--- title: "Website and app projects in Qatar: what's different" description: "What changes when you build a website or app in Qatar: local payments, delivery apps, Arabic and English, no VAT yet, data law and what drives the price." url: https://kftechsolutions.dev/blog/website-app-development-qatar language: en published: 2026-11-06 modified: 2026-11-06 author: Kirollos Fayez site: "KF Tech Solutions — https://kftechsolutions.dev" --- # Website and app projects in Qatar: what's different What changes when you build a website or app in Qatar: local payments, delivery apps, Arabic and English, no VAT yet, data law and what drives the price. A website or app for a business in Qatar costs what its scope costs: the number of pages and screens, the languages, and the systems it has to connect to. What is different in Qatar is the detail inside that scope. Customers pay with local cards and instant transfers, many orders go through delivery apps, the site needs proper Arabic as well as English, and personal data falls under Law 13/2016. There is no VAT yet, but a draft e-invoicing law is on the way. Last checked: 6 November 2026 This guide covers what to plan for before you ask for a quote. It is general information, not tax or legal advice. ## What drives the price of a website or app in Qatar The quote depends on the same things everywhere. A Doha address does not make a five-page site more expensive, but projects in Qatar often include features that do. | Item | What moves the price | |---|---| | Pages or screens | Each distinct layout needs design, build and testing. Repeating pages, such as products or articles, cost much less than unique ones. | | Languages | Arabic and English means two sets of content, right-to-left layouts and separate pages for search engines. | | Content management | A dashboard where your team edits text, photos and prices adds setup work but saves you paying for every change. | | Online payment | Taking cards on the site means a payment gateway, order records, refunds and failed-payment handling. | | Integrations | Connections to delivery apps, a POS, an ERP or WhatsApp each need their own design and testing. | | Mobile app | A native app for iPhone and Android adds store accounts, review rules and two platforms to test. | Projects start from $200 (about SAR 750 / AED 735); the final price depends on scope, with a fixed written quote after a free call. For a breakdown of where the money goes, see [what a company website actually costs](https://kftechsolutions.dev/blog/company-website-cost-egypt) and [what a mobile app actually costs to build](https://kftechsolutions.dev/blog/app-development-cost-egypt). The figures there are for Egypt, but the cost drivers are the same. ## Arabic and English from the first page Many businesses in Qatar serve customers who read Arabic and customers who read English. A site in one language leaves part of that audience out, and adding the second language later usually costs more than planning it from the start. Getting both right takes more than a translation plugin: - **Right-to-left layout.** Arabic pages need menus, icons, forms and tables designed for right-to-left reading, not a mirrored copy of the English page. - **Separate pages per language.** Each language should have its own address so Google can show the Arabic page to people searching in Arabic. - **Arabic written by a person.** Product names, legal text and checkout messages should be written or checked by someone fluent, not left to machine translation. - **Fonts and numbers.** Choose an Arabic typeface that stays readable on a phone, and decide early how prices and phone numbers are displayed. - **Both languages in the dashboard.** Your team should be able to edit the Arabic and English versions side by side. If you plan an app as well, the same rules apply to every screen, notification and email it sends. ## Payments: Himyan, NAPS, QPay and Fawran Qatar has its own payment rails, and your checkout should accept what local customers carry. - **Himyan** is Qatar's national card. The debit version launched on 30 March 2024 and runs on the **NAPS** network. - **QPay** is the portal through which Himyan cards are used for online shopping. - **Fawran** is the Qatar Central Bank's instant transfer service, available 24/7, with its launch planned for March 2024. In practice, a website does not connect to these networks directly. It connects to a payment gateway or an acquiring bank, and that provider decides which cards and methods your customers see at checkout. Ask any provider you are considering whether it accepts Himyan cards, what it charges, and how refunds and settlements work, before the checkout is designed. One platform point catches many shop owners: **Shopify Payments is not available in Qatar**. Shopify's list of supported countries includes the UAE but not Qatar, so a Shopify store in Qatar needs a third-party payment provider. That is workable, but it changes fees and setup, and it is worth knowing before you choose a platform. ## Delivery apps and your own ordering Restaurants, grocers and many shops in Qatar already sell through delivery apps. talabat, Keeta (in Doha since 19 August 2025) and Snoonu all operate in the market. That shapes what your own site or app should do: - **Decide what the site is for.** If most orders come through delivery apps, your site may work better as a menu, brand and contact page than as a full ordering system. - **Own the repeat customer.** A direct ordering app makes sense when you have enough loyal customers to justify it and want to keep their contact details and your margin. - **Keep one menu and one stock figure.** If you sell on several apps and your own site, prices and availability should come from one place, usually your POS, rather than being typed into each app by hand. Whether a delivery app offers an integration for menus or orders depends on that app and your agreement with it, so confirm it with them before you plan the feature. ## Tax: no VAT today, a draft e-invoicing law Qatar has **no VAT**. An excise tax has applied to certain goods since 1 January 2019. For most websites and apps, this means the checkout does not need VAT lines, unlike stores selling in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. E-invoicing is coming but is not in force. On 6 May 2026 the Cabinet approved a **draft** e-invoicing law and its executive regulations, prepared by the Ministry of Finance with the General Tax Authority. No dates have been published. What this means for a project today: - **Do not pay for "Qatar e-invoicing compliance".