Guide · Building with AI
What does AI-built software cost in the UK?
From a £20 tool subscription to a five-figure build, and the costs that turn up after launch. Figures checked in October 2026, with sources.
AI app development cost, by route
| Route | Typical cost | What you get | Who checks it |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI app builder, DIY | About £15 to £25 a month per tool, plus hosting | A working prototype, fast | Usually nobody |
| Freelancer | Around £513 a day (UK median) | Depends entirely on the person | The freelancer |
| Agency or software house | £15,000 to £40,000 for a simple app or MVP; £40,000 to £80,000 for medium complexity | A finished, supported product | Their team |
| AI-assisted team | Quoted per job; usually below a traditional agency build | A finished product, built faster | Experienced developers, every line |
Sources and dates for each figure are in the sections below. Tool prices are in US dollars, as the tools publish them, and may not include VAT.
How much does it cost to build an app with AI yourself?
The tools themselves are cheap. As of 11 October 2026:
- Lovable: a free plan with a few credits a day; Pro is £22 a month for 100 credits and Business £44, with extra credits on top (Lovable pricing, UK prices checked 11 October 2026).
- Bolt: free with a daily token limit; Pro is $25 a month (Bolt pricing).
- Replit: Core is $20 a month, or $18 billed yearly, including $20 of AI usage; Pro is $100 a month (Replit pricing).
- Database and hosting: Supabase, which many of these tools use, is free to start but pauses free projects after a week of inactivity and limits them to 500 MB; Pro starts at $25 a month (Supabase pricing).
So a determined founder can get a prototype running for well under £100 a month. The catch is that credits run out faster than people expect once you're fixing things rather than building them, and the subscription is the smallest part of the bill. The bigger costs are the ones below.
What it costs after it works
A prototype that works on screen still needs the things a business depends on: security checks, proper hosting, backups, a custom domain and email that doesn't land in spam, and someone who can change it when you need it to do something new.
The most expensive surprises we see are security holes (customers able to see each other's data), databases that slow to a crawl at real volumes, and code so tangled that each change breaks something else. Fixing those after launch costs far more than building them right. We've written that up properly in the hidden cost of vibe-coded software.
If you already have an AI-built app and want to know what you're sitting on before spending more, our AI Code Audit is a fixed-price written review of its security, database, scalability and maintainability.
Freelancers, agencies and AI-assisted teams
A freelancer
The median UK contract developer rate was £513 a day in the six months to 11 October 2026, with the middle half of contracts between £425 and £600 (ITJobsWatch). A good freelancer is excellent value for a well-defined job. The risk is being left with code only one person understands, which we cover in our developer has left.
An agency or software house
UK agencies typically quote £15,000 to £40,000 for a simple app or MVP, £40,000 to £80,000 for medium complexity, and £80,000 or more for complex systems (Foresight Mobile, updated October 2026). Treat any single source as a rough guide: scope drives the price far more than the platform does, and agency figures come from agencies.
An AI-assisted team
This is how we work: experienced developers decide the design and review every line, and AI does a lot of the typing. It usually costs less than a traditional agency build and takes less time, without the ownership problems of a vibe-coded app. The difference is explained in AI-assisted development vs vibe coding. For a bespoke system, see custom software development.
How much has AI really cut the cost?
Less clearly than the adverts suggest. GitHub's own experiment found developers using Copilot finished a single, well-defined task 55% faster (GitHub research). But an independent trial by METR found experienced developers working on their own large codebases took 19% longer with AI tools, even though they felt faster (METR, July 2025). METR has since said those results are out of date for newer tools, and that it can't yet measure the effect reliably.
Our experience sits in between. AI saves a lot of time on the routine parts of a build. It saves very little on the parts that decide whether software is any good: working out what to build, designing the data, getting security right and testing properly. So expect a cheaper build, not a free one, and be wary of any quote that assumes the AI does the thinking.
Vibe coding cost: what a vibe code app costs, start to finish
The vibe coding cost most people see is the subscription: roughly £15 to £25 a month per tool, plus a database plan once the free tier runs out. That's the cheapest way there is to get a working prototype, and for testing an idea it's brilliant value.
The cost that arrives later is the bit nobody budgets for. A vibe-coded app that real customers use still needs its security checked, its data backed up, its updates applied and someone who can change it without breaking something else. That's where the money goes, and it's covered in more detail in the hidden cost of vibe-coded software.
A fair rule of thumb: vibe code it to find out if the idea works, then pay for the engineering before you trust it with other people's data or money.
What people ask
Doing it yourself with an AI app builder costs roughly £15 to £25 a month per tool plus hosting, so well under £100 a month for a prototype. Paying a UK agency for a simple app or MVP typically costs £15,000 to £40,000. The bigger costs usually come after launch, in security fixes, hosting and changes.
A DIY prototype can cost almost nothing beyond tool subscriptions. A properly built MVP from a UK agency typically costs £15,000 to £40,000. An AI-assisted team usually comes in below a traditional agency build, depending on scope.
Usually somewhat cheaper, because AI handles routine coding. It saves much less on design, security and testing, which is where quality comes from. Research on AI speed-ups is mixed, so treat any claim of a dramatically cheaper build with caution.
Security fixes, proper hosting and backups, rework when the first version can't handle real users or real data, and the cost of changing code nobody fully understands. These often cost more than the original build.
The median UK contract developer rate was £513 a day in the six months to October 2026, with most contracts between £425 and £600 a day, according to ITJobsWatch.
Further reading
Talk to us about the cost of your build
Tell us what you want to build and we'll give you a straight view of the sensible route and roughly what it involves.
Whether that's a DIY prototype, a freelancer, us, or nothing at all yet. If an AI app builder is all you need for now, we'll say so.
What we will cover:
- Which route suits your idea
- What a first version should include
- What to budget for after launch
- Whether an existing prototype is worth keeping
Rather talk now? Book a call or ring 01474 639 089.
We reply within one working day.
