Insights
What nobody tells you before you sign.
What is covered here
Practical guidance for anyone buying software or AI in the United Arab Emirates: why the same brief gets quoted at wildly different prices, how to choose between an agency, a freelancer and an offshore team, which AI projects actually pay for themselves, and how to check that you own the code you paid for.
Every figure is sourced
- GoodFirms
Mid-range business app build cost and agency pricing tiers
- Quantalent
UAE engineering salary bands for build-versus-hire comparison
- RemotePass
Statutory on-costs added to a UAE salary
- Decipher Zone
Full build cost range from proof of concept to enterprise platform
- Skyline Advanced Technology
AI tool and LLM/RAG build costs by category
- Innovatrix Infotech
AI automation engagement models and SME price bands
- ToXSL
WhatsApp and conversational chatbot build costs
- 01 · 7 min
Should we use an agency, a freelancer or an offshore team?
Agency, freelancer or offshore: choosing for a UAE software project
The three ways to get software built in the UAE, what each actually costs, and the specific way each one fails.
Read → - 02 · 6 min
Why do UAE software quotes vary by so much?
Why the same software brief gets quoted at AED 40,000 and AED 300,000
A breakdown of what actually drives software build cost in the UAE, and how to make five incomparable quotes comparable.
Read → - 03 · 7 min
Which AI projects actually pay for themselves?
AI projects that pay for themselves in a UAE business — and the ones that don't
A practical filter for AI spend in a UAE SME: which projects return their cost inside a year, which quietly never do, and how to tell in advance.
Read → - 04 · 5 min
How do I make sure we own the software we paid for?
Who owns the code: what to check before signing with a Dubai dev agency
Five contract and access checks that decide whether you can leave your software vendor, and what each one looks like when it is wrong.
Read →
Start here
Have a question none of these answer?
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.
- Who reads it
- Alexandre Arnaud, Founder & Engineer. Not a coordinator, not an inbox.
- What happens
- A 20-minute call to pin the outcome, then a written scope and one fixed price against it.
- What it costs
- Nothing to get scoped and quoted. The quote is free and the scope is yours to take elsewhere.