App rescue
How much does it cost to fix an AI-built app?
Understand why app repair quotes vary, what a diagnosis should cover and what to ask before paying for fixes.
There is no useful flat price for “fix my app” without seeing what is wrong. A broken button, an exposed database and a payment flow that records the wrong result are different jobs. The sensible first cost is a bounded diagnosis that tells you what needs attention and lets you choose what to buy next.
If someone offers a repair price from a screenshot alone, ask which assumptions it depends on. If someone insists on rebuilding everything before checking what works, ask what evidence led to that conclusion.
What changes the size of the job?
| Question | Why it affects the work |
|---|---|
| Is the app live? | Changes may need a test copy, a release plan and a way back if something goes wrong. |
| Can you access the source and accounts? | Missing code, hosting or database access can delay diagnosis or limit what can be fixed. |
| Does it hold customer data or take payments? | Permissions, data handling and transaction results need more careful checks. |
| Is the problem repeatable? | A clear failing journey is easier to scope than an intermittent issue with no logs. |
| How much of the app is affected? | One isolated component is a different project from a shared data rule used everywhere. |
| What must happen after the fix? | Tests, documentation, deployment and ongoing support belong in the quote if you need them. |
An AI builder can produce useful working code. The repair cost depends on the app you have now, its accounts and its behaviour, not on whether a person or a tool wrote the first version.
Ask for the diagnosis and the repair quote separately
A good diagnosis should say what was inspected, what was found, the likely consequence and the order of work. It should also say what could not be checked. From that, you can ask for a repair quote with clear deliverables and acceptance criteria: which journeys will work, what tests will show that, and who deploys and owns the result.
Compare quotes on the same scope. One may cover only a visible bug; another may include the underlying access rule, a regression test and deployment. Both prices might be reasonable for the work described, but they are not interchangeable.
An example with no invented price
Suppose an illustrative booking app sometimes shows the wrong customer's appointment. One route may be a display error. Another may be a database permission problem. The symptom looks similar, but the second could affect other screens and needs a different response. A fixed repair quote before that distinction is known would be guesswork.
The next decision may also be to repair, replace one part or rebuild. That comparison should include migration and handover costs, not just the first code change.
The published starting price here
My app health check is £495 for one web app, covering one code repository, one database project and its hosting. I provide a prioritised report within five working days of agreed access. If you book fixes within 30 days of the report, the full health check fee is deducted from them. Fixes are scoped and quoted from the findings; larger apps, hosting, subscriptions and ongoing care are separate. Any applicable VAT is set out in the proposal. An illustrative report shows the kind of output you receive.
To get a useful first response, describe what the app does and what has gone wrong. A short account inventory helps. Please do not send passwords, secret keys or customer data in the initial message.
Put the thinking into practice
Make the next step clearer.
Explore how I can help with an app you’ve already built, or tell me what you have in mind.
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