What a website costs in Dubai in 2026: two agencies' AED ranges, our fixed prices from AED 8,000 before VAT, running costs and the UAE rules that add cost.
- Published
- Reading time
- 11 minutes
Drafted with AI tools; researched, edited and approved by Althameem Ali. Our editorial policy
On this page · 9 sections
- How much does a website cost in Dubai in 2026?
- What do Dubai web agencies publish as their price ranges?
- What does our UAE price list include, and what does it leave out?
- Which UAE rules add cost to a website build?
- What does an online store in the UAE cost to build and run?
- What will you pay every year after launch?
- Does a website cost the same in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman?
- How do you compare two Dubai website quotes fairly?
- Ready to price your site?
A disclosure first: we sell websites. Marketlube is a web and marketing team in Calicut (Kozhikode), Kerala, and we build sites for Gulf businesses remotely through our website design and development service. We have no office, licence or staff in the UAE, so read our prices as one seller's list, set beside two Dubai agencies' published guides and the running costs at each vendor's own list price. Every outside figure below carries the date we read it. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
How much does a website cost in Dubai in 2026?#
It depends on three things: how many page templates the site needs, whether it sells online, and whether it has to work in Arabic. Here is the short version, using the published figures we could check.
The agency column combines the two guides below; ours is our published price list, excl. UAE VAT where applicable.
What do Dubai web agencies publish as their price ranges?#
When we searched on 28 Oct 2026, most Dubai pages ranking for this search were agency price guides. Two set out their bands clearly enough to quote.
Element8's guide, published by its CTO on 10 April 2026 (opens in a new tab) (read 28 Oct 2026) calls its figures "planning estimates, not fixed rates":
Cubix's guide of 15 April 2026 (opens in a new tab) (read 28 Oct 2026) bands by complexity instead:
The same "basic" site spans AED 3,000 to 15,000 across the two guides, because neither says how many pages "basic" means. Neither puts a figure on hosting or payment fees. Element8 lists hosting and maintenance as cost categories without figures and asks readers to weigh the total cost of ownership over three to five years; Cubix prices post-launch support at AED 3,000 to 20,000 without saying over what period. We price the running costs below at the vendors' own rates.
What does our UAE price list include, and what does it leave out?#
Our Gulf prices are fixed figures set for Gulf projects, never a live conversion of the rupee price. Each one is a starting price for a defined scope:
A worked example: a 12-page business website is AED 8,000 for the first 8 pages plus 4 extra pages at AED 500, so AED 10,000 before VAT.
What the prices leave out is just as specific. Hosting, domains, store and app fees and licences are billed at cost, in your name, so you hold the accounts. Copywriting, Arabic translation, photography and integrations are scoped in each written quote after a call. Our website quotation guide lays a sample quote out line by line.
To see what pushes a site past the 8-page tier, look at two of our concept builds: real working homepages for fictional Dubai brands, not client work. Leyl, a made-up car rental firm, has an instant quote card that adds up the car, delivery and cover in dirhams. Corvale College Dubai, a made-up college, has a programme finder and a fee estimator in AED. Each live calculator is custom work, so a brief like either is scoped from our Next.js tier upward rather than at the business website price.
Which UAE rules add cost to a website build?#
Four rules change the scope, and so the price, of a UAE site that sells to the public. Element8 flags Arabic and right-to-left work as a cost; neither guide mentions the VAT display rule, the e-commerce law or e-invoicing. We build the features; compliance stays with your business and its advisers.
Arabic for consumers. Under Cabinet Decision No. 66 of 2023, website information, advertising, contracts and invoices must be in Arabic at a minimum, with other languages allowed alongside (Pinsent Masons, 6 October 2023 (opens in a new tab), read 28 Oct 2026). A consumer site therefore starts bilingual: a right-to-left layout, Arabic type and a native Arabic writer.
