FAQ

Answers to the most common questions

Pricing, process, IP, NDAs, security, timelines, and how we work. If your question isn't here, message us — we usually reply within a few hours.

28+: Questions Answered
6: Topic Groups
24h: Response Time
100%: Honest Answers

5 questions

General

Who we are, who we work with, and how we operate.

01What is Sufyaan Studio?: Sufyaan Studio is a global, solo-led custom web development, software engineering and Shopify agency. We design, build and ship conversion-optimized websites, custom SaaS products, headless e-commerce stores, brand identity systems and digital platforms for startups, local businesses and enterprise brands in the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Europe.
02Who do you typically work with?: We work with three core audiences: (1) local businesses that need a fast, lead-generating website without an agency price tag, (2) early-stage and growth-stage startups that need a marketing site, MVP or full SaaS product, and (3) e-commerce and Shopify brands that need high-converting storefronts, headless commerce builds or replatforming. We work with clients in the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Europe.
03How is Sufyaan Studio different from a traditional agency?: Three things. First, you deal with the actual builder — not a project manager, account executive or rotating cast of juniors. Second, we work in fixed milestones with written briefs, so scope, cost and timeline are agreed up front. Third, every site is hand-coded (Next.js, React, TypeScript, Shopify Liquid, Shopify Hydrogen) — no template lock-in, no proprietary platforms, you own every line of code.
04Are you a freelancer or an agency?: Both. We're a solo-led studio — the founder (Sufyaan) is the lead engineer on every project, the person who scopes the work, the person who writes the code, the person who supports you post-launch. We occasionally partner with vetted specialists (designers, AI engineers, performance auditors) for larger engagements, but you always deal with one person.
05Where are you based and do you work async?: We are a remote-first studio based in India and serving clients worldwide. We work async by default (Notion, Loom, Slack, Linear) with weekly check-ins. We overlap with US, UK and UAE timezones for live calls.

6 questions

Services

What we actually do — and what we don't.

01What services do you offer?: We offer eight core services: custom web development (Next.js, React, TypeScript), Shopify and headless commerce development, custom software development, SaaS product development, technical SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), brand identity and UI/UX design, Core Web Vitals and performance optimization, and ongoing website maintenance.
02Do you do SEO?: Yes. We provide technical SEO, on-page optimization, schema markup (Organization, Service, FAQ, Product, LocalBusiness) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — the practice of getting your brand cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Every site we ship includes technical SEO foundations by default.
03Do you do branding?: Yes. We do strategic brand identity, design systems, UI/UX design and high-fidelity prototyping. We can work with an existing brand or build a new one from scratch as part of a project. We typically recommend a brand or messaging strategy sprint before any code is written.
04Do you do Shopify?: Yes — Shopify is one of our core specialties. We build custom Shopify themes (Liquid + sections), Shopify Plus stores with B2B and custom checkout, and headless commerce builds on Hydrogen. We also migrate from WooCommerce, Magento and BigCommerce with zero-loss cutover.
05Do you do app development (iOS, Android)?: We build cross-platform mobile apps using React Native or Expo. For purely native iOS/Android work, we partner with trusted specialists — we're happy to introduce you.
06Do you do AI development?: Yes. AI-native development is a specialty. We build RAG systems, agentic workflows, semantic search, content generation pipelines, AI cost monitoring, and prompt engineering integrations using OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and open-source models.

5 questions

Pricing & Engagement

How we charge, what it costs, and what you get.

01How much does a project cost?: Custom sites start from $499 (USD) for a focused 3-page marketing site. Most engagements range from $499 to $4,999. Shopify builds: $999–$3,999+. Custom software: $1,999+. SaaS MVPs: $4,999+. See our pricing page for detailed packages.
02Do you require a deposit?: Yes. For fixed-price projects, the typical payment schedule is 30% upfront, 30% at the midpoint milestone, and 40% on launch. For retainers, we invoice monthly in advance. For projects over $10K, we can split payments across 3–6 monthly installments at no additional cost.
03What's the difference between fixed and hourly pricing?: Fixed pricing is for projects with a defined scope — we agree on deliverables, timeline and total price upfront. Hourly pricing is for ongoing retainers, undefined-scope work, and ad-hoc changes. We prefer fixed pricing for projects and hourly for retainers because it gives you cost certainty.
04Do you offer discounts for nonprofits or early-stage startups?: Yes. We offer a 20% discount on web development projects for registered nonprofits and education customers. Early-stage startups (pre-seed, pre-revenue) can apply for our Founders' Program with 15% off and 90-day payment terms.
05What if I need to cancel a project?: We work on milestone-based payments, so you only pay for work completed. If you cancel mid-project, you own everything delivered to date, and we provide a 30-day handover period to transition to another team. Retainers cancel with 30 days' notice.

