"How much will it cost?" is the first question every founder asks and the one most agencies answer with "it depends". It does depend — but on a short list of things you can name, and the UK market has published enough figures in 2026 to put real numbers on each of them.
What UK MVPs cost in 2026
Three independent UK guides published this year land on the same headline range. Peachr and Foundry 5 both put most MVPs between £15,000 and £80,000, and Foundry 5 adds that funded startups typically spend £30,000 to £60,000. Both note the tails: some ideas can be validated for under £10,000, and some genuinely need £100,000 or more before they are investable.
By product type
Peachr's June 2026 breakdown is the most granular published. Their figures, not ours:
| Type of MVP | Typical cost | Typical build time |
|---|---|---|
| Simple web app | £10,000–£25,000 | 6–10 weeks |
| E-commerce | £15,000–£40,000 | 8–14 weeks |
| SaaS (web-based) | £25,000–£60,000 | 10–16 weeks |
| Mobile app, one platform | £25,000–£55,000 | 10–18 weeks |
| Mobile app, iOS and Android | £40,000–£80,000 | 14–22 weeks |
| Marketplace | £35,000–£80,000 | 12–20 weeks |
| Healthtech or regulated | £50,000–£150,000+ | 16–30 weeks |
RSnake's March 2026 guide slices it by complexity instead: about £11,000–£37,000 for a simple MVP (one platform, three to five core features), £19,000–£45,000 for a medium one, and £45,000–£110,000+ for a complex build with multiple platforms, AI features or compliance requirements.
By who builds it
The same scope can nearly double in price depending on who you hire. Foundry 5's published day rates:
- Freelancer: £250–£450 a day
- Regional UK agency: £350–£550 a day
- London agency: £600–£900 a day
- Nearshore (Eastern Europe): £28–£60 an hour
A day rate is not the whole story. A cheaper team that needs twice as long, or hands over code nobody else can maintain, costs more in the end. Ask every supplier what you will own at the end and who could take it over.
What actually moves the price
Across all three guides, the same four things decide most of the cost:
- What it has to do at launch. The smallest version that still proves the idea costs a great deal less than everything you eventually want. Most overspend comes from building version three before version one has been tested.
- What it connects to. Payment providers, CRMs, NHS systems, internal tools. Each integration is a dependency you do not control, and integration is usually the variable that moves a quote furthest.
- Whether design starts from scratch. An existing brand and a set of screens is a different starting point from a blank page. RSnake puts design at around 15–25% of an MVP budget.
- Platforms and compliance. Web-first is cheapest. Native iOS and Android roughly doubles the front-end work, and regulated sectors add assessment and documentation on top.
The costs after launch
Budgeting only for the build is the most common mistake. The guides agree on the shape of what follows:
- Hosting: £100–£500 a month for most MVPs until real traffic arrives (Peachr).
- Running costs overall: roughly 20–30% of the build cost every year for hosting, monitoring and support (Foundry 5); RSnake puts it at 20–33%. On a £40,000 MVP, that is £8,000–£12,000 a year.
- Store fees: the Apple Developer Program is US$99 a year, charged in local currency; Google Play is a one-off US$25 registration.
How to get a reliable number
A range is useful for budgeting. A quote you can hold someone to needs a scope. The fastest way to get one is to arrive at the first conversation with rough answers to four questions: what are you building and who is it for, what must it do at launch, what must it connect to, and what timeline are you working to.
It also helps to decide how you want to pay. Well-defined scope suits a fixed project price; exploratory work suits a rate. We cover the trade-off in fixed price vs time and materials.
Sources
- How Much Does It Cost to Build an MVP in the UK? (2026 Guide) — Peachr, 2 June 2026
- MVP Development Cost UK 2026: Real Numbers — Foundry 5
- UK MVP Development Cost 2026: Pricing and Timelines — RSnake, 12 March 2026