If you're a founder without a technical co-founder, the first quote you get for your product is a shock. Partly that's because software is expensive. Partly it's because the quote arrives without any way of judging whether it's reasonable. This article is the second part.
What does bespoke software cost in the UK?
A first version or proof of concept typically costs £10,000 to £35,000, and a customer-facing web application £30,000 to £100,000. Freelance developers charge £40 to £100 an hour and agencies £80 to £150. Those figures are from a London software agency's own published cost guide, so they describe what agencies quote rather than an independent survey (Red Eagle Tech, 2026). The range inside each band is mostly about scope and who's doing the work.
What drives the price?
Hours, and who's charging for them. A £30,000 portal at an agency rate of £100 an hour is 300 hours of work, which is seven or eight weeks for one person. The same hours from a freelancer at £60 an hour is £18,000. The difference isn't always quality. Agencies carry account managers, project managers and office costs, and you pay for them whether or not you need them.
The other driver is uncertainty. When nobody knows exactly what's being built, the price goes up to cover the risk, or it goes down to win the work and then grows through change requests. Both are bad for the founder. The first costs more than it should. The second costs more than was agreed.
Why do quotes vary so much for the same idea?
Because "a booking app" means ten different things, and each quote is pricing a different one. One agency has assumed payments, user accounts and an admin panel. Another has assumed a form that emails you. Until the scope is written down, the quotes aren't comparable, and the cheapest one is usually the one that's assumed the least.
The fix is to spend a small amount of money settling the scope before anyone prices the build. That's what a discovery is for.
How do I price it?
Fixed, in stages, with a prototype before you commit to anything expensive.
A discovery and working prototype costs £1,950 and takes one to two weeks. You get a scoped plan and a prototype you can click through, which answers the "what are we actually building" question before it costs real money. If you go ahead within 60 days, the £1,950 comes off the build.
The first working version is from £7,500, fixed price, paid in three stages. Further phases after launch are from £3,500 each, and running support is from £250 a month. Every price is on my pricing page before we speak.
I don't take equity. Fees only. And everything is in your name from day one: the code, the accounts, the domain, the data, with runbooks and a handover video, so your own developer can pick it up whenever you want them to.
Why fixed prices?
Because hourly billing puts the risk on the person least able to judge it. A founder can't tell whether 40 hours on a feature was reasonable. A fixed price for a written scope means I carry that risk, and it means the number you were told is the number you pay.
It also changes the conversation. With a fixed price, the useful question becomes "what's the smallest version that proves this works", which is the right question for a first version anyway. With hourly billing, the useful question becomes "how do we keep the clock running", which isn't.
What have I built this way?
ExQlo, a legal services marketplace founded by Thomas Verghese, which I designed and built as one platform after it had outgrown the no-code tools it started on. And Ladies Who Lit, a book club with around 3,000 members whose bookings and payments were being tracked by hand in a spreadsheet, now a member portal where members join, manage their membership, book retreats and meet each other, with the welcome emails, reminders and event tracking running on their own. Both are live, and both are on my case studies page.
What should a founder do before getting quotes?
Write one page: who the product is for, the three things it must do on day one, and what you'll leave out. Then ask every quote to price that page, so the numbers mean the same thing.
- Write the one-page scope, including what's out.
- Ask for a prototype or a clickable mock-up before committing to a build.
- Ask who owns the code and the accounts, and get it in writing.
- Compare quotes against the same scope, and against the market figures above.
If you'd like to talk it through, the first call is free and takes thirty minutes.
Sources
- 01Red Eagle Tech, Bespoke software cost UK: £10K to £500K+ guide (2026), by Kat Korson. redeagle.tech/blog/bespoke-software-cost-uk. A software agency's published guide: MVP or proof of concept £10,000 to £35,000; customer-facing web applications £30,000 to £100,000; freelancers £40 to £100 an hour; agencies £80 to £150 an hour.
- 02Guy Habgood, pricing. guyhabgood.co.uk/pricing
Prices for my own work are correct at the date of publication. Market figures are from the source given and will change.
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Guy Habgood helps independent professional firms use AI safely, take admin off their teams, and build software when nothing off the shelf fits. He's based in Alresford, Hampshire, and works with firms across the UK.
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