How much does a website cost in Dubai? (2026 guide)

Ask five agencies in Dubai to quote for the same website and you may get five very different numbers. The gap is rarely about design alone. It comes from what each quote includes: how many pages, whether there is a proper Arabic version, who writes the copy, which systems the site connects to and what happens after launch. This guide explains where the money goes, how our own pricing works and how to read a quote before you sign.

Our price range, and which projects sit where

At Aren, a website costs between AED 8,000 and AED 45,000 as a one-off project. These are estimates; we confirm the final price after a short call. This is roughly how projects fall within that range.

The ranges overlap on purpose. A simple bilingual site can cost less than a complex English-only one, so use the table as a starting point, not a menu. Our Taksi Dubai lead-generation site, for example, presents six vehicle plans on one page, while Dubaideyiz is a trilingual travel and visa website.

Whatever you compare, check whether the price is shown before or after VAT. The UAE charges VAT at 5 per cent, so on a AED 20,000 project that adds AED 1,000.

What drives the cost

Most of the difference between quotes comes from these eight factors.

• Pages and templates. Ten pages that share one layout cost less than ten pages that each need their own design. Ask for a sitemap, not just a page count.
• Arabic and right-to-left layout. A real Arabic version is not a mirrored copy of the English site. It needs RTL layout checks, Arabic fonts that read well on phones and content written for Arabic readers. Each language should also have its own URL so Google can show the right version, as Google recommends for multilingual sites.
• Copywriting. If you supply final text in both languages, the project is faster and cheaper. If the agency writes it, you pay for research and writing time.
• Photography and video. Stock images are cheap but generic. A half-day shoot of your team, venue or products costs more and makes the site look like your business.
• Integrations. WhatsApp, CRM, booking calendars, payment gateways, delivery services and accounting tools each add setup and testing time. A WhatsApp chat button is quick; a two-way link between your forms and your CRM takes longer.
• SEO setup. Page titles, descriptions, structured data, a sitemap, Search Console and redirects from your old site. Skipping redirects when you replace a site can cost you the Google traffic you already have.
• Speed. Fast sites need optimised images, light code and decent hosting. Google measures page experience with Core Web Vitals, and a good score for main content loading (Largest Contentful Paint) is 2.5 seconds or less. You can check your current site with our free website speed test.
• Forms and privacy. If your site collects names, phone numbers or emails, you need a clear privacy policy. The UAE's Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) is the main federal reference; free zones with their own data protection laws, such as DIFC, follow those instead.

For a checklist of what the finished site should actually do, read what a high-converting business website needs in the UAE.

Running costs after launch

The build is a one-off cost, but every website also has yearly and monthly costs. Ask for each one to be listed in the proposal, with renewal prices rather than first-year offers.

• Domain name. A yearly fee. A .com can be bought from many registrars. A .ae is sold only through registrars accredited by the .ae Domain Administration, part of the UAE's TDRA, which publishes the list of accredited registrars. Prices vary between registrars, so compare a few.
• Hosting. Monthly or yearly, depending on the plan. Ask what it includes: daily backups, an SSL certificate, business email and support response times.
• Maintenance. Software updates, security monitoring, backups and small content changes. Some teams handle edits through the admin panel; others pay a monthly retainer.
• Licences and subscriptions. Premium themes and plugins usually renew every year. E-commerce platforms, booking tools and CRMs often charge monthly per plan or per user, and payment gateways take a fee on each transaction.
• Messaging. A WhatsApp chat button costs nothing to run. If you connect WhatsApp to a CRM through the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta charges per delivered message, at rates that depend on the message type and the customer's country. Check Meta's current pricing before planning automated messages.

How long it takes

Most of our website projects take 2 to 4 weeks. The clock starts once the scope is agreed and the content is ready; waiting for content is a common cause of delay. For a business website, a typical month looks like this:

1. Week 1: structure, sitemap and design of the key pages.
2. Week 2: your design feedback (two revision rounds per deliverable) and the build.
3. Week 3: content entry, the Arabic version, integrations and tracking.
4. Week 4: testing on phones, speed checks, launch and handover.

A landing page can be faster. Large e-commerce stores and custom platforms get their own schedule, agreed in the proposal.

Red flags in cheap quotes

A low price is not a problem in itself. These signs suggest something important has been left out.

• The domain or hosting will be registered in the agency's name, not yours.
• The "Arabic version" is machine translation pasted into the English layout.
• There is no page list, no revision limit and no price for adding a page later.
• It is a theme demo with your logo swapped in, with no plan for real content or photos.
• There is no speed target, no analytics and no conversion tracking.
• Nobody mentions redirects from your old website.
• The site uses pirated ("nulled") themes or plugins, which miss security updates and can contain malicious code.
• There is no handover: no admin training, no logins and no copy of the files.

Who should own the website

Before you pay a deposit, confirm in writing that your business will own:

• The domain name, registered with your business as the registrant.
• The hosting account, or at least full administrator access to it.
• The website files, the database and, for custom builds, the source code.
• All content, images and design files created for the project.

This is our standard: clients own their website, domain and final files, so they can change provider without starting again.

Getting a quote you can compare

A website in Dubai can cost from AED 8,000 for a focused landing page to AED 45,000 for an e-commerce store or custom build, with large platforms quoted separately. To compare quotes fairly, prepare three things: a list of pages, the languages you need and the systems the site must connect to. Then ask every agency to price the same list and to show running costs separately.

To discuss your project, see our web design and development service or ask for a proposal. Not sure how your current site performs? Run it through the speed test first.