MVP cost calculator
Pick your product type, platforms and features to see a price range in pounds for three routes, a rough timeline and what to build first.
Your estimate
AI tools yourself
£100 to £2,000
Your own pace, plus your time
BlackFig
£18,000 to £22,500
5 to 7 weeks, fixed price after a call
Typical UK agency
£45,000 to £71,000
8 to 12 weeks, varies widely
Build first
Sign up and login, Payments, User dashboards
Can wait until after launch
Nothing. That is a tight first version.
How the estimate works
The calculator builds a price from five answers. Each one adds to the total in a fixed way, so the same answers always give the same estimate.
Product type
SaaS, marketplace, AI tool, e-commerce or internal tool. Each has a base price, because a marketplace starts with more moving parts than an internal tool.
Platforms
Web, iOS or both. iOS or both adds a percentage on top, for the extra screens, testing and App Store review.
Features
Auth, payments, dashboards, admin panel, maps, AI features, chat, notifications and integrations. Each feature adds a set amount.
Design level
A template or a custom design. Custom design adds a percentage.
Timeline
Standard or rushed. A rushed timeline adds a percentage.
Base price, plus features, then the percentages. That gives one figure, which the calculator turns into a range for each of three routes.
What the three prices mean
The result shows the same product priced three ways. They are not three quality levels of one thing. They are three different ways of getting it built, with different costs that do not all show up on an invoice.
| Do it yourself with AI tools | BlackFig | Typical UK agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Tool subscriptions, hosting and services | A fixed price for design and build | Team rates, project management and overheads |
| Who does the work | You | Me, design and code | A team, usually after a discovery phase |
| Hidden cost | Your time, and fixing what breaks | Fewer people to talk to | Longer timelines and more meetings |
The do-it-yourself range is low because it leaves out your time. If you are technical and have the weeks, that can be the right call. If you are not, the cost tends to show up later, as a rebuild.
The weeks figure is a rough build time for the scope you picked. Agencies usually take longer, mostly because of a discovery phase and handoffs between people.
Must-have and later
Under the prices, your features are split into two lists. Each product type has a few features it cannot work without. Those go in must-have. Everything else goes in later.
This is the part worth reading twice. Most first versions are too big. Moving two or three features to later often takes more off the price than any other change, and gets you in front of users sooner. If you want to go further than the calculator does, the MVP feature scoping tool asks three questions about each feature.
Where the numbers come from
The prices come from a config I edit as costs change. They are estimates, not quotes.
My actual price is a fixed quote, in writing, after a 30 minute call. MVP Builds start from £12,000 and most go live in 4 to 6 weeks. If the calculator and the quote disagree, the quote wins, and I will tell you why.
Limits
- It assumes a typical version of each feature. A payments setup with subscriptions, refunds and invoices costs more than a single checkout.
- It does not see integrations in detail. Connecting to a well documented API is quick; connecting to an old internal system is not.
- It does not include content, legal work, ongoing hosting or marketing.
- It prices UK work. Offshore rates are lower, with their own trade-offs.
Your result
The result is free and shows on screen. Email is optional, and only needed if you want the full breakdown sent to you. The result has its own link, so you can share it with a co-founder or an investor.
For the reasoning behind the numbers, read what an MVP costs in the UK. To turn an estimate into a fixed price, book a call.
How much does an MVP cost in the UK?Questions founders ask
How accurate is the estimate?
It is a range, not a quote. The numbers come from a pricing config I keep up to date, and they assume a typical version of each feature. Your real cost depends on details the calculator cannot see, like how complex an integration is or how much content you need.
Does it cover iOS apps as well as web apps?
Yes. Choose web, iOS or both. iOS and both add a percentage to the build, because there are more screens to design, more to test and an App Store review to get through.
What does the doing it yourself price include?
It is a rough cost for building it yourself with AI tools: subscriptions, hosting and the paid services most apps need. It does not put a price on your own time, which is usually the biggest cost.
Is the BlackFig price on the calculator what I would pay?
No. It is an estimate from the same config. My real price is a fixed quote, in writing, after a 30 minute call. MVP Builds start from £12,000.
Do I have to give my email?
No. The result shows on screen for free. Email is optional and only needed if you want the full breakdown sent to you. You can also share the result link with a co-founder.
Why are some features marked later?
Each product type has a few features it cannot work without. Everything else is marked later, so you can see what a smaller first version would cost.
More free tools
MVP feature scoping toolWrite your idea, list the features, answer three questions about each, and get a must-have, should-have and later list you can print.Scope your MVPVibe-code health checkEnter your live URL and tick a short checklist to get a score out of 100, the top five issues in plain English and what fixing them takes.Check your app for freeSee if BlackFig fits your idea (it probably does)
A quick 30 minute call. No slides, no hard sell. You leave with a clear next step either way.