MVP development: cost, process, timeline and the mistakes that make it expensive
An MVP – the first, deliberately lean version of a web app – costs €5,990–15,000 with me and is often live in 6 to 10 weeks. What decides price and speed is not the hourly rate but how strictly you limit the scope of the first version. This guide explains how I scope an MVP, how the process works, which mistakes cost the most and what the platform YachtBrokerBid showed along the way.
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- By Maurice de Felice, web developer in Augsburg, Germany
What is an MVP – and what is it not?
MVP stands for minimum viable product: the smallest version of your application that real users can try and that teaches you something. An MVP is not a clickable prototype or a pitch deck – it runs with real data, real accounts and, if money is involved, real payments.
It is also not the full version with lower quality. Code, security and data protection have to be right from the start, because you will build on them. You save on scope, not on care.
What does it cost to build an MVP?
Web apps start at €5,990 with me as a fixed price – including React frontend, Laravel backend with API, PostgreSQL database, authentication, automated tests and CI/CD. How far an MVP goes beyond that depends mainly on features outside the core. The cost calculator shows the range for your selection.
| Building block | In the MVP? | Effect on cost |
|---|---|---|
| Login and one user role | Yes | Included in the base price |
| Core feature (e.g. request, order, auction) | Yes | Determines the scope most |
| Online payments | Only if the business model depends on them | Extra effort – see the calculator |
| Several roles with their own permissions | Usually in version 2 | Extra effort per role |
| Multiple languages | Only for an international audience | Extra effort per language |
| Dashboards, exports, statistics | Rarely | Worth it once there is real data |
Base price for a web app €5,990–15,000, extra effort €95 per hour. All prices are final prices; as a small business under § 19 of the German VAT Act, I do not charge VAT.
How does MVP development work?
- Free initial call: who uses the product, which problem does it solve, how will we know it works?
- Scoping: together we cut everything the first real user does not need. The result is a short feature list and a fixed price.
- Data model and architecture: before the first screen exists, the data model is in place – so later extensions do not become rebuilds.
- Milestones: you see intermediate versions at their own address and approve milestones; payment follows each accepted milestone.
- Launch and learning: after going live you collect feedback. Only then do we decide what goes into version 2.
Which mistakes make an MVP expensive?
- Everything for everyone: three user groups, five payment methods and four languages in version 1 double the effort without making you learn faster.
- Admin area first: many admin tasks can run through the database or email until you know which ones really happen often.
- Building what already exists: payments, email delivery and hosting are solved problems.
- No tests: an MVP without automated tests makes version 2 slow and risky.
- No code ownership: make sure you get the repository. With me, code and content belong to you after completion.
What did YachtBrokerBid show about MVP decisions?
On YachtBrokerBid, yacht owners list their yacht and vetted brokers bid with sealed offers for the mandate. The client had a tight schedule: 20 weeks had been agreed, the platform was live after 12.
Two decisions helped most. Payments run through Stripe Hosted Checkout with server-side verification instead of a self-built webhook infrastructure, and a regular reconciliation catches payments where someone closed the browser too early. Translations are set up so non-developers can change copy without a release. Both show that an MVP does not have to do less – it needs less custom building.
Where precision mattered, nothing was cut: the credit system follows double-entry bookkeeping with database transactions and row locks. A wrong balance would have been visible to users immediately.
Freelancer or agency for an MVP?
A lot speaks for a freelancer: you talk to the person who writes the code, decisions happen in one conversation and there is no project management mark-up. An agency makes sense when design, marketing and development have to run in parallel at a large scale.
To be transparent: I freelance alongside my main job and plan projects with fixed weekly capacity. We agree the timeline in the initial call – the web app development page shows how a project runs.
What do clients often ask?
Planning a project?
In a free initial call you get an honest assessment of scope, timeline and a fixed price – by video, or in person in Augsburg and Munich. I usually reply within 24 hours.
About the author
Freelance web developer in Augsburg, Germany. By day a backend developer at one of Germany’s largest comparison portals; as a freelancer I build websites, web apps and SaaS platforms with Laravel and React – for example the SaaS platform YachtBrokerBid. More about me
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