Buying guide • 2026

The best bilingual contract templates for foreign-owned businesses in Saudi Arabia: how to choose

Your team reads English, and a contract invoked before a Saudi authority needs Arabic wording. This guide compares the sources that put both languages together, and says plainly when you need a lawyer instead of any template.

Reviewed by a licensed Saudi lawyer Updated 3 October 2026 8 min read

A foreign-owned or expatriate-run business lives between two languages: management, investors and head-office advisers read English, while customers, suppliers and authorities in the Kingdom deal in Arabic. A document submitted to or invoked before a Saudi authority needs Arabic wording, which is why a bilingual version, with a clause stating that the Arabic text prevails on divergence, is safer for businesses dealing with partners or staff who do not read Arabic.

The practical problem is that most tools are good in one language: international platforms strong in English, and local libraries in Arabic only. This guide compares the real options as they appeared on their public pages on 3 October 2026, and sets out what suits each situation, including the situations where Sighaty is not the answer.

Get the Services Agreement templateC-01

What a business working in English needs in the Saudi market

An authoritative Arabic text and an English text your team reads, in one document, with a clause stating which text prevails on divergence.
Drafting for Saudi law from the outset, not translation afterwards: translating a document drafted for another environment carries over its phrasing without correcting its legal grounding.
Governing law and forum: open the final clauses first, and if they point to another state's or country's law, the contract needs re-founding, not rewording.
Correct regulatory terminology: the Labor Law, the Qiwa platform, Nitaqat, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the commercial register, and the Personal Data Protection Law.
Who stands behind the text, who updates it when the law changes, and when it was last actually updated.
A way of paying and an invoice your finance team accepts: the currency, whether the price includes VAT, and whether a tax invoice is issued.

The options available, and who each one suits

Genie AI: an English-language AI drafting and negotiation platform covering many countries, priced in US dollars (Pro $75 a month, Business $320), with many Saudi-labelled template pages in English. We found no Arabic or bilingual output, and no VAT wording on its pricing page. Notably, its own page says agreements in Saudi Arabia must be written in both Arabic and English with the Arabic taking precedence. It suits a quick English draft or understanding a contract's structure before negotiating.
Hoquqi: a Saudi law firm whose templates are Arabic only according to its registry, in Word, completed by hand. On 3 October 2026 its store listed consultations and three bundles, and we did not find the registry's single templates in it. It suits someone working in Arabic who wants a law firm's text, and it does not solve the English question.
Signit: a Saudi e-signature and contract management platform that says it offers templates in Arabic and English and AI drafting and review in both languages, but we found no public catalogue of its templates and no published prices. Its strength is an e-signature it says is legally binding, with identity checks through Absher, Nafath and Wathq, which complements a text you prepare from any other source.
Adel: an AI legal assistant in Arabic and English, with a legal translation feature between the two languages, contract review, and team workspaces. Basic is 124 riyals a month and Premium 165 riyals a month, and the pricing page does not state VAT. It is built first for legal professionals, and we did not find a claim of human lawyer review of its output.
A lawyer or translator working in both languages: the right choice for cross-border deals and unusual contracts. Pricing is quoted case by case. One platform that brings this together is Shwra, which lists legal translation among its services, with consultations from 149 riyals including VAT for 20 minutes up to 999 riyals for 50 minutes with a lawyer of more than ten years' experience, and contract drafting priced by quotes from its lawyers.
Sighaty: sixty seven templates for Saudi law, each producing one Word document in Arabic and English after a smart-fill questionnaire, certified under the name of a licensed Saudi lawyer, with the Arabic text prevailing on divergence. Its limits are in section four.

Some documents do not come from a template at all: the employment contract is documented on Qiwa, the lease is registered on Ejar, the promissory note is created on Nafith, enforcement goes through Najiz, and notarisation and powers of attorney go through the Ministry of Justice services. Start there, then prepare what surrounds them.

Which option fits which situation

You provide services to clients in the Kingdom or contract local suppliers on ordinary terms: a bilingual Saudi template, such as the Services Agreement C-01 or the Supply Agreement C-03.
Head office wants an English draft for its adviser before anything else: an English draft from a tool such as Genie AI is fine for understanding and discussion, but the text signed in the Kingdom needs Saudi drafting and an Arabic text.
You received an Arabic contract from a Saudi party and want to understand it: Adel's translation feature, as it describes it, or a legal translator, or a lawyer if the contract matters. Sighaty does not translate or review a contract someone else sent you.
A cross-border deal, a contract touching more than one legal system, or a joint venture between a foreign group and a Saudi partner: a lawyer working in both languages, with the template as a starting point and nothing more.
You want to sign remotely with an identity check: an e-signature platform such as Signit, on which you can sign a text prepared from any source.
A legal team of several people working on contracts together: a tool with workspaces such as Adel, or a contract management platform. A Sighaty account belongs to one person.

