web-development
How to choose a web studio in Tashkent: 12-point checklist
Step-by-step checklist for picking a digital agency in Uzbekistan: portfolio signals, how to verify expertise, contracts and what belongs in the quote.
This guide is based on SAMSA.AGENCY project practice, the local Uzbekistan market and technical reviews of digital products.
Tashkent has 200+ web studios and digital agencies. Of those, 10–15 deliver at international standards. The rest sell Tilda templates as custom work or disappear after the deposit. This checklist helps you avoid the mistake that costs 2–3× to fix later.
1. Check the portfolio for the last 12 months
A studio showing only 2019–2021 cases is a red flag — either they lack fresh work, or they are not proud of recent results. Require at least 5 projects launched in the last 12 months. Open them on mobile and desktop, test the forms.
2. Run PageSpeed on their own projects
Visit pagespeed.web.dev and enter 3 URLs from their portfolio. If mobile Performance is below 70, they cannot optimize, and your site will be the same. In UZ this is critical: 70% of traffic is mobile on 4G, and a bad LCP kills both conversion and SEO.
3. Ask for a line-item quote
A quote reading "Website development: $5,000" is not workable. A proper one breaks out UX, UI, frontend, backend, SEO, QA and deploy with hours on each. This lets you discuss what to simplify and what to add, instead of negotiating in the dark.
4. Require IT Park UZ / proper legal entity
A legitimate studio has a registered entity (OOO, IP or IT Park resident). IT Park residents enjoy 0% profit tax until 2040 and international payment access — a strong plus.
5. Sign a contract with milestones and penalties
- Milestones with delivery dates (design → dev → QA → launch)
- 30% upfront, 40% after design, 30% after launch
- Late-delivery penalty 0.1–0.3% per day
- IP and source code transferred on final payment
- 1–3 month warranty for post-launch bug fixes
- NDA covering your data and business information
6. Do a 30-minute technical interview before signing
Ask 5 questions: how do you optimize LCP on mobile, how do you make SPA indexable in Yandex, what JSON-LD schemas do you use for commercial pages, how is code review structured, what do you do the night before a release. Clear answers = professionals. "Our developer will answer that later" = sales disconnected from delivery.
Frequently asked questions
How do I verify a web studio's reliability?
Three key tests: recent portfolio (last 12 months) with PageSpeed 85+, itemized quote with explicit hours per line, registered legal entity (ideally IT Park Uzbekistan resident).
How much is a web studio hour in Tashkent?
Middle level in 2026: $25–45/hr for frontend/backend, $30–50/hr for design, $40–60/hr for tech lead. Senior+ — $50–80/hr. Studios at $10/hr usually resell work to unvetted freelancers.
Do I need an NDA with a web studio?
Yes — especially if you share customer data, business metrics, commercial agreements or SaaS logic. A 2-page NDA is standard; refusing to sign is a walk-away signal.