Web development for the UAE
Websites built for the UAE. Website development company for Dubai and the wider UAE
Marketlube designs and builds websites for businesses in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah from Calicut, Kerala, in UAE working hours, over WhatsApp and video calls. We have no UAE office. We built ZAJEL's new website, live in English at zajel.com, and every UAE quote covers Arabic for what customers read, VAT-inclusive dirham prices, the e-commerce law's disclosures and your payment gateway.
ZAJEL · website we designed and built
Concept build · Leyl, a car rental website for Dubai
Concept build · Corvale College Dubai on a phone
ZAJEL · website we designed and built / Concept build · Leyl, a car rental website for Dubai
What a UAE business should ask its web team.
Most agency pages that rank for this search lead with a Dubai street address and a +971 number. We have none of those, because we have no office, licence or staff in the UAE. The team designs and builds from HiLITE Business Park in Calicut, 90 minutes ahead of Dubai, and meets you on video calls and WhatsApp. What we can show instead is a Dubai website we built, sites you can open and click through, and a list of what the UAE asks of a business website, with the source for every line.
That list is the useful part. The consumer protection rules want website information and invoices in Arabic. Prices shown to consumers must include 5% VAT. The 2023 e-commerce law sets out what a shop has to show before anyone pays, and the federal data protection law reaches anyone outside the country who handles data of people in it, a web team in Calicut included. The ranking agency pages we read in October 2026 did not name these rules. Your quote from us names each one and what we build for it.
One honest limit: we build the features, and compliance stays with your business and its advisers. Nothing here is legal or tax advice, and every fact carries the date we checked it.
What a UAE business website has to handle.
Arabic on what customers read
The Consumer Protection Executive Regulations (Cabinet Resolution No. 66 of 2023, in force since 14 October 2023) require data, advertising, contracts, website information and invoices to be in Arabic at a minimum, with other languages allowed alongside. So a consumer site starts bilingual: a right-to-left Arabic version with its own addresses, linked to the English one with hreflang (ar-AE and en-AE), not a translate button. Our own ZAJEL site is in English today and our Arabic client work so far is design, so an Arabic site is scoped with a native Arabic writer before we quote. The ministry's list of laws now includes Cabinet Resolution No. 166 of 2026, which amends parts of it, so check the current text with your adviser.
Source: Pinsent Masons, UAE consumer protection regime revamped, read 27 Oct 2026
Prices that include 5% VAT
Prices published or advertised for taxable supplies must include VAT (Article 38 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, read with Article 27 of its Executive Regulation), and the penalty for not showing them that way is AED 5,000 per violation. Prices without VAT are allowed only for exports and for VAT-registered buyers, clearly labelled. We set up a shop to show VAT-inclusive dirham prices everywhere, and a trade portal to label "excl. VAT" where that applies.
Source: Habib Al Mulla, VAT-inclusive displayed prices, read 27 Oct 2026
What the e-commerce law makes a shop show
Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023 covers selling through websites, apps and social media, including orders taken on Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. Your licence, address and contact details must be publicly available, and terms, prices, delivery fees and any payment charge must be set out before the customer pays; a charge not disclosed cannot be added later. Every order needs a detailed invoice, there must be a complaints channel with tracking, and customers can opt out of marketing. Since 28 November 2025 a first breach usually brings a warning and 15 days to fix it, and later ones fines of between AED 500 and AED 100,000.
Source: BDO Legal, E-commerce in the UAE (Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023), read 27 Oct 2026
An e-commerce licence before the shop opens
A mainland business selling online needs a commercial licence that includes e-commerce, from its own emirate's economic department, and e-commerce licences also need a TDRA no-objection certificate. A free zone company may need a local distributor or extra approvals to sell straight to the mainland. The licence then appears on the site, so we leave a place for it in the footer and the checkout.
