How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Mobile App in 2025?

In today’s digital age, building a mobile app for your business is essential. People in the UK spend a significant amount of time on apps, with monthly app time per user at 79.3 hours in 2023. This highlights the rise in demand and usage of mobile apps. 

Budget consideration is an important factor before you start building your app. The cost of building a mobile app in the UK varies significantly and depends on various factors. 

On average, app development costs typically fall between £10,000 and £100,000, though this figure can shift considerably. Some basic apps might be developed for a fraction of this cost, while more sophisticated applications can exceed millions.

The final cost largely depends on the scope of the project, app complexity, and also the size of the development team required to build the app. The more functionality and bespoke elements your app demands, the greater the investment.

What is the average cost of building an App in the UK?

The average cost of developing a mobile application typically ranges between £10,000 and £40,000. Simpler apps tend to cost less, while more sophisticated and feature-rich applications can far exceed £40,000.

Many factors influence the final cost, the project management methodology and bespoke features are required. Depending on whether you need robust data security measures, and integration with third-party services, the cost can rise further. Implementing adherence to ongoing legal and regulatory compliance, particularly for complex or high-risk apps also increases the final cost.

Mobile App Development Cost Based on Types

Apps across the world tend to fall into the categories of gaming, productivity, lifestyle and entertainment, mCommerce or utility apps. It also has some subsets, like in health and well-being, food delivery and home entertainment, which have seen a huge growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Businesses have scrambled to launch new or improved apps and the type continues to have a major impact on mobile app development cost.

Gaming Apps 

Among the most popular types of apps are gaming apps which account for one-third of all app downloads and three quarters of all consumer spending. The modern-day equivalent of computer video games, the likes of Candy Crush Saga, Roblox and Pokémon Go guarantee their popularity. The mobile app development cost for gaming apps ranges between £10,000 to £50,000.

Productivity apps

Productivity apps focus on collaboration and project management. They can remain in contact with the rest of the team and provide updates and information as required. For example, apps such as Trello and Basecamp would be used by your chosen app development agency to ensure the project team stays connected and the project meets the agreed specifications and timelines. The mobile app development cost for productivity apps is between £5,000 to £50,000.

Lifestyle and entertainment apps

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify, and Tinder are a few apps in this category. They all enable us to enjoy our leisure time. In a highly competitive market, lifestyle apps are used daily to help users find the next song, restaurant, partner, or destination. Breaking into this category with a new app is tough. You’ll need a new, fresh idea that your competitors haven’t thought about and that your users can’t live without. And probably a big development and marketing budget to boot! The mobile app development cost of lifestyle apps is between £20,000 to £150,000.

Mobile Commerce apps

Mobile Commerce apps enable monetary transactions to be completed using a mobile device. Just think of all the apps we now use on a regular basis. Mobile money transfers, electronic tickets, and boarding passes. These apps also offer mobile banking, contactless payments, and location-based services and have allowed new and existing industries and services to grow. They can all be categorised into three types, namely mobile shopping, mobile banking, and mobile payments and have become a necessity for eCommerce retailers. The approximate cost to develop an m-commerce app in the UK can range from £25,000 to £80,000, depending on complexity and features.

Utility apps

The final category is utility apps. These mobile apps are used without consumers thinking about them as apps like Calculatohttps://www.chilliapple.co.uk/hybrid-app-developmentr, Flashlight, Find My Device, Google, Safari, etc. Others include barcode scanners, which came into their own during the pandemic, and health apps, which are becoming more important and popular in tracking health and wellbeing. Many utility apps are automatically available on new smartphones and are free. Utility mobile app development costs with advanced features like real-time communication or integration with other services could range from £20,000 to £50,000 or more.

The decision to build native or hybrid mobile apps 

Native apps run on the operating system that they were made for, while hybrid apps can be used across different devices. Native iOS or Android applications will require more money upfront because it takes longer to make them. 

Hybrid development, which uses HTML5 and JavaScript as its programming languages, can be done in less time and at a lower cost and require less maintenance. Android apps, available from Google Play, are written in Java whereas iPhone apps, downloaded from the App Store, are written in Objective-C or Swift. 