4 questions

Process & Timeline

How a project actually moves from brief to launch.

01How long does a typical project take?: A focused marketing site: 4–6 weeks. A custom Shopify or e-commerce build: 6–10 weeks. A custom web application or SaaS MVP: 8–16 weeks. A full SaaS product: 4–9 months. We also offer 1-day VIP Design Sprints for time-critical rebuilds.
02What does the process look like?: Six phases: discovery & strategy (1–2 weeks), architecture & planning (1–2 weeks), design system & UI (2–3 weeks), build & integration (4–12 weeks), QA & performance (1–2 weeks), launch & handover (1 week + 30–90 day warranty). See our process page for the full breakdown.
03What if I want to change the scope mid-project?: Changes are scoped, priced, and added to the timeline in writing before work begins. We use a 'change order' process: you describe the change, we estimate the cost and timeline impact, you approve, then we proceed. This protects both of us from surprise costs and timeline slips.
04How do you handle communication?: Async-first, with strategic synchronous calls. Daily Slack updates, weekly Loom demos, bi-weekly sprint reviews. We overlap with US, UK and UAE timezones for live calls. Most clients find they get more responsive communication than with US-based agencies.

4 questions

IP, Legal & Security

Who owns what, NDAs, security, and compliance.

01Will I own the code, design files, and IP?: Yes. You own 100% of the source code, design files, brand assets, and intellectual property. Code lives in your GitHub organization from day one. We sign an IP assignment on final payment. No proprietary lock-in, no template fees, no exit costs.
02Do you sign NDAs?: Yes. We sign mutual NDAs before any confidential discussions and ensure all intellectual property transfers to you on final payment. We work with US-style contracts and are happy to use your MSA if you have one.
03How do you handle security?: Security is a default. We follow OWASP Top 10 mitigations, encrypt data at rest and in transit, use parameterized queries, set up WAF, security headers, rate limiting, audit logs, and off-site backups. We offer security-first maintenance plans for ongoing protection.
04Are you GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOC 2 aware?: Yes. We build for GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), HIPAA (US healthcare), and SOC 2 awareness. We work with your compliance and security teams to ensure the build meets your regulatory needs. We don't sign as a Business Associate (BA) or provide a SOC 2 attestation ourselves — those require ongoing compliance that we can support through a maintenance retainer.

4 questions

Support & Maintenance

What happens after launch.

01Do you offer ongoing support?: Yes. We offer monthly care plans starting at $79/month for maintenance and security, and higher-tier growth retainers for ongoing SEO, GEO, content marketing and conversion-rate optimization.
02What does website maintenance include?: Our maintenance plans include: monthly dependency and plugin updates, security patches, daily off-site backups, uptime monitoring, real-user performance monitoring, security hardening (headers, WAF, DDoS), a content-change allowance for small updates, and monthly reporting. Higher tiers add CRO, SEO, GEO and content production.
03What happens if my site goes down?: We're alerted within 60 seconds. Our on-call engineer responds within 4 business hours (Starter), 2 hours (Growth) or 30 minutes (Enterprise). We have an incident runbook, backup restoration tested quarterly, and direct access to your hosting provider.
04Do you maintain sites you didn't build?: Yes. Most of our maintenance clients come to us with sites built by other agencies or freelancers. We do a one-time onboarding audit, bring the site to a known-good baseline, then take over ongoing maintenance.

Still have questions?

We're happy to jump on a quick call or answer over email. No sales pitch, no commitment — just a genuine conversation about your project.

Get in touch See pricing

Ready to start your project?

Tell us what you're building and we'll come back within 24 hours with a tailored proposal — fixed scope, fixed price, written brief.

