How much does a website cost in the UAE? Dubai prices for 2026
A business website in Dubai costs AED 12,000 to 40,000 from a small studio and AED 3,000 to 12,000 from a freelancer. Ranges by site type, Arabic and VAT.
By Sohail Hussain29 October 20266 min read
As of October 2026, a typical business website in the UAE costs AED 12,000 to 40,000 from a small studio, AED 3,000 to 12,000 from a freelancer, and AED 40,000 to 120,000 from a larger Dubai agency. A custom bilingual corporate site, English and Arabic with original design and a CMS, runs AED 30,000 to 120,000 at a studio and well above that at the big agencies in Dubai Media City. A one-page site can be done for a few thousand dirhams.
Dubai prices are higher than India and close to the UK, because agency rent, visas and salaries are. The table below splits the market by site type and supplier so you can see where a quote sits before you compare.
What does each type of website cost in Dubai and the UAE?
Prices exclude VAT at 5 percent. These are typical quotes from UAE-based suppliers; offshore studios serving the UAE sit at the low end of each range or below it.
| Site type | Freelancer | Small studio | Larger agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-page or landing page | AED 1,500 to 5,000 | AED 5,000 to 15,000 | AED 15,000 to 40,000 |
| Small business site, 5 to 10 pages, template-based, English only | AED 3,000 to 12,000 | AED 12,000 to 40,000 | AED 40,000 to 120,000 |
| Custom company site, 10 to 30 pages, original design, CMS, English only | AED 8,000 to 25,000 | AED 25,000 to 90,000 | AED 90,000 to 300,000+ |
| Same site, bilingual English and Arabic | AED 10,000 to 30,000 | AED 30,000 to 120,000 | AED 120,000 to 400,000+ |
| Online store (Shopify or WooCommerce) | AED 8,000 to 30,000 | AED 30,000 to 150,000 | AED 150,000 to 500,000+ |
The columns describe who you are buying from:
- A freelancer in the UAE is often on a freelance permit from a free zone, working from a theme. Rates vary enormously with nationality of client and supplier, which is uncomfortable but true.
- A small studio is a team of two to ten with a designer, a developer and custom design. Our website design and development service serves UAE clients from India at studio quality and the lower end of studio prices, with Arabic handled as part of the build rather than as an afterthought.
- A larger agency in Dubai bundles strategy, branding and often media, and bills for the office.
For the same figures in US dollars and the reasoning behind each tier, see the main guide to how much a website costs in 2026.
What makes a UAE website more expensive than the same site elsewhere?
Three things add to the usual drivers of design, page count, copy and integrations.
Arabic. A bilingual site is not a translation job bolted on at the end. Right-to-left layout means mirrored navigation, flipped icons, different fonts, and testing every component in both directions. Arabic copy is longer and breaks layouts designed in English. Expect Arabic to add 30 to 50 percent to a custom build, and more if the English site was not designed with it in mind. Professional Arabic translation runs AED 0.30 to 0.80 a word, as of October 2026, and machine translation of your homepage will be noticed by every Arabic reader. The guide to building an Arabic website covers fonts, hreflang and SEO.
Who your buyers are. A site aimed at government tenders needs Arabic first, accessibility, and a formal tone. A site aimed at expatriate consumers in Marina needs speed and WhatsApp. Agencies price the former higher because the review cycles are longer.
Payments and local integrations. Stores need a UAE-licensed gateway such as Telr, PayTabs, Network International or Stripe UAE, with settlement to a UAE bank. Tabby and Tamara for buy-now-pay-later are expected on consumer stores now. Each gateway is a day or two of setup and testing; see payment gateways in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The remaining drivers are the same as everywhere. Custom design against a template, how many distinct layouts, who writes the copy, whether you need a CMS your team can edit, and how much performance and search work is included. A supplier who includes Core Web Vitals testing, structured data and a sitemap is not being generous; that is the job.
What are the running costs of a UAE website?
As of October 2026, the usual recurring items are:
| Item | Typical annual cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| .ae domain | AED 100 to 250 | Through an accredited registrar of the UAE Domain Administration |
| .com domain | AED 50 to 80 | Register it in your own account, not the agency's |
| Hosting, static or Next.js | AED 0 to 1,000 | Cloudflare's free plan suits most company sites; Vercel's free plan is non-commercial, so use its Pro plan |
| Managed WordPress hosting | AED 1,000 to 4,000 | Faster, with backups and updates |
| Business email | AED 300 to 700 per user | Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 |
| Maintenance retainer | AED 3,000 to 30,000 | AED 250 to 2,500 a month depending on scope |
Two local points. First, if your sector requires data to stay in the UAE, hosting choices narrow and cost more; ask your lawyer before the build, not after. Second, the agency should never own your domain. The guide to who owns your website lists what to check.
How does VAT apply to a website project in the UAE?
Web design and development is a taxable supply at the standard 5 percent rate under the UAE VAT law, as of October 2026. A VAT-registered supplier adds it to the invoice and a VAT-registered client can normally recover it. The rules and registration thresholds are published by the Federal Tax Authority.
If you buy from a supplier outside the UAE, they do not charge UAE VAT. Your business may need to account for it under the reverse charge mechanism, which for a registered business is usually neutral. Check with your accountant; this is a general description, not advice for your return.
When should you spend less?
A Dubai agency will happily sell a AED 150,000 site to a company that needs a AED 15,000 one. Spend less when:
- You are a new trade licence testing the market. A one-page site, a Google Business Profile and WhatsApp will tell you in a month whether there is demand. Build the real site when there is.
- Your buyers come through referrals, LinkedIn or tenders. Some professional services firms in DIFC get every client through introductions. A clean five-page site that proves you exist is enough; the budget is better spent on the pitch deck.
- You are about to rebrand or change your offer. Build after, not before.
- You only need English for now. Launch in English, design the layout so Arabic can be added without a rebuild, and add it when a customer asks for it.
Custom bilingual design earns its price when government or large corporate buyers research you before they call, when you compete with firms that have strong sites, or when the site is the shop.
How do you get quotes you can compare?
Send every supplier the same brief: page list, languages, three sites you like, who writes the English and Arabic copy, which systems to connect, deadline and budget range. The guide to writing a website brief has a template. Ask for the price excluding VAT, the list of exclusions, and the payment schedule; 50 percent on signing and 50 percent on launch is normal.
Then run the same brief through our website cost calculator to get a range with its assumptions shown. If a Dubai quote is three times the calculator's top figure, ask what the extra buys. Sometimes it is a strategy workshop you need; often it is the office. For how to structure the payment, read fixed price versus hourly.
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