Native App Development Cost

A native app is built with the device in mind and can, therefore, interact with its features, such as the microphone, camera, GPS, and device storage. It is faster and more reliable for the user. The downside from a perspective is higher cost. A bigger budget is required in terms of development and maintenance if you want to build your app for multiple platforms (iPhones and Android). The cost range is between £10,000 to £100,000+ for each platform. This means developing for iOS and Android separately doubles the project cost.

Hybrid App Development Cost

Hybrid applications can be accessed via a web browser and downloaded from app stores. They are essentially web pages wrapped in a mobile app using WebView with access to the built-in capabilities of a device. They are built using cross-platform frameworks like React and Xamarin. The potential downside is that the speed of the hybrid app depends entirely on the speed of the user’s browser, which ultimately means hybrid apps are slower than native apps. The approximate development cost of a hybrid mobile app in pounds can range from £10,000 to £150,000 or more.

Here are 6 Factors Affecting Mobile App Development Cost 

1. App Functionality and Complexity

The scope and technical sophistication of your app are among the most significant cost drivers. For example, mobile apps with advanced features, complex logic, and intricate user interactions demand more time and expertise. This, in turn, increases the cost of mobile app development services.

2. Design and User Interface (UI) Considerations

A well-designed, intuitive user interface is  a must-have for high user experiences. However, crafting a visually appealing and user-friendly design for a simple or complex apps means: additional time potentially pushing up costs.

3. Choice of Platform (e.g., iOS, Android, or Both)

Developing for multiple platforms, like native iOS and Android, requires separate phases:

• Design adaptations
• Writing app code 
• Testing and QA 

Each platform has distinct development tools, design guidelines, and user behaviours to consider. 

4. Back-End and Server Infrastructure

The need for a robust server-side infrastructure significantly impacts cost. This becomes more evident, particularly for apps that rely on real-time data, complex databases, or external integrations. Scalable and secure backend systems require considerable planning and ongoing maintenance, which adds to both initial and long-term expenses.

5. Integration with Third-Party Services and APIs

Incorporating external services such as payment gateways, geolocation APIs, or social media logins can add complexity to the project. Result: Higher cost due to greater number and type of integrations required.

6. Quality Assurance (QA) and Testing

Thorough testing is vital to delivering a reliable, high-quality app. This includes checking for:

• Functionality
• Security vulnerabilities
• Device compatibility
• Overall user experience

Comprehensive QA procedures help identify bugs early, improve performance, and ensure the app meets user expectations. Despite its importance, QA is often underestimated and often leads  to delays and unforeseen costs later in the development cycle.

Understanding the mobile app development process to analyse time and cost

The actual development process is complex to ensure the final product is safe, secure, robust and user friendly. The app development cost breakdown can therefore be influenced by the time required to follow this process.

The process can be explained simply with the following 10 stages

• Ideation and planning
• Building the wireframe
• Defining the back-end structure and any server-side logic
• Understanding how to manage users of the app
• Mapping out the user experience
• Data integration approaches to allow users to access and share information
• Prototyping and building the user interface (possible QA/ testing)
• Refining the user interface
• Testing the application in real-world settings
• Deployment of the mobile app

Save Money by outsourcing to a mobile app development company

Outsourcing is a smart way to save time, money, and resources on developing an app that can be tailored to suit your needs. And it’s not all about saving money – there are other reasons, too! You will have more time for other tasks and can focus on your day-to-day business whilst your app is being developed to your precise specifications.

You also won’t need to worry about finding someone with the necessary skill set as your project can be delivered by a team experienced in particular coding, app types and even specific industries or app categories. And your app will be developed in line with best practices in design and development including thorough testing and debugging.

Conclusion

So, answering the question of ‘how much does it cost to develop an app’ is not a simple one.  There are many factors to determine the cost of creating an app and the time it takes to design and build a mobile app. Not only do you need to consider the type of app – native or hybrid – and the complexity of the build, but the experience of the development team is also another consideration.

Professional developers with years of experience in creating both native and hybrid apps will build quicker and using code that is robust and previously tested. App engineers who work solely for one development agency will have the benefit of constant investment in their own personal development and will be more up to speed with the latest updates and software versions than self-employed developers.