The short answer
Between £3,000 and £250,000, and the reason that range is so wide is scope, not quality. A fixed, focused app costs £3,000 to £6,000. An open-ended agency project starts around £20,000. The question that decides which one you are is whether you can write down the single job the app has to do.
The four brackets
| Bracket | Price | What you get | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-code tool | £0 to £1,000 | Something that works until it doesn't. No app store presence in most cases. | Internal forms, quick validation |
| Fixed-price sprint | £3,000 to £6,000 | A real, launched app doing one job properly | First apps, focused products, SMEs |
| Agency project | £20,000 to £60,000 | Open scope, longer timeline, more features | Funded startups, complex products |
| Enterprise build | £60,000 to £250,000+ | Multiple systems, compliance, integrations | Large organisations |
Most people asking this question assume they are in the third bracket because that is what every quote tells them. Often they are in the second.
What actually changes the price
Not the platform. Not the design. These four.
How many kinds of user there are. One type of user is one product. Customers plus staff plus suppliers is three, and the cost roughly follows.
Whether money moves between users. Taking payment for yourself is straightforward. Handling payments between two parties, with fees, refunds, and disputes, is a different job.
What it has to connect to. An app that stands alone is quick. An app that must talk to a fifteen-year-old system with no API is not, and the honest answer there is usually a scheduled export rather than live sync.
Whether it has to work offline or in real time. Both are step changes in difficulty, and both get promised casually by people who have not built them.
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
We can publish a fixed number because we fix the scope and the timeline first. That trade is the whole mechanism, and it is explained properly in why app development costs what it does.
The costs after the build
The build price is not the total, whoever you hire.
- Apple Developer Program, about £79 a year.
- Google Play registration, about £20 once.
- Hosting, small at launch and scaling with usage.
- Payment processing, roughly 1.5% to 3% per transaction.
- Something set aside annually for OS updates and fixes.
Common questions
What is the cheapest way to build a real app?
Fix the scope to one job and buy a fixed-price build. That gets you a launched product for £3,000 to £6,000. Anything cheaper is usually a template, a no-code tool with a ceiling, or someone who will not finish.
Can I build an app for £1,000?
Not a custom one that reaches the app stores. At that budget you are looking at a no-code tool, which is a legitimate answer for some problems and a dead end for others.
How much does it cost to maintain an app?
Budget for hosting, store fees, and something annually for OS updates and fixes. At launch volumes hosting is usually small; it scales with real usage rather than with ambition.