
Most quotes cover the build and stop there, but an app keeps costing money once it is live. The usual estimate is 15% to 20% of the original build cost a year for maintenance alone.
That annual budget pays for:
- Updates when Apple and Google release new versions of iOS and Android
- Security patches and updates to the software libraries the app is built on
- Hosting, databases and file storage, which grow with your user numbers
- Third-party services billed per use, such as text messages, maps, email delivery and AI models
- Bug fixes and small improvements once real users find the gaps
The cost nobody quotes is building the wrong thing. If the first version solves a problem customers don’t pay for, the whole build budget is spent learning that. A short discovery phase before the build is the cheapest way to reduce that risk.
Does AI make apps cheaper to build?
AI coding tools have made small, senior teams noticeably faster, and that brings costs down for many builds. They don’t remove the need for design, testing, security review or someone who understands the product.
We build with AI coding tools such as Claude Code and Cursor every day. They speed up the repetitive parts of development, like setting up screens, writing tests and connecting standard services. They don’t decide what the product should do, and their code still needs a person to review it.
Be wary of quotes far below the bands above that rely on “AI writes the code”. Working out what to build, testing it with real users and keeping it secure are still most of the risk, and AI helps least with those.
Do you need a native mobile app?
Probably not for a first version. A web app, which runs in the browser on any phone or computer, costs less to build, needs one codebase instead of two, and can be updated without waiting for app store approval.
A native app built for iPhone and Android makes sense when:
- The app depends on phone features such as the camera, Bluetooth, background location or push notifications that must be reliable
- It needs to work offline for long periods
- Being listed in the App Store or Google Play is part of how customers will find you
- You already know people will use it every day, so the extra cost is justified
If none of those apply, start with a web app and add native apps once you have users and evidence.
How can you pay for an app build?
There are four common ways to pay, and the right one depends on how clear the scope is and whether the app is a business in its own right.
| Model | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed price project | One price for an agreed scope, paid in stages | Clear, stable requirements |
| Time and materials | You pay for the days worked | Scope that will change as you learn |
| Monthly product team | A team works on your roadmap for a fixed monthly fee | Ongoing building after launch |
| Equity instead of fees | A studio builds the product in return for a share of the company | New ventures where the builder joins as a co-founder |
Fixed prices feel safer, but they only work when the scope is genuinely fixed, and most first versions change as soon as real users arrive. A monthly team, such as our Studio subscription from £3,000 a month, suits businesses that will keep improving the product. Equity deals are covered in our guide to how venture studios work.
Equity builds are the least common of the four and suit a narrow case. The studio becomes a co-founder, so it will only take on ideas it believes in, and it will want evidence of demand first. In return you pay little or nothing upfront, but you give up a share of the company, and the studio stays involved for years. For a founder with deep market knowledge and no build team, that trade can make sense. For an established business adding an app to what it already does, paying for the build is usually simpler.
How do you get an accurate app quote?
Give every supplier the same short brief, and ask them the same questions. Most of the difference between quotes comes from suppliers guessing at things the brief left out.
A one or two page brief should cover:
- Who will use the app, and what each type of user needs to do
- The three to five things the first version must do, and what can wait
- Which other systems it needs to connect to, such as payments, your CRM or your accounts software
- Who will supply the words, images and data
- Any rules it must follow, such as data protection or industry regulation
- Your budget range and any fixed dates
Then ask each supplier:
- What exactly is included, and what would be charged as extra?
- Who will work on it, and how much of their time?
- How do you handle changes once the work has started?
- What happens after launch, and what does support cost?
- Who owns the code, the designs and the accounts at the end?
If a supplier can’t give clear answers before you sign, the answers are unlikely to get clearer during the build. If you can’t write the brief because the problem itself isn’t clear yet, that’s a sign to start with a short discovery phase rather than a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Can I build an app for free?
You can build a simple app yourself with no-code tools such as Bubble, Glide or FlutterFlow, many of which have free or low-cost plans. They work well for testing an idea or for internal tools. You’ll pay more as usage grows, and complex apps often outgrow them, so treat a no-code version as a way to learn before paying for a full build.
How long does it take to build an app?
A simple app typically takes one to two months and a moderate one four to six months, according to published UK estimates. Complex apps can take six months to a year or more. The biggest cause of delay is usually decisions on the client side, such as content, approvals and access to other systems, so plan for those as part of the timeline.
Who owns the code when an app is built for me?
You should, but check the contract. A good agreement transfers ownership of the code and design to you once paid, and lists any third-party components that come with their own licences. In equity-based builds the company that owns the app is jointly owned, so the code belongs to that company.
How much does it cost to maintain an app each year?
Plan for 15% to 20% of the original build cost each year. For a £60,000 app, that is £9,000 to £12,000 a year for updates, security, hosting and small fixes. Apps with many users, heavy AI use or lots of third-party services cost more, because those services are often billed per use.
Should I get several quotes?
Yes, but compare what each quote includes, not just the total. Check whether design, testing, project management, app store submission and the first months of support are included. A quote that looks cheap often leaves those out, and they come back as extra charges later.
How Hyperlabs can help
If you’re starting a new business around an app and don’t have a team to build it, Hyperlabs Incubate co-founds the venture with you. We test the idea first, then a small senior team designs, builds and launches the product, and we take equity instead of fees. The first step is a short conversation about what you want to build.