CheckPre

MVP Development Cost Calculator

Price a minimum viable product the way agencies do: the few features that prove the idea, a UI kit, manual QA and a two-developer team.

Updated · By Niraj Kumar · 4 sources

Project

The baseline: a React front end with a Node or serverless back end.

Unique layouts, not every page: a product page template counts once.

CRM, ERP, shipping, tax, analytics… 32 hours each.

Features

Sign-up and loginSign-up and login

Email and social login, password reset; SSO or MFA is complex.

User profiles and settingsUser profiles and settings

Profile pages, preferences and account deletion.

Roles and permissionsRoles and permissions

Who can see and do what; complex means custom policies.

Teams and multi-tenancyTeams and multi-tenancy

Organisations, invitations and data isolated per customer.

Admin panel / CMSAdmin panel / CMS

Manage users, content and settings without a developer.

Product catalogue and checkoutProduct catalogue and checkout

Listings, variants, cart, checkout and orders.

Payments and subscriptionsPayments and subscriptions

Stripe or similar: plans, invoices, webhooks and refunds.

Search and filteringSearch and filtering

Full-text search and facets; complex means a search engine.

Email and push notificationsEmail and push notifications

Transactional email, push and in-app alerts.

File and media uploadsFile and media uploads

Uploads to object storage, previews and image resizing.

Real-time chatReal-time chat

Messaging over WebSockets, read receipts and history.

Maps and locationMaps and location

Maps, geocoding, distance search or live tracking.

Reports and dashboardsReports and dashboards

Charts, exports and scheduled reports for users.

AI / LLM featuresAI / LLM features

Chat assistants, summaries or retrieval over your data.

Multiple languagesMultiple languages

Translated interface, locale formats and RTL support.

Offline mode and syncOffline mode and sync

Works without a connection and syncs changes later.

Design and quality

UI/UX designUI/UX design
QA and testingQA and testing

Team

Mid-market US agencies; big consultancies bill $200 to $300 an hour.

Agency tierAgency tier
Seniority mixSeniority mix

More developers shorten the calendar, not the hours.

Sprint lengthSprint length
%
0%50%

A reserve for scope that changes once work starts. 15 to 20% is usual; more for a vague brief.

Likely budget, United States$110,000Range $82,500 to $143,000
Total effort
824 hours
407 hours of development
Timeline
10 weeks
5 sprints of 2 weeks, up to 16 weeks if the scope grows
Blended rate
$133 an hour
Across every role on the team
Maintenance after launch
$19,500 a year
About 18% of the build: updates, fixes and small improvements
Lowest-cost region
Philippines & Vietnam
$29,000, $80,500 less
Where the budget goes, United StatesHover or focus a row for its hours and share of the budget.
  1. 1Front-end development$30,000
  2. 2Back end, platform and integrations$21,500
  3. 3Contingency reserve$18,500
  4. 4Project management$9,600
  5. 5UI/UX design$7,700
  6. 6DevOps and CI/CD$6,800
  7. 7QA and testing$5,500
  8. 8Discovery (sprint 0)$5,300
  9. 9Hardening and launch$5,100
Sprint plan, 10 weeks128 hours of development per sprint; design, QA, DevOps and PM run alongside.
SprintFocusHoursCostRunning total
Sprint 0Discovery, backlog, architecture and first designs72$9,400$9,400
Sprint 1Project setup, Sign-up and login, User profiles and settings206$28,000$37,500
Sprint 2User profiles and settings, Admin panel / CMS, Payments and subscriptions179$23,500$61,000
Sprint 3Payments and subscriptions, Email and push notifications, Integrations179$23,500$85,000
Sprint 4Hardening, acceptance testing and launch50$6,600$91,500
Team by role, before contingency
RoleHoursRateCost
Project manager / BA93$130/h$12,000
UI/UX designer72$120/h$8,600
Senior developer217$160/h$34,500
Mid-level developer244$125/h$30,500
QA engineer61$90/h$5,500
Total687$133/h$91,500
The same scope in every region, offshore to onshoreMid-market agency rates at the tier you picked, with each region's coordination overhead added for a US client.
  1. 1Philippines & Vietnamoffshore$29,000
  2. 2Indiaoffshore$30,500
  3. 3Eastern Europeoffshore$41,500
  4. 4Latin Americanearshore$47,000
  5. 5Canadaonshore$87,000
  6. 6Western Europeoffshore$88,500
  7. 7Australiaoffshore$97,500
  8. 8United Kingdomoffshore$98,500
  9. 9United Statesonshore$110,000

How is software development cost estimated?

An MVP with login, simple profiles, one payment plan, a basic admin and email notifications takes roughly 800 agency hours, about 10 weeks with 2 developers. With a US agency that is around $110,000; with a team in India, around $30,500.

build = Σ features (hours × complexity × stack) + screens × 10 h + integrations × 32 h + 40 h setup total = discovery + design + build + 10% hardening + QA % + DevOps + PM (12% + time-zone overhead) cost = Σ role hours × regional rate × agency tier; likely = cost × (1 + contingency) sprints = 1 + ⌈build ÷ (developers × 40 h × weeks × 0.8)⌉ + hardening

This page uses the same method as the Software Development Cost Estimator, which explains each term and assumption in full.

Worked example

A first version to test with real users: 12 screens on Next.js, login, simple profiles, a basic admin page, one payment plan and email notifications, a customised UI kit and manual testing. Built by a US agency (mid-market rates), 2 developers in 2-week sprints, with 20% contingency.

  1. 1Discovery (sprint 0): 39 hours, $5,300
  2. 2UI/UX design: 64 hours, $7,700
  3. 3Front-end development: 216 hours, $30,000
  4. 4Back end, platform and integrations: 154 hours, $21,500
  5. 5Hardening and launch: 37 hours, $5,100
  6. 6QA and testing: 61 hours, $5,500
  7. 7DevOps and CI/CD: 43 hours, $6,800
  8. 8Project management: 74 hours, $9,600
  9. 9Contingency reserve: 137 hours, $18,500
  10. 10Blended rate: $133 an hour across the team
  11. 11Schedule: 5 sprints, 10 weeks

About $110,000, within a range of $82,500 to $143,000, and 10 weeks from kickoff to launch.

Frequently asked questions

How do I keep an MVP's cost down?

Cut features, not quality. Build one user journey end to end, use a UI kit instead of custom design, let a service handle login and payments, and do admin tasks by hand or in a spreadsheet until they hurt. Each feature switched off above shows its saving; the hours that remain are what proving the idea actually costs.

No-code or custom-built MVP?

No-code tools can test demand for a few thousand dollars and are worth trying first for simple workflows. A custom MVP is worth its cost when the product is the technology, when you need integrations a no-code tool cannot reach, or when you expect to scale the first version rather than rebuild it.

How much does an MVP cost to build with a team in India?

For the scope on this page, about $30,500, with a range of $22,500 to $39,500 at mid-market rates: 913 hours at a blended $33 an hour, delivered in about 10 weeks by 2 developers. Change the features and team above for your own scope.

Sources

Related calculators

More in AI, Cloud & Developer