7 Questions to Ask a Software Vendor in Dubai Before You Pay
Before you pay a Dubai software vendor, ask these 7 questions: code ownership, hosting, what if they vanish, fixed price or estimate, Arabic, upkeep and exit.
By ForgeApp7 min read
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Before you pay a Dubai software vendor, ask these 7 questions: code ownership, hosting, what if they vanish, fixed price or estimate, Arabic, upkeep and exit.
Before you pay a software vendor in Dubai, get written answers to seven questions: who owns the code, where it is hosted, what happens if the vendor disappears, whether the price is fixed or an estimate, how Arabic is handled, what maintenance costs, and how you leave. A good vendor answers all seven in one call without flinching. A vague answer to any of them is the cheapest warning you will ever get.
I run ForgeApp, a one-person AI-native app studio in Dubai, so I am a vendor too. These are the questions I would want a client to ask me, and the ones I ask myself when I hire someone. I am not naming or criticising anyone here. The scenarios are illustrative, not clients.
Because after you pay, your leverage drops. Before the deposit, a vendor wants your business and will put things in writing. After it, every clarification becomes a negotiation. Small business owners in the UAE often hire on trust and a WhatsApp chat, which is fine for a haircut and risky for software you will run your business on.
Use the seven questions below as a checklist. Ask them in the same order, write down the answers, and ask for the important ones to appear in the contract or the quote.
The answer you want: "You do, once the invoices are paid, and it says so in the contract."
Ask follow-ups:
If the vendor owns the code and licenses it to you, you are renting, not buying. Price it like a subscription.
Every app runs somewhere: a cloud provider, a hosting company, a database service. Ask:
If you handle personal data, where it is stored matters for your own obligations. Ask the vendor how they handle it and take advice if you are in a regulated sector.
This sounds rude. It is not. Freelancers get sick, agencies close, people move countries. A one-person studio like mine has to answer this more honestly than anyone.
A good answer covers:
If the honest answer is "you would have to start again", factor that into the price.
Both can be fair. They put the risk in different places.
| Fixed price | Estimate (time and materials) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who carries overrun risk | The vendor | You |
| Works best when | The scope is clear and written down | The scope is genuinely open |
| What to insist on | A written scope and a change process | A cap, weekly hours reported, the right to stop |
| Common trap | Vague scope, then "that is extra" | No cap, the bill keeps growing |
For a small business with one clear job to solve, I prefer fixed price, and that is what I sell. Whichever you choose, ask: "What exactly is included, and how do you price a change?" If you are not yet sure what the one job is, read what an MVP actually is for a Dubai small business first.
Many vendors say "yes, we support Arabic" and mean a translated label. Ask what it actually covers:
Ask to see a past screen in Arabic. A screenshot answers this faster than a promise.
An app is never "done". Hosting renews, phone operating systems update, libraries need security patches, and you will want small changes. Ask for:
Get the numbers in writing. "Do not worry about it" is not a maintenance plan.
Agree the exit before you start, while everyone is friendly. A clean exit clause covers:
A vendor who is confident in their work has no reason to resist an exit clause. Resistance here is a signal.
Put them side by side. A vendor who answers all seven clearly, in writing, is worth more than a cheaper one who answers four. If two vendors are equal, pick the one whose answers you understood without asking twice.
If you want to see how I answer these myself, my pricing page sets out what is included, and you can book a 20-minute call and ask me all seven.
You should, once you have paid in full, and the contract should say so in plain words. Ask for the code to live in a repository under your own account, or to be handed over at delivery, together with the accounts and passwords the app depends on.
For most small businesses with a clear scope, yes, because the vendor carries the risk of their own overruns. An estimate can be fair for open-ended work, but then ask for a cap, weekly reporting and the right to stop.
If you own the code, the hosting and the domain, another developer can pick it up. If the vendor holds all three, you may have to rebuild. Ask this question before you pay, not after.
What counts as a bug fix versus a change, how fast they respond, who pays for hosting, how updates to libraries and security patches are handled, and the monthly or yearly price in writing.
Agree the exit at the start: the vendor hands over code, data export, admin access, domain and hosting accounts within a set number of days of notice, and you pay any outstanding invoices. Write it into the contract.
Want to put these seven questions to me?
This checklist is based on my own experience as a vendor and a buyer. It is not legal advice; have a lawyer review any contract you sign.
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