Web Development

Website Cost in UAE (2026): AED Price Guide

OCT 20269 min read
Website Cost in UAE (2026): AED Price Guide

Quick Answer

A website in the UAE costs between AED 3,500 and AED 55,000 for most businesses in 2026. A template site of 5–8 pages costs AED 3,500–8,000; a custom corporate site of 10–20 pages costs AED 12,000–55,000; an e-commerce store starts around AED 15,000 and can pass AED 60,000 with ERP or inventory integrations. Adding a proper Arabic (right-to-left) version adds roughly 15–30%. Prices are broadly the same in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman — scope moves the number, not the emirate.

UAE website prices at a glance (2026)

These ranges come from published 2026 pricing by UAE agencies and the quotes our clients bring to us for comparison. Use them to sanity-check a proposal, not as a menu — two "10-page websites" can differ by AED 30,000 depending on what sits behind the pages.

  • Template business website (5–8 pages): AED 3,500 – 8,000
  • Free-zone start-up launch site: AED 4,000 – 12,000
  • Custom corporate website (10–20 pages): AED 12,000 – 55,000
  • Arabic + English bilingual (RTL): add 15–30% to the build
  • E-commerce store: AED 15,000 – 60,000+
  • Holiday-home direct-booking website: AED 15,000 – 45,000
  • Large bilingual group or enterprise site: AED 80,000 – 220,000

Does a website cost less in Sharjah or Ajman than in Dubai?

Slightly, at the bottom of the market — Sharjah and Ajman have more small studios competing on price for starter sites. For custom work the difference largely disappears, because the cost is engineering and design time, and the same agencies serve all three emirates. A Sharjah manufacturer and a Dubai consultancy asking for the same scope should get roughly the same quote.

What does differ by area is what the site needs to do. A SAIF Zone trading company needs a searchable catalogue and RFQ flow; an Ajman clinic needs Google Maps visibility and WhatsApp booking; a Palm Jumeirah holiday home needs a direct-booking engine. That changes scope, and scope changes price.

The five things that actually drive the price

When two quotes for "the same website" are far apart, the gap almost always comes from one of these:

  • Custom design vs template — a bespoke design system costs more up front but is what lets you stand out in a crowded UAE market.
  • Arabic (RTL) support — a native right-to-left layout is real design and development work, not a translation plugin. Planning it at the start is much cheaper than retrofitting it.
  • Integrations — CRM (Zoho, HubSpot), payment gateways, ERP, booking or channel managers. Each one adds testing and edge cases.
  • Content — who writes the copy, shoots the photos and translates them. Agencies that include content quote higher; those that don't leave you to fill the gap.
  • SEO foundations — technical SEO, schema, page speed and a page per service. Skipping it makes the site cheaper and invisible.

Running costs to budget for every year

The build is not the whole bill. Budget for these from day one so the site does not quietly degrade:

  • Domain: roughly AED 50–150 a year for a .com; a .ae domain needs a UAE trade licence or trademark
  • Hosting: from under AED 1,000 a year for a small business site, more for high-traffic stores
  • Maintenance and security updates: AED 900–2,200 a year for a typical corporate site, more on retainers that include content changes
  • Business email (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365): per user, per month
  • WhatsApp Business API messages, if you automate WhatsApp: billed per conversation by Meta

Compliance costs nobody quotes for

If your website collects names, phone numbers or emails — every contact form does — it has to comply with the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021). That means a privacy policy that reflects what you actually collect, consent where required, and a way to handle deletion requests. Companies in DIFC or ADGM have their own data protection rules on top.

Sector rules add more: property ads in Dubai need a Trakheesi permit number, and holiday homes need a valid DET permit even for direct bookings. A good agency builds these in; a cheap one leaves them for you to discover.

How to get an accurate quote

Send every agency the same short brief: what the business does, who the customer is, the pages you need, the languages, the integrations, and one or two sites you like. Ask for a fixed-scope proposal with deliverables and timeline in writing, and ask what happens after launch. Quotes built on the same brief are comparable; quotes built on a phone call are not.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest way to get a business website in the UAE?

A template website on WordPress or Shopify, starting around AED 3,500, is the cheapest professional option. It is enough to launch, open bank accounts and look credible; plan to move to a custom build once the site needs to rank or sell.

How much does a bilingual Arabic and English website cost in the UAE?

Expect to add 15–30% to the cost of the English build for a proper right-to-left Arabic version. For a typical SME corporate site that means roughly AED 15,000–70,000 in total, depending on page count and integrations.

How much does an e-commerce website cost in Dubai?

An e-commerce store in Dubai typically costs AED 15,000–60,000. Shopify builds with a modest catalogue sit at the lower end; custom stores with ERP, inventory and multiple payment gateways sit at the top or above it.

How long does it take to build a website in the UAE?

A template or launch site takes 2–3 weeks, a custom corporate site 4–8 weeks, and an e-commerce store 6–10 weeks. Content and approvals on the client side are the most common cause of delay.

Do I need a UAE trade licence to get a .ae domain?

Yes. .ae domains are restricted to entities with a UAE presence, typically proven by a trade licence or a UAE trademark. A .com domain has no such restriction and works fine for UAE businesses.

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