Buying guide • 2026

The best legal-document platform for Saudi startup founders: a buying guide by stage

No single source covers the whole first year. This guide sets out the documents you need and places each option at the stage it suits: before incorporation, at the first hire, with the first customer, and at the first investment.

Reviewed by a licensed Saudi lawyer Updated 3 October 2026 11 min read

In the first year a founder does not need one document but a chain of documents that become necessary in stages: an agreement between the partners before registration, then governance papers once the company is registered, then the first employees' contracts and what protects the work they create, then product terms and a privacy policy with the first customer, then the investor's papers at the first round. Each stage has a source that suits it better than the others.

So this guide does not name a single winner. It starts with what a founder actually needs and the criteria that separate the sources, then sets out the available options by name where published information about them exists, then gives a clear recommendation for each stage, including the stages where Sighaty is not the right answer.

Get the Founders Agreement templateF-01

What a founder actually needs in the first year

Before comparing platforms, write the list of documents you will need over twelve months. For most Saudi startups the list looks like this:

A founders agreement before registration: the equity split, each founder's contribution in money or work, roles, the decision mechanism, vesting, and what happens if one of you leaves.
A shareholders agreement once the limited liability company is registered, together with partner resolutions, assembly minutes, and the manager's appointment and limits of authority.
Employment contracts for the first employees, which are documented on Qiwa, plus what Qiwa does not issue: confidentiality and the transfer of intellectual property in what the employee builds.
A non-disclosure agreement before any serious conversation with a partner, supplier or prospective investor, and an IP assignment or work-for-hire agreement with freelancers and outside developers.
Terms of use and a privacy policy for the product, under the Personal Data Protection Law, and a data processing agreement if you process data for business customers.
One or two commercial contracts with the first customers or suppliers, such as a services agreement or software subscription terms.

Then judge any source on six criteria, not on the price of one document alone:

Saudi grounding and Arabic text: was the text drafted for Saudi law from the outset, and is there an Arabic text you can rely on before Saudi authorities?
Coverage of the whole stage: a source that covers only the founders agreement sends you back to searching two months later.
Who stands behind the text and how it is updated: a named lawyer or firm, and a stated update policy when the law changes.
Readiness of the output: an editable Word file, and bilingual if a partner or investor among you does not read Arabic.
Cost over the year: add up the price of everything on your list, not just the first document.
What the source will not do: e-signature, reviewing a paper an investor sent you, and advice on structuring an investment round. Know in advance where you will need something else.

The options you really have, and who each suits

The information about other companies below was taken from their public pages on 3 October 2026, and what a site says about itself is attributed to it.

Government platforms: incorporation, or conversion to a company, goes through the Ministry of Commerce platform, the Mwathiq service lets you notarise a company incorporation contract, and Qiwa documents employment contracts, which private-sector establishments are required to do. These always come first, but they do not issue a founders agreement, an NDA or a privacy policy.
Free downloads: useful for understanding a document's structure before you decide. Their usual limits: no update date, an unknown author, no matched Arabic and English pair, and an uncertain fit to Saudi rules. Do not build your equity split on one.
Hoquqi, a Saudi law firm: its published registry lists 69 documents priced from 50 to 200 riyals, including a founders agreement, a partners agreement, a share assignment and a convertible investment agreement, and a startup bundle at 560 riyals. But on 3 October 2026 its store listed only seven products: four 30-minute consultations at 99 riyals each and three bundles covering financial fraud, construction and recruitment; we did not find the registry's single documents or the startup bundle for sale. Its files are Arabic Word documents completed by hand, and its store says later updates are free.
Adel, an AI legal assistant: it creates documents through a smart questionnaire and AI, reviews documents and flags risks, and answers questions on Saudi regulations, in Arabic and English. Basic is 124 riyals a month (25 documents created, 10 reviewed) and Premium 165 riyals a month (50 and 25); its pricing page states neither VAT nor an annual price. It is aimed first at legal professionals, and we did not find that it offers a human lawyer's review of its output. Its value to a founder is speed, and a first read of a paper an investor sends you before you pay a lawyer.
Genie AI, an international AI drafting platform: 500+ templates and many auto-generated Saudi-labelled pages, in English, priced in dollars: Free at $0 with exports locked, Pro at $75 a month, Business at $320. We found no Arabic or bilingual output, the reviewers it names are its own staff and none is presented as Saudi-qualified, and its terms say it does not offer legal advice. It suits an English draft and negotiation with a foreign investor who works in English.
A lawyer by the hour, or a firm: Shwra lists consultations including VAT at 149 riyals for 20 minutes, 499 riyals for 20 minutes with extra features, and 999 riyals for 50 minutes with a lawyer of more than ten years' experience; contract drafting there runs on quotes from lawyers, and the types it lists include partnership and company formation contracts. Or a law firm you engage directly. This is the right option for the investment round and for unusual situations.
Sighaty: a Saudi library of 67 templates certified under the name of a licensed Saudi lawyer; you answer a smart-fill questionnaire and an Arabic and English Word document comes out in minutes. The wording is the certified text, not text generated by AI, and the catalogue is fixed: what is not in it, it cannot make.

