How Much Does Custom Software Cost in Saudi Arabia in 2026, and How Do Companies Price It?

Software is priced in time: hours of analysis, design, development, testing and management. Every number you see in a quote is an estimate of those hours multiplied by the cost of the team, with a margin for the unknown. That is why two quotes for one project can differ threefold without either being dishonest: each supplier imagined a different scope. What sets the hours is this:

The largest safe saving is to build less than you think you need. A first version serves the most important user in the most important task, and launches in weeks rather than months. In the market a simple app or first version costs SAR 15,000–75,000. You learn from it what people really use, then spend on what has proved necessary.

A full system is built in phases, and each phase is delivered and used before the next begins. In any quote, ask for the project to be split into phases, each with a scope, a duration and a price. That protects you from a long project delivered in one piece after a year that turns out not to match what you need.

What we do not recommend postponing: the data structure and permissions. Decisions such as “does a customer have more than one branch?” and “can an employee see colleagues’ data?” are cheap at the start and very expensive once the system is full of data.

Fixed price: one number for a written scope. It suits projects whose requirements you know well. Its strength is a clear budget; its weakness is that any change needs new pricing, and the supplier adds a margin for risk. It depends on a precisely written scope, and on a requirements study before pricing if the project is large.

Time and materials: you pay for the hours worked at an agreed rate. It suits projects whose requirements change along the way, and ongoing development after launch. Its strength is flexibility; its weakness is an open budget. Ask for a monthly cap, a detailed timesheet and the right to stop in any month. We quote no hourly rate here because we found no reliable published range for it in the local market, so ask each supplier for it in writing.

Dedicated team: a team works for you on a monthly fee, and you set its priorities. It suits those with a live product that needs constant development and no wish to hire a technical department. Compare it with in-house hiring: one developer’s salary in the market is SAR 8,000–20,000 a month, with no designer, no tester and no cover when they are away.

Handover is where the cost starts, not where it ends. The common rule in the market: 15% to 20% of the build cost a year for websites and apps, and 15% to 25% for internal systems and ERP. That covers security and operating system updates, fixes and small changes. Monthly support plans run SAR 1,500–12,000 depending on coverage hours.

Add what is billed by usage: hosting, messages, maps, payment gateway fees and store accounts. Ask the supplier for a table of the cost over the first three years: the build, then running and maintenance year by year. That table is the real budget, and the first number in the quote is only part of it.

Custom development is not always the first choice. If your business resembles thousands of others in accounting, point of sale or online retail, ready-made software on subscription is cheaper and quicker, and others have solved its problems before you. Pay for custom development only where it sets you apart.

Custom development makes sense in three cases: a core process in your business that ready-made software covers only with workarounds, subscriptions and licences that grow with users until they exceed the cost of a system you own, or a product you sell to your own customers. The middle route is common: ready-made software for accounting, say, a custom system for the process that is yours alone, and an integration between them.

The first is asking for a price before the requirements are written. “I want a system like such-and-such” is not a scope, and every supplier will read it their own way. Two pages describing the users and the ten most important tasks make quotes comparable. The second is choosing the cheapest quote without asking what it leaves out. The difference comes back later as paid changes.

The third is paying most of the amount up front, which costs you your only leverage. Tie each payment to a delivery you test yourself. The fourth is leaving the code and accounts with the supplier: the server, the domain and the store accounts should be in your name from day one. The fifth is changing requirements every week without counting the effect. Change is normal, but it has a price and a duration that are written down before it is done.

Build the budget from three numbers: the build, running and maintenance for three years, and a reserve for changes. Compare quotes by what is delivered, not by the final number. At Fortune Code we commit to a written delivery date, with fast technical support after launch. The code and accounts are yours, and we send a written proposal within 24 hours.