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Qanat

We build MVPs in Abu Dhabi

Building MVPs in Abu Dhabi

Qanat builds software for Abu Dhabi companies, including work with data-residency and procurement requirements. Abu Dhabi projects start more slowly than Dubai ones — vendor registration and security review are real steps — but scope tends to be clearer and change less once agreed.

Scope
Written

Before anything is quoted

Price
Fixed

Agreed before we start

Held back
20%

Until you accept

Code
Yours

From the first commit

Scope

What a build of this kind actually contains.

Everything below is inside the quoted price. The items agencies leave out of a cheap quote — admin tooling, error states, deployment, handover — are the ones you end up paying for anyway.

  1. 01

    One week pinning the single question the MVP has to answer

  2. 02

    The shortest build that answers it honestly

  3. 03

    Real payments and real accounts if the question involves either

  4. 04

    Instrumentation, so the answer is measured rather than argued about

  5. 05

    A written recommendation at the end, including 'stop' if that is the answer

What we build it with

  • Next.js
  • React Native
  • Convex
  • Stripe
  • PostHog

How this goes wrong

The failure mode we see most often.

Calling something an MVP while specifying it like a full product. If the build cannot be cut in half without losing the question it answers, it is not an MVP and the budget is being spent on the wrong thing.

Demand is weighted toward government, energy and sovereign-backed entities, which brings procurement processes, security review and data-residency requirements that a Dubai SME never encounters. It adds weeks at the front and removes ambiguity later. Requirements documents are usually written before a vendor is approached, which changes what a quote is measuring.

The constraint people miss in Abu Dhabi

Data residency is a design decision, not a hosting setting. If the workload cannot leave the UAE, that has to shape the architecture from week one — retrofitting it later is close to a rebuild, and it is the most common reason an Abu Dhabi project gets re-scoped.

Who we build for in Abu Dhabi

  • Government and semi-government entities
  • Energy and utilities groups
  • ADGM-licensed financial firms
  • Healthcare and education institutions
  • Contractors serving public-sector programmes

What it costs

We do not publish a rate card, and you should distrust anyone who does.

The price of MVPs is decided by scope, not by category. Two projects with the same label routinely differ by a factor of five, and a number quoted before anyone has read your requirements is a guess dressed as a quote.

What we commit to is this: one price, written against a scope you have read and agreed, fixed before work starts. If we estimated badly that is our problem, not a change request.

If you need a budget figure first

Our UAE software cost guide publishes what the market charges, with every figure sourced. That is researched market data for budgeting — not our price list, and not a quote.

Questions

MVP Development in Abu Dhabi

How much does an MVP cost in Dubai in 2026?

The honest answer depends on the single question the MVP has to answer, which is what the scoping session settles. The UAE software cost guide gives sourced market ranges for budgeting; the quote you get from us is one fixed price against a written scope.

What is different about building software in Abu Dhabi?

Demand is weighted toward government, energy and sovereign-backed entities, which brings procurement processes, security review and data-residency requirements that a Dubai SME never encounters. It adds weeks at the front and removes ambiguity later. Requirements documents are usually written before a vendor is approached, which changes what a quote is measuring.

How long does it take to build MVPs in Abu Dhabi?

It depends on the scope, and any studio quoting you a duration before reading your requirements is guessing. We commit to a specific date in the quote, once the scope is written, and you see the software running well before that date rather than at the end.

Start here

Building MVPs? Tell us what it has to do.

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.

The quote is free and the scope is yours either way.