<p>Vanadium metal–organic frameworks have made significant strides in energy storage devices, especially supercapacitors. However, the high cost of vanadium precursors and their toxicity has become a barrier to their wide application. To overcome this, ammonium metavanadate is used as a low-cost precursor for the synthesis of vanadium MOF through a simple solvothermal process and its application in supercapacitors for the first time. This cost-effectively prepared vanadium MOF (V MOF) features a branched rod-like morphology and is subjected to various electrochemical tests to assess its potential as an electrode material. V MOF exhibited a three-electrode specific capacitance (<i>C</i>_SC) of 43 Fg⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and a charge transfer resistance (<i>R</i>_ct) of 10.7 Ω. It exhibited excellent stability performance by retaining 94% of its coulombic efficiency after 10,000 cycles. An asymmetric supercapacitor device was fabricated using V MOF, which exhibited an <i>R</i>_ct of 11.4 Ω. The device delivered an energy density of 4.5 W h kg⁻¹ at a power density of 330.6 W kg⁻¹ with a <i>C</i>_SC of 4.1 Fg⁻¹ at 1 Ag⁻¹ and retained 87% of its energy efficiency after 8000 cycles. The formation of V MOF from the low-cost precursor shows that this can be an effective and cost-effective electrode material, hence opening further research and development in the area.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>