Dubai · United Arab Emirates
Qanat is a Dubai software and AI studio. Apps, automations, AI agents, internal tools — scoped in writing, quoted once at a fixed price, and the code is yours from the first commit.
Before anything is quoted
Agreed before we start
Until you accept
From commit one
Six things routinely missing from a low bid. You pay for every one of them eventually — either in the original price or later, at a worse moment. All six are inside ours.
What is Qanat?
Qanat is a Dubai-based software and AI studio. A small senior team builds web and mobile applications, MVPs, AI agents, automations and internal tools for UAE companies. Every project is one fixed price against a written scope, and the client owns the repository from the first commit.
Why this exists
They are sold by someone who will not build them, priced on an estimate nobody is accountable for, and delivered into an account the client does not control. The code is rarely the reason it went wrong.
| Typical agency | Offshore team | Qanat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who writes the code | A team you meet after signing | Whoever is free that month | The person who quoted it |
| How it is priced | Estimate, revised upward | Hourly, uncapped | One fixed price, agreed first |
| Who carries the estimate risk | You | You | Us |
| Where the code lives | Their account | Their account | Your organisation, first commit |
| When you first see it running | At the end | At the end | Early, then every week |
We are small on purpose. That is a real constraint — we take a handful of projects at a time and say no to the rest — and it is also the whole reason the first two rows are true.
How it works
Twenty minutes on what the software has to achieve, not what features it should have. Most briefs change materially in that call, which is the point of having it.
We write the scope, you read it. It is specific enough that another developer could build from it — which is deliberate, because it means the price is measuring something real.
One fixed price against that scope, and a date we commit to. If we estimated badly, that is our problem, not a change request. The scope is yours to take elsewhere either way.
You see it running early and every week after, not at the end. Twenty percent of the price is held back until you accept the finished build.
What we build
Bands are AED for a first production build, excluding VAT and maintenance. Full ranges, sources and methodology in the cost guide.
The market, briefly
AED 92k–294k
What a mid-level business build costs in the UAE in 2026 — the band most first projects actually land in.
GoodFirms
25–35%
Share of a build budget consumed by backend and core work. It is invisible in a demo, which is where cheap quotes cut.
Decipher Zone
15–25%
Of the build cost, every year, for maintenance. A quote that omits it is less complete, not cheaper.
GoodFirms
How to work with us
One defined thing, one price agreed before we start, one date. If it takes longer than we estimated, that is our problem.
We become your engineering team for a monthly fee, shipping every week against a roadmap you own.
Two weeks, a fixed price, and something real at the end — a prototype, a working automation, or a scope you can take anywhere.
Questions
Qanat is a Dubai-based software and AI studio. We design and build web applications, mobile apps, MVPs, AI agents, automations, chatbots, internal tools, integrations, dashboards, e-commerce and SaaS platforms for UAE companies. Every project is quoted as one fixed price against a written scope, and the client owns the code from the first commit.
There is no rate card, because the honest answer depends on the scope. We publish a UAE market cost guide so you can budget before talking to anyone — that is researched market data with sources, not our price list. Your actual price is quoted once, against a written scope, and does not move afterwards.
Three things. The person who quotes the work is the person who writes it, so nothing is lost between a sales meeting and a delivery team. The price is fixed before work starts, so the risk of a wrong estimate sits with us. And the repository is in your organisation from the first commit, so leaving costs you nothing.
It depends entirely on the scope, and anyone quoting you a duration before reading your requirements is guessing. What we commit to is a specific date, written into the quote alongside the price, once the scope exists. You also see the software running early and every week after, so the date is never a surprise at the end.
Yes, though the UAE is where we are and where we are most useful. Local presence matters for the workshops, the payment gateway integrations and the data-residency work — less so for a product built for a global market.
The two-week sprint is the smallest thing we sell, and it is a real fixed price. Below that, you probably want a freelancer and we will say so rather than take the work.
Start here
A scope call, then a written scope and one fixed price against it. 20% of that price is held back until you accept the finished build, and the scope is yours to take elsewhere either way.