By Shehab Waleed, Founder, Cairo Studio 3 min read
Searching for the best web development company in Egypt returns hundreds of agencies, freelancers and marketplaces. Most of them can make a page look good. Far fewer ship on time, write a second language properly and are still around when something breaks a year later. This is the checklist we would use if we were hiring ourselves.
Start with what they have shipped
Open three live sites from their portfolio on your phone. Check how fast they load, whether the Arabic version is real Arabic layout or a mirrored English page, and whether the content looks maintained. A portfolio of mockups and concepts tells you about taste, not about delivery.
Our own work is on our projects page: bilingual corporate sites for Buna Holding and MASAR, custom stores for Dropped, and a site, dashboard and iOS app for Makaani.
Eight questions to ask before you sign
- Who will design and build my site, and can I meet them?
- Which of your live sites is closest to mine, and can I speak to that client?
- Who writes the content, and in which languages?
- How do you handle Arabic: separate layouts and copy, or a translated version?
- What platform will you use, and can my team edit it without you?
- How many review rounds are included, and what happens after them?
- What are the payment milestones, and what do I own at the end?
- What does hosting and maintenance cost after launch?
Red flags we see often
- A fixed price before anyone has seen your page list or content.
- A timeline with no review rounds in it.
- Source files or the domain registered in the agency’s name.
- Arabic described as a plugin or an automatic translation.
- No answer to who maintains the site after launch.
Freelancer, agency or in-house
A freelancer is often the right call for a small site with a clear brief. An agency or studio makes sense when you need design, development, content and Arabic handled together, on a deadline. An in-house team pays off when the website is a product you change every week. The table below compares them.
How we fit
Cairo Studio is a design and development studio in Cairo. One senior team takes a project from the page structure to launch, in Arabic and English, and our plans cover hosting and ongoing work after launch. If you are comparing studios, we will happily answer the eight questions above in writing.
