How much a website costs in Dubai, and what to ask an agency

A simple template website in Dubai typically costs AED 3,000 to 8,000. A proper company website of 5 to 15 pages usually runs AED 8,000 to 45,000, depending on design and whether it has an Arabic version. Online stores typically start around AED 15,000, and custom web applications start around AED 50,000. These are typical prices as of November 2026, and quotes vary widely.

On top of the build, budget for running costs every year: hosting, the domain name and someone to keep the site updated and secure.

The price is only half the decision. The other half is what you own at the end. A cheap site that the agency controls, on a domain registered in the agency's name, can cost you far more later. This guide covers both: what you should pay, and what to put in writing before you pay it.

Published price guides from Dubai agencies in 2026 give overlapping ranges. Putting them side by side, these are the typical figures as of November 2026, before 5 percent VAT where it applies:

• Landing page or basic template site: AED 3,000 to 8,000. One to five pages on a ready-made theme, usually English only. Fine for a new freelancer or a small shop that needs to look real online.
• Small business or brochure site (5 to 10 pages): AED 8,000 to 15,000. Services, about, contact, a few photos and a quote form.
• Company website on WordPress, bilingual: AED 12,000 to 45,000. Custom design, Arabic and English, a blog or news section and basic search engine set-up.
• Online store: AED 15,000 to 80,000 or more. Shopify or WooCommerce at the lower end; a heavily customised store with many products, local payment gateways and delivery integrations at the top.
• Custom web application or portal: AED 50,000 to 150,000 or more. Booking systems, customer accounts, dashboards, integrations with your other software. Priced only after a written specification.

Freelancers often quote below these ranges, and large agencies above them. Neither is automatically wrong. What matters is that you compare like with like, which is why a written scope matters more than the headline number. Our website design price guide breaks the costs down line by line.

Most of the cost is people's time. These are the things that add time:

• Custom design or a theme. A ready-made theme with your logo and colours is quick. A design drawn for you from scratch takes days of a designer's work before any building starts.
• Features. Online booking, payments, member logins, multi-branch locations and links to your accounting or CRM software each add days.
• Content. Who writes the text and who takes the photos changes the budget more than people expect. If the agency writes your copy in two languages, that is a writing job on top of the build.
• The Arabic version. A real Arabic site is not a translation plugin. The layout has to flip right to left, menus, forms and icons must mirror, fonts must suit Arabic, and the text should be written by someone fluent. Published 2026 price guides suggest this often adds roughly 15 to 40 percent to a design. Ask whether the Arabic text is included, or whether you must supply it.
• Who builds it. A solo freelancer, a small studio and a large agency with account managers can differ by three times or more for similar pages.
• Licences. Premium themes, plugins, fonts and stock photos often carry yearly licence fees. Ask who pays them after year one.

A short worked example. A Dubai clinic wants ten pages in English and Arabic, online appointment requests and a blog. Quote A is AED 9,000: a theme, English text only, with a plugin that auto-translates to Arabic. Quote B is AED 24,000: a custom design, both languages written properly, and booking linked to the clinic's calendar. Quote B is not overpriced, and quote A is not cheap. They are different products. Decide which one you need, then get two or three quotes for that same scope.

A website is not a one-off purchase. Budget for these every year:

• Hosting. Basic shared hosting is cheap; a managed host for a busy online store costs more. Ask what is included: backups, security monitoring, an SSL certificate and email.
• Maintenance. WordPress, its plugins and its theme need regular updates, or the site becomes a security risk. A monthly care plan typically costs AED 300 to 1,500 as of November 2026, depending on how many changes are included. Some agencies sell yearly support packages instead.
• Domain name. The yearly fee is small, but who holds it matters a lot (see the next section).
• Licences. Premium plugins and themes usually renew yearly.

About .ae domains. The .ae domain space is run by the .ae Domain Administration (aeDA), part of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). You do not buy a .ae name from TDRA directly. According to the aeDA FAQ, you choose one of the accredited registrars and follow its application process, and registrars set their own prices. Eligibility rules, for example for names ending in .co.ae, are set out in aeDA's published policies, so check them before you pick a name. The FAQ also says you can move a domain to another accredited registrar without losing the remaining licence period, using the domain's authorisation code. That code is one more thing to keep in your own records.

