How much does an MVP like Threads cost? An in-depth cost breakdown

*updated September 2025

Have you ever wondered how much a social media app like Threads costs to build?

Well, you don’t have to anymore.

In this article, we’ll give you a detailed breakdown of how much it costs to build a similar app and why you should build one.

Let’s dive in!

Why make an app like Threads?

So, you might ask the question – why make an app like Threads?

And the answer is simple – the market has opened up.

After Elon Musk’s controversial takeover in 2022, X (formerly Twitter) lost around a fifth of its daily users and this has opened the door for its competitors.

source: X

And Threads isn’t the only X competitor trying to get a slice of that pie – some of the other X alternatives are:

• Bluesky
• Mastodon
• Misskey

Still, Threads is the most successful out of the bunch, reaching a 100 million users in under a week after launch and with over 160 million users in April 2024.

Of course, the fact that it’s a part of Instagram played a huge role in these numbers because it had a ready-made audience and a very simple onboarding process.

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But, that’s not the only reason why Threads is a hit.

The simplicity of its user interface (UI) design and similarity to pre-takeover Twitter in functionality also played a large part in its success.

source: Meta

Of course, if you want to build a similar app, you won’t have the same advantages and backing from one of the biggest tech giants.

But, the success of Threads proves there’s market demand for microblogging social networks and that X/Twitter isn’t the only game in town anymore.

And that’s a pretty compelling reason to build an app like Threads.

How much does it cost to build an app like Threads?

Now, we’ll discuss the burning question – how much does an app like Threads cost to build?

Total cost and duration

Here’s what you’ll need to create the app:

Keep in mind that these numbers are just estimates for a minimum viable product (MVP), which would have only the core features.

Also, they don’t include other services like product design and product discovery, just MVP development.

But, why build an MVP? And what should your MVP development team look like?

There’s a simple reason – it’s a (relatively) low-cost way to validate your idea, get to a product-market fit, and have a product ready to present to investors to secure further funding.

As for your team, at a minimum it should include:

• 1 Android engineer
• 1 iOS engineer
• 1 web app front-end engineer 
• 1 back-end engineer

This is because you need native apps for both Android and iOS as well as a web app.

And all 3 need a back-end, which is the most important and expensive part of the app and takes the most time and effort to build.

The back-end handles the business logic and data processing for your app – or, in other words, it’s what powers your app and all of its features.

Our Solution Architect on timeline & budgeting

Watch our Solution Architect, Kristina Roskar, break down the key factors that shape timelines and budgets for building complex software products.

Now that we’ve covered what goes into the total cost, we’ll give you a detailed cost breakdown.

Detailed cost breakdown

Here’s how we approached this cost breakdown – we divided our estimation into Agile epics: 

• Onboarding
• Threads
• Thread actions
• Profile
• Settings

Then, we broke them down into individual features and estimated how many work days it would take to build these features.

But, keep in mind that we gave a range of days – that’s because some features take longer to build, depending on the platform.

These then form the basis for each sprint during development.

And there’s a good reason why we took this approach.

Agile development methodologies like Scrum are the gold standard in modern software product development and Agile teams work more efficiently and can iterate quickly.

This is especially useful for MVP development because this approach helps get your app to market quickly.

And that can mean the difference between success and failure if you’re targeting a competitive market like this one.

How we estimated the cost and effort

To estimate how much it would take to build Threads, we first broke down the features into epics and estimated the number of man-days needed for each platform – mobile, web, and backend.

Each platform has its own scope of work. Mobile and web require separate UI development, while backend is shared across all platforms.

We then summed up the man-days for each epic. At the end, all the epics together add up to about 4 months of development time and $250k total cost for an MVP.

So, let’s dive in!

Onboarding

To start, here’s how much Threads’ onboarding features take to build:

Why?

• Account registration: mobile needs native auth UI and device permissions; web needs form, validation, and state; backend covers identity, sessions, rate limits, and retry logic for edge cases.
• Create a profile: image pick/crop on mobile and responsive upload on web; backend handles storage, metadata, and safe file processing.
• Follow other profiles: UI looks simple, but the backend must maintain the social graph and prevent race conditions; both clients need optimistic updates and error states.
• How it works: cross-platform walkthroughs, save-state between steps, and accessibility tweaks; no backend work but extra QA to ensure it doesn’t block sign-up.

And here’s what they look like:

Threads feed

Here’s how much the feed for an app like Threads take to build:

Why?

• Create a new thread: rich composer, media attach, drafts, and failure recovery on mobile and web; backend needs content validation, media pipeline hooks, and idempotency.
• Reply to a thread: nesting, counts, and real-time UI updates; backend must keep thread integrity and pagination fast under load.
• Repost/quote thread: different display states in list and detail; backend tracks attribution and prevents duplicate actions.
• Thread detail: stateful view with deep links, scroll position, and partial reload; backend serves a denormalized payload for quick render.

And here’s what it looks like:

Thread actions

Here’s how much the various thread actions take to build:

Why?

• Report a thread: needs a lightweight client UI with clear states while the backend routes reports into a moderation queue and prevents duplicates.
• Change reply settings: per-thread privacy toggles ripple through list, detail, and composer; backend must enforce rules on fetch and write.
• Add to Instagram story / Post to Instagram feed: platform share sheets differ on iOS and Android and web requires a custom flow; backend only validates links and audit logs.
• Share thread: more UI work across mobile and web because you support copy link, system share, and deeplinks; backend tracks attribution for reposts and shares.

Profile

Here’s how much the user profile features will take to build:

Why?

• Followers and following: needs smooth pagination, backend maintains social graph.
• Edit profile: secure updates with validation and avatar upload.
• Privacy settings: multiple toggles, backend enforces rules consistently.

And here’s what they look like:

Settings

Here’s how much features in the settings will take to build:

Why?

• Invite friends: contact permissions on mobile, share/import on web, backend tracks invites.
• Pause notifications / Set break reminder: OS-level scheduling, backend preference storage.
• Report a problem: logs, attachments, backend ticket creation.
• Privacy policy: static page, minimal dev effort.

And here’s what they look like:

Just to reiterate, this is just how much MVP development for an app like Threads costs.

It doesn’t include other costs and services like:

• Product discovery
• Product design
• Compliance costs
• Content moderation & safety
• Marketing & user acquisition
• App store fees

So, if you want to make an app like this, you’ll need a bigger budget to cover all of this and make it into a full-fledged product.

Want an app like Threads?

If you want to build an app like Threads, we’ve got you covered.

We can help you build it from scratch, from validating your idea all the way to post-launch maintenance and support.

So, feel free to get in touch with us and let’s make your idea a reality.