How much does it cost to build an app in the UK in 2026?

"How much does an app cost?" is the question we are asked most, and the honest answer — "between £5,000 and £500,000" — helps nobody. So here are the bands we actually quote, and what pushes a project from one to the next.

The realistic bands

£9,000 – £25,000 — cross-platform MVP. One codebase for iOS and Android, user accounts, a core feature set, payments, push notifications, and submission to both stores. This is where most first versions land, and it is the right starting point for the overwhelming majority of businesses.

£25,000 – £60,000 — full product. Multiple user roles, an admin dashboard, a custom backend, third-party integrations, offline support and a proper design system.

£60,000+ — complex or regulated. Real-time features, video, hardware integrations, or anything in health and finance where compliance work becomes a meaningful share of the budget.

Below £9,000 you are generally looking at a no-code build or a very narrow single-feature app. Those can be perfectly sensible — we will say so if that is your situation.

The five things that move the number

1. How many user types you have. An app with one kind of user is far cheaper than one with customers, staff and administrators. Each role means its own screens, permissions and testing. This is the single biggest multiplier and the one clients underestimate most.

2. Whether you need a custom backend. If your data fits Supabase or Firebase, you save weeks. Bespoke server logic, complex reporting or integration with a legacy system adds them back.

3. Integrations. A Stripe integration is a day. Integrating with a 20-year-old on-premise system that has no API is a month, and the risk sits with whoever has to make it work.

4. Design ambition. Using platform-standard components is quick. Custom animation, bespoke illustration and a distinctive design language are worth paying for on a consumer product and usually a waste on an internal tool.

5. Offline behaviour. "It should work without signal" sounds like a small line in a spec. It means conflict resolution, sync logic and a great deal of testing.

Native or cross-platform?

For roughly nine out of ten business apps, cross-platform with React Native or Flutter is the right call. One codebase, one team, both stores, and around 40% less than two native builds.

Go native when you need heavy device hardware access, sustained 120fps graphics, or deep platform-specific integrations. Games and AR are the clearest cases.

What people forget to budget for

• Apple and Google developer accounts — £79/year and a one-off £20.
• Backend hosting — £20 to £200 a month depending on scale.
• Maintenance — budget 15–20% of the build cost annually. iOS and Android ship breaking changes every year whether or not you have new features planned.
• App store review — allow two weeks. First submissions get rejected more often than you would like, usually for policy details rather than bugs.

How to spend less without regretting it

Cut features, not quality. A tightly built app that does one thing will outperform a sprawling one that does eight things adequately, and it costs a fraction to maintain.

Write down every feature you want, then ask of each one: if this were missing at launch, would anyone refuse to use the app? Almost everything will fail that test. Build what survives, put it in front of real users, and let their behaviour tell you what version two should contain.

That approach routinely takes a £40,000 wish list down to a £12,000 first release — and the £12,000 version is usually the better product.