What 12 real UK software project estimates cost in 2026: first releases £11,000–£34,000 (median about £25,000), discovery £1,200–£3,600, 6–8 weeks to build, plus where the money goes and UK rates.
Short answer. In our 2026 estimates, a first production release of a custom web or mobile product cost £11,000–£34,000, with a median of about £25,000, and typically takes 6–8 weeks to build with a team of two to three developers. Discovery before the build cost £1,200–£3,600 (median about £1,800). A second phase typically added 30–70% of the first release. Small, well-defined jobs, such as one third-party API integration into an existing product, came in at £2,500–£3,000.
Most "how much does software cost" articles quote ranges from industry surveys. This one uses our own numbers: the 12 estimates we wrote for UK clients between July and October 2026, at the rates we actually charge. They are not a price list — every project is scoped individually — but they show where real budgets land and why.
Updated: 13 October 2026. Price ranges on this page follow the summary table.
The data: 12 real estimates from 2026
All figures are in GBP, exclude VAT, and include development, QA and product ownership. Design is included only where the project needed a designed interface rather than a component library. "Dev effort" is in story points; one story point is about one developer-day.
| # | What was being built | Discovery | First release / MVP | Later phases | Dev effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marketing website rebuild for an established brand | — | ≈ £11,600 | — | — |
| 2 | Conference networking app (iOS, Android, organiser CMS) | — | £24,900 | — | 44 |
| 3 | Same app, extended: attendee web app, invite-only accounts, organiser roles | — | £39,758 | — | 67 |
| 4 | Face-to-face lead marketplace: tablet capture, matching engine, admin, company portal | £1,954 | £25,828 | £9,714 | 45 |
| 5 | Personalised wellbeing practice platform (grant-funded) | £19,430 in total | priced separately | — | |
| 6 | Health-product interaction checker (scan a product, check it against regulated data) | £1,524 | £18,206 | £12,408 | 30 |
| 7 | Show and session allocation system for a visitor attraction | £1,700 | £31,652 | £14,404 | — |
| 8 | AI meeting assistant (live prompts, meeting scoring, follow-up drafts) | £3,636* | £32,718 | £8,751 | — |
| 9 | Pricing platform for law firms (multi-tenant SaaS) | £1,758 | £25,057 | £17,685** | 48 |
| 10 | Tenant rent-record verification via open banking | £2,464 | £34,299 | — | 60 |
| 11 | Scheduling pilot around a third-party game platform | £1,192 | £11,127 | £3,275 | 22 |
| 12 | Vehicle-data API integration into an existing marketplace | — | £2,575–£2,783 | — | — |
Rows 2 and 3 are the same product scoped twice. * Row 8's discovery includes a proof of concept; its later phase is the difference between the full scope (£45,105) and discovery plus MVP. ** Row 9's later phases are a self-serve pricing phase (£10,087) and an AI phase (£7,598).
What the numbers say
- First releases cluster around £25,000. Of the nine new-product builds (rows 2 and 4–11), the median first release was about £25,100; the middle of the range was roughly £19,000–£32,000.
- Discovery is small but not optional. £1,200–£3,600 bought a scoped feature list, an architecture, a fixed estimate and a delivery plan.
- Scope moves the price more than technology. The same conference app cost £24,900 or £39,758 depending on whether attendees also got a web app and organisers got their own role.
- Integrations, AI and regulated data are where budgets grow. The three most expensive first releases (rows 10, 8 and 7) were dominated by open-banking data that had to be verified rather than just displayed, by live AI processing, and by a booking engine with real-world constraints.
- Phase two is usually 30–70% of phase one. Planning for it up front is cheaper than discovering it after launch.
Pick your features in our calculator for a ballpark, or send us your brief for a free estimate. Developers from £49/hour; a full team with QA and product ownership £65–£70/hour.
UK software and app development cost: summary table
Updated: 13 October 2026. Same figures on our app cost, software cost, UK pricing, MVP and fixed-price pages.
| Project type | Typical time | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Free working prototype, with written analysis from a senior Product Owner | 5–10 working days | £0 |
| Discovery sprint (scope, architecture, fixed-price quote) | 2 weeks | from £3,000 |
| Proof of concept | 2–4 weeks | £2,000–£5,000 |
| Startup MVP, one or two core journeys | 6–8 weeks | £10,000–£25,000 |
| Production app or web platform, with backend and admin | 3–6 months | £25,000–£60,000 |
| Regulated or integration-heavy product (fintech, health, logistics) | 5–8 months | £80,000–£120,000 |
| AI proof of concept (scoped after Discovery) | 4–6 weeks | from £15,000 |
| Maintenance retainer after launch | monthly | from £1,000 per month |
Rates: from £49 an hour per developer (about £390 a day); £65–£70 an hour for a full team with QA and product ownership. Each range is for the stage named in its row; the free prototype, Discovery and maintenance are priced separately from the build.
How we calculate these ranges
These are Magora’s published 2026 price bands, not quotes. We check them against our own data: the 12 project estimates we wrote for UK clients in 2026. In those estimates a first release of a new product cost £11,000–£34,000, with a median of about £25,000, and took 6–8 weeks; Discovery cost £1,200–£3,600. The extended version of one app cost £39,758, and a single API integration £2,500–£3,000.
Each estimate lists features in story points (about one developer-day each), adds project set-up, regression testing, user acceptance testing and deployment, then adds QA at 30% and product ownership at 20% of development time. Cost is that effort multiplied by our day rates, about £520–£570 per developer-day including QA and product ownership.
