Answer
What is the difference between an MVP and a prototype?
Short answer
A prototype demonstrates an idea; an MVP delivers it. A prototype can be clickable screens with fake data, built to test whether people understand the concept. An MVP is real software with a real database that real users can use to get a real outcome — which is the only way to test whether they will actually pay.
The distinction matters because the two things answer different questions. A prototype answers 'do people understand and want this?'. An MVP answers 'will people use this, and will they pay?'. The second question is the one that decides whether you have a business.
Prototypes are cheaper and faster, and skipping straight past them is often a mistake — a clickable Figma file shown to ten potential customers can kill a bad idea in an afternoon for nothing.
But a prototype cannot generate revenue, retention data or a case study, and it cannot be handed to a customer who then tells their colleague about it. At some point you need software that works.
There is also a third thing people mean by 'MVP' that is worth naming: a concierge MVP, where you deliver the value manually and the software comes later. If your idea can be tested that way, do it first. It is faster and cheaper than anything on this site.
The numbers
- Prototype
- Clickable screens, fake data, no backend. Tests comprehension and desire.
- MVP
- Working software, real data, real users. Tests behaviour and willingness to pay.
- Concierge MVP
- You deliver the value by hand. Tests demand with no software at all.
- Prototype cost
- $0–$2,000, days
- MVP cost
- $3,500 AUD–$50,000 depending on scope and who builds it
- Order to do them in
- Concierge, then prototype if the concept is unclear, then MVP
Last reviewed .
Read next
Want this applied to your idea?
A 30-minute call turns a general answer into a specific one: whether your idea fits a 48-hour build, which three features matter, and what it would cost. You get a straight opinion, including when the answer is no.
Fixed $3,500 AUD. Scope agreed in writing before anything is built.