** There are no published technical rules to comply with yet. - **Keep invoices as structured data.** Orders and invoices stored in a database, not only as PDFs, are far easier to connect to whatever system the final rules require. - **Choose software you can change.** If your POS or ERP is a closed product, ask the vendor how they plan to handle the law once it takes effect. ## Personal data under Law 13/2016 Qatar's personal data protection law, Law 13 of 2016, applies to the data your site or app collects: names, phone numbers, addresses and order history. The regulator is the NCGAA, part of the National Cyber Security Agency. The Qatar Financial Centre has its own separate regime. Points that affect how a site or app is built: - **Breach notice within 72 hours.** You need to know quickly if data leaks, which means access logs, alerts and a written procedure. - **Sensitive data needs authorisation.** Processing sensitive personal data, such as health information, requires authorisation and a data protection impact assessment. A clinic booking app is a common example. - **Collect less.** Every field on a form is data you must protect. Ask only for what the order or booking needs. - **Know where data lives.** Ask your developer where the database and backups are hosted and who can access them. This is a summary for planning, not legal advice. For a clinic, a financial service or a business in the Qatar Financial Centre, check the rules with a lawyer in Qatar. ## Working with KF Tech Solutions from Qatar KF Tech Solutions is a software studio in Cairo, and we work with businesses in Egypt and the Gulf. We design and build company websites, online stores, web apps and mobile apps in Arabic and English, with a dashboard your team uses to edit content and search engine basics built in from the first release. We also build POS, inventory and booking systems and WhatsApp chatbots, and we have integrated a POS with Egypt's ETA e-receipt system, so a website can connect to how you already sell. See the full scope on our [web development service page](https://kftechsolutions.dev/services/web-development) and more about working with us from the region on our [Gulf page](https://kftechsolutions.dev/gulf). Practical points for any remote project run from Doha: - **Time zone.** Doha is on UTC+3 all year. Cairo matches Doha from late April to late October and is one hour behind in winter, so working days overlap almost fully. - **Contract.** Ask for an NDA, return or secure deletion of your data at the end of the contract, an incident-notification procedure, and full source-code and IP assignment, all written into the contract. - **Accounts in your name.** The domain, hosting, app store accounts and payment gateway account should be registered to your company, not to the developer. For more on judging any vendor, see [how to choose a software company without being a technical person](https://kftechsolutions.dev/blog/how-to-choose-a-software-company). ## Common questions ### How much does a website cost in Qatar? It depends on scope: pages, languages, payments and integrations. A short bilingual company site costs far less than an online store with card payments and delivery-app connections. Get a fixed written quote that lists every page and feature before you pay a deposit. ### Do I need to charge VAT on my online store in Qatar? No. Qatar has no VAT as of November 2026, though excise tax applies to certain goods. Check your own products with a tax adviser. ### Is e-invoicing mandatory in Qatar? Not yet. The Cabinet approved a draft law on 6 May 2026, but no dates have been published. Keep your invoice data structured so you can adapt when the rules are final. ### Can I use Shopify for a store in Qatar? Yes, but Shopify Payments is not available in Qatar, so you will need a third-party payment provider. Confirm that the provider accepts the cards your customers use, including Himyan. ### Should I build an app or just a website? Start with a website that works well on phones unless you have repeat customers who order often. An app adds store accounts, two platforms and update costs, and it pays off when people use it every week. Planning a website or app for your business in Qatar? [Book a free call](https://kftechsolutions.dev/book) and we will go through your pages, payments and integrations, then send a fixed written quote. Prefer to write? [Send us a message](https://kftechsolutions.dev/contact). ## Sources - [PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Qatar, other taxes](https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/qatar/corporate/other-taxes) - [Qatar News Agency: Cabinet holds regular meeting, 6 May 2026](https://qna.org.qa/en/news/news-details?id=cabinet-holds-regular-meeting&date=6%2F05%2F2026) - [DLA Piper: Data protection laws of the world, Qatar](https://www.dlapiperdataprotection.com/countries/qatar/law.html) - [Qatar News Agency: Qatar Central Bank launches Himyan debit card](https://qna.org.qa/en/news/news-details?id=0019-qatar-central-bank-launches-%27himyan%27-debit-card&date=30%2F03%2F2024) - [Qatar News Agency: QCB to launch instant payment service Fawran](https://www.qna.org.qa/en/News-Area/News/2024-02/19/0030-qcb-to-launch-instant-payment-service-%27fawran%27-in-march) - [Keeta launches in Doha](https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/347199.html) - [Shopify Help Center: Shopify Payments supported countries](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/supported-countries) - [Ahram Online: Egypt's daylight saving time](https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/566547/Egypt/Egypt-to-move-clocks-forward-one-hour-on-Friday-fo.aspx) --- KF Tech Solutions is a software studio in Cairo, Egypt, founded by Kirollos Fayez in 2020; its only website is kftechsolutions.dev. It is not affiliated with KFTECH Software Solutions (kftechsols.com).