Guide
How much does an app cost in the UK in 2026?
What UK app builders actually charge, what pushes the price up, the costs people forget, and a line-by-line example of a fixed-price app.
Short answer: a simple app from a UK studio usually costs between £8,000 and £40,000. Apps with payments, several types of user or real-time features usually cost more than £40,000. Template builders can be cheaper, and a freelancer can be cheaper again, but each comes with trade-offs.
The ranges below come from UK suppliers' own published pricing pages and from contract rate data, checked in October 2026. Prices exclude VAT.
What UK app builders charge
| Type of supplier | Typical price | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template or rapid app builders | About £4,000 to £7,000 | Standard apps built from ready-made parts in a couple of weeks | Limited to what the template does. Check who owns the code |
| Freelance developer | Around £500 a day (UK React Native contract median), so about £15,000 for six weeks | A clear spec and someone else handling design and testing | Design, testing, store submission and project management are often extra |
| UK studio, simple app or MVP | £8,000 to £40,000 | A first version to test an idea or serve existing customers | Many studios require a paid discovery phase first, often £1,500 to £4,500 |
| Established UK agency | Minimum projects often $25,000 to $75,000+ (listed in US dollars) | Larger apps, big design teams, ongoing roadmaps | Agency day rates of £550 to £750, and up to £1,200 at the top end, add up quickly |
What pushes the price up
- Types of user. One app for customers is far simpler than separate customer, staff and admin experiences.
- Payments and subscriptions. In-app purchases, card payments and refunds bring app store rules, extra testing and accounting.
- Real-time features. Chat, live tracking and instant updates need more backend work and more testing.
- Integrations. Every outside system, such as a CRM, booking system or accounting package, adds set-up, error handling and maintenance.
- Custom design. Bespoke illustration, animation and complex interfaces take longer than a clean, standard design.
- Native versus cross-platform. Building separate iPhone and Android apps can nearly double the work. Cross-platform tools such as React Native and Expo use one codebase for both, which suits most business apps.
The costs people forget
- Developer accounts. Apple charges an annual developer programme fee, and Google charges a one-off registration fee. Both should be in your company's name.
- Hosting. The server, database and storage behind the app. For a small app this can be modest, but it never disappears.
- Maintenance. Apple and Google update their systems every year, and apps need updating to keep up. A common rule of thumb is to budget 15 to 20% of the build cost each year.
- Third-party services. Email, text messages, maps and analytics often charge as usage grows.
A worked example: what £14,950 + VAT buys
Here is how our own 6-Week App Launch breaks down. It is roughly 30 working days of senior engineering, which is close to the UK median contract day rate for React Native developers.
| Stage | Time | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping Sprint | 2 days | Agreed screens, data, risks and a written fixed price (£950 + VAT, credited against the build) |
| Design and set-up | Week 1 | Screen flow, visual style, accounts, code repositories, cloud environment |
| Build | Weeks 2 to 4 | The app and its API, with a test build on your phone every week |
| Test and beta | Week 5 | Testing on real devices, fixes, beta through TestFlight and Google Play testing |
| Launch and handover | Week 6 | Store submission, launch support, code and accounts handed to you |
That covers one type of user, up to six core screens, sign-in, push notifications, a simple admin page, the backend on AWS and 30 days of bug fixes. Payments, a second user type or real-time features are priced separately, because each one adds real work.
How to keep the cost down
- Start with one user and one job. Launch the core journey, learn from real users, then add features.
- Use cross-platform unless you have a reason not to. One codebase for iPhone and Android saves money now and every year after.
- Use existing services for sign-in, payments and email rather than building them.
- Fix the scope before the price. A short paid scoping phase is cheaper than discovering surprises halfway through the build.
Five questions to ask any app developer
- Who will actually write the code, and will I speak to them?
- Will I own the code, the cloud account and the app store listings?
- What exactly is included, and what happens if I want to change something?
- How often will I see a working version on my own phone?
- What happens after launch, and what does support cost?
If the answers are vague, the price probably is too.
Sources
- Contract day rates: ITJobsWatch, React Native contracts, six months to October 2026.
- Agency minimum project sizes: Clutch UK app developer listings, October 2026.
- Studio and agency price ranges: published pricing pages of UK app studios and a UK custom-software cost survey, checked October 2026.
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