Short answer
Check the licence first — software companies are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 550 Australian software companies in this directory, only 25.5% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 7.1% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Software Companies handle custom software, apps, integrations, automation and AI tools built or configured for a business. This is what to check before you build your business on someone's code, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no software company licence — so check something else
Software development is unlicensed. What protects you is the contract: who owns the code and the intellectual property, where your data is stored, what support and bug fixes are included, and what happens to the product if the company disappears. A fixed quote on an undefined scope is the most common way these projects go wrong.
Nothing to check with a regulator. Read the IP and data clauses, ask where the data lives, and talk to a client whose project has been live for a year.
What 550 Australian software companies actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For software companies:
| What we checked | Software Companies | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 25.5% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 21.4% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 7.1% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 93.3% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 93.3% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 20 | 39 |
What goes wrong with software companies
- Intellectual property retained by the developer, so you are leasing what you paid to build
- Your data hosted somewhere you cannot name, with no exit
- Scope creep billed by the hour on a project quoted as fixed
What to ask before the work starts
- Who owns the code and the data, and can I take both with me?
- What is in scope, what is not, and how are changes priced?
- What support is included after launch, and for how long?
A software company who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median software company in this directory has 20 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the software companies are
Melbourne (82), Sydney (81), Brisbane (40). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best software company in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do software companies need a licence in Australia?
- No. Software development is unlicensed. What protects you is the contract: who owns the code and the intellectual property, where your data is stored, what support and bug fixes are included, and what happens to the product if the company disappears. A fixed quote on an undefined scope is the most common way these projects go wrong.
- How do I check a software company's licence?
- Nothing to check with a regulator. Read the IP and data clauses, ask where the data lives, and talk to a client whose project has been live for a year.
- What percentage of Australian software companies have a verifiable ABN?
- 25.5% of the 550 software companies in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a software company have?
- The median software company here has 20. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare software companies near you
550 software companies, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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