I'm trying to understand the freelance developer market in Saudi Arabia after receiving two extremely low offers recently. I have more than six years of professional experience. One client wanted a complete multi-tenant application built from scratch for about $200, while another offered roughly $150 for a full-stack role that would also involve managing the entire project. These projects could include frontend and backend development, database design, architecture, deployment, debugging, maintenance, and potentially weeks or months of work. Are offers this low common in Saudi Arabia, or am I simply encountering clients with unrealistic budgets? I'd especially appreciate perspectives from Saudi developers, expatriate developers working in the country, freelancers, and people who hire developers locally. What would be a reasonable range for this kind of work from someone with six or more years of experience?
3 Answers
The market can have a wide range. Some lower-paid developers may earn around $1,200–$2,400 per month depending on experience and industry, but that still doesn’t make $150–$200 reasonable for an entire project. Legitimate agencies and product companies can pay far more, sometimes closer to international or regional senior rates. These offers sound like clients testing whether someone desperate will accept, not a reliable benchmark for experienced freelance work.
Treat “full-stack developer” plus “manage the whole project” as several responsibilities, not a small coding task. Before pricing, separate discovery, design, development, deployment, testing, support, and future changes. Quote by project milestones or hourly effort, and make it clear that maintenance is separate. If the client expects one person to replace an entire team for $150 or $200, they are not looking for a sustainable professional engagement.
The only way a price like that might make sense is if most of the application already exists and you’re doing a very limited, clearly defined adjustment—not building the system from scratch.
Those offers are not just a little below market—they’re dramatically too low for a serious custom software project. A multi-tenant application for $200 could work out to only a dollar or two per hour once you account for planning, authentication, infrastructure, testing, and revisions. You’re most likely dealing with unusually low-budget clients, resellers, or people who don’t understand the scope of software development. Ask for a written scope, milestones, timeline, and maintenance expectations before giving a quote. If they refuse to define the work or negotiate realistically, it’s better to walk away.
Exactly. The scope matters much more than the client’s location, and a full-stack project at that price would not even cover the time and tools required to deliver it properly.
I understand that offshore talent can be cheaper, but reducing a realistic project budget by 90% or more is not a normal discount. It’s simply an unrealistic offer.