What software actually costs in the UK
Every page that ranks for this question belongs to someone who wants to build it for you. This one does not. Here are the ranges, what decides where you land, and the costs that are never in the quote.
Why every answer you have read is a range
Ask ten UK agencies what an app costs and you will get ten versions of "£10,000 to £1,000,000". That is not evasion. The honest answer genuinely depends on what you are building, and nobody can price something that has not been described.
But a range that wide is useless to someone deciding whether to spend. So this guide does two things instead: it gives the ranges the UK market actually publishes, and it tells you which specific decisions push you to either end — so you can place your own idea before anybody quotes you.
One thing to hold onto throughout: published ranges come almost entirely from agencies. They are marketing, written to make a project feel affordable enough to enquire about. Treat the bottom of every range as the price of the simplest possible version, not the price of yours.
Published UK ranges, 2026
| What you are building | Published range | Most often quoted |
|---|---|---|
| Booking system (off the shelf) | £0 – £75 a month | Under £30 a month |
| Booking system (custom) | £2,000 – £15,000+ | £2,000 – £5,000 for one resource type |
| Online shop on Shopify (agency built) | £2,500 – £15,000 | £5,000 – £15,000 |
| Online shop (custom) | £8,000 – £40,000+ | £15,000 – £40,000 |
| Mobile or web app (simple / MVP) | £10,000 – £50,000 | From about £15,000 |
| Mobile or web app (mid-range) | £50,000 – £150,000 | Varies too widely to say |
| Complex or regulated platform | £150,000 + | Scoped case by case |
Collated from UK agency and provider pricing published in 2026; most business apps are quoted between £20,000 and £80,000. These describe the market, not your project — and they are written by people selling the build.
The rate behind every number
Almost all bespoke software is priced, underneath, as people × days × day rate. The median UK contract developer day rate was around £500 in spring 2026; freelancers commonly charge £300 to £600 a day, and agencies more, because the rate includes design, project management and testing.
So the quickest sanity check on any quote is to divide it by roughly £500 and ask whether that many working days sounds like your project. A £40,000 quote is about eighty developer-days. A £4,000 quote is eight — which is either a template, or a quote that has not understood the brief.
What pushes a project to the top of the range
Each of these is a genuine cost, not padding. Recognising which apply to you is most of the work of estimating.
- Accounts and logins with different user roles — admin, staff, customer
- Taking payments, especially recurring or split payments
- Connecting to systems you already run: accounting, CRM, stock, calendars
- Handling personal, health or financial data, which brings compliance work
- Needing both an iOS and an Android app rather than one web app
- Real-time features — chat, live tracking, notifications
- A design built from scratch rather than adapted from a template
- Requirements that are still being decided while the build runs
The costs that are never in the quote
A build quote prices the build. Owning software costs more than that, every year, and the difference is where most budgets go wrong.
- Maintenance. A common rule of thumb is 15–20% of the original build cost per year, for updates, security patches and the fixes that only appear once real people use it.
- Hosting and services. Servers, email sending, maps, payments and the other third-party services the software leans on, each billed monthly.
- App store and platform fees. Developer accounts, and a cut of any in-app sales.
- Your own time. Answering questions, testing, and making decisions — often the thing that actually sets the timeline.
If a quote does not mention any of these, ask. A supplier who has thought about year two is a better sign than a low number.
Questions people ask next
Why do quotes for the same idea differ so much?
Because each supplier is quietly pricing a different project. One assumed a template, another assumed custom design, a third included testing and project management the others left out. Until everyone is quoting against the same written description, the numbers are not comparable. How to compare quotes covers this in detail.
Is it cheaper to hire a freelancer than an agency?
Per day, usually. Per project, not always: an agency brings design, testing and project management that a solo freelancer either does not do or bills separately. The cheaper route is the one whose total, including your own time managing it, is lowest.
Can I get a fixed price?
Yes, if what you want is written down precisely enough to be priced. If it is not, a fixed price just moves the uncertainty into change requests. See fixed price or time and materials.
How do I get a number for my idea rather than a range?
Describe it precisely. That is exactly what a Moksy Blueprint does: about forty minutes of plain-English questions produce a costed plan — scope, requirements, budget and risks — that you can take to any builder.
Read next
What an app costs to build
Simple, mid-range and complex — and which one you actually have.
What a booking system costs
When a £20-a-month tool is right, and when it is not.
What an online shop costs
Shopify, custom, and the point where the answer changes.
A range is not your number
Answer a few plain questions about what you want to build and Moksy writes you a costed, build-ready plan: what it should do, what it will cost, how long it will take and who you need. Free to start, no card, and you can take it to any builder you like.