App development cost in the UK runs from about £5,000 for a simple, single-platform app to £100,000 or more for a complex one, according to Dotsquares' 2026 UK guide. Most business apps land in the tens of thousands. Then set aside 15 to 20% of the build every year to keep the app running.
By cost we mean the whole bill: the build, plus the hosting, store fees, updates and changes you pay for once real people are using it. Most quotes only show you the first bit. Below are the five figures we'd want a client to see before signing anything, what each one tells you, and where the sources disagree.
The short version
- Published 2026 UK guides put a basic app at £5,000 to £10,000, but other roundups start an MVP at £15,000 and put the average UK project near £91,000.
- UK contract mobile developers charged a median of £425 a day in the six months to 20 October 2026, according to ITJobsWatch.
- Budget 15 to 20% of the build cost every year for maintenance; in one worked example the build was only 53% of three-year spend.
- RevenueCat's 2026 data puts median revenue at $0.34 per install by day 60, so 1,000 downloads typically earn a few hundred dollars.
- Most business apps pay their way through time saved or orders kept, not downloads, so judge them on that.
How much does app development cost in the UK?
The published UK price ranges don't agree, and the gap is big enough to matter. Dotsquares puts a basic app at £5,000 to £10,000. A 2026 roundup by Arch pulls together several sources and starts a startup MVP, the smallest version that proves the idea works, at £15,000. It also quotes Clutch data putting the average UK app project at about £90,780.
| Type of app | Dotsquares, 2026 | Arch roundup, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Simple app or MVP | £5,000 to £10,000 | £15,000 to £40,000 |
| Mid-sized business app | £10,000 to £50,000 | £40,000 to £100,000 |
| Complex or enterprise | £50,000 to £100,000+ | £100,000 to £500,000+ |
Every figure in that table comes from firms that sell development, so read them as asking prices, not research. The low end usually assumes one platform and a template design. The high end assumes iOS and Android, proper testing, and a back end for the app to talk to (its server and database). Timelines follow the money. Dotsquares says a basic app typically takes 2 to 4 months and a complex one 6 to 9 months or longer.
Say someone quotes you £8,000 for an app with logins, payments and an admin dashboard. Ask what they've left out.
How much do developers charge per day in the UK?
UK contract mobile developers charged a median of £425 a day in the six months to 20 October 2026, according to ITJobsWatch. The middle half of advertised rates sat between £370 and £488, and the median outside London was £400. That's almost 13% lower than a year earlier, so if you're hiring now, you're hiring in a softer market.
Those rates come from just 37 adverts, which isn't a lot to go on. Agencies charge more, because their rate also pays for design, project management, testing and someone to call when something breaks. Arch cites mid-level agency rates of £80 to £110 an hour outside London and £100 to £140 inside it. On a 60-day build, a freelancer at £425 a day comes to about £25,500. Put an agency on the same job at £90 an hour, seven and a half hours a day, and you're looking at about £40,500. You pay for that gap, but you also hand over more of the risk.
What does an app cost to run after launch?
Maintenance is the cost most budgets leave out. Dotsquares advises setting aside 15 to 20% of the original build cost each year, which on a £50,000 app is £7,500 to £10,000 a year. Arch's worked example is starker. A £75,000 cross-platform app costs about £140,750 over three years, which makes the build only 53% of the total.
Then there are changes to scope. Once the specification is signed off, a new feature is usually billed at the day rate, so at £425 a day a "small" addition that takes two weeks costs £4,250.
And the stores take their share. Apple charges $99 a year for its developer programme, and Google charges a one-off $25, as Purrweb's UK cost guide notes. Those two fees are also the floor if you build it yourself, and we've written about what a free app builder really gets you before the other bills begin.
On sales, Apple's Small Business Program cuts its commission to 15% for developers earning up to $1 million a year. Google changed its UK fees on 30 June 2026, and subscriptions now carry 10% plus a 5% billing fee on the first $1 million. The CMA has proposed letting UK developers point customers to cheaper ways to pay outside the stores. Apple called the plan "highly intrusive" in July 2026. No final decision has been published yet.
How much can an app with 1,000 downloads make?
A few hundred dollars, typically. RevenueCat's State of Subscription Apps 2026 covers more than 115,000 apps and puts median revenue per install at $0.34 by day 60, or roughly $340 per 1,000 downloads. Apps with a hard paywall, where nothing works until you pay, reached $3.09 per install. Freemium apps managed $0.38.
The longer view is bleaker. A year after launch, median monthly revenue was about $72. Only 17.3% of apps reached $1,000 a month within two years, and business apps reached $10,000 a month just 1.6% of the time. So is owning a consumer app profitable? For most owners, no.
But this data only covers apps that sell subscriptions. It doesn't measure an app that saves your staff time or keeps customers ordering, which is how most apps for small and mid-sized firms pay their way. We'd judge a customer portal or internal tool on the hours it saves and the orders it keeps, not on downloads.
Comparing app quotes side by side
Get a written answer to each of these before you choose between two quotes:
- Is the quote for one platform or two, and is a web version included?
- Who owns the code, the designs and the app store accounts at the end?
- Does the price cover testing, store submission and support after launch?
- What's the day rate for changes after sign-off, and how do you approve them?
- What will hosting, third-party services and maintenance cost each year, in pounds?
- Is VAT included?
- If you part ways, how do you get your code and data back?
If a cheap quote can't answer the last four, it often turns out to be the expensive one.
Start smaller than the quote
If these numbers look high, the answer is usually a smaller first version, not a cheaper builder. A tightly scoped MVP tests the idea for a fraction of the full build, and running costs stay low until you know people want it. Swarm Labs is a software studio in Manchester. If you're weighing up an app or a piece of custom software, we'll tell you what we'd build first and what it should cost to run.
Tell us about your app idea and we'll help you scope it
Sources
- Dotsquares: How much does it cost to build an app in the UK? (2026 guide)
- Arch: App development cost
- ITJobsWatch: Mobile Development contracts, UK
- Apple Developer: Apple Developer Program
- Apple Developer: App Store Small Business Program
- Google Play Console Help: Service fees
- Purrweb: How much does it cost to make an app in the UK, 2026 guide
- RevenueCat: State of Subscription Apps 2026
- MacRumors: Apple says UK App Store steering rules would be 'highly intrusive'