How to choose a software partner in Egypt

Do you need custom software at all?

Start with the cheapest option that works. Off-the-shelf software is the right choice when your process matches what the product already does: accounting, payroll, a standard online shop, a CRM used the way its vendor intended. You pay a subscription, someone else runs it, and you can start this week.

A custom build starts to pay off when:

• Your team works around the tool. People re-type data between systems or keep the real process in spreadsheets.
• Your rules are your advantage. Pricing, compliance checks or workflows that set you apart don’t fit someone else’s template.
• Your systems need to talk. Payment gateways, shipping carriers, customs or partner APIs have to exchange data without anyone copying it by hand.
• The software is your product. If you sell it as SaaS or under other brands, you need to own it and decide where it goes next.

If none of these is true, a custom build is probably premature, and a good studio will tell you so in writing.

Freelancer, agency, studio or in-house team?

Each option fits a different job. The useful question is not who is cheapest this month, but who will still answer when something breaks in year three.

What Egypt offers, and what it can’t tell you

Egypt’s software export industry is growing quickly. At the Global Offshoring Summit in November 2025, the country’s communications minister said its digital export revenues had doubled from $2.4 billion in 2022 to $4.8 billion in 2025, and that the number of offshoring companies there had grown from 90 to more than 240 (Ahram Online).

The government backs the sector through ITIDA, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency, which issues licences in the sector and runs skills, export and support programmes.

None of this tells you whether a particular team is any good: country figures describe an industry, not a vendor.

What to ask before you sign

Ask for each of these in writing. A team that trusts its own process will have the answers ready.

A written scope

A document listing the screens, rules, data and integrations, agreed before any code is written. Changing your mind on paper costs nothing; changing it in code costs time and money.

An estimate range, with its assumptions

At the start, nobody knows enough for an exact price. A range with its assumptions written down is more honest than a fixed number that turns into change requests later. Ask what would push the cost to the top of the range.

Code and data ownership in the contract

The contract should say that the source code, the designs and your data belong to you, and that you receive the code repository, the server accounts and every credential at handover.

Don’t rely on vague wording. Under US copyright law, work commissioned from an outside company counts as “work made for hire” only in nine listed categories, and only if both sides sign a written agreement saying so (17 U.S.C. § 101). Computer programs are not on that list, so ask for a clause that assigns the copyright to you, and have a lawyer check how your own country’s law treats it.

Who is on call after launch

Ask who answers when the system breaks on a Friday night, how quickly, and whether it is someone who built it. Agree what support covers and costs before launch, not after the first outage.

How security is checked

Ask how each change is reviewed before it ships, and against which standard. The OWASP Top 10 is the reference list of the most critical web application security risks, and OWASP’s Application Security Verification Standard gives requirements a team can test against. Ask to see a recent review, and be wary of certifications nobody can show you.

An NDA before the details

If your idea or your data is sensitive, ask for a signed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before the first detailed call. A professional team signs one without fuss.

Personal data and the law

If the software will hold personal data about people in the EU, the GDPR requires a written contract with any company that processes it for you, covering its instructions, confidentiality, security and what happens to the data when the work ends (GDPR Article 28).

Egypt is not on the European Commission’s list of countries with adequate data protection, so sending that data there needs another safeguard, such as the Commission’s standard contractual clauses. Companies in the Gulf should check their own country’s rules on transferring personal data abroad.

Time zones: how much of the day you share

Cairo runs on UTC+2. Since 2023, Egypt has moved its clocks to UTC+3 from the last Friday of April to the last Thursday of October (IANA time zone database). The Gulf doesn’t change its clocks, and Europe and the US change theirs on other dates, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap moves by an hour. Check current offsets before you set up a recurring call.

Ask about the working week and public holidays on both sides, too. With little overlap, good teams work in writing: a short daily update, recorded demos and one call at the edge of both days.

Red flags to walk away from

• A fixed price before anyone has asked how your business works. Either the price is padded, or the difference comes back later as change requests.
• You never meet the engineers. If every answer goes through a salesperson, so will every problem after launch.
• No written scope. Nobody can say what is included, so nobody can say when it is finished.
• A contract that is silent on ownership, or a vendor that keeps the code repository and the server accounts in its own name.
• You only see the software at the end. Ask for working releases you can try along the way.
• No plan for after launch. “We’ll sort out support later” usually means a new contract with a different team.
• Proof you can’t check. Big claims with no case studies, no numbers and no detail.

How CompertMe answers these questions

We’re a software studio in Cairo, so here is how we handle each point above. Hold us to the same list.

• Scope and estimate: one working session to map how your business runs, then a written scope document and a risk list, and a written estimate range within two working days of the call.
• The engineers, not a salesperson: the first call is 45 minutes with Hesham Ghoniem, our lead engineer, and a senior engineer reviews every change, including for security, before it ships.
• Progress you can see: working software released to your environment on a regular schedule, and a private dashboard with every sprint, task, issue and invoice.
• We stay after launch: we monitor, back up and update your system for as long as you’re with us, and the engineers who built it are the ones on call.
• Confidentiality: a signed NDA within one working day when you ask for one, and no client named in public without written permission.
• Hours and languages: Saturday to Thursday, 10:00 to 18:00 Cairo time, in English or Arabic, for clients in 45+ countries so far.

• Service: Custom software — Management systems, portals and internal tools built around how your team works.
• Service: Support after launch — Monitoring, backups and updates from the engineers who built your system.
• Case study: Cross-Border Forwarding Platform — Eight years of live records moved to a new data model with no downtime.
• Case study: Air Cargo & Customs Platform — A documented API live in seven days, then the platform behind it.
• About us: About CompertMe — Who runs the studio, how we work and what we build with.

Questions buyers ask

Is it safe to outsource software development to Egypt?

It can be, if you check the team rather than the country. Ask for a written scope, an estimate range, code and data ownership in the contract, a signed NDA and a named engineer who stays on call after launch. Those protect you wherever your developers are.

How much does custom software cost from an Egyptian studio?

It depends on scope, so be wary of a price quoted before anyone understands your business. Expect a written estimate range with its assumptions after a discovery session, and agree the cost of support before launch so there are no surprise bills.

Can a team in Cairo work in our time zone?

For the Gulf and Western Europe, mostly yes: a Cairo working day shares five to eight hours with Riyadh, Dubai, London or Berlin. Teams on the US East Coast share about two morning hours, and the West Coast needs work in writing.

Who owns the code a studio writes for us?

Whoever the contract says. Make sure it assigns the source code, the designs and the data to you, and that you receive the repository and every credential at handover. Don’t rely on “work made for hire” wording alone.

Sources

1. Egypt doubles digital offshoring exports to $4.8B, secures 70,000 jobs in major global summit, Ahram Online, 12 November 2025
2. Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), ITIDA, Egypt
3. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101: definition of “work made for hire”, U.S. Copyright Office
4. OWASP Top 10, OWASP Foundation
5. Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS), OWASP Foundation
6. GDPR Article 28: Processor, gdpr-info.eu
7. Adequacy decisions, European Commission
8. Standard contractual clauses (SCC), European Commission
9. Time zone database: Africa, including Egypt’s rules, IANA

Each source was checked on 12 October 2026. Time differences are worked out from the IANA time zone database.

Next step

Bring us the messy version.

Tell us what you’re building in a few lines. You’ll hear back within one working day with a time for a call, and get a written estimate range within two working days of it.

Book a discovery call