The other rows are the bands in our UK software development pricing guide. Your own figure depends on platforms, integrations, regulation and design; a fixed price comes from Discovery. For a first number, use the app cost calculator.
Where the money goes
At our 2026 rates, every day of development carries the QA and product ownership needed to ship it. For one developer-day (one story point):
| Role | How it is sized | Share of cost |
|---|---|---|
| Development | The estimate itself, in developer-days | ≈ 75% |
| QA (manual testing, regression, UAT support) | 30% of development time | ≈ 13% |
| Product owner (scope, priorities, acceptance) | 20% of development time | ≈ 12% |
That works out at about £520–£570 per developer-day, including QA and product ownership (the upper figure when project management is added). Design, where needed, is estimated separately. The first releases above needed between about 20 and 70 developer-days.
UK rates in 2026: what you are paying for
| Who you hire | Typical hourly rate | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Offshore freelancers | £15–£30 | Lowest price; you manage scope, QA and continuity yourself |
| Offshore agencies with a UK sales front | £25–£50 | Process exists; time-zone and hand-over cost |
| London product-engineering houses (Magora's tier) | £45–£90 | Senior UK-based team, QA and product ownership included |
| Boutique London digital agencies | £60–£140 | Often design-led |
| Tier-1 consultancies | £120–£250 | Enterprise programmes, governance overhead |
Market bands as on our UK pricing page. On the projects above, Magora's rate works out at about £65–£70 an hour including QA and product ownership, or £520–£570 per developer-day.
How to keep the first release under £25,000
- One user journey, done properly. The cheapest estimates above had one core flow and an admin area, not five flows.
- Use a component library, not bespoke UI. Several of the estimates above had no design stage at all: the interface was built from a clickable prototype on a standard component library.
- Put integrations in phase two unless the product does not work without them.
- Hand-run the rare cases. Manual invoicing or manual approvals for the first months was one of the levers we offered to bring a first release inside a fixed budget.
- Agree the calculation rules before the build for anything that prices, scores or allocates — that logic is where rework costs most.
How we estimated
Each estimate lists features by platform in story points (about one developer-day each), adds supporting work — project set-up, regression testing, user acceptance testing and deployment — then derives QA at 30% and product ownership at 20% of development. Cost is effort multiplied by our day rates. The figures above are the totals in the estimate documents as sent; where a client chose between options, the base scope is shown.
Fixed price or time & materials?
Short answer: Choose a fixed price when the scope is defined and has an end; choose time and materials (T&M) when the product will keep changing or the work will run for months. At Magora a fixed price comes after Discovery, not before it.
Fixed price
- What you pay: an agreed price for an agreed scope.
- How it is produced: a free working prototype (5–10 working days), then a Discovery sprint (2 weeks, from £3,000) that ends in a fixed-price quote for the build.
- Best for: a well-defined scope with a fixed end, such as a startup MVP or a defined project.
- If the scope changes: it goes through a change request.
- Comparison: you can take the Discovery output to another agency for a comparable quote.
Time and materials (dedicated team)
- What you pay: a day rate per engineer, billed monthly. From £49 an hour per developer (about £390 a day); £65–£70 an hour for a full team with QA and product ownership.
- Commitment: a minimum of four weeks, then monthly rolling.
- Best for: a product or roadmap that runs for months, or a brief that will change along the way.
- If the scope changes: the backlog is re-prioritised in any sprint.
- After launch: a maintenance retainer from £1,000 a month.
Discovery can end in a fixed-price estimate or in T&M brackets, so you see the numbers before you commit to either model. More detail: fixed-price software development in the UK, or dedicated development teams.
More on UK software pricing
- App development cost in the UK (2026) — ranges, what moves them, and the FAQ
- UK software development pricing — day rates by tier and our published prices
- MVP development company UK — startup MVPs from £10,000
- Fixed-price software development in the UK — how a fixed quote is produced
- App cost calculator — pick features and see hours and cost
Updated: 13 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build an MVP in the UK in 2026?
In our 2026 estimates, a first production release cost £11,000–£34,000, with a median of about £25,000. See how much an MVP costs in the UK in 2026 for the breakdown by type of product.
How long does it take to build an MVP?
Typically 6–8 weeks for a first release with two or three developers, including testing and launch, after a two-week Discovery sprint.
Why do quotes for the same brief differ so much?
Mostly scope, not rate: the same app in our data cost £24,900 or £39,758 depending on two decisions. Ask every supplier what is in and out of their number.
Can I get a fixed price for custom software?
Yes, after discovery. A short discovery turns a brief into a feature list priced line by line, which is what makes a fixed price safe for both sides.
What does software cost after launch?
Support and continued development is typically from £1,000 a month, plus hosting and third-party services.
Should I choose a fixed price or time and materials?
Choose a fixed price when the scope is defined and has an end; choose time and materials when the brief will change or the work runs for months. At Magora a fixed-price quote comes after a Discovery sprint (2 weeks, from £3,000). Time and materials and dedicated teams are billed at a day rate per engineer, from £49 an hour, monthly rolling with a four-week minimum.
Want a number for your own project? Send us your brief — a senior engineer replies within one working day with a realistic scope, price and timeline. Or try the app cost calculator for a first rough figure.
Pavel Shevtsov
Pavel Shevtsov is a seasoned professional in the field of software development, currently serving as the Managing Director at Magora, a leading software development company known for its innovative solutions. With a passion for leveraging technology to solve complex business challenges, Pavel has played a pivotal role in Magora's growth and success.
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