This is where small businesses lose the most money, usually a year or two after launch, when they want to change agency and find they cannot.

Put these in the contract:

1. The domain is registered in your company's name, with your email as the registrant contact. You get the registrar login and the authorisation code. You can check who is listed using the aeDA WhoIs lookup on the TDRA site.
2. The hosting account is yours, or you get full admin access and a written promise of a complete export if you leave.
3. You get full admin access to the website (for WordPress, an administrator account), not just an editor login.
4. You own the design files, the code written for you and the content once you have paid, apart from third-party themes and plugins, which stay under their own licences. Ask for a list of those.
5. Analytics, Google Business Profile and social accounts are created under your company's accounts, with the agency added as a user.
6. At handover, you receive a full backup, all logins and a short document saying what plugins and services the site uses and when they renew.

A good agency will agree to all of this without fuss. If an agency says the domain "has to be" in its name, find another one.

Many web design companies in Dubai also sell social media management, Google Ads and search engine optimisation (SEO). That can be convenient, but keep the two budgets apart so you can judge each one.

• A new website does not bring visitors on its own. Basic SEO set-up (page titles, descriptions, speed, a sitemap) should be part of the build. Ongoing SEO and content are a separate monthly service.
• A social media agency in Dubai usually charges a monthly fee for content and posting, and the advertising budget you pay to the platforms is on top. Ask for both numbers separately.
• Nobody can promise first place on Google. Treat that promise as a red flag, not a sales point.

If you want marketing as well, compare licensed digital marketing agencies separately and check typical retainers in our digital marketing price guide.

Before you pay a deposit, make sure the quote or contract covers:

1. A written scope: pages, features, languages, who supplies the text and photos, and the number of design revision rounds.
2. A timeline with dates for design approval, the test version and launch.
3. A payment schedule tied to milestones, for example a deposit to start, a payment at design approval and the rest at launch. Avoid paying everything upfront.
4. Ownership terms as in the section above, in writing.
5. What happens after launch: a free fix period for bugs, then the monthly or yearly support price.
6. Whether the price includes 5 percent VAT. The standard VAT rate in the UAE is 5 percent according to the Federal Tax Authority. A VAT-registered agency should show it on the invoice.
7. The agency's trade licence number on the quote, matching the company you pay.

Red flags:

• A price given before anyone has asked what your site must do.
• A portfolio of sites you cannot open, or that all belong to the agency's own brands.
• The domain or hosting registered in the agency's name "for convenience".
• Pirated or "nulled" premium themes. They often contain malware and get no updates.
• Guaranteed Google rankings, or guaranteed sales.
• Payment requested to a personal account rather than the company's.

For a wider list of checks before any deposit, read how to check a contractor before paying. If you are also hiring someone to run your office IT, see what to ask an IT support company.

Anyone can build websites from a laptop, but a company that signs a contract with you and issues invoices should hold a trade licence that covers web design or IT services. Ask for the licence number and check it yourself.

The UAE government portal lists the official channels to check business licences, including the National Economic Register and each emirate's economic department. Our guide on how to verify a Dubai trade licence walks you through it in two minutes. Check three things: the name matches the company on the quote, the licence has not expired, and the activities fit the work.

Then compare at least two or three quotes for the same written scope. Ask each agency:

1. Can I see three live sites you built, and speak to one of those clients?
2. Who will actually build my site, and are they staff or subcontractors?
3. Is the Arabic version written by a fluent writer, and is it included?
4. What exactly do I own at the end, and will you put that in the contract?
5. What does support cost after the first year?

If you are setting up a new company and need a website as part of it, our guide on how to renew a trade licence in Dubai is worth a read too, because an agency's licence and yours both need to stay current.

When you are ready, you can compare licence-checked web design companies, or start with web design companies in Dubai, and request quotes for the same scope.