What it takes to build your app.
A simple booking app takes about 9 to 17 weeks. The App Build Plan works out yours in three minutes.
Onekode planning figures, October 2026.
How does it work?
Tell it what your app does. It does the rest.
Your idea. A sentence or two in your own words: who is it for, and what do they do in it?
Web or phones. A web app, a mobile app, or both. Each one says what it is good for and what to watch out for.
Prototype, MVP or ready to launch. What the first version has to do: show the idea, get real people using it, or sell to the public.
Who uses it. It reads your idea and finds the kinds of user in it, such as dog owners, walkers and you as admin. You confirm, untick or add.
The features, per user. A list for each kind of user, tagged Prototype, MVP or Launch. The ones your goal needs are already ticked and marked Needed. Tick, untick or add your own; what you leave unticked goes under "Saved for later".
Who builds it. Build it yourself with AI (Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Cursor or Claude Code), hire a developer, or hire a team. Each route shows what it usually costs.
What do you get?
Your features, your weeks, your cost range.
The result has four parts:
- A feature list for each kind of usertagged Prototype, MVP or Launch, with what waits listed under "Saved for later".
- About how many weeksin four phases.
- What it usually costsfor your route, with a second route beside it to compare.
- The assumptions, written outwhat the range includes, leaves out, and what would move it.
A booking app for dog walkers.
Dog owners book local walkers and get a photo after each walk. A mobile app, an MVP, built by a small studio in South Asia. The App Build Plan found three kinds of user and left the admin out of the MVP.
- Search local walkersMVP
- Make a bookingMVP
- View walk photosMVP
- Set availabilityMVP
- Accept walk bookingsMVP
- Send walk photosMVP
Found, but left out of the MVP: its features are for launch.
Seven MVP features, all on mobile.
- Push notifications
- Rating dog walkers
- A walker's profile page
- The admin side
11 with one developer, 17 of your own time with AI
Weeks: Onekode planning figures, October 2026. Costs: inside the usual ranges for an MVP, $7.5k–25k from a team in South Asia and $5k–15k with AI (The First Version Report 2026, October 2026); where it lands in each range is our tool's. Planning ranges, not quotes.
How long does it take to build an app?
A simple booking app takes about 9 to 17 weeks (Onekode planning figures, October 2026).
A first version costs from a few hundred dollars to more than $50,000 (The First Version Report 2026, October 2026).
What moves both the weeks and the cost: the first version you pick, who builds it, and how many kinds of user it has.
The big figures online describe the whole product. Clutch puts a typical mobile app project at about 11 months (Clutch, app development pricing guide, updated 21 September 2026).
A full product with its own back end and native apps can take 6 to 18 months (The First Version Report 2026, October 2026). A first version is shorter.
About how many weeks, by first version and route
| First version | Build it yourself with AI | A developer | A team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | about 4 weeks | about 4 weeks | about 4 weeks |
| MVP | about 17 weeks | about 11 weeks | about 9 weeks |
| Ready to launch | about 20–42 weeks | about 13–28 weeks | about 10–22 weeks |
Onekode planning figures, October 2026. Planning figures, not a promise. Prototype and MVP: the dog-walker example above, run on the App Build Plan as a mobile app. Ready to launch: our tool's range for a mobile app of the usual size, small to large. Building it yourself counts your own time.
What makes it longer.
More kinds of user, because each one adds screens and rules. Payouts to sellers or walkers, not just payments in. Both app stores, because each store adds a review, a listing and a release. And changes mid-build, because login, data rules and payments are the work that has to be right.
Building it yourself with AI.
A clickable prototype in Lovable, Bolt or Replit can take days (The First Version Report 2026, October 2026).
Making it ready for real users takes weeks more. Phones add app review, and new personal Google Play accounts must run a closed test with testers first (Google Play Console Help).
What goes in a first version?
A first version is a choice, not a list. Feature lists online give everyone the same features. Your build plan starts from what your first version has to prove.
A prototype shows the idea.Screens and flows with sample data. For a demo, a few testers or a first investor chat.
An MVP gets real people using it.Login, real data, one core workflow done well, basic security, payments if your idea needs them. Not in the app stores yet.
Ready to launch holds real users after launch.The MVP plus testing, admin tools, monitoring and the app store releases. For paying customers at small scale.
What your build plan leaves for later, and why.
Features you leave unticked go under "Saved for later": reviews, referrals, growth features, both app stores.
They only matter once people are using the app. They stay in your build plan, but not in the first price.
The cheapest feature is the one you build once you know users want it.
Not sure which first version you need? The cost guide's first step walks you through it: Pick your goal →
Launching to phones? The Launch List → has the store steps.
Where do the figures come from?
Market ranges, not our prices. The App Build Plan's cost ranges come from The First Version Report 2026 (October 2026).
It draws on published price guides and rate surveys, sellers' published prices for finishing AI-built apps, and founder funding data.
And on our own read of 2,779 founder product jobs posted on Upwork in September and October 2026, out of 16,363 posts read. These are budgets founders posted on one marketplace, not prices paid.
Studio and team ranges are planning ranges, not quotes.
None of it is an Onekode price. We price each app on its own brief.
Want your full build plan written up?
Ask on the result screen, and it is written for your route.
On the result screen, press "Send me my full build plan". A person on our team writes it for the route you picked. Back the same working day, subject to availability. Looking for a template? This is one, filled in for your app.
- Build it yourself with AI:
step-by-step prompts per feature, a check after each step, and what to do when the tool gets stuck.
- Hire a developer:
a brief ready for a fixed quote, what done looks like for each feature, and the questions to ask before you hire.
- Hire a team:
a brief ready to send, the phases and what each delivers, what to check in a proposal, the week-by-week plan, and the accounts to set up in your name.
If you want your build plan turned into a fixed price and a date, that is the first step of Build My App.
Questions.
How long does it take to build an app?
A simple booking app takes about 9 to 17 weeks (Onekode planning figures, October 2026). A prototype takes about 4 weeks; an app ready to launch takes longer. It depends on who builds it and how many kinds of user it has. Big figures online describe a whole product. Your build plan gives the weeks for your idea in about three minutes.
How long does it take to build an app with AI?
A clickable prototype in Lovable, Bolt or Replit can take days. Making it ready for real users, with login, data rules, payments and tests, takes weeks more and usually a developer; sellers ask $2.5k–15k for that step (sellers' published prices, October 2026). Phones add store review on top.
How long does it take to build an app by yourself?
A clickable prototype in an AI builder can take days. In the App Build Plan's dog-walker example, an MVP built yourself was about 17 weeks of your own time (Onekode planning figures, October 2026). Login, data rules and payments take longest, so plan for a developer to finish those.
What features should an MVP have?
Login, real data, one core workflow done well, basic security, and payments if your idea needs them. That is it. Reviews, referrals, a second kind of user and the app stores can wait for version 2. Your build plan tags each feature Prototype, MVP or Launch and lists the rest under "Saved for later".
Is there an app specification template I can use?
Your build plan is a filled-in app specification for your idea, not a blank template: the kinds of user, the features for each tagged by stage, the weeks in four phases, a cost range for your route and the assumptions behind it. It is free and takes about three minutes. Ask on the result screen for the written version.
Is the App Build Plan free, and do I need to sign up?
It is free and needs no sign-up. You describe your app, answer five short questions and see the full result on screen: features by user, weeks and a cost range. The only time it asks for an email is if you want the full build plan written up and sent to you.
Is the cost a quote from Onekode?
No. It is what an app like yours usually costs for the route you pick, from The First Version Report 2026 (October 2026): market ranges from published price guides, sellers’ prices and founder job posts. Onekode does not publish prices. We price each app on its own brief, as one fixed price with a breakdown.
What happens when I ask for my full build plan?
You leave your email on the result screen. A person on our team reads your build plan and writes it up in full for your route: prompts if you are building with AI, a brief for a developer, or a brief and phases for a team. It comes back the same working day, subject to availability. No call, no sales follow-up.
Get your build plan in about three minutes.
Describe it in a sentence. See the features, the weeks and what it usually costs. Free, no sign-up.
Just want the cost range? The calculator runs the App Build Plan's first steps in under a minute.