What will your MVP cost? Answer 5 questions.
Answer five questions and get a real price band, not a sales call. Most MVPs we build land between $8,000 and $18,000 fixed, and this tool shows you where yours sits and exactly what pushes it up or down. No email needed to see your range. Built by the studio that publishes its prices.
How this MVP cost calculator works
Every band this tool shows is a price we actually charge, published on our pricing page: the MVP Sprint runs from $7,500, with most builds landing between $8,000 and $18,000 fixed, over about 8 weeks with a live demo every Friday. The calculator scores the four things that genuinely move an MVP quote (marketplace mechanics, platforms, flow count, integrations) and places you in the band. No lead form between you and the number, because a calculator that hides the answer behind an email field is a lead form wearing a costume.
The bands, published
| Build | Price | What lands here |
|---|---|---|
| Simple MVP | $7,500 to $10,000 | One core flow, one platform, accounts at most, nothing exotic connected |
| Standard MVP | $10,000 to $14,000 | Accounts and payments, two or three flows, a couple of integrations |
| Complex MVP | $14,000 to $18,000 | Marketplace mechanics, both web and mobile, or several connected systems |
| Prototype to production | From $14,000 | A Bolt, Lovable, or Cursor prototype hardened to production standard |
| Freelancer (benchmark) | $5,000 to $15,000 | Market estimate; you carry the coordination and the risk |
| US/UK agency (benchmark) | $60,000 to $200,000+ | Public benchmark for a comparable build with agency process on top |
All our numbers are fixed price with 100% code and IP ownership from day one and a 30-day warranty. The full comparison of who to hire, with each option's failure mode, is in hire someone to build an app, and the line-by-line anatomy of where the money goes is in the MVP development cost guide.
When not to spend $8,000
Three honest exits. If your budget is under $2,000, build it yourself in a no-code tool and hire nobody; the trade-offs are mapped in no-code vs custom code for your MVP. If nobody has asked for the product yet, spend $399 proving demand first: validate the idea with a landing page. And if you are not even sure the idea needs an app, website or app first settles that in one read. An $18,000 build is the most expensive way to discover an idea is wrong.
Before you talk to any developer
Whatever the calculator says, walk in with a one-page brief: how to explain your app idea to a developer has the six fields and a worked example. Then use the questions that expose a bad shop before you sign anything.
MVP cost questions, answered
How much does an MVP cost in 2026?
For a senior fixed-price studio, from $7,500, with most builds landing between $8,000 and $18,000 over about 8 weeks. Freelancers typically quote $5,000 to $15,000 with the coordination risk on you, and US or UK agencies $60,000 to $200,000 or more as a public benchmark. The spread is scope: a marketplace with payments is a different animal from a single-flow tool.
How accurate is this MVP cost calculator?
It places you inside our own published fixed-price bands, so it is accurate about what we would actually charge, which is more than most calculators can say. It cannot read your spec. The exact number comes from the $500 Week-1 Build Audit: one week, a one-page spec, a fixed price, and a go or no-go, with the $500 credited against the build.
What makes MVP development cost go up?
Four things, in order of damage: marketplace mechanics (two sides transacting doubles the flows), shipping both web and mobile at once, more than one core flow in version one, and integrations with several external systems. Cutting v1 to one core loop on one platform is the single biggest lever, and it is usually the right product call too.
Can I build my MVP with no-code instead of hiring anyone?
If your budget is under $2,000, yes, and you should. Bubble, Glide, or Lovable will get a testable version live for the cost of a subscription. The ceiling arrives at real auth, payments, and scale. Prove demand first, then pay for engineering once the idea has earned it.
What does a fixed-price MVP include?
At DappaSol: senior engineers, about 8 weeks with a live demo every Friday, fixed price agreed before work starts, 100% code and IP ownership from day one, and a 30-day post-launch warranty. NDA signed on request. The price does not move unless the scope does, in writing.
I already have a prototype from Bolt or Lovable. What does finishing it cost?
Taking an AI-built prototype to production starts at $14,000. The prototype is real progress, but auth, payments, security, and data integrity usually need rebuilding to production standard. Bring the prototype to the $500 Week-1 Build Audit and you leave with the exact hardening list and a fixed price.