Custom Software Development Company in Dubai
Uber clone. Talabat clone. Noon clone. Or software nobody has built before. Live on both app stores in 4 to 8 weeks, with the source code in your name and the price quoted in AED. Built in Dubai, and engineered to be found on Google and recommended by AI assistants when your customers ask them who to use.
Hey Food Delivery, one of our own demo builds
Hey Search is a Dubai based custom software development company (HEY WORLD DIGITAL MEDIA LLC) that builds clone apps and tailor made software for businesses across the UAE and GCC: ride hailing apps like Careem, food delivery apps like Talabat, ecommerce platforms like Noon, and fully custom web and mobile products. Clients choose between 26 ready to launch solutions and software built from scratch. Every build ships in Arabic and English, connects to UAE payment gateways, and is engineered with our FQT framework so your product is Findable, Quotable and Trustable on Google and inside AI assistants from day one.
What Is Custom Software Development?
Custom software development means designing, building and launching software around your business instead of forcing your business into somebody else’s template. You own the source code, you control the roadmap, and the product carries your brand alone. There are three ways to get software built, and most buyers in Dubai are never shown the difference honestly:
| Clone build with an agency | Cheap ready made script | Off the shelf SaaS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to launch | 4 to 8 weeks | 1 to 2 weeks | Days |
| Source code ownership | Yours, fully | Often licensed, not owned | Never |
| Customization | Unlimited | Cosmetic only | Configuration only |
| Differentiation | Your brand, your features | Same app 500 others bought | Same tool everyone uses |
| Scales with you | Yes | Usually breaks | Until you outgrow it |
| Best for | Serious market entry | Testing a hunch | Standard back office needs |
Two Ways to Start. One Standard of Build.
Launch a Proven Model
You already know the business you want to run: ride hailing, food delivery, grocery, ecommerce, home services. We take a battle tested product architecture, and we make it completely yours: your brand, your features, your pricing, your market. Original code, both app stores, live in weeks.
See 26 Ready to Launch SolutionsBuild Something New
No existing model fits, because your idea has not been done. That is usually a good sign. We take tailor made software from a blank page to a live product: discovery, prototype, build, launch, scale. If it can be drawn on a whiteboard, it can be shipped.
Start a Tailor Made BuildWhat We Ship Looks Like This
Three of our own demo builds, shown so you can judge the quality before you commission anything. Every solution in the catalogue below is built to this standard, in your brand rather than ours.
Food deliveryCustomer, rider, restaurant and admin, in one platform.
Ride hailingRider and captain apps, dispatch, fares and fleet control.
MarketplaceMulti vendor listings, commissions, fulfilment and payouts.
Hey Food Delivery, Hey Rides and Hey Market are our own demo builds, not client work shown without permission. Your platform carries your brand, your colours and your feature set.
Clone App Development Solutions: 26 Apps You Can Launch
Every solution below is a complete product: customer app, provider app, merchant panel and admin dashboard, submitted to both stores, with full source code ownership. Pick the model, and we build it under your brand for the UAE market: Arabic and English, AED billing, local payment gateways.
Ride, Transport and Logistics
Careem or Uber Clone. Ride Hailing App.
Rider app, driver app, live tracking, surge pricing, fleet dashboard. Everything a ride hailing business needs to launch in any emirate.
ExploreTrukker Clone. Logistics and Trucking Platform.
Book trucks the way passengers book rides. Shipper app, carrier app, load matching, route tracking and freight billing.
ExploreCourier and Parcel Delivery App
Same day and scheduled parcel delivery with proof of delivery, live tracking, COD handling and a dispatcher dashboard.
ExploreUdrive or ekar Clone. Car Rental App.
Hourly and daily self drive rental with license verification, keyless flows, deposits and fleet utilization reporting.
ExploreFood and Grocery
Food Delivery App Development. Talabat or Zomato Style.
Customer app, rider app, restaurant panel and admin console. Commission, delivery fee and subscription revenue built in.
ExploreInstaShop Clone. Grocery Delivery App.
Multi store grocery delivery with live inventory, slot scheduling, substitutions and picker apps for dark stores or partner supermarkets.
ExploreKitopi Style Cloud Kitchen Platform
Run multiple brands from one kitchen: order aggregation, kitchen display systems, brand level analytics and delivery integration.
ExploreRestaurant Ordering and QR Menu System
Your own ordering channel with zero aggregator commission: QR dine in menus, pickup and delivery, loyalty and POS integration.
ExploreEcommerce and Retail
Noon or Amazon Clone. Ecommerce Marketplace.
Multi vendor marketplace with seller onboarding, commissions, fulfilment options, returns and a full admin suite. Your own Noon for your niche.
