The short answer
In the UK in 2026, a simple app from an agency typically costs £12,000 to £30,000 and takes 10 to 16 weeks. An MVP is usually £20,000 to £60,000 over three to four months. Our fixed-price sprint is £2,999 or £5,999, delivered in fourteen days, for a deliberately tighter scope.
Most cost guides in this market end with a range so wide it is useless and a form to fill in. This one gives you the numbers, explains where they come from, and tells you which one applies to you.
The underlying data
The figures on this page are drawn from our UK App Development Cost Report 2026, which compiles published pricing from more than twenty UK sources and states its methodology in full. It is free to cite.
What the UK market actually charges
| Who you hire | Typical cost | Typical timeline | Who carries the risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK agency, simple app | £12,000 to £30,000 | 10 to 16 weeks | You, if it overruns |
| UK agency, MVP | £20,000 to £60,000 | 3 to 4 months | You |
| UK agency, complex product | £60,000 to £250,000+ | 6 months+ | You |
| UK freelancer | £40 to £85 per hour | Highly variable | You, entirely |
| London senior contractor | £90 to £120 per hour | Ongoing | You |
| Offshore team | £15 to £40 per hour | Often longer than quoted | You, plus coordination cost |
| App14 sprint | £2,999 or £5,999 | 14 days | Us |
The single most useful column there is the last one. Almost every arrangement in this market passes timeline risk to the buyer. That is why quotes come as ranges.
What we charge
Starter App
Launch fast£3,999£2,999
For small and medium businesses ready to launch their first app.
- iOS & Android app
- User login & accounts
- Push notifications
- Admin dashboard
- 14 day delivery
Advanced App
Built to scale£6,999£5,999
For advanced apps with complex and heavier customer usage.
- All starter app features
- Complex app logic
- AI and blockchain features
- Security audits
- 14 day delivery
Why the difference is so large
This is the question anyone sensible asks next, so here is the straight answer. It is not that we found a way to do £30,000 of work for £3,000. It is that we are selling a different thing.
Scope is fixed before we start. An agency project is open-ended by design: you can keep adding, and the cost follows. Ours cannot grow, so it cannot drift.
Time is fixed. Fourteen days. Most of what makes software expensive is not the building, it is the months of coordination, re-scoping, and waiting that surround it.
There is no sales layer. No proposal document, no pitch, no account manager. In a typical agency that overhead is real, and it is inside your quote.
We say no more often. Games, real-time infrastructure, regulated clinical products, and everything on our no-go list. A generalist agency takes those on and prices in the uncertainty.
What pushes the price up
Whoever you hire, these are the variables that actually move the number.
Real cost drivers
- Number of user typesOne kind of user is simple. Customers plus staff plus suppliers is three products in a trench coat.
- Money moving between partiesPayments to a business are simple. Payments between users, with fees and refunds, are not.
- Integrations with existing systemsEspecially older systems with no API, where the answer is usually a scheduled export rather than live sync.
- Regulatory requirementsClinical safety, financial regulation, and children's data all add real work.
- Real-time anythingSecond-by-second updates are an order of magnitude harder than periodic ones.
- Offline operationAn app that must work with no signal is a genuinely different build.
The costs nobody quotes
The build price is not the total. Budget for these whoever you hire.
| Cost | Rough figure | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | About £79 | Annual |
| Google Play registration | About £20 | One-off |
| Hosting and database | Low at launch volumes, scales with usage | Monthly |
| SMS, email, mapping credits | Usage-based, often small | Monthly |
| Payment processing | Roughly 1.5% to 3% per transaction | Per sale |
| Maintenance and OS updates | Budget something annually | Ongoing |
More detail on the costs nobody quotes for.
How to work out your own number
Three questions, in order.
1. Can the scope be fixed? If you can write down the one job the app has to do, a fixed-price sprint applies and you are looking at £3,000 to £6,000. If the scope genuinely cannot be pinned down, you are in agency territory and should budget £20,000 upwards.
2. Does it need integrations or compliance work? Each one adds real time. Two or three material integrations usually pushes a project past what a sprint can hold.
3. Is this a one-off build or continuous development? For a fixed thing, a sprint or a project. For continuous development over years, an in-house developer costs less than any agency, including us.
Common questions
How much does an app cost in the UK in 2026?
A simple app from a UK agency typically costs £12,000 to £30,000 and takes 10 to 16 weeks. An MVP is usually £20,000 to £60,000 over three to four months. Our fixed-price sprint is £2,999 or £5,999 in fourteen days, for a deliberately tighter scope.
Why do UK app quotes vary so much?
Because most are time-and-materials estimates for open-ended scope. The range reflects uncertainty about how long the work will take, and you carry that uncertainty rather than the agency.
What is a realistic budget for a first app?
If you fix the scope, £3,000 to £6,000 buys a real, launched product. If you leave scope open, budget £20,000 upwards and expect it to move.
Do UK developers charge by the hour or by the project?
Most charge by the hour or day: roughly £70 to £150 an hour, with London at the top end and the UK agency average around £122. We do not charge by time at all, because it puts our interests and yours on opposite sides.