How much does an app cost in the UK in 2026?

A simple app built in the UK usually costs between £8,000 and £30,000, a typical business app with logins, payments and an admin area between £30,000 and £80,000, and anything complex from £80,000 upwards. Where yours lands depends on five decisions: which platforms, how much it does at launch, what it connects to, where its data lives, and who builds it.

How much does an app cost in the UK right now?

App prices in the UK fall into three broad bands, and most published guides roughly agree on them. An April 2026 UK cost guide from Red Eagle Tech puts them like this:

• Simple: £8,000 to £30,000, usually 8 to 12 weeks
• Standard: £30,000 to £80,000, usually 12 to 24 weeks
• Complex: £80,000 to £300,000 or more, usually 6 to 12 months or longer

Other guides stretch the top end further. Arch's 2026 budget guide quotes £100,000 to £500,000 or more for enterprise platforms, which is where the scary headline numbers come from.

Those ranges are wide because "an app" covers everything from a booking screen for one salon to a banking platform. The useful question is not the national average. It is which band your idea sits in, and that comes down to the decisions below.

Why is the price really a number of days?

Almost every app quote is a number of working days multiplied by a day rate, whatever format it arrives in. Knowing the day rate lets you sense check any figure you are given.

The median UK contract rate for a software developer is £525 a day over the six months to 2 October 2026, with the middle of the market running from about £367 to £606. For comparison, the government's going rate for an employed programmer is £54,700 a year, before employer costs, recruitment and management time.

So a quote of £26,000 at that median rate is roughly 50 days of work. If the scope you described sounds like two weeks, or like six months, that gap is worth asking about.

Decision one: a phone app, a web app, or both?

The platform choice is the biggest single lever on app cost, because it decides how many versions of the app get built and tested.

A web app runs in the browser on any device, needs no app store approval and is one codebase. For many internal tools, booking systems and customer portals it is the cheaper and better answer. KerenLabs builds both, and our web app development page explains when a browser based app is the better choice.

A phone app earns its cost when people use it daily, need it offline, or rely on the camera, location or notifications. If you need iPhone and Android, a cross platform build that shares one codebase typically costs 60 to 75% of building two separate native apps . KerenLabs has shipped its own apps, Spello and Jude, on both the App Store and Google Play, and our mobile app development page explains how we decide between the two.

Decision two: how much does the first version have to do?

Scope at launch is the second biggest cost driver, because every screen, user type and rule adds days of design, building and testing.

A useful exercise is to write down the one job the app must do on day one and the type of person doing it. A customer booking a slot is one job. A customer booking, a member of staff managing the diary, and a manager seeing reports is three types of user, and roughly three times the thinking.

The cheapest app is not the one with the lowest day rate. It is the one where somebody had the nerve to leave features for version two, after real users have shown which ones matter.

Decision three: what does the app have to talk to?

Every connection to another system adds cost, and connections are where estimates most often go wrong.

Taking card payments, syncing with your accounting software, pulling stock from a till system or sending texts all mean working with someone else's service, their documentation and their quirks. A well documented, popular service might add a few days. An older system with no proper way in can add weeks, or need a workaround nobody has quoted for.

List every system you currently copy information between by hand. That list is both your integration scope and, often, the strongest business case for building the app in the first place.

Decision four: where does the data live, and who manages it?

An app that stores customer accounts needs a server side, sometimes called a back end: a database, logins, security, backups and a way for your team to manage it all.

The admin side is the part owners forget to budget for. Someone has to add products, refund orders, reset passwords and answer the customer who cannot log in, and each of those needs a screen. Storing personal data also brings obligations under UK data protection law, which means security work that never shows up as a visible feature.

An app that only shows information, with no accounts and nothing saved, can skip most of this. That single choice can move a project down a whole price band.

Decision five: who builds it?

The same app can cost very different amounts depending on who builds it, mostly because of day rates and how much management comes with them.

A solo freelancer is usually the cheapest per day, but you take on the project management, and the risk if they become unavailable. A larger agency costs more per day and adds account management and process. Arch's guide cites agency rates of £80 to £110 an hour outside London and £100 to £140 in London . A small studio sits between the two.

KerenLabs is a small studio based in Manchester, so that is the option we can speak for. Whoever you talk to, ask for apps you can download and try today. Ours include Freeater, a food finder built for a client that has grown to more than 700 users and was featured by the BBC.

Whoever you choose, check that the developer accounts, the code and the hosting are in your business's name. That costs nothing and saves a great deal if you ever change supplier.

What does an app cost to run after launch?

Running an app costs money every year, and a sensible budget includes it from the start.

• Maintenance: typically 15 to 25% of the build cost each year for operating system updates, security patches and small fixes. A £40,000 app means roughly £6,000 to £10,000 a year.
• Hosting: from very little for a small app to hundreds of pounds a month for a busy one.
• Store accounts: Apple's developer programme is 99 US dollars a year , charged in local currency, and a business enrolling needs a DUNS number. Google Play charges a one off 25 US dollar registration fee .
• Store commission: if you sell digital content inside the app, Apple's Small Business Program charges 15% for developers earning up to 1 million US dollars a year, and Google says 99% of developers who pay fees pay 15% or less . Physical goods and services, such as a meal or a haircut, are not charged this way.

How to set a budget before you speak to anyone

You can arrive at a first conversation with a realistic number by working through the five decisions in order.

1. Pick the platform: web, one phone platform, or both.
2. Write the one job the first version must do, and list the types of user.
3. List every system it has to connect to.
4. Decide whether it needs accounts and stored customer data.
5. Pick the band that matches, then add 20% for the unknowns and a year of maintenance.

If that number feels too high, go back to step two rather than looking for a cheaper builder. Cutting scope saves money safely. Cutting rates usually just moves the cost to later.

If you would like a second opinion on your number, book a free 15 minute call with KerenLabs and we will tell you straight which band your idea sits in, even if the honest answer is that you do not need an app.

Frequently asked questions

Do UK app quotes include VAT?

Most agency and freelancer quotes to businesses are given before VAT. If your supplier is VAT registered, the standard rate of 20% is added on top, which a VAT registered business can usually reclaim. Always ask which figure you are looking at.

Should I pay a fixed price or by the day?

A fixed price suits a small, clearly defined first version, because both sides know exactly what is being delivered. Paying by the day or by the sprint suits projects where you expect to learn and change direction as you go. Many projects use a fixed price for a short discovery phase, then decide.

Can I use a no code tool instead of paying for a custom app?

For a simple internal tool or a prototype, a no code builder can be a good, cheap start. The limits tend to show when you need unusual logic, connections to other systems, or full ownership of your code and data. It is worth knowing what a move away from the tool would cost before you build a business on it.

Is it cheaper to build an app outside London?

Usually yes, because day rates are lower. Arch's guide puts London agency rates at roughly a quarter higher than the rest of the country. Since the work is done remotely either way, you can hire outside London without losing anything.