ExploreDubizzle Clone. Classifieds App.
Listings, chat, featured ads, verification and moderation tools. Classifieds for a single category or an entire market.
ExploreSingle Brand Ecommerce App
A D2C app for one brand: fashion, electronics, beauty or anything sold direct. Catalog, checkout, wallets, push campaigns and analytics.
ExploreHealth and Wellness
Pharmacy Delivery App
Prescription upload, pharmacist approval flows, scheduled and express delivery. The 800 Pharmacy model for your pharmacy group.
ExploreOkadoc or Practo Clone. Telemedicine and Doctor Booking.
Appointment booking, video consultations, e prescriptions and clinic dashboards, designed around UAE healthcare workflows.
ExploreGymNation or ClassPass Clone. Fitness App.
Memberships, class booking, trainer schedules, workout content and retention analytics for gyms and studios.
ExploreFresha Clone. Salon and Spa Booking App.
Calendar led booking, staff management, deposits and no show protection, packages and repeat client marketing.
ExploreHome and Lifestyle Services
Justlife Clone. Home Services App.
Cleaning, beauty at home, maintenance and more: service catalog, provider matching, scheduling and quality ratings.
ExploreWashmen Clone. Laundry App.
Pickup and delivery laundry with bag tracking, itemized pricing, subscriptions and driver routing.
ExploreCAFU Clone. Fuel Delivery App.
On demand fuel and car services delivered to the parked car: live vehicle location, fleet accounts and route optimization.
ExploreHandyman and Maintenance App
Quotes, job tracking, technician dispatch and annual maintenance contracts for facilities and home maintenance companies.
ExploreProperty and Travel
Bayut or Property Finder Clone. Real Estate Portal.
Listings with map search, agent profiles, lead routing, mortgage calculators and premium placement revenue.
ExploreAirbnb Clone. Holiday Homes Platform.
Host onboarding, calendars and pricing rules, secure payments, reviews and damage deposits for short term rental operators.
ExploreAlmosafer or Booking Clone. Travel Booking App.
Flights, hotels and activities with supplier APIs, dynamic pricing and multi currency checkout.
ExploreFintech
Digital Wallet App
Top ups, P2P transfers, bill payments and card issuing integrations, built with security and compliance first. The Payit model for your market.
ExploreTabby or Tamara Clone. BNPL Platform.
Split payments at checkout, merchant onboarding, risk scoring and collections workflows for buy now pay later businesses.
ExploreMedia, Learning and Marketplaces
Udemy or Alef Clone. Elearning App.
Courses, live classes, quizzes, certificates and instructor revenue sharing for academies and training businesses.
ExploreNetflix or Shahid Clone. OTT Streaming App.
Video on demand with subscriptions, profiles, downloads, DRM and content analytics across mobile and TV.
ExploreDo not see your model? We have built stranger things. Tell us what you want to launch.
Book a Free Strategy CallTailor Made Software: When No Existing Model Fits
If your idea does not fit any box above, that is usually a good sign. It means you are early. The builds we are proudest of started exactly there: a founder describing something that did not exist yet.
SaaS products
From concept to a subscription business: multi tenant architecture, billing, onboarding and an admin cockpit.
Internal business systems
ERP style operations tools, CRM, HR and finance systems that replace the spreadsheet chaos your team quietly hates.
AI powered applications
Products built on OpenAI and Claude APIs: assistants, document intelligence, recommendation engines and automation that actually ships.
API and system integrations
Connecting the tools you already run so data stops being retyped by humans.
Startup MVPs
The smallest product that can prove your idea to users and investors, built to grow instead of being thrown away.
We do not just build software for clients. We build and ship our own products, live today on the App Store and Google Play, including Hey Finance, our own finance platform. You are hiring a team that has passed Apple review, survived Google Play policy, and run production systems with real users and real money moving through them.
How Much Does Custom Software Development Cost in Dubai?
Most agencies in Dubai will not put a number on this page. We will. These are honest ranges from real projects, stated in AED, so you can budget before you ever speak to us.
One clone solution from the grid above, your brand, standard feature set, submitted to both stores.
Scope my buildA clone base plus custom features, third party integrations and advanced admin analytics.
Scope my buildA fully custom platform, complex integrations, dedicated team, ongoing roadmap.
Scope my buildYour exact quote comes after a free scoping call, because scope is the only honest basis for a price. These ranges are anchors, not promises, and nobody at Hey Search will quote you a number before understanding what you are building.
Our Development Process
Discovery and scoping
We map what you are building, who pays for it, and what version one must prove. You get a fixed scope and a fixed price.
UX and design approval
Every screen is designed and approved by you before a line of production code is written.
Build in sprints
Working software every two weeks, visible in a staging environment, not screenshots in a deck.