FAQ

Answers to the most common questions

Pricing, process, IP, NDAs, security, timelines, and how we work. If your question isn't here, message us — we usually reply within a few hours.

28+: Questions Answered
6: Topic Groups
24h: Response Time
100%: Honest Answers

5 questions

General

Who we are, who we work with, and how we operate.

01What is Sufyaan Studio?: Sufyaan Studio is a global, solo-led custom web development, software engineering and Shopify agency. We design, build and ship conversion-optimized websites, custom SaaS products, headless e-commerce stores, brand identity systems and digital platforms for startups, local businesses and enterprise brands in the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Europe.
02Who do you typically work with?: We work with three core audiences: (1) local businesses that need a fast, lead-generating website without an agency price tag, (2) early-stage and growth-stage startups that need a marketing site, MVP or full SaaS product, and (3) e-commerce and Shopify brands that need high-converting storefronts, headless commerce builds or replatforming. We work with clients in the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Europe.
03How is Sufyaan Studio different from a traditional agency?: Three things. First, you deal with the actual builder — not a project manager, account executive or rotating cast of juniors. Second, we work in fixed milestones with written briefs, so scope, cost and timeline are agreed up front. Third, every site is hand-coded (Next.js, React, TypeScript, Shopify Liquid, Shopify Hydrogen) — no template lock-in, no proprietary platforms, you own every line of code.
04Are you a freelancer or an agency?: Both. We're a solo-led studio — the founder (Sufyaan) is the lead engineer on every project, the person who scopes the work, the person who writes the code, the person who supports you post-launch. We occasionally partner with vetted specialists (designers, AI engineers, performance auditors) for larger engagements, but you always deal with one person.
05Where are you based and do you work async?: We are a remote-first studio based in India and serving clients worldwide. We work async by default (Notion, Loom, Slack, Linear) with weekly check-ins. We overlap with US, UK and UAE timezones for live calls.

6 questions

Services

What we actually do — and what we don't.

01What services do you offer?: We offer eight core services: custom web development (Next.js, React, TypeScript), Shopify and headless commerce development, custom software development, SaaS product development, technical SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), brand identity and UI/UX design, Core Web Vitals and performance optimization, and ongoing website maintenance.
02Do you do SEO?: Yes. We provide technical SEO, on-page optimization, schema markup (Organization, Service, FAQ, Product, LocalBusiness) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — the practice of getting your brand cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Every site we ship includes technical SEO foundations by default.
03Do you do branding?: Yes. We do strategic brand identity, design systems, UI/UX design and high-fidelity prototyping. We can work with an existing brand or build a new one from scratch as part of a project. We typically recommend a brand or messaging strategy sprint before any code is written.
04Do you do Shopify?: Yes — Shopify is one of our core specialties. We build custom Shopify themes (Liquid + sections), Shopify Plus stores with B2B and custom checkout, and headless commerce builds on Hydrogen. We also migrate from WooCommerce, Magento and BigCommerce with zero-loss cutover.
05Do you do app development (iOS, Android)?: We build cross-platform mobile apps using React Native or Expo. For purely native iOS/Android work, we partner with trusted specialists — we're happy to introduce you.
06Do you do AI development?: Yes. AI-native development is a specialty. We build RAG systems, agentic workflows, semantic search, content generation pipelines, AI cost monitoring, and prompt engineering integrations using OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and open-source models.

5 questions

Pricing & Engagement

How we charge, what it costs, and what you get.

01How much does a project cost?: Custom sites start from $499 (USD) for a focused 3-page marketing site. Most engagements range from $499 to $4,999. Shopify builds: $999–$3,999+. Custom software: $1,999+. SaaS MVPs: $4,999+. See our pricing page for detailed packages.
02Do you require a deposit?: Yes. For fixed-price projects, the typical payment schedule is 30% upfront, 30% at the midpoint milestone, and 40% on launch. For retainers, we invoice monthly in advance. For projects over $10K, we can split payments across 3–6 monthly installments at no additional cost.
03What's the difference between fixed and hourly pricing?: Fixed pricing is for projects with a defined scope — we agree on deliverables, timeline and total price upfront. Hourly pricing is for ongoing retainers, undefined-scope work, and ad-hoc changes. We prefer fixed pricing for projects and hourly for retainers because it gives you cost certainty.
04Do you offer discounts for nonprofits or early-stage startups?: Yes. We offer a 20% discount on web development projects for registered nonprofits and education customers. Early-stage startups (pre-seed, pre-revenue) can apply for our Founders' Program with 15% off and 90-day payment terms.
05What if I need to cancel a project?: We work on milestone-based payments, so you only pay for work completed. If you cancel mid-project, you own everything delivered to date, and we provide a 30-day handover period to transition to another team. Retainers cancel with 30 days' notice.

