How Much Does App Development Cost in the UK in 2026?
A UK mobile app typically costs £25,000–£60,000 for a focused first version, £60,000–£120,000 for a full product with accounts, payments and offline support, and £120,000+ where there are multiple roles, complex integrations or native builds for both platforms. Budget 15–25% of build cost annually afterwards.
App quotes vary more wildly than web quotes, for a specific reason: the decision between cross-platform and native roughly doubles the engineering, and many quotes do not make clear which they assume. Before comparing numbers, establish which you are being quoted for.
What drives the number
- Cross-platform or native. React Native or Flutter means one codebase; native Swift and Kotlin means two, so roughly double the build and the maintenance.
- Offline behaviour. An app that must work without a connection needs sync and conflict resolution, which is real engineering rather than a setting.
- Accounts and roles. One user type is far cheaper than customer, staff and admin each seeing different things.
- Payments. In-app purchases bring store billing rules and review scrutiny with them.
- Backend. If there is no existing API, that is a second project running alongside the app.
- Device capabilities. Camera, location, Bluetooth and background processing each add testing across real hardware.
The cost nobody mentions at quote stage
Launch is the start of the spending, not the end. Both platforms ship major OS releases annually, store policies change, dependencies need updating, and an app left untouched for a year accumulates problems that eventually stop it being approved. Budget 15–25% of build cost per year, and treat an app with no maintenance budget as a product with an expiry date.
Do you need an app at all?
| Requirement | App needed? |
|---|---|
| Works offline | Yes — this is the clearest case |
| Push notifications people act on | Usually |
| Camera, Bluetooth, background location | Yes |
| Used several times a week | Probably — a home-screen icon earns its place |
| Used occasionally, mostly informational | No. A responsive site does this better and cheaper |
| “Our competitors have one” | No. That is not a requirement |
Frequently asked questions
How long does an app take to build?
A focused first version is typically ten to sixteen weeks including store submission. Store review adds days rather than weeks but cannot be compressed, so it belongs in the plan as a dependency.
Is cross-platform worse than native?
For most business apps — forms, lists, dashboards, commerce, bookings — no, and the saving is substantial. Native earns its cost for heavy graphics, sustained camera or sensor work, deep OS integration, widgets and extensions.
Can we start with one platform?
Yes, and it is often sensible. Launch where your users are, learn, then expand. With cross-platform the second platform is a fraction of the first; with native it is close to a second build.
Who owns the app store listings?
You should — the apps must be published under your own developer accounts, not an agency’s. Listings held by a supplier are a lock-in most businesses discover at the worst possible moment.
We build cross-platform and native apps — see app development — and will tell you when a responsive website would do the job instead.
