How Much Does It Cost to Build an App in the UK?
A mobile app in the UK typically costs between £12,000 and £100,000 to build, with most business apps landing between £30,000 and £60,000. Then there are the running costs, which most quotes leave out — maintenance alone runs at 15 to 20% of the build cost every year.
Prabhu SolutionsPublished 6 September 2026Last reviewed 15 September 20267 min read
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What does each app cost band buy?
Four bands, and most business apps sit in the second — £30,000 to £60,000, over five to eight months. Figures below are UK market rates and cover the scope of a mobile app development project including its backend.
| Cost | What it is | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| £12,000 – £30,000 | Cross-platform, one clear purpose, user accounts, a straightforward backend, one or two integrations. | 3–5 months |
| £30,000 – £60,000 | Multiple user types, richer functionality, substantial backend, several integrations, admin dashboard. | 5–8 months |
| £60,000 – £100,000 | Separate native builds, deep device integration, high performance demands, or larger scale. | 8–12 months |
| £100,000+ | Complex products, real-time features, heavy media, enterprise integration. | 12 months+ |
Where do we sit in this?
Most of what we are asked for is a cross-platform build with a backend that has to be written from scratch — the middle of the market rather than either end of it. We scope before quoting rather than publishing a rate card, because platform count and backend state move the number more than the feature list does. Mobile app development covers the work, and a full bespoke software build is the comparison worth making before you commit to an app at all.
What are the running costs nobody quotes?
Backend hosting from £30 to £300 a month, usage-based charges for push notifications, SMS and email, and maintenance at 15 to 20% of the build cost every year. Store developer accounts carry their own fees, which change, so check the current rates before you budget.
- Backend hosting — £30 to £300+ a month, growing with usage
- Push notifications, SMS, email delivery — usage-based
- Maintenance — budget 15–20% of build cost per year. This is an industry norm, not a markup.
Maintenance decides whether the app is affordable
iOS and Android both ship major updates annually. An app that is not maintained will eventually break, then be removed from the stores. A £40,000 app carries roughly £6,000 to £8,000 a year in maintenance simply to stay alive. If that is not in your plan, the app is not affordable regardless of the build price.
What drives the build cost of an app?
Six things: the number of platforms, whether a backend already exists, the integrations, any offline requirement, the number of user types, and how bespoke the design is. The backend is the one clients consistently forget.
- Number of platforms. Cross-platform produces iOS and Android from one codebase and is right for most business apps. Two separate native builds is effectively two projects — the trade-off set out in native or cross-platform.
- Whether a backend exists. An app is a window onto a server. If there is nothing to connect to, the backend is often more than half the work, and it is the half clients consistently forget to budget for.
- Integrations, and whether the other systems have usable APIs.
- Offline capability. An architectural decision at the start, expensive to retrofit.
- User types and permissions. One user type is straightforward; four with different rules is not.
- Design. A bespoke design system costs more than adapting platform conventions — and platform conventions exist because users already understand them.
Do you actually need an app?
Only if you need deep device features, background GPS, Bluetooth connections to hardware, extended offline use, app store presence for discovery, or high performance for graphics or real-time work. Everything else is usually better served by a web application or a progressive web app, at a fraction of the cost.
A web application is usually right when people will use it at a desk or on a tablet, when it must work across all platforms on one budget, when you will update it frequently without waiting for store review, or when your users are staff and customers you can send a link to — which is why so much of this work ends up as web application development rather than a store build.
A progressive web app sits between them: home screen icon, offline capability, push notifications on most platforms, one codebase, no store submission. It covers a surprising amount of what people assume needs a native build.
Below about £12,000, a native app is usually the wrong answer and a progressive web app is the right one. That is not a consolation prize; it is frequently the better product. If what you are really building is a subscription product rather than a company tool, what a SaaS MVP costs is the more useful comparison.
The point
Below about £12,000, a native app is usually the wrong answer and a progressive web app is the right one.
Questions people ask about this
Why do app quotes vary so much?
Mostly scope, and whether a backend is included. A quote for an app that assumes an existing API is a completely different project from one that builds the server side too. Ask every quote explicitly whether backend development is included.
Can I build an app for £5,000?
Not a real one. That is roughly ten to twelve developer days. You might get a very simple prototype. You will not get something with accounts, a backend and store approval.
Should I build for iOS or Android first?
With cross-platform you rarely need to choose. If you must, follow your users — and check actual data rather than assuming.
How long does app store approval take?
One to two weeks typically, sometimes longer with Apple. First submissions are rejected routinely for procedural reasons — privacy declarations, a login for reviewers, in-app purchase rules. Budget for at least one resubmission.
Will I own the app and the store listings?
You should own the code, and the developer accounts should be registered to your company with you as account holder. An app published under an agency's developer account is extremely awkward to move. Ask before you start.
The work behind this article
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How Much Does a SaaS MVP Cost in the UK?
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