--- title: "Minimum Viable Product" url: "https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/minimum-viable-product" language: "en" description: "What is an MVP and how is it different from a prototype? Explained in plain language with an example and practical tips. Learn to test ideas with less effort." published: "2026-10-14T15:20:08+02:00" updated: "2026-10-14T15:20:08+02:00" --- # Minimum Viable Product A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest usable version of a product. It lets you test with as little effort as possible whether real people actually want your idea. - **Buchstabe:** M - **Englischer Begriff:** Minimum Viable Product UX glossary · engl. Minimum Viable Product # Minimum Viable Product A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest usable version of a product. It lets you test with as little effort as possible whether real people actually want your idea. Imagine a team with an idea for an app that lets neighbors lend each other tools. It could spend a year building profiles, reviews, calendars and payments. Or it could find out within a few weeks whether anyone actually wants to borrow tools through an app. The second path leads to a minimum viable product. ## Explained simply A minimum viable product, or MVP, is the smallest version of a product that lets you learn from real people whether your idea holds up. “Minimum” means building as little as possible. “Viable” means just good enough that people actually use it. Think of it this way: before you open a restaurant, you can run a stall at the farmers’ market first. Do people buy, and do they come back? The term is attributed to Frank Robinson, who coined it in 2001. It became widely known through Steve Blank and Eric Ries, author of “The Lean Startup”. Ries describes the MVP, in essence, as the version of a new product that lets a team collect as much validated learning about its customers as possible with the least effort. Validated learning means learning that is confirmed by what people actually do. ## MVP or prototype? The two often get mixed up. A [prototype](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/prototype) is a model to try things out. It may look real, but usually there is nothing behind the clicks, and it often gets thrown away after testing. An MVP, on the other hand, is a real, if very lean, version that people use in their everyday lives. A prototype tells you whether people understand something and can use it. An MVP tells you whether they actually want it. An MVP doesn’t even have to be software. Among other examples, Ries mentions a landing page or an ad that measures interest in an offer before it exists. You can read more in [Minimum Viable Product (MVP): What UX Designers Should Know](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/blog/minimum-viable-product-mvp-what-ux-designers-should-know). ## An example Back to the tool lending app. Before, the team plans twenty features and a launch in twelve months. After, it starts with a simple website for a single neighborhood: list your tools, send a request, and sort out the handover by message. After six weeks it turns out that drills and ladders are in highest demand and that many people want a deposit. These insights go into the next version instead of into an app that misses what people need. ## Common misconceptions An MVP isn’t a half finished product full of bugs. It does little, but it does that little well. If it’s so hard to use that people leave in frustration, all you learn is that the execution was poor, not whether the idea is any good. Good [usability](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/usability) is part of an MVP too. ## In practice - **Write down an assumption.** Note what the MVP should prove or disprove and how you’ll measure it. - **Cut boldly.** For every feature, ask whether the team would learn less without it. If not, it can wait. - **Plan for the learning.** Decide up front when you’ll review the results and which outcome leads to which decision. The book [Lean UX für kleine Teams](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/ressourcen/lean-ux-fuer-kleine-teams) (in German) shows what this looks like for small teams. ## Related terms [Prototype](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/prototype), [Lean UX](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/lean-ux), [A/B Testing](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/a-b-testing), [User Research](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/user-research) ## Sources - [Eric Ries: Minimum Viable Product: a guide. Startup Lessons Learned, 2009](https://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/08/minimum-viable-product-guide.html) - [Venture Hacks: What is the minimum viable product? Interview with Eric Ries. Venture Hacks, 2009](https://venturehacks.com/minimum-viable-product) - [Wikipedia: Minimum viable product. Wikipedia, accessed 2026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product) ## More terms [ ### A/B Testing An A/B test is an experiment that shows two versions of a page or element at the same time to randomly split groups of visitors. It lets you decide with real data which version works better. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/a-b-testing) [ ### ARIA ARIA is a W3C standard that adds roles, states and properties to HTML. It tells screen readers what an element is and how it currently behaves. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/aria) [ ### Accessibility Accessibility means designing websites, apps and digital documents so that everyone can use them, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disabilities. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/accessibility) [ ### Affordance An affordance describes what action an object makes possible and whether people can recognize it: a button invites you to press it, a handle invites you to pull. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/affordance) [ ### Alt Text Alt text is a short text version of an image, stored in the HTML alt attribute. Screen readers read it aloud so people who can’t see the image get the same information. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/alt-text) [ ### Atomic Design Atomic Design is a method for building user interfaces from small, reusable building blocks, from single elements like buttons all the way up to complete pages. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/atomic-design) [ ### BFSG The BFSG, Germany’s Accessibility Strengthening Act, has required many companies since 28 June 2025 to make certain products and digital services, such as online shops, accessible. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/bfsg) [ ### Card Sorting Card sorting is a research method in which people sort terms written on cards into groups. It shows you how they mentally organize content, so you can plan navigation that makes sense to them. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/card-sorting) [ ### Cognitive Load Cognitive load is the mental effort it takes to understand and use an interface. The less unnecessary thinking a design demands, the easier the actual task becomes. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/cognitive-load) [ ### Color Vision Deficiency A color vision deficiency means someone has a harder time telling certain colors apart than most people. The most common type is red-green deficiency. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/color-vision-deficiency) [ ### Contextual Inquiry Contextual inquiry is a research method where you observe and interview people in their real work environment. It shows you how they actually get tasks done, not just how they describe it. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/contextual-inquiry) [ ### Contrast Ratio The contrast ratio describes how much two colors differ in brightness, such as text and background. WCAG requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/contrast-ratio)