{"id":1519,"date":"2022-09-29T14:07:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lasoft.org\/blog\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2025-02-27T16:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T14:15:29","slug":"how-much-does-it-cost-to-create-an-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lasoft.org\/blog\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-create-an-mvp\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Does It Cost to Create an MVP?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting your digital business with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a reasonable solution if you want to avoid risks and test your idea before developing a fully-fledged product. It all translates into saving your money and time and maximizes the chances for your project to succeed. Given that 90% of startups fail<\/a>, building a Minimum Viable Product cost-efficiently is a must to make proof for your online businesses.<\/p>\n

However, MVP building<\/a> is also a financial investment. So, how much does it cost to create an MVP? You have probably googled \u201cHow much does it cost to create an MVP?\u201d and feel confused about the huge gap between the minimum of around $15,000 and the maximum of $100,000 and more. This difference is quite average since many factors affect the cost of MVP development. Let\u2019s discuss them all in detail.<\/p>\n

Fully-functional MVP Process Explained<\/h2>\n

MVP software development is not just about the Minimum Viable Product building process. Before the development process starts, additional steps are completed: Discovery Stage, creating Product UI\/UX, and Planning Product Delivery. So, in order to make an MVP process maximally effective, we need to complete all required steps to have a clear and agreed understanding of the Product.<\/p>\n

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Below is a more detailed overview of the MVP development process and\u00a0I will provide an average value for each stage or a range in brackets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discovery Phase ($2,400)<\/h3>\n

The MVP development process starts with market research to ensure that the future product will be able to meet the target audience\u2019s needs. Also, a marketing team should analyze your competition to determine your product\u2019s chances of surviving in the market.<\/p>\n

In parallel, business analysts will conduct a series of interviews with a founder to get insights that will help to design, select, and prioritize features for your future MVP.<\/p>\n

Depending on your needs at this stage, you will work with Business Analyst, Product Designer, System Architect, and Marketing Manager. Usually, it takes between 60 and 150 hours, which is around 3% of your total MVP budget. We always recommend that our clients go through the discovery stage, as it helps to clarify requirements and substantially reduce potential project and business risks.<\/p>\n

We can make a good parallel with building a house. Discovery is similar to discovering your future land and making the architecture and design of your home. Building MVP is not less complex than building a house, but while building a house without prior architecture sounds ridiculous to everyone, building MVP without prior discovery sounds okay, and this is the wrong impression.<\/p>\n

At LaSoft, we offer a very decent product discovery phase at a reasonable cost. Please check our offers here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Product Design ($5,000 \u2013 $15,000)<\/h3>\n

I believe that the Discovery and Product Design Phases are two of the most important stages of your MVP, and they lay down the foundation of your future success. It is advisable not to neglect them.<\/p>\n

Idea Validation<\/h4>\n

An important step in Minimum Viable Product software development is to get proof of whether the product can deliver value to its users. We use Value Proposition Canvas, which helps us understand complex Product ideas, define the Product and associated services, and determine potential Product usage scenarios. Using this tool, we can define customers, their pains and gains, and find ways to help end-users achieve their goals using the product.<\/p>\n

Product Design and Prototype<\/h4>\n

As soon as the project stakeholders approve the idea behind the project, the MVP team starts working on the MVP\u2019s design, creating a smooth interface and rewarding user experience. The finalized product design alongside the prototype is an MVP itself that can be used to communicate your idea better to your users, investors, and friends. The Prototype is a simple, lightweight visualization of your solution that encompasses its look, flow, and user interaction to test ideas before they are fully developed. The LaSoft Product Design Team develops a prototype within 3-4 weeks without a single line of code.<\/p>\n

Having a good prototype is enough to test and share your idea and collect feedback. Yes, you will not make money if you only have a prototype, but testing is a reasonable step in your MVP journey.<\/p>\n

Prototype Quality Assurance*<\/h4>\n

Prototype QA is a process of testing crucial flows and features of the project that were created in the design stage. It displays how the system will work on the front-end side only and allows potential users to work with it before the development process begins.<\/p>\n

In this case, we can receive early feedback from users and make changes before the development. This may help to reduce the project budget because making changes during the design stage is less costly.<\/p>\n

This step is very important for MVP projects whose ideas are not well-formed yet. It helps to test Product usage scenarios before the Product is developed, and it can help improve the idea in the earlier stages.<\/p>\n

There are two options for conducting Prototype Testing:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Option 1<\/strong>: The Product Designer creates testing scenarios and provides the Client with Prototype Testing manuals and articles, and the Client conducts his\/her own Prototype Testing and collects feedback from potential users.<\/p>\n

Option 2<\/strong>: The Product Designer creates testing scenarios, the Client provides a list of potential users, and the Product Designer conducts Prototype Testing meetings with those users.\u00a0That is when the feedback is collected.<\/p>\n

After Prototype Testing meetings are conducted, all the feedback from users is collected and processed. Based on the feedback, there might be changes in the project functionality.<\/p>\n

Planning<\/h4>\n

During this stage, we prioritize the MVP scope and create a Project Timeline that displays what functionality will be created within a specific period of time, what an expected delivery date is, and a planned budget for its development.<\/p>\n

MVP Development Process ($15,000-$50,000)<\/h3>\n

Finally, MVP developers write code to transform the design into a functional product. This stage is the most expensive and will suck close to 70% of the entire MVP development budget. The entire team of software developers will be working for 6-9 months to make your system live.<\/p>\n

Although testing an MVP is often overlooked, it\u2019s crucial to run tests to make sure that the MVP is ready to go live. Here\u2019s why: if the MVP isn\u2019t tested for bugs, they can interfere with users adequately assessing the product and giving constructive feedback on the UI\/UX.<\/p>\n

MVP Launch and Improvement ($10,000)<\/h3>\n

Upon the MVP launch, the team collects feedback from the \ufb01rst users and makes continuous updates based on their feedback. There can be several iterations until you achieve the desired result.<\/p>\n

You might need only one or a few of the mentioned services, which can significantly reduce the total cost<\/a>. For instance, you may already have market research done or need just a prototype to be built \u2014 there are various cases that call for an individualized approach.<\/p>\n

Critical Factors Affecting the MVP Cost<\/h2>\n

To help you properly allocate your MVP budget, we\u2019ve gathered the key factors that determine the MVP development cost.<\/p>\n

Project Scope and Complexity<\/h3>\n

That might sound like a no-brainer, but this is a gentle reminder that the more complex your project is, the more you will need to pay. Two factors can explain the higher cost for a more sophisticated MVP.<\/p>\n

First, if you\u2019re going to develop an MVP for a more complex application, you\u2019ll probably want to include more features in its basic functionality. Second, your unique project might require a dedicated team of experts<\/a> to solve complex tasks.<\/p>\n

To have a better idea of how the project complexity correlates with the cost of Minimum Viable Product development, here are some estimates<\/a> based on famous apps:<\/p>\n