Software Development Company for Saudi Businesses, in Arabic and English

What Saudi companies hire a software company to build

The requests we see from Saudi businesses fall into a handful of patterns. Each one starts from a problem in daily operations, not from a technology.

Four Saudi rules that change how software is built

Software built for a Saudi company has to respect rules that a generic build ignores. Four of them decide the scope before any code is written: Arabic, ZATCA e-invoicing, personal data and hosting, and payments. The sections below say what each rule requires, with the source, and what we do about it in a project.

Arabic is part of the requirement, not an option

For invoices it is a rule. Odoo's documentation states that Saudi VAT rules require Tax Invoices and Simplified Tax Invoices to be in Arabic, and that invoices may also carry English (Odoo Saudi Arabia documentation). Any system that prints invoices has to handle Arabic text, Arabic customer names and addresses, and right-to-left layout on the printed document.

For everything else it is a product decision, and it is cheapest to make on day one. We design the first screens in both directions, choose a font that carries Arabic and Latin text together, store customer and product names in Arabic and English fields, and make search work for both. A system that treats Arabic as a later translation usually shows mirrored layouts that break, labels that overflow and reports that print half in English.

ZATCA e-invoicing: invoicing features must connect to Fatoora

Saudi e-invoicing has two phases. Phase one started on 4 December 2021 and covers issuing and storing electronic invoices. Phase two is enforceable from 1 January 2023 in waves by taxpayer group, and requires the invoicing system to connect to ZATCA's Fatoora platform (ZATCA roll-out phases). ZATCA says it notifies taxpayers of their wave at least six months ahead.

The consequence for a software project is simple. If the system you are building or buying issues invoices, the integration with Fatoora is part of the scope, not an add-on at the end. If you run Odoo, most of it is included in the Saudi modules and the work is configuration and testing, which we cover on our page about Odoo ZATCA e-invoicing. For a custom system, the same onboarding, testing and rejection handling has to be built and rehearsed before the go-live date.

The Personal Data Protection Law and what it asks of an app

Any system that holds customer, employee or patient data falls under Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). Two law-firm summaries agree on the main facts, and neither replaces reading the law or asking a Saudi lawyer.

What this means for the build: collect only the data the feature needs, record consent where it is the legal basis, restrict who can see personal records, log access, and make export and deletion possible. We build these as features of the system from the first sprint, because retrofitting access logs onto a finished database is slow.

Cybersecurity and hosting: where the NCA controls apply

The National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) publishes the Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-2:2024). The document says the controls apply to government agencies and their affiliated companies and entities, and to private sector entities that own, operate or host Critical National Infrastructure. It also says the NCA strongly encourages all other entities to use them as good practice (NCA ECC-2:2024).

Two points matter when you choose where software is hosted. The cloud computing and hosting controls (subdomain 4-2) are binding on entities that use or plan to use cloud services. And the document notes that controls on data localisation were moved to the National Data Management Office (NDMO) at SDAIA. If your customer is a ministry, a government-linked company or an operator of critical infrastructure, ask for their hosting and data-location requirements in writing before you pick a cloud region, because the answer can decide the architecture.

Payments: plan for mada from the start

If the app takes online payments, the Saudi card scheme is part of the scope. According to Arab News, citing data from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), e-commerce sales paid with mada cards rose 57% year on year to SAR 23.27 billion in April 2025 (Arab News). Which payment gateway to use, whether mada and Apple Pay are enabled and how refunds are reconciled in your accounts should be decided in the scoping call, not discovered in testing.

How a project runs with us, step by step

Every project follows the same six steps. The table shows what happens and what you hold at the end of each one.

You own the code and the data. Hosting accounts are opened in your company's name, so you never depend on us to keep the system running. Our guide to how long software development takes explains what moves the timeline.

What it costs, with one worked example

Devvista prices either as a fixed price from $500 to $100,000 depending on complexity, or hourly from $10 to $100 per hour depending on the type and level of developer. Three things move the price most: the number of user roles, the number of integrations (payments, ZATCA, accounting, SMS) and how much has to work in both Arabic and English.

Illustrative estimate, not a quote. Take an internal approvals tool with four screens, three user roles, Arabic and English, and one integration. Assume it takes 250 to 400 developer hours (an assumption for this example). At an illustrative $40 per hour that is $10,000 to $16,000. Your own numbers will differ, and we give you a plan in working days before you commit. For a wider view of what drives price, read our custom software development cost guide.

Questions to ask any software company before you sign

These questions work for us or for any other company you are comparing. A good answer is specific. A vague answer is a reason to keep asking.

Our article on how to choose a software development company goes further on references and contracts.

Mistakes Saudi companies make when commissioning software

• Writing the Arabic version last. Mirrored layouts and printed Arabic documents break when they are retrofitted, so test them in the first release.
• Leaving ZATCA to the end. An invoicing feature that cannot pass Fatoora validation is not finished, however good it looks.
• Buying the cheapest quote without a written scope. The difference usually returns as change requests.
• Letting the vendor hold the hosting account. If the relationship ends, so does your access.
• Skipping the user test. Staff who were not asked during design often work around the new system.

How to tell whether the software worked

Agree three numbers before the project starts and check them 60 days after launch. Time per task: how long the approval, order or report took before and after. Errors: how many invoices were rejected, how many orders needed correction. Adoption: how many of the people who should use the system log in each week. If none of the three moves, the problem was misread, and we would rather find that out together early than after a long build.

Where Devvista fits

Devvista is a software development and growth agency. We work remotely with companies in Saudi Arabia, including Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, in English and Arabic, and we do not have an office in the Kingdom. The pages above link to the work in more detail: custom software development, dedicated development teams, Odoo implementation and hiring developers. You can see how we document projects in our case studies. For Odoo and e-invoicing in the UAE, read our UAE e-invoicing page.