Most “how to choose an Indian software company” advice is generic — “check reviews, look at the portfolio, communicate clearly.” True, useless. Here is the opinion this post defends: the single thing that separates a good India engagement from a bad one is not the vendor’s size or their Clutch rating, it is whether they will start you small on a paid two-week pilot before you commit. Everything below is in service of getting to that pilot with the right vendor.
If you want to skip the evaluation and just talk to a team that runs this way, the AB7 Web & Mobile Development team scopes paid pilots as a matter of course. But if you are evaluating several vendors, run these nine checks.
1. Will they start with a paid two-week pilot?
A vendor confident in their engineers will happily take a small, paid, scoped pilot — a real feature, not a throwaway demo — before any long contract. A vendor who insists on a six-month minimum before you have seen a line of their code is managing their risk by transferring it to you. Start small is the whole strategy: a $3,000–$5,000 pilot tells you more than ten sales calls.
2. Who exactly works on your account, and are they dedicated?
Ask for the names and seniority of the specific engineers, and whether they are dedicated to you or shared across three other clients. A dedicated FTE model — at AB7, from $1,500/month per full-time engineer — means the person is yours during their working day. A shared-pool body shop will rotate whoever is free, and continuity is where offshore projects quietly die.
3. Is there a real time-zone overlap, in writing?
For a US Eastern team you want at least four to six live overlap hours. Ask what the engineer’s actual working hours will be in your timezone, not “we’re flexible.” AB7 runs shifted-day overlap for US and UK clients as standard — a scheduling choice, not a price premium. Get the overlap window named in the SOW.
4. Who owns the IP, and is it in the contract?
This is non-negotiable and frequently fudged. The master services agreement must assign all IP and code to you on payment, with a clear work-for-hire clause. If a vendor is vague about this or buries it, walk. Reputable Indian vendors assign IP in writing without being pushed.
5. What is the replacement SLA if an engineer underperforms?
People don’t always work out. The question is what happens next. Ask: what is the notice period, and what is the guaranteed replacement window? AB7 covers replacement under the engagement SLA so a bad fit is the vendor’s problem to solve, not a re-hiring project for you.
6. How do they handle code quality and security?
Ask concretely: do they do code review on every PR, do they run automated tests, and how do they handle secrets and access? For anything touching regulated data, ask whether they keep client data out of scope by design (the way a well-built internal tool avoids holding PHI at all). Vague answers here are a real red flag.
7. Can they show you a comparable build, with the real number?
Not a logo wall — a specific project close to yours, with the stack, the timeline, and the cost. A vendor who can say “we built a Next.js + Supabase internal tracker for a US healthcare client in seven weeks for $22,800” is telling you something a portfolio thumbnail cannot. Anonymised is fine; specific is the point.
8. Is the pricing a fixed number or a range?
A vendor who can only give you “$15–$80 an hour, depends” has not understood your project. For a defined scope you should get a fixed number. For ongoing work you should get a clear monthly rate — AB7 publishes from $1,500/month per FTE and from $4,500/month for a small pod, and the pricing page shows the tiers. Hidden line items — separate “project management” fees, QA billed apart, ramp charges — are what you are screening for.
9. How responsive are they before you’ve signed?
Pre-sale responsiveness is the best predictor of delivery responsiveness. If replies take three days while they are trying to win you, they will not get faster once you are a signed client. Time their email turnaround during evaluation — it is free signal.
The short version
Run checks 1, 4, and 5 first — paid pilot, IP in writing, replacement SLA. A vendor who clears those three is already in the top tier, because most won’t. Then use the rest to choose between the finalists.
Talk to a team that passes its own checklist
If you would rather evaluate by working together than by reading sales decks, the AB7 Web & Mobile Development team will scope a paid two-week pilot, name your engineers, and give you a fixed number. Call +1 (321) 341-7733, email director@ab7solutions.com, or book a 30-minute call with Ashok.