Source: u.ae, E-commerce, read 27 Oct 2026
Consent under the federal data law
Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on Personal Data Protection has applied since 2 January 2022, including to processing by systems outside the UAE. Processing without the person's consent is prohibited except in listed cases, and people can ask for correction or for processing to stop. Its Executive Regulations were still unpublished in August 2026 reports, so we build to the law itself: an opt-in banner for analytics and ad tags, forms that say what they collect and why, and a clear way to ask for changes.
Source: u.ae, Data protection laws, read 27 Oct 2026
Health and card data stay in the UAE
Health information may not be transferred outside the UAE except in cases the health authorities set (Federal Law No. 2 of 2019), and Central Bank rules require stored-value and retail payment data to be kept in the country. For a clinic, that means patient forms and portals hosted in the UAE or covered by an approved exception. For any shop, card details stay on the licensed gateway's hosted page or SDK and never pass through the website's own server.
Source: DLA Piper, Data protection laws: UAE, read 27 Oct 2026
Gateways, Apple Pay and Jaywan
Checkout.com's UAE company is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE as a Retail Payment Services provider, and Network International's N-Genius Online offers hosted pages, an API, a WooCommerce extension and pay-by-link, with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay. Jaywan, the UAE's own card scheme, began issuing cards nationwide in July 2026; whether a site accepts it depends on the gateway. We connect the gateway you contract with and add a Jaywan card to the test list where it is supported.
Source: Checkout.com, Licences and certificates, read 27 Oct 2026
Who can hold a .ae domain
The .ae domain is run by the .ae Domain Administration of TDRA. A plain name.ae is open to any legal person, local or foreign, through an accredited registrar, with no general local-presence rule. The zones co.ae, net.ae, org.ae, sch.ae, ac.ae and gov.ae have extra eligibility rules and go through a UAE-based registrar, so a school or a company wanting those names should check them first.
Source: Morgan Lewis, Guide to UAE domains and domain names, read 27 Oct 2026
E-invoicing is for B2B, not the shop
The UAE e-invoicing system covers B2B and B2G invoices and excludes B2C. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live by 1 January 2027 and the rest by 1 July 2027, through an Accredited Service Provider rather than through the website. A shop selling to the public sits outside it; a trade portal or ordering site should pass clean invoice data to your accounting system and its provider.
Source: KPMG UAE, Implementation of the electronic invoicing system in the UAE, read 27 Oct 2026
Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Dubai
Dubai is where trade, logistics, property, tourism and finance meet, so its sites often serve visitors, residents and companies at once, and a firm in the DIFC follows its own Data Protection Law (DIFC Law No. 5 of 2020) rather than the federal one. Under it, a firm files a notification with the Commissioner of Data Protection that is published on a public register, so its privacy page and forms are written to that law. Mainland online sellers can use Dubai's eTrader licence through Invest in Dubai. The Dubai work we can show is ZAJEL's website, and four of our concept builds are set here.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital, and a company registered in ADGM follows ADGM's Data Protection Regulations 2021, benchmarked against the EU's GDPR and overseen by its own Office of Data Protection. E-commerce licences in the emirate go through Tajer Abu Dhabi. Our Lanternfield concept build shows what we would build for a British-curriculum international school in the city.
Sharjah
Sharjah's government works Monday to Thursday and takes Friday to Sunday off, half a day shorter than the federal week, so a project that needs a Sharjah authority's approval plans its reviews inside those four days. Online sellers apply through Sharjah's e-commerce licence services, linked on u.ae. Its sites answer to the same federal rules as the rest of the country: Arabic, VAT-inclusive prices and the e-commerce disclosures.
Sites you can open, and the Dubai work.
Concept builds are working homepages we designed and built for fictional brands. For the UAE: Leyl, a car rental website for Dubai, Corvale College Dubai, a college website for Dubai, Lanternfield International School, a school website for Abu Dhabi, Fustuq, a restaurant website for Dubai and Lintel, a real estate website for Dubai. None of them is a client, and every page of every demo says so. See every concept build.
What a UAE website costs.
