"How much will it cost?" is the first question almost every founder asks, and the least helpful answer is "it depends". It does depend, but on a short list of decisions you can understand and control. This guide sets out what agencies are publicly quoting in 2026, what actually moves the number, and the costs that tend to be missing from a first quote.
What agencies are quoting in 2026
There is no independent price index for MVPs. The figures below come from agencies that sell MVP development, so treat them as indicative rather than definitive.
- Magora (UK agency, October 2026): most startup MVPs at £10,000 to £25,000 over six to eight weeks; production-grade apps or platforms at £25,000 to £60,000 over three to six months.
- Softomate Solutions (London agency, 2026): £8,000 to £15,000 for a simple web app, £15,000 to £30,000 for a standard SaaS product, £25,000 to £50,000 for a marketplace, and £20,000 to £50,000 for an AI-integrated MVP.
- Inigra (Polish software house, February 2026): quotes London rates for a standard MVP at £40,000 to £80,000 and Bay Area rates at US$80,000 to US$150,000, with Polish and South Asian teams well below that.
Two patterns stand out. First, the published entry point for a real, usable MVP clusters around £10,000, with most published ranges for a first version falling between £10,000 and £35,000, and marketplaces and AI-heavy products higher. Second, the same product can be quoted at very different prices depending on where the team is and how senior it is. Location matters, but scope matters more.
The decisions that move the price
Every one of these is a choice, which means every one is a way to keep cost under control.
Number of user types
A product with one kind of user is far simpler than a marketplace with buyers, sellers and an admin. Each role adds screens, permissions and test cases. Magora gives a useful example: the same conference app rose from £24,900 to £39,758, about 60 per cent more, once an attendee web app and extra roles were added.
Platforms
A responsive web app is usually the cheapest way to reach users on both desktop and mobile. Native iOS and Android apps add work for each platform, plus app store review and fees. If your users do not need offline access, device hardware or push notifications on day one, a web app or installable PWA is often enough for an MVP.
Integrations
Payments, accounting, CRMs, calendars, mapping, messaging: each integration means learning someone else's API, handling its failures and testing it. Softomate estimates a typical integration at 15 to 50 hours of work. Pick the one or two integrations the core journey cannot work without, and defer the rest.
AI features
AI is now part of many MVP briefs. A feature that calls a language model to summarise or classify is relatively cheap to build. A feature that has to be accurate on your own data, act on behalf of users or run in real time is not, because it needs evaluation, guardrails and fallbacks. It also introduces a running cost on every use, which we come back to below.
Compliance
Handling health data, payments or personal data at scale adds work for security, logging and access control. Some regulated products, such as those needing FCA authorisation or medical device approval, may not suit a quick MVP at all; it can be better to validate demand with a narrower version first.
Design depth
A clean interface built on a proven component library costs much less than a fully custom visual identity. For an MVP, clarity matters more than polish.
Costs most quotes leave out
A build quote covers the build. Budget separately for:
- Discovery and scoping. Some teams include it, others charge for it. Either way, it is where the price is really set.
- Hosting and services. For a typical early-stage web product, hosting is often tens to low hundreds of pounds a month; Inigra puts most MVPs at £50 to £150 a month. Add email, error monitoring, analytics and any paid APIs.
- AI usage. Model API calls are billed per use. None of the 2026 cost guides we reviewed gives a reliable per-user figure, because it varies hugely with the feature. Ask your team to estimate cost per active user before launch and to put limits in place.
- App store fees. Apple charges US$99 a year for its developer programme and Google Play a one-off US$25 registration fee.
- Payment fees. Card processors take a percentage of every transaction.
- Iteration after launch. The first version is the start of learning, not the end of spending. Magora suggests a second phase typically costs 30 to 70 per cent of the first release, and support retainers commonly start around £1,000 a month.
- Your own time. Someone on your side must answer questions, review releases and talk to users every week.
Vibe coding, freelancers or a team
AI coding tools now let founders build a working prototype themselves for the price of a monthly subscription. That is a genuine shift, and for testing an idea with a handful of users it can be the right first step. The trade-off is that these prototypes often lack proper security, testing and structure, and the tools' own documentation says users remain responsible for reviewing the code.
A freelancer is usually cheaper than a team but depends on one person, and in the UK a contractor may keep copyright in the code unless your contract assigns it to you. A team costs more per day but brings design, QA and continuity. Whichever route you take, make sure the contract gives you ownership of the code and access to the repository from day one.
How to compare quotes fairly
Quotes for the "same" MVP can differ by a factor of five. Before comparing prices, check that you are comparing the same thing:
- Is the scope written down? A list of user types, screens and integrations, not a one-line description.
- Is it fixed price or time and materials? Fixed price needs a tight scope; time and materials needs a clear weekly budget and reporting.
- What is included? Design, QA, deployment, hosting set-up, documentation and a warranty period are often left out of cheaper quotes.
- Who is doing the work? Ask to meet the engineers, not just the salesperson.
- How often will you see working software? Weekly releases let you catch problems while they are cheap.
- What happens after launch? Support, bug fixes and the cost of the next phase.
Cost and time are linked: a smaller scope is both cheaper and faster. If you want to see how the timeline usually breaks down, read our guide on how long it takes to build an MVP.
How we approach MVP pricing
At NextiForce we run MVPs as a fixed 51-day programme: shape, design, build and launch, with weekly releases you can use. Because the timeline is fixed, the conversation becomes about what goes into the first version rather than how long it might take. We agree the scope in writing before any build starts, give you a written proposal covering the first release, the timeline and the cost, and design the architecture so the MVP can grow without a rewrite; our multi-tenant SaaS for GNL Pakistan was built that way from day one. You can see how the programme works on our services page.
If you have an idea and want a realistic number for the first version, tell us what you want to build and we will come back with a clear scope and price.