A professional business website in Dubai costs AED 4,400 to AED 35,000 in 2026. E-commerce starts at AED 9,175, custom web apps at AED 12,840, and mobile apps from AED 16,515 — fixed pricing, zero retainers, complete code ownership. Below: the full price table, why quotes vary so wildly, hidden costs, and a budget framework.
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How Much Does a Website Cost in Dubai in 2026? (Full Price Table)
These are real fixed-price starting points from projects we actually deliver — most projects land close to the starting figure, and complex ones move up the band.
| Project type | Starting price (AED) | Starting price (USD) | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page (1 page) | 1,000 | $272 | 3–5 days |
| Business website (up to 6 pages) | 4,400 | $1,200 | 2–3 weeks |
| Custom 10-page website | 6,600 | $1,800 | 3 weeks |
| E-commerce store (Shopify / WooCommerce) | 9,175 | $2,500 | 4–6 weeks |
| Custom web application | 12,840 | $3,500 | 5–8 weeks |
| Mobile app (iOS + Android) | 16,515 | $4,500 | 7–10 weeks |
| Enterprise / multi-system build | 40,000+ | $10,900+ | 10–16 weeks |
The UAE's e-commerce market alone reached AED 42.2 billion in 2025 (EZDubai Logistics Hub / Euromonitor International press rele) — up from AED 17.6 billion in 2020, a 19% compound annual growth rate — and is forecast to hit AED 67.2 billion by 2030, according to the EZDubai–Euromonitor annual report (via Business Today). Online shopping already accounts for about 15.7% of UAE retail sales. That is the commercial context for every pricing decision below: the website is not a brochure expense, it is a share of a fast-growing transaction channel.
For US-dollar package equivalents, see web development packages. For the standing price list, how much does a website cost.
Why Do Quotes Range From AED 1,000 to AED 275,000?
If you have collected three quotes recently, you have probably seen this exact spread — AED 5,000, AED 50,000, AED 145,000 for "broadly the same thing." Five drivers explain nearly all of it:
1. The delivery model. This is the single biggest cost driver — not features, but who builds the site and where they sit on the value chain.
| Builder type | Typical price | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify starter) | AED 30–200/month | Template assembly, no custom code, no SEO foundation worth ranking with |
| Marketplace freelancers | AED 1,000–8,000 | A working WordPress install, usually with security gaps, no Core Web Vitals tuning, and zero accountability after handover |
| Boutique studios | AED 4,400–40,000 | A senior team, fixed scope, transferred code ownership, tuned Core Web Vitals, and SEO included from the start |
| Large agencies / enterprise vendors | AED 50,000–275,000 | Account managers, departments, retainers, overhead — right for listed companies and tenders, rarely right for an SME under AED 20M revenue |
2. Scope, page count, and dynamic complexity. A static five-page site is one job; a fifty-page build with multilingual content, a blog, gated downloads, and a CRM-connected lead form is an entirely different job. Cost scales with page count, custom-designed versus templated pages, and dynamic data — anything pulled from a database.
3. Integrations. Each external system means integration work: payment gateways, CRM, accounting tools (Zoho, Tally, QuickBooks), inventory, shipping APIs, the WhatsApp Business API, marketing automation, and VAT/e-invoicing. Each adds engineering hours plus ongoing maintenance risk.
4. Languages. A bilingual Arabic + English site is not twice the work — it lands around 1.4×. Correct RTL layouts, Arabic typography, hreflang tags, and a translation workflow each need real engineering thought, and bolting Arabic onto a non-RTL design later costs two to three times more than building for it upfront.
5. Performance and SEO baseline. The silent cost. An AED 5,000 site scoring 40 on Lighthouse bleeds conversions and rankings every month it is live — Google's research shows 53% of mobile visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than three seconds to load (Google The Keyword blog). Our baseline is a Lighthouse score of 95+ and LCP under 1.5 seconds at launch; that is not an upsell.
Choosing between builder types? Read agency vs freelancer in the UAE and browse web design company in Dubai for the boutique-studio service scope.
What Does Each Project Type Actually Include?
Landing pages — from AED 1,000. One focused, conversion-optimised page — bespoke design, responsive build, a single form wired to your inbox or CRM, plus baseline analytics and SEO meta tags. Best for paid-ad destinations, launches, and lead magnets. Do not pay extra for a CMS or A/B infrastructure at this tier — if you need those, you have outgrown a landing page.
Business websites — from AED 4,400. The most common UAE SME build: up to six pages (Home, Services, About, Portfolio, Blog index, Contact) on a CMS your team can update without a developer. Includes custom Figma design, WordPress/Webflow/Next.js + headless CMS, mobile responsiveness with an accessibility baseline, on-page SEO foundation (schema, semantic HTML, sitemap, robots.txt), Core Web Vitals tuning, SSL and security headers, contact form plus WhatsApp click-to-chat, GA4 and Search Console setup, and 30 days of post-launch support. For most Dubai service businesses, this is the right tier — spending AED 25,000+ on a first site is usually a mistake, because you do not yet know how customers actually use it.
E-commerce — from AED 9,175. Shopify, WooCommerce, or headless storefront: up to 100 SKUs at the starting tier, payment gateway integration (Stripe, Telr, Network International, Checkout.com, Tap), UAE + GCC shipping zones, VAT-compliant invoicing, abandoned-cart email flows, customer accounts, and product schema. Price climbs with 500+ SKUs, multi-vendor functionality, separate Arabic/English catalogues, B2B pricing tiers, or ERP sync. The investment case is stark: the Baymard Institute has tracked the global cart abandonment rate at 70.19% for over a decade — a store engineered against that statistic earns its tier. Stores are scoped via e-commerce website development in Dubai.
Custom web applications — from AED 12,840. User auth, role-based dashboards, payments, API integrations, real-time data — booking platforms, listing portals with agent CRMs, multi-tenant SaaS dashboards. Built through custom web application development.
Mobile apps — from AED 16,515. Cross-platform iOS + Android (React Native/Flutter) with backend API, admin dashboard, push notifications, and store submission, plus three months of post-launch support.
Enterprise — AED 40,000+. Multiple integrated systems, compliance work, penetration testing, UAE-region hosting, custom SLAs — a phased delivery conversation.
What Hidden Costs