Choosing a web development company in India means picking the team that will own your page-load speed, your search rankings, and your accessibility-lawsuit exposure — because a site is a performance and compliance asset, not a brochure that happens to be online. The cheapest build is rarely cheapest once you count the rebuild after a slow, inaccessible, unmaintainable first version drags your conversion rate down.
This is a vetting checklist, not a directory. The eight questions below are in the order they usually break a deal, and they let you tell a real front-end engineering team from a template-flipper on a first call.
1. What stack do they build on — and is it right for your case?
Ask whether they build on a modern framework like Next.js or Astro, a CMS like WordPress or Webflow, or a commerce platform like Shopify — and why for your needs. A team that defaults everything to one tool regardless of your case is selling what it knows, not what you need. AB7’s developers scope Next.js for app-like sites, Webflow or WordPress for content-led marketing sites, and Shopify for commerce, and explain the trade-off before you commit.
2. Will they commit to Core Web Vitals targets in writing?
Speed is a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Ask for a target Lighthouse score and Core Web Vitals thresholds — LCP, INP, CLS — written into the brief, measured on a real device. AB7 reports Lighthouse and field Core Web Vitals weekly so a marketing site has a green-vitals trend by week 2, not a PageSpeed surprise after launch. A vendor that will not commit to a number has not optimized for one before.
3. How do they handle accessibility (WCAG)?
Accessibility is a legal exposure in the US, UK, and EU, and a vendor that ignores it hands you the liability. Ask which WCAG level they build to and how they test — automated tools like axe plus real keyboard and screen-reader checks. A site that fails on contrast and missing labels is an ADA complaint waiting to be filed against you, not the agency.
4. Which pricing model fits the build — and will they say so?
There are three honest ways to price web work: dedicated FTE (a developer on your team monthly), fixed-scope project (a defined site for a flat fee), and a multi-discipline pod (devs plus design and a PM). AB7 prices a dedicated web FTE from $1,500/month, a pod from $4,500/month, and fixed-scope sites in a flat $2,000–$25,000 band, at 50–70% savings versus a local hire. The detail sits on the Digital & Development hub and the pricing page.
5. What does the hosting, CI/CD, and deployment story look like?
Ask how a change reaches production and where the site is hosted. A credible team describes Git-based deploys through Vercel or Netlify or a managed AWS setup, with preview builds for review before they go live. If the only answer is “we’ll FTP the files up,” you are buying a site no one can safely update later.
6. Who handles SEO foundations and analytics at build time?
A fast site that search engines cannot read is wasted money. Ask whether they ship clean semantic markup, structured data, an XML sitemap, and analytics — Google Analytics 4 plus Search Console — wired in at launch, not bolted on later. The right vendor treats technical SEO as part of the build because retrofitting it costs more than doing it once.
7. Who owns the code, the CMS, and the IP?
Confirm you own the source, the Git history, the design files, and the CMS and hosting accounts, with assignment under the Indian Contract Act 1872 and DPDP-aligned data handling. You should hold the domain registrar and hosting logins, not be a guest. If a vendor keeps the site inside their account, every future edit runs through their invoice.
8. Will they run a paid pilot page you can judge?
This is the test that collapses the shortlist. A confident team builds one real page — your hardest template, on the real stack, deployed to a preview URL — and lets you run Lighthouse and a screen reader against it. AB7 starts this way deliberately so a 30-person e-commerce marketing director scores a measured page, not a mockup. A vendor that needs a full contract first is telling you what the pilot would show.
Putting the checklist to work
Run these eight past every vendor and the shortlist thins fast. Most template-flippers fail on points 2, 3, and 8 — real performance targets, real accessibility, and the nerve to be judged on a measured page. A marketing lead at a 120-person firm in Salt Lake, Kolkata does not need the lowest quote; they need a site that ranks, converts, and does not invite a complaint. For the model behind point 4, see the pricing page; for the wider build menu behind point 1, see the Digital & Development hub.
Vetting web developers right now? Send AB7 Solutions founder Ashok Benial your stack, performance targets, and deadline and get a paid pilot page you can score — not a blended estimate. Call +1-321-341-7733, email director@ab7solutions.com, or book a slot at calendly.com/ashok-benial/meeting.