MVP Development Services

What is in the 6-Week AI MVP package

The 6-Week AI MVP is a fixed-scope, fixed-price package for founders who need a working product fast. The package starts at $27,000 with US senior delivery, most builds land between $27,000 and $54,000, and a 4-week focused MVP starts at $16,500. Each figure is 5–10% below the comparable published packages on our pricing page, and you get an exact fixed figure after the scoping sprint.

The package includes the work below. The scoping sprint fee is credited in full to the build, so it is not an extra cost if you go ahead. Kickoff happens within 14 days of signing.

• A one-week scoping sprint ending in a written scope, fixed price and dated plan
• A six-week build of one core workflow, as a web app or cross-platform mobile app
• Sign-in, a basic admin view and Stripe payments if the MVP charges users
• Up to a few AI features tied to the core workflow, each with an evaluation set
• Analytics, error tracking, deployment to your accounts and a recorded handover call

What six weeks cannot include

Six weeks is enough to prove one idea with real users, not to build a full platform. Arcesso writes the exclusions into the scope so nobody is surprised in week five.

Anything outside the list can follow in a second phase with its own fixed price. If your MVP truly needs one of these items on day one, the six-week package is not the right fit, and we will propose a longer plan instead.

• Native iOS and Android apps plus a web app at the same time
• More than one or two outside integrations, or any legacy system without an API
• Formal compliance work such as a HIPAA program or SOC 2 audit
• Multi-language support, complex roles or enterprise SSO
• Custom-trained AI models; the MVP uses existing models such as OpenAI, Claude or Gemini
• Large data migrations or marketplace features with two separate user sides

AI MVP: where AI cuts build time and where it does not

AI helps an MVP in two ways: inside the product, and inside the build. Each has limits worth knowing before you plan your budget.

Inside the product, language models can read documents, answer questions and draft text, which used to take months of custom work. That lets a six-week MVP test ideas that were out of reach a few years ago. But AI features still need evaluation sets, guardrails and a human fallback, which take real engineering time.

Inside the build, Arcesso engineers use AI coding tools for drafts, tests and reviews, under a named engineer who owns every line. That speeds up routine code. It does not speed up product decisions, user testing, security work or app store review, which is why the timeline stays at six weeks and not two.

MVP development cost: agency, freelancer or package

MVP cost varies widely by who builds it. StartupHub puts typical agency MVPs at $50,000 to $200,000 or more, while founders on Reddit report $30,000 to $80,000 for boutique agencies. Those are industry figures, not Arcesso prices.

The table compares common options. Arcesso is not the right choice if your budget only covers a no-code prototype; a no-code tool is a better first step there.

How we build an MVP in six weeks

Arcesso builds an MVP in six weekly sprints, each ending with a working demo. The plan is fixed during scoping, so every week has a known goal and you can see progress against it.

Week one sets up the repository, hosting, sign-in and the data model. Weeks two to four build the core workflow and any AI features, with evaluation sets running from the first AI prompt. Week five covers payments, analytics, error tracking and a security pass. Week six is for testing with real users, fixes and launch.

Between sprints you can swap priorities of equal size, but new features go to a change list with their own price. That rule keeps the six-week promise honest. A senior engineer leads the build the whole time, and you have direct access to them in one shared channel.

After launch: iterate, scale or take it in-house

An MVP is the start of learning, so the plan after launch matters as much as the build. Arcesso agrees that plan with you before the build ends.

Analytics show which features users try and where they drop off. Based on that, you can keep iterating with us on a monthly retainer, scope a fixed-price second phase, or hand the product to your own team. The handover covers everything a new engineer needs on their first day.

Founders often worry about being locked in to an agency after v1. You own the code, the hosting accounts and the IP from the first commit, written into the contract. There are no license fees and nothing to buy back. If a new team takes over, we can join one call to walk them through the code.