E-signature sits outside almost everything above. Signit is a Saudi e-signature and contract-management platform whose site describes identity checks through Absher, Nafath and Wathq, and it publishes no prices. Sighaty does not offer e-signature, so pairing a template library with a signing tool is a natural arrangement.

The recommendation by stage

Before incorporation: the founders agreement comes first. If the stakes are close and the contributions clear, a certified template such as F-01 is enough as a starting point, and the C-08 NDA is available on the free plan for your conversations with others. If contributions differ sharply, a founder is not full-time, or a corporate partner is involved, book a lawyer's hour to review the draft before signing. Choose the entity before that: the sole establishment or LLC guide helps.
At incorporation: register through the Ministry of Commerce platform and notarise through Mwathiq, then the governance papers no authority issues: the F-02 shareholders agreement, the F-03 resolutions set, the F-04 general assembly minutes, and F-05 manager appointment and authority matrix. Here a library that covers the whole set beats buying each document from a different source.
First hires: the employment contract is documented on Qiwa, and what surrounds it is yours to produce: the E-08 employee confidentiality and IP agreement, the I-03 work-for-hire agreement for freelancers, and the I-01 IP assignment for anyone who built something before joining. A startup that does not own the code its first employees wrote usually finds out during the first investor's due diligence.
First customers: D-01 website terms of use, D-03 privacy policy, D-06 SaaS subscription terms if your product is software, the C-01 services agreement, and the I-04 data processing agreement if you process data for business customers. These documents have a fairly standard structure, and a certified library is cheaper than a lawyer and safer than a free download here.
First investment: here the lawyer is the answer. Sighaty has no convertible investment agreement or round documents in its catalogue, and it gives no advice on structuring a round. Hoquqi's registry lists a convertible investment agreement with a price, but we did not find it in its store on 3 October 2026. Use an AI tool such as Adel for a first read of the investor's paper, or Genie AI for an English draft if you wish, then hand the round to a lawyer. Implementing the round inside the company, such as the F-07 capital increase resolution and the F-06 share transfer, can come from the library once the lawyer has settled the terms.

Sighaty's place: what is in the catalogue, what it costs, and what it will not do

Sighaty suits a founder who wants the formation and governance set, plus the documents around the product and hiring, from one source, with certified Arabic and English text. The figures below include 15 percent VAT, payment is by mada, Visa or Mastercard, and you receive a tax invoice.