VAT-inclusive prices. UAE VAT is 5% (Federal Tax Authority (opens in a new tab), read 28 Oct 2026). Under Article 38 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, prices for taxable supplies must be advertised or published including VAT, with exceptions such as exports and supplies to VAT-registered businesses where the exclusion is clearly stated, and the penalty for breaking the display rule is AED 5,000 per violation (Habib Al Mulla (opens in a new tab), read 28 Oct 2026). A shop's price display and its "excl. VAT" labels for trade buyers are build work.
The e-commerce law's disclosures. Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023 covers selling through websites, apps and social platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. Terms, prices, delivery fees and any payment charge must be disclosed before the transaction, a charge not disclosed cannot be added later, every purchase needs a detailed invoice, and the business needs an accessible complaints system with its licence, address and contact details public. Under Cabinet Decision No. 200 of 2025, in force since 28 November 2025, most first breaches bring a written warning and 15 days to fix them, and later ones fines of AED 500 to AED 100,000 (BDO Legal (opens in a new tab), read 28 Oct 2026). That means checkout pages, invoice emails and a complaints form are in scope from day one.
E-invoicing, which mostly does not touch a shop. The UAE system covers B2B and B2G invoices and excludes B2C. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live by 1 January 2027, other businesses by 1 July 2027 and government entities by 1 October 2027, each through an Accredited Service Provider (KPMG UAE (opens in a new tab), read 28 Oct 2026). A consumer shop's build cost is not driven by it; a trade portal should pass clean invoice data to your accounting system and its provider.
What does an online store in the UAE cost to build and run?#
At Stripe's list rate, an AED 200 order paid with a UAE card costs AED 6.80 in fees (2.9% is AED 5.80, plus AED 1.00). The same order on a foreign card costs AED 8.80. If many customers pay with foreign cards, model both rates. If you use another gateway, ask for its rate card and add it to the same sheet.
Our e-commerce development page shows how a store is scoped, including product loading, shipping rules and cash on delivery.
What will you pay every year after launch?#
Year two is where cheap quotes get expensive. Budget these lines for every year the site runs:
- Hosting and the domain. Billed at cost in your name. Renewal prices vary by provider, so ask for the renewal price, not the first-year offer.
- Platform fees. A Shopify store on Basic, billed yearly, is USD 288 a year before payment fees (USD 24 × 12, Shopify, read 28 Oct 2026).
- Upkeep. Our care plan is from AED 500 a month, billed yearly, which comes to AED 6,000 a year at that starting rate, before VAT. It covers updates, security patches, backups and uptime checks, with small content changes agreed in writing for your site; new features are quoted separately.
- Payment fees. A percentage of sales, as in the table above.
For a fuller look at three-year costs, our post on AI website builders against an agency adds the builder subscriptions to the same sum.
Does a website cost the same in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman?#
For us, yes in value. Our Gulf figure is the same number in dirhams, Qatari riyals and Saudi riyals, and the website rows carry their own fixed figures in dinars and rials:
All of these are before VAT where it applies. Our store rows have no dinar figures on the list yet, so a store in Kuwait, Bahrain or Oman is priced in a written quote. What does change by country is the scope: the payment gateways, the tax rules and the language each market expects. Our pages for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman list each country's rules with their sources. If you are comparing with Indian prices, our website development cost guide for India and Kerala has the rupee side.
How do you compare two Dubai website quotes fairly?#
Put both quotes in the same shape before you look at the total. A gap in either column is a question to ask.
A quote far below the guides above may be a template with your logo on it. That can be fine, as long as the quote says so.
Ready to price your site?#
If you want a fixed figure for your own scope, tell us the pages, the languages and whether you sell online, and we will send a written quote in dirhams with every line above filled in. Start on our UAE website development page, where you can see the Dubai checklist and the concept builds, or compare every row on our pricing page. All our prices are before GST (18%) in India and before VAT where it applies in the Gulf.
Related services
Written by
Co-founder, Marketlube
Althameem Ali researched, edited and approved this post. Marketlube is a growth partner in Calicut building brands, websites, CRMs and campaigns for businesses across Kerala, India and the Gulf.