- Business websiteCustom design, up to 8 pages · 4 to 8 weeksfrom AED 8,000
- Next.js website with a CMSHeadless CMS, up to 15 pages · 8 to 14 weeksfrom AED 15,000
- Website care planBilled yearly · starts within a weekfrom AED 500 a month
Figures are in UAE dirhams and are before VAT: where the UAE's 5% VAT applies, it is not in these figures. Your written quote lists what the project includes: the payment gateway and Apple Pay set-up, the Arabic version and who writes and checks it, the checkout disclosures, and meetings in UAE hours.
Five steps. No surprises.
Every stage has an owner, a deliverable and a sign-off, all agreed with you before it starts.
Book a discovery callA call in your hours
We start with a video call at a time that suits you; our working day runs 8 am to 5 pm UAE time. We ask what the site must do, who buys, which emirate or free zone licenses you and whether you sell to consumers, businesses or both, because that decides the VAT display and the disclosures.
A written plan and quote
You get the page list, the Arabic plan (who writes it and who checks it), the gateway, the checkout disclosures and the dates. UAE private-sector hours were cut by two hours a day in Ramadan 2026, so the calendar marks Ramadan and Eid and keeps review rounds light then.
Design in both directions
We design the English and Arabic layouts together, so the Arabic mirrors right to left instead of being squeezed in later. You review the designs as links on your phone and send comments on WhatsApp or in the file.
Build, connect and test
We build the site, connect your gateway in its test mode, link the language versions with hreflang and set up the consent banner. The UAE counts 23.0 million mobile connections for 11.4 million people, so checkout is tested on phones first.
Launch and look after it
We point your .ae or .com domain through your registrar, launch on a weekday morning UAE time and hand over the admin logins. The care plan keeps updates, backups and fixes going after launch.
Why a Calicut team for a UAE site.
Honest about where we work
The team is in Calicut, Kerala, with no office, licence or staff in the UAE, and we won't rent a Dubai address to look local. We work Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm UAE time, on WhatsApp and video calls, and if your team speaks Malayalam, briefs and reviews can run in Malayalam.
A Dubai website we built
ZAJEL, a Dubai courier, runs on the website we designed and built at zajel.com, in English, and we designed its customs portal and app. For Tailor on Wheels, a UAE doorstep tailoring service, we made a social campaign and an Eid AI film.
Sites you can click through
Our UAE concept builds are working homepages for fictional brands: a Dubai car rental, a Dubai college, a Dubai restaurant group, a Dubai property brokerage and an Abu Dhabi school. Open them on your phone and judge the speed and the details yourself. Every page says it is a concept build.
The UAE rules in the quote
Arabic, VAT-inclusive prices, the e-commerce disclosures, consent and the gateway are lines in your quote, each with what we build for it. We build the features; your advisers confirm compliance.
Website development for the UAE, answered.
The team is in Calicut, India
1414, 4th Floor, Phase 1, HiLITE Business ParkKozhikode, Kerala 673014Mon–Sat · 9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Does my UAE website have to be in Arabic?
If you sell to consumers, plan for it. The Consumer Protection Executive Regulations (Cabinet Resolution No. 66 of 2023) require website information, advertising, contracts and invoices to be in Arabic at a minimum, with English or other languages allowed alongside. Hogan Lovells cites a fine of AED 100,000 for failing to issue an invoice in Arabic. The Ministry of Economy lists a 2026 amendment, so confirm the current text with your adviser.
Should the prices on my website include VAT?
For consumers, yes. Prices published or advertised for taxable supplies must include the 5% VAT, and the penalty for not showing VAT-inclusive prices is AED 5,000. Prices without VAT are allowed only for exports and for sales to VAT-registered customers, and must be clearly labelled, so a B2B portal can show "excl. VAT" where that applies.
Does my website need to handle UAE e-invoicing?