The Startup Pack at 899 riyals one-time: F-01 Founders Agreement, F-02 Shareholders Agreement, F-03 Resolutions Set, F-04 General Assembly Minutes, F-05 Manager Appointment and Authority Matrix, F-06 Share Transfer Agreement, F-07 Capital Increase Resolution, F-08 Dividend Distribution Resolution, F-09 Related-Party Disclosure, and F-10 Basic Governance Policy.
Single purchase: the founders agreement alone is 329 riyals, and simpler templates are 99 or 199 riyals.
Essential at 99 riyals a month: the core 30 templates, which include F-01, F-02, F-03, the C-08 and C-09 NDAs, E-08, I-03, D-01 and D-03, with five smart-fill documents a month.
Professional at 249 riyals a month: the whole library of 67, including I-01, I-04 and D-06, with unlimited smart-fill. It suits a document-heavy first year.
The Free plan, no card: you pick three of nine everyday documents, including the C-08 mutual NDA, the C-10 memorandum of understanding and the F-03 resolutions set, without smart-fill and without law-change updates.

What Sighaty does not do: no e-signature, no AI drafting or questions, no review of a contract another party sent you such as an investor's term sheet, no investment round documents, no team workspaces since an account is one person's, and no bespoke drafting. Business Plus at 599 riyals a month adds one 30-minute review with a licensed lawyer each calendar quarter, which is not a substitute for a lawyer on the round.

Test any option before you pay

Write the list of your documents for the next twelve months, ordered by stage.
Match the list against each source's catalogue by document name, not by section headings, and check that the document is actually for sale, not just listed.
Ask who stands behind the text, when it was last updated, and how updates reach you.
Try one real document, such as an NDA, and look at the output: is the Arabic sound, is the file editable, are the details in the right places?
Work out the full-year cost of each option, then add the price of a lawyer's hour for the documents that deserve one.
Decide in advance on a signing tool and on who will review the investor's papers, so you are not searching for them in closing week.

Mistakes founders make

Putting off the founders agreement until after registration, then negotiating it once the project has grown and interests have drifted apart.
Signing an investor's term sheet after a quick read by an AI tool alone, without a lawyer.
Leaving code and designs owned by whoever made them because there is no confidentiality and IP agreement with employees and freelancers.
Relying on a template translated from another legal environment for the founders agreement or the privacy policy.
Buying one document after another from different sources with conflicting wording, instead of one set with consistent terms.
Assuming an employment contract template replaces documenting it on Qiwa.

The information about other companies in this guide was taken from their public pages on 3 October 2026, and prices and catalogues change, so check the current page before you decide, and if you find anything 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 where Arabic and English diverge the Arabic text prevails.

If you are at the first stage, start where everything starts: the F-01 founders agreement, where you write down equity, roles, vesting and exit while you still agree.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best legal document platform for startups in Saudi Arabia?

It depends on the stage. For formation, governance, and the documents around the product and hiring, a certified bilingual Saudi library such as Sighaty fits. For a quick read of a paper another party sends you, an AI tool such as Adel fits. For the investment round and unusual situations you need a lawyer. Contracts a government platform handles, such as the employment contract on Qiwa, start there.

Do I need a lawyer to start a startup in Saudi Arabia?

Not for every document. The usual formation and governance papers can start from a certified template. But a lawyer is worth the fee when the founders' contributions differ widely, a corporate or foreign partner joins, an investment round begins, or a disagreement arises. A short consultation on a ready draft usually costs less than full drafting.

Does Sighaty have a convertible note or investment round template?

No. Sighaty's catalogue has no convertible investment agreement and no investment round documents, and Sighaty gives no advice on structuring a round. What is available is what implementing the round inside the company requires once its terms are agreed, such as the F-07 capital increase resolution and the F-06 share transfer agreement. Leave the investment agreement itself to a lawyer.

Can AI write my founders agreement?

It can produce a fast draft, and tools such as Adel do so in Arabic and English. But a founders agreement decides who owns the company, so read the draft critically or show it to a lawyer. The difference from a certified template is that its text is fixed, certified under a lawyer's name and kept current, while a generated draft varies from one run to the next.

How much do legal documents cost a startup in its first year?

It varies by option. At Sighaty the ten-document Startup Pack is 899 riyals one-time and the whole library 249 riyals a month, including VAT. Adel's plans start at 124 riyals a month according to its page on 3 October 2026. A lawyer's consultation on Shwra starts at 149 riyals for 20 minutes, and full drafting is by quote. Add up your whole list, not the first document.

Certified template · F-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.