App development for small businesses
If you run a small business and you need an app, the hard part is rarely the building. It's knowing who to ask, what it should cost and how you'd tell a fair quote from an inflated one.
Our builds are fixed price, in three indicative bands: Small at £3,500 to £7,000, Medium at £8,000 to £21,000 and Large at £22,000 to £45,500. This page sets out the routes you're choosing between, what drives the cost, and where we fit.
What it costs
| Band | Indicative price |
|---|---|
| Small | £3,500 to £7,000 |
| Medium | £8,000 to £21,000 |
| Large | £22,000 to £45,500 |
These are indicative. We quote a fixed price once we know what you need, and we agree the scope before we start. A Tech & Product Audit at £700 for a simple app, and up to £1,400 for a larger one, is the cheaper way to find out where an existing app stands. Everything is on the Pricing page.
The three routes
No-code tools are the quickest way to get something working, and usually the cheapest to start. The risk comes later: if the tool is where your app lives, leaving it can mean starting again. We look at that in no-code lock-in.
A freelancer can be very good value for a well-defined job, and the cost is usually lower than an agency's. The risks are availability and what happens if they move on. We compare them in freelancer or agency.
An agency suits bigger projects with several moving parts, and you pay for the team and the process around the build. How agencies price is in agency pricing explained.
Where we fit
We're a small studio, on purpose. Two senior people do the work. No handover to juniors after the sales call, and a fixed price rather than a day rate. We work with owner-managed businesses, from one person to about thirty. Based in Leeds and Manchester, we work with businesses across the UK.
That suits a business that wants an outcome and a price. It's less suited to a project that needs a large team working at once, and we'll say so if yours is one.
What drives the cost
How many types of user the app has. Whether it takes payments or runs subscriptions. What it has to connect to. Whether it must work offline. Whether it needs to go on the App Store and Google Play. A short conversation tells us which apply.
How it works
- Free discovery call. What you need and what you've already tried.
- A fixed-price scope. If your idea is clear enough to price, we scope it straight away. If it isn't, we suggest an assessment first.
- Build. At the price we agreed.
- Handover. When we ship, you own it. The code lives in your own repository, under your name, from day one, with a clean, documented handover so your team or a future developer can pick it up. Ongoing support is optional and priced on our Pricing page.
Questions people ask
How much does an app cost for a small business?
Our fixed-price builds fall in three indicative bands: Small at £3,500 to £7,000, Medium at £8,000 to £21,000 and Large at £22,000 to £45,500. Where a project lands depends on what it has to do, not how long it takes us. We quote a fixed price once we know what you need.
Should I use a no-code tool, a freelancer or an agency?
Each suits something different. No-code is quick and cheap to start, and can be expensive to leave. A freelancer can be good value for something well defined. An agency suits bigger projects with several moving parts. We compare them with sourced figures in our guide to freelancers and agencies.
What makes an app cost more?
Usually the number of different types of user, payments and subscriptions, connections to other systems, anything that has to work offline, and whether it needs to go on the App Store and Google Play. A short conversation tells us which of these apply.
Do I need to know exactly what I want first?
No, but a fixed price needs a clear scope. If the idea isn't shaped enough to price, we'd start with an app feasibility assessment so you aren't paying for guesses.
Who owns the code?
When we ship, you own it. The code lives in your own repository, under your name, from day one, with a clean, documented handover so your team or a future developer can pick it up. Ongoing support is optional and priced on our Pricing page.
Are you a big agency?
No, and that's deliberate. Two senior people do the work, with no handover to juniors after the sales call. That suits some jobs and not others, and we'll tell you if yours isn't one.
Working on something like this?
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