Every project has an argument that cannot be settled with words. "The button should stand out more", "the process is too long", "there is a step missing here": comments like these live in email threads for weeks and go nowhere. A clickable prototype settles them in a single call, because the discussion is no longer about wording but about a specific screen.
What happens at this stage
- Building a clickable prototype from the models in the technical specification.
- A demo version of the interfaces and the logic of transitions between them.
- Early testing of scenarios on real people rather than on the team's imagination.
- Material for presenting the project to investors and partners.
Our prototype is not a picture. It includes a first data model, an admin area, logic and transitions. So it tests not only "how it looks" but also "how it works": who creates a record, where it is edited and what each role sees.
How the work runs
The stage runs through analytical video calls and shared working documents in which you can follow progress. The price includes two rounds of revisions within the agreed business requirements and a time reserve for sensible extra detail. This discipline stops prototyping from turning into an endless series.
Three audiences, three different benefits
- For an investor or partner, a prototype replaces faith with verification. The conversation moves from "tell me the idea" to "show me how it works".
- For the team, it sets a shared picture. The designer, developer and analyst stop filling in the gaps differently in their heads.
- For you, it makes changing your mind cheap. Changing a scenario in a prototype costs hours; in a finished product it costs weeks.
What you get at the end
A prototype that reflects the main functions of the future app. You can use it to refine requirements, run demonstrations and gather feedback before the development budget starts to take on a life of its own. At the end of the stage we show the result in a video demonstration, which is easy to forward to partners.
The honest limits of a prototype
A prototype is not meant for public launch or real users. It lacks full production-grade business logic, fine-tuned query optimisation, load tuning and final protection of access rights. Its job is to reduce risk, not to pretend that the risk has gone. The production product is built in the commercial version stages.
How much does an app prototype cost?
The stage costs $2400. If you order it straight away, the technical specification is included at no extra charge, so the specification, architecture, database schema and prototype together cost $2400 instead of $3200. This package usually takes 2-3 weeks.
What depends on your task is the format, not the price of the stage:
- The $2400 package suits projects that will continue as fixed-price development and need an accurate estimate.
- The full $7600 package is for complex business processes: it includes detailed specs, a database with its management system and part of the interfaces, which are later reused in the product. It takes up to two months.
- Agent-driven prototyping at $1800 a week suits cases where speed matters more than knowing the budget upfront: a new version of the system every week, the first in 5 days, and you can stop after any week.
What breaks if you skip this stage
What takes longest to agree in projects is not the code but the method: the order of steps, the depth of checks, who is responsible for what. Without a prototype, that agreement moves into development, where every iteration costs an order of magnitude more and slows down the whole team.
The second consequence: the budget estimate stays on paper. Until the tricky parts have been assembled at least in draft form, they are easy to underestimate, and the difference shows up in the estimate after the contract has already been signed.
An example from our work
For a medical system we designed three contours at once: patient, doctor and administrator. The client started with a Figma file, but it only gave a direction and did not cover the full product lifecycle. The prototype included an early database, a CRUD admin panel for users, roles, reference lists and translations, partly working patient and doctor accounts in the browser, and a simplified design system.
Complex features such as a booking calendar, payment billing, chat and integrations with external medical systems were designed in advance but left out of the first build. That way the client saw what belongs in the MVP and what comes in later versions. Read the full story with videos in the case study on design and prototyping.
If you want to see a prototype from your own industry before work starts, take a look at Protoplace: our catalogue of 10,000 ideas and working prototypes across different subject areas.
Where to go next
After the prototype comes the commercial version: interface design and the stages that follow. The previous step is the technical specification. The full map is in the app development strategy.
Watch video examples of prototypes or book a free consultation with an architect. After the call you will receive a stage-by-stage estimate of cost and timeline.