4 questions

Process & Timeline

How a project actually moves from brief to launch.

01How long does a typical project take?: A focused marketing site: 4–6 weeks. A custom Shopify or e-commerce build: 6–10 weeks. A custom web application or SaaS MVP: 8–16 weeks. A full SaaS product: 4–9 months. We also offer 1-day VIP Design Sprints for time-critical rebuilds.
02What does the process look like?: Six phases: discovery & strategy (1–2 weeks), architecture & planning (1–2 weeks), design system & UI (2–3 weeks), build & integration (4–12 weeks), QA & performance (1–2 weeks), launch & handover (1 week + 30–90 day warranty). See our process page for the full breakdown.
03What if I want to change the scope mid-project?: Changes are scoped, priced, and added to the timeline in writing before work begins. We use a 'change order' process: you describe the change, we estimate the cost and timeline impact, you approve, then we proceed. This protects both of us from surprise costs and timeline slips.
04How do you handle communication?: Async-first, with strategic synchronous calls. Daily Slack updates, weekly Loom demos, bi-weekly sprint reviews. We overlap with US, UK and UAE timezones for live calls. Most clients find they get more responsive communication than with US-based agencies.

4 questions

IP, Legal & Security

Who owns what, NDAs, security, and compliance.

01Will I own the code, design files, and IP?: Yes. You own 100% of the source code, design files, brand assets, and intellectual property. Code lives in your GitHub organization from day one. We sign an IP assignment on final payment. No proprietary lock-in, no template fees, no exit costs.
02Do you sign NDAs?: Yes. We sign mutual NDAs before any confidential discussions and ensure all intellectual property transfers to you on final payment. We work with US-style contracts and are happy to use your MSA if you have one.
03How do you handle security?: Security is a default. We follow OWASP Top 10 mitigations, encrypt data at rest and in transit, use parameterized queries, set up WAF, security headers, rate limiting, audit logs, and off-site backups. We offer security-first maintenance plans for ongoing protection.
04Are you GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOC 2 aware?: Yes. We build for GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), HIPAA (US healthcare), and SOC 2 awareness. We work with your compliance and security teams to ensure the build meets your regulatory needs. We don't sign as a Business Associate (BA) or provide a SOC 2 attestation ourselves — those require ongoing compliance that we can support through a maintenance retainer.

4 questions

Support & Maintenance

What happens after launch.

01Do you offer ongoing support?: Yes. We offer monthly care plans starting at $79/month for maintenance and security, and higher-tier growth retainers for ongoing SEO, GEO, content marketing and conversion-rate optimization.
02What does website maintenance include?: Our maintenance plans include: monthly dependency and plugin updates, security patches, daily off-site backups, uptime monitoring, real-user performance monitoring, security hardening (headers, WAF, DDoS), a content-change allowance for small updates, and monthly reporting. Higher tiers add CRO, SEO, GEO and content production.
03What happens if my site goes down?: We're alerted within 60 seconds. Our on-call engineer responds within 4 business hours (Starter), 2 hours (Growth) or 30 minutes (Enterprise). We have an incident runbook, backup restoration tested quarterly, and direct access to your hosting provider.
04Do you maintain sites you didn't build?: Yes. Most of our maintenance clients come to us with sites built by other agencies or freelancers. We do a one-time onboarding audit, bring the site to a known-good baseline, then take over ongoing maintenance.

Still have questions?

We're happy to jump on a quick call or answer over email. No sales pitch, no commitment — just a genuine conversation about your project.

Get in touch See pricing

Ready to start your project?

Tell us what you're building and we'll come back within 24 hours with a tailored proposal — fixed scope, fixed price, written brief.