Where Sighaty fits: what is in the library, what it costs, and what it will not do

You answer short questions, the certified text is assembled with your details in place, and one Word document with Arabic and English together comes out in minutes. The legal wording is the certified text, not text generated by AI. Templates a foreign-owned business typically needs include:

Commercial: the Services Agreement C-01, the MSA with Statement of Work C-02, the Supply Agreement C-03, the Distribution Agreement C-04, the NDAs C-08 and C-09, the Memorandum of Understanding C-10, and the Subcontract C-12.
Formation and data: the Shareholders Agreement F-02, the Share Transfer Agreement F-06, the Data Processing Agreement I-04, and the Privacy Policy D-03.
Prices: the Professional plan at 249 riyals a month for the whole library with unlimited smart-fill, or the Commercial Pack at 799 riyals one-time, or C-01 alone at 199 riyals one-time. Prices include 15 percent VAT, payment is by mada, Visa or Mastercard, and invoices are ZATCA tax invoices.

What Sighaty does not do should be clear before you pay: the catalogue is Saudi law only, so there is no English-only product, no coverage of more than one jurisdiction, and no contract governed by another country's law. There is no translation, no review of a contract someone else sent you, no e-signature, no team workspaces, no bespoke drafting beyond the sixty seven documents, and no representation in a dispute. There is no lawyer consultation except one 30-minute review per quarter on the Business Plus plan.

A checklist for testing any source before you pay

Ask for a sample or preview and check that the Arabic text actually exists, not just an Arabic interface.
Look for the language clause: does it say which text prevails on divergence?
Read the governing law and forum clause before any other clause.
Compare one paragraph across the two languages with a colleague who reads Arabic: do they say the same thing?
Ask who drafted the text and who updates it, and confirm the currency, the VAT position and the type of invoice.
If the deal is large or cross-border, book a lawyer's review before signing, whatever the source.

Mistakes foreign-owned businesses repeat

Signing in English only and translating at the first disagreement: an after-the-fact translation is done in a hurry and at the worst moment.
Using the group's global contract as it is: its forum and notice clauses are built for another environment.
Leaving out the language clause, so no one knows which text governs on divergence.
Hunting for an employment or lease template instead of starting from Qiwa or Ejar.
Relying on a template for a complex deal across several countries without a lawyer.

Facts about other companies were taken from their public pages on 3 October 2026, and prices and catalogues change, so check the current page before you decide, and if anything here is out of date or wrong, tell Sighaty support so it is corrected. Sighaty templates are certified drafts and a strong starting point, not a substitute for advice on a specific case or a live dispute, and the Arabic text prevails where the two languages diverge.

Frequently asked questions

Is an English-only contract enough in Saudi Arabia?

A document submitted to or invoked before a Saudi authority needs Arabic wording, which is why a bilingual version with a clause stating that the Arabic text prevails on divergence is safer for businesses dealing with partners or staff who do not read Arabic. For a decision on a specific contract, ask a lawyer.

Which text prevails in a bilingual contract if the two languages differ?

The contract should say so in an express clause, because without one the question is left open in a dispute. The safer arrangement for a contract used in the Kingdom is for the Arabic text to prevail, and that is the position in Sighaty templates.

Should I translate our English contract into Arabic instead of buying a template?

Translation carries over the wording without correcting the legal grounding, so if the contract was drafted for another country's law, its references and forum clauses stay as they were. Translation suits a contract already drafted for Saudi law, through a legal translator, a lawyer, or a translation tool such as Adel, as it describes it. A contract built for another environment needs redrafting.

Does Sighaty have English-only templates or templates for other countries?

No. All sixty seven Sighaty templates are for Saudi law and come out in Arabic and English in one document. There is no English-only product and no coverage of other jurisdictions. For contracts touching more than one legal system, a lawyer is the right choice.

Is Genie AI suitable for business contracts in Saudi Arabia?

It suits a quick English draft or understanding a contract's structure. On 3 October 2026 its prices were in US dollars, we found no Arabic or bilingual output, its own page says agreements in Saudi Arabia are written in both languages with the Arabic taking precedence, and its terms say it does not offer legal advice. So the text you sign needs an authoritative Arabic version from another source.

Certified template · C-01

The next step

This guide ends with a ready bilingual template, drafted from the statute and its regulations and reviewed by a licensed Saudi lawyer.