Not if it only sells to the public: the e-invoicing system covers B2B and B2G invoices and excludes B2C. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live by 1 January 2027 and the rest by 1 July 2027, through an Accredited Service Provider. A website does not make a business e-invoicing compliant; a trade portal should pass invoice data cleanly to the accounting system that does.
What does a UAE online shop have to show before checkout?
Under Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023, your licence, address, contact and website details, then the terms, prices, delivery fees and any digital payment charge before the transaction; anything not disclosed cannot be charged later. Each purchase needs a detailed invoice, and the site needs a complaints channel with tracking and a way to opt out of marketing.
Which payment options can a UAE website offer?
Cards through a gateway licensed by the Central Bank, Apple Pay (Apple lists the UAE as an Apple Pay country) and buy now, pay later. Tabby offers UAE shoppers four interest-free payments and pays the merchant upfront, and Tamara's restricted finance licence from the Central Bank was announced in October 2025. Jaywan, the national card scheme, works where your gateway supports it.
Who can register a .ae domain?
Any legal person, local or foreign, can register a plain .ae name through one of TDRA's accredited registrars, with no general local-presence rule. The restricted zones, such as co.ae, org.ae, sch.ae and ac.ae, have extra eligibility rules and must go through a UAE-based registrar.
Can a team in India build a website for a Dubai business?
Yes, if it works in your hours and knows the UAE rules. The UAE keeps UTC+4 all year and Calicut is 90 minutes ahead, so a 10:00 call in Dubai is 11:30 for us. One thing we cannot offer is a Dubai listing on Google Maps, because a Google Business Profile needs a place customers can visit, and we have none in the UAE.
Sources
- Pinsent Masons, UAE consumer protection regime revamped, read 27 Oct 2026
- Habib Al Mulla, VAT-inclusive displayed prices, read 27 Oct 2026
- BDO Legal, E-commerce in the UAE (Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023), read 27 Oct 2026
- u.ae, E-commerce, read 27 Oct 2026
- u.ae, Data protection laws, read 27 Oct 2026
- DLA Piper, Data protection laws: UAE, read 27 Oct 2026
- Checkout.com, Licences and certificates, read 27 Oct 2026
- Morgan Lewis, Guide to UAE domains and domain names, read 27 Oct 2026
- KPMG UAE, Implementation of the electronic invoicing system in the UAE, read 27 Oct 2026
- Federal Tax Authority, VAT, read 27 Oct 2026
- EY Tax News, UAE Ministry of Finance publishes e-invoicing decisions, read 27 Oct 2026
- Hogan Lovells, The UAE's enhanced consumer protection law, read 27 Oct 2026
- Business Dubai, UAE PDPL and the Executive Regulations, read 27 Oct 2026
- DLA Piper, Data protection laws: DIFC, read 27 Oct 2026
- Gulf News, ADGM enacts Data Protection Regulations 2021, read 27 Oct 2026
- WooCommerce, N-Genius Online by Network International, read 27 Oct 2026
- Gulf News, The UAE rolls out Jaywan, read 27 Oct 2026
- Apple, Apple Pay countries and regions, read 27 Oct 2026
- Tabby, Tabby for business (UAE), read 27 Oct 2026
- Tamara, Central Bank of the UAE approval, read 27 Oct 2026
- UAE Ministry of Finance, E-invoicing amendments (May 2026), read 27 Oct 2026
- The National, UAE amends e-invoicing regulations (Oct 2026), read 27 Oct 2026
- u.ae, Working hours in the public sector, read 27 Oct 2026
- Khaleej Times, Ramadan 2026 private-sector hours, read 27 Oct 2026
- DataReportal, Digital 2026: United Arab Emirates, read 27 Oct 2026
- Google Search Central, Localised versions of your pages, read 27 Oct 2026
- Google Business Profile, Guidelines for representing your business, read 27 Oct 2026
Website development for the UAE
Let's build your website.
Tell us what the site has to do and who it's for. A strategist replies within one working day, on WhatsApp or a call in Dubai hours.
Every rupee you spend with us has to earn its keep.
