How much does it cost to build a custom app for a small business in the UK?

Why quotes vary so wildly

There is no such thing as "an app" for pricing purposes. A booking app for one Pilates studio and a marketplace with payments, messaging and two types of user are both "an app", and one is ten times the other. When you get a quote, you are really being told how much scope the builder heard, how many people they plan to put on it, and how much risk they are pricing in.

What moves the price

Number of screens and user types. An app where one kind of person logs in and does three things is cheap. One where customers, staff and admins all see different things is not.

Accounts, payments and the backend. The moment users sign in, store data or pay, you need a proper backend: authentication, a database, secure storage, and rules about who can see what. This is where a lot of the real engineering lives, and where cheap builds fall over later.

Platforms. iOS only, iOS and Android, or a web app that runs anywhere. A web app is often the fastest way to prove the idea; a native iOS app is right when it needs the camera, offline use, notifications and the App Store.

Integrations. Every outside system it must talk to (Stripe, a calendar, accounting software, a maps service) adds work and, more importantly, adds things that can break.

Who builds it. An agency prices in project managers, account managers and juniors. A freelancer prices in only themselves, which is cheaper but riskier if they vanish. We sit in the middle on purpose: the people who do the strategy also do the build, one project at a time.

Realistic ranges

For a small business, an internal tool or a simple customer-facing web app typically runs from the low five figures. A native iOS app with accounts, a real backend and App Store release, like Maintivo, is a bigger job and priced accordingly. Anything with two-sided users, payments and messaging is a product, not a tool, and should be budgeted like one. We would rather tell you the honest number on a call than print a price that does not fit your project, and we never charge for discovery.

How to keep the cost sane

Build the smallest version that a real customer would pay for, ship it, then add. Nearly every app that ran over budget did so because version one tried to be version three. A good builder will push back on scope; be suspicious of one who says yes to everything.

Check whether you need an app at all. Sometimes a well-built website with a booking system, or an off-the-shelf tool wired up properly, does the job for a tenth of the money. We cover that decision in custom software or off-the-shelf.

What is included when we build one

Positioning and a plain-English spec, design, the app itself, the backend, App Store submission if it is native, and the marketing site so people can actually find it. Everything is yours, including the code and the accounts. If you want to see how the process works step by step, read how to get a custom app built.