How long does it take to build an MVP?
Most production-ready MVPs take 8 to 16 weeks from the first workshop to the first real users. Wavect's 2026 study of 30 MVP builds found a median of 12 weeks, with the fastest at 5 and the slowest at 26; B2B SaaS products took 8 to 18 weeks, and products on web and mobile 12 to 26 (Wavect, MVP Timeline Benchmark 2026). Agencies quote similar bands: 4 to 8 weeks for a lean build, 2 to 4 months for a standard one (Upsilon).
The range is wide because "MVP" covers very different products. A login, three screens and a list of records is a few weeks of work. Payments, roles, a dashboard, an admin panel and two app stores is months. This calculator works from your actual feature list instead of a single average.
What makes an MVP take longer
- The number of real features, more than the technology. Each feature brings its own screens, states, edge cases and tests.
- Other systems: every integration with a CRM, a bank or an internal API adds design and build time and a dependency on someone else's documentation.
- Mobile: two app stores, review times, and designing for touch and small screens. Building for web and mobile at once adds about two fifths to the work.
- Rules: privacy law, health data and financial rules (KYC, strong customer authentication) add screens, review and testing.
- Decisions: in Wavect's study, most delays came from unclear ownership, data access and late changes of scope, not from the code. Quick, clear decisions are the biggest saving you control.
How this calculator works
Every product type starts with its own foundation: the shell, navigation, settings and the design system. Each feature adds design days, build days and screens; integrations, extra languages, right-to-left layouts and regulation add their own. The days are focused working days of one senior designer and engineer.
Build starts once design is about halfway, because the first flows are ready before the last ones. Testing grows with the build. Mobile apps add store review. The range widens the earlier you are: an idea has more unknowns than a finished design, so its upper end sits further out.
How to make the first version smaller
Some features feel essential and can wait: social sign-in, teams, chat, maps, invoices, notifications, analytics and a content editor. The lean first version leaves them for version two and shows how many weeks that saves. Launching sooner with less is usually the better trade: real users tell you which of the rest matters.
A useful test for every feature is to ask what a user could not do without it on day one. If the answer is nothing important, it belongs in version two.
From a timeline to a fixed quote
A timeline is the start of planning, not a commitment. The next step is a written scope: the exact screens, states and integrations, which turns this estimate into dates and one fixed price for the whole project. The pricing calculator gives a price range in a minute, and on a free 30 minute call I go through your feature list with you.