How Much Does a Classifieds Site and App Like Haraj Cost in Saudi Arabia in 2026?

Haraj is a well-known classifieds platform in Saudi Arabia: individuals and dealers list what they want to sell, from cars and property to devices and more, and the buyer contacts the advertiser directly. The name is used here for illustration only; we have no connection with the company that owns the platform.

The basic difference from an online store is that the platform usually does not sell, ship or collect the price of the item. It connects two parties and leaves the deal to them. So it needs no cart, stock or shipping; instead it needs strong search, chat, content moderation and ways to build trust between strangers. That makes it simpler than a multi-vendor marketplace on the money side and harder on the moderation side.

Posting an ad and showing it is simple. What separates one quote from another is everything around the ad:

Ready-made “like Haraj” scripts and templates sell in the market for a few hundred to a few thousand riyals and go live in days. They are enough to try the idea on a small audience. Their problems appear with growth: poor performance as ads pile up, security holes nobody fixes, code that is hard to change, and no real mobile app.

A custom-built website costs SAR 25,000–100,000, and a full platform with its apps SAR 70,000–170,000. You pay more, but you get code you own, categories and fields designed for your sector, and an architecture that copes with growth. If your project is a side experiment, a ready-made script is an acceptable choice; if it is a company you are building, custom development saves you a rebuild a year later.

A general platform needs large numbers of advertisers and visitors in every category before it looks alive. A specialist platform needs far fewer: a marketplace for heavy equipment, for camels and livestock, for used spare parts, for restaurant supplies, or for one city. Specialising allows precise fields and smarter search, and makes marketing targeted and cheaper.

A practical first version: sign-up by mobile number, posting an ad with photos and the category’s fields, search and filters, an advertiser page, contact by call or WhatsApp, reports, and an admin panel. In-platform chat, featured ads and ratings can be added in the second phase, once you see where advertisers come from and how buyers get in touch.

Any platform that connects strangers attracts fraudsters and non-compliant ads. If this is not handled technically and operationally from the start, you lose the serious users first. The technical tools include mobile number verification, limits on the number of ads from a new account, detection of duplicate photos and text, a banned-word list, and a reporting and blocking system.

Some platforms add escrow: the amount is held until the buyer receives the item. It is a strong trust feature, but it raises the cost and puts you in the position of collecting money on behalf of others, which may carry regulatory requirements. Discuss it with the payment gateway and a qualified adviser before adopting it. Users’ chats and numbers are personal data under the Personal Data Protection Law, so put the privacy and data retention policy in the scope of work.

Images are the heaviest part of a classifieds platform: every ad carries several photos that must be compressed, stored and served quickly, which raises hosting costs as you grow. Verification messages are billed per sign-up, and notifications and chat need real-time services. Set aside 15% to 20% of the build cost a year for maintenance.

Add the human cost: at least one person reviewing reports and ads every day and answering users. Then marketing to attract advertisers first, because a buyer does not return to an empty platform. Many platforms start by entering dealers’ and traders’ listings by hand, by agreement with them, so the first visitor finds something to browse.

Ask for a test version where you post an ad from your phone and then search for it, then compare the items below. At Fortune Code we start with a written scope and a contract, payments tied to delivery, a delivery date we keep, code and accounts that are yours, and fast technical support after launch, and we send a written proposal within 24 hours.