Development
How much does an app cost to build in the UK in 2026?
Typical UK app costs, three fully worked budgets at real hourly rates, the running costs most quotes leave out, and when a web app…
· 8 min read
We build iOS and Android apps from a single Flutter codebase, for businesses and founders anywhere in the UK. Mobile app development is charged at £70 an hour plus VAT, with discounts of up to 25 % on larger blocks, and a focused first version usually takes two to four months from prototype to the stores. Before any of that, we will ask a blunt question: does this need to be an app at all?
An app earns its place on someone’s phone when they use it often. Booking a weekly class, ordering a car wash, checking a delivery, logging a job on site. If your customers will open it once and forget it, a fast mobile website or a progressive web app will do the same job for less money and without store fees. We would rather tell you that on the first call than build something that sits unused.
Why we build in Flutter
Flutter is Google’s framework for building native iOS and Android apps from one codebase. We have used it for client work for years and it is our default for business apps. The practical benefit is simple: every feature is written, tested and fixed once. With two separate native apps you pay for most things twice, and the two versions drift apart over time, usually with Android lagging behind.
Flutter is not the answer to everything. If your app is mostly about heavy 3D, deep Bluetooth hardware control or features Apple ships to Swift developers first, separate native code can be the better call, and we will say so. For booking, ordering, accounts, payments, maps, chat and dashboards, which covers the large majority of the apps UK businesses commission, Flutter is quicker to build and cheaper to maintain, and users cannot tell the difference.
Apps we have built
Washy is an on-demand car-wash app: customers book a wash, choose a slot and pay on their phone, and the operator manages jobs from the other side. For Tattoo-Art & Obsession we built both the WordPress website and a Flutter app for repeat customers, so the studio’s bookings and content live in one place. KDMasterKey, a keyword-analysis product for self-publishers, has a web application and a companion app sharing the same data.
Different businesses, the same pattern: the app does a small number of jobs that customers repeat, and everything else stays on the website.
What a typical app includes
- Native iOS and Android builds from one Flutter codebase, tested on real iPhones and Android phones, including older and cheaper models.
- Accounts and sign-in with email, Apple or Google, with password reset that actually works.
- Bookings, orders and payments through Stripe, including Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Push notifications for reminders, status changes and offers, with settings so users can turn them down rather than delete the app.
- A web-based admin panel so your team can manage users, bookings and content without calling us.
- A backend in Firebase, or a custom Laravel or Node API when the app has to talk to systems you already run.
- App Store and Google Play submission, store listings, screenshots and privacy labels.
What it costs
Every app is different, so we quote after a short discovery session, but these are honest ranges based on the apps we build. Hours are at £70 plus VAT and the volume discount applies to the block you book.
| Type of app | Typical effort | Cost before VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Clickable prototype to test the idea | 20–40 hours | £1,190–£2,380 (15 % off) |
| Simple app: content, accounts, notifications | 100–150 hours | £5,250–£7,875 (25 % off) |
| Booking or ordering app with Stripe and admin panel | 200–350 hours | £10,500–£18,375 (25 % off) |
| Marketplace or two-sided app (customers and providers) | 350–600 hours | £18,375–£31,500 (25 % off) |
A worked example: a 100-hour block is £7,000, less 25 % is £5,250, plus VAT of £1,050, so £6,300 in total. You can pay in full or put down a 50 % deposit, and hours never expire, so anything left over covers changes after launch.
Budget for running costs too. Apple charges $99 a year for its developer programme and Google charges a one-off $25 for a Play Console account, according to their own sites. Firebase is free at low volumes and grows with use; most small business apps we run cost tens of pounds a month, not hundreds. Stripe takes its standard card fee per transaction. If you sell digital content inside the app, Apple and Google take a commission on those sales, which is a good reason to sell physical services and bookings through Stripe instead, where the store rules allow it.
For a fuller breakdown, our guide to how much an app costs in the UK walks through the numbers in more detail.
How a project runs
Discovery and prototype
We start with a call or a meeting, then map the journeys that matter: sign up, book, pay, get reminded, come back. We turn those into a clickable prototype you can try on your own phone and show to five or six real customers. Changing a screen at this stage takes minutes. Changing it after the build takes days.
Build in short cycles
We build in two-week cycles and send you a test build through TestFlight and Google’s internal testing track at the end of each one. You see progress on your phone, not on a status report. If something feels wrong, you tell us while it is still cheap to change.
Testing and store launch
Before submission we test on a spread of devices, check accessibility (text sizes, contrast, screen readers), and go through our software testing checklist. Apple’s review usually takes a day or two; occasionally it rejects an app for a wording issue in the listing, which we fix and resubmit. We recommend the store accounts are in your company’s name so you own the listing, the reviews and the customer data.
After launch
Apple and Google release new OS versions every year, and every so often they change the rules on privacy, payments or minimum SDK levels. An app nobody touches for eighteen months will start to break. Most clients keep a small block of hours to cover updates, fixes and the first round of improvements that real users ask for.
Where our clients are
Our team is based in London, which makes it easy to meet clients in London and the Home Counties in person. Most of our app work is run remotely though, with founders and businesses in Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Cardiff and elsewhere. Weekly video calls and test builds on your phone matter far more than postcodes.
Mistakes we help clients avoid
- Building every feature for version one. Launch with the three things customers do most, then add what they actually ask for.
- Skipping the admin side. An app with no way for your staff to manage bookings or refunds becomes a support headache within a week.
- Store accounts in a developer’s personal name. If you part company, getting the listing back is painful.
- Forgetting offline. Field staff and customers on trains lose signal; the app should show cached data and queue actions until it reconnects.
- No plan for year two. Put a little budget aside for OS updates and improvements from day one.
If you have an app idea or a business process you think belongs on a phone, tell us about it. We will give you a straight answer on whether it should be an app, a PWA or a better website, and roughly what each would cost. If you already know what you want, you can book mobile development hours directly.