QA on real devices
Tested on real iPhones and Android devices, in Arabic and English, on UAE networks.
Store submission and launch
We handle App Store and Google Play submission, including the rejections and resubmissions nobody warns you about.
Post launch support and growth
Monitoring, fixes, updates and a roadmap. Launch day is the start, not the handover.
Why Hey Search and Not a Script Vendor or an Offshore Factory
| Script vendor abroad | Offshore agency | Hey Search | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity in the UAE | No | Rarely | Yes. HEY WORLD DIGITAL MEDIA LLC, Dubai |
| Source code ownership | Licensed, resold to hundreds | Sometimes | Yours, contractually, always |
| AED invoicing with VAT | No | Rarely | Yes |
| Arabic, RTL and UAE payments | Bolted on | Sometimes | Standard in every build |
| After launch | Support ticket queue | New quote | A team in your timezone with an SLA |
| Found on Google and cited by AI | Not their problem | Not their problem | FQT engineered into every build |
The last row is the one nobody else can offer. Hey Search is a search and AI visibility company that builds software. Every product we ship is engineered with our FQT framework, so your app and its website are Findable, Quotable and Trustable: visible on Google, and recommendable by ChatGPT and Gemini when your customers ask them where to buy, order or book.
The Technology We Build With
Flutter, React Native, Swift and Kotlin for mobile. React, Next.js, Node, PHP and Laravel for web. Python for services and automation. PostgreSQL, MySQL and Supabase for data. Docker and AWS for infrastructure. OpenAI and Claude APIs for AI features. Sixteen years of hiring means our team covers all of it in house.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to develop a custom app in Dubai?
Between AED 45,000 and AED 90,000 for a Launch Ready clone build, AED 90,000 to AED 250,000 for a customized Growth build, and AED 250,000 plus for fully tailor made enterprise platforms. The honest answer always depends on scope, which is why we publish ranges and confirm the exact number after a free scoping call.
How long does it take to build and launch an app in the UAE?
A Launch Ready clone build goes live in 4 to 8 weeks including store approval. Customized builds take 8 to 16 weeks. Fully tailor made platforms typically need 16 weeks or more. Store review adds days, not weeks, when the submission is prepared properly.
Is it legal to build a clone app like Careem or Talabat?
Yes, when it is done properly, and the detail matters. What we deliver is original software: our own code, your brand, your content and your interface design. We never copy another company’s code, name, logo or visual identity, because those are protected by copyright, trademark and design rights, and sometimes by patents. What no company owns is the underlying business idea of a marketplace, a ride booking service or a delivery platform. Where your build touches a regulated area such as payments, lending or health data, we will tell you plainly where you need your own licence or your own UAE legal advice before launch, rather than leaving you to discover it later.
Should I buy a cheap clone script or build with an agency?
A script costs less upfront and shows its price later: licensed code you may not own, the same app sold to hundreds of buyers, no UAE entity behind it, and nobody accountable when Apple rejects it or it breaks under real users. If you are testing a hunch, a script is fine. If you are building a business, own your code.
Do I own the source code?
Yes. Full source code ownership is written into every Hey Search contract. Most script vendors license their code to you; they do not sell it. Ask any vendor this exact question before paying them.
How much does it cost to build a Talabat clone in the UAE?
A Talabat style food delivery platform starts around AED 45,000 to AED 90,000 for the standard model: customer app, rider app, restaurant panel and admin console. Multi city operations, advanced logistics and custom integrations move it into the Growth tier.
Flutter or native iOS and Android: which is right for a UAE app?
Flutter for almost every consumer app: one codebase, both app stores, faster and cheaper to maintain, and the way our own published apps are built. Native Swift and Kotlin when you need deep hardware access or extreme performance. We build both, and we will tell you plainly which one your project actually needs rather than selling you two codebases you do not need.
Do you handle App Store and Google Play submission?
Yes, end to end, including the rejections. We have shipped our own products through Apple review and Google Play policy, so we prepare submissions to pass rather than learning on your app.
What are the running costs after launch?
Budget for hosting and infrastructure (typically AED 500 to AED 3,000 per month depending on scale), store developer accounts, and a maintenance retainer for updates, monitoring and OS changes. We put these numbers in your proposal so nothing surprises you after launch.
Can you build in Arabic with UAE payment gateways?
Yes, as standard, not as an extra. Arabic with proper RTL layouts, English, AED multi currency, and UAE payment gateways including Nomod, Telr, PayTabs and Apple Pay.
Tell Us What You Want to Launch
We will tell you the fastest honest way to get there: which model fits, what it costs in AED, and how many weeks to your launch. No pressure, no jargon, no quote before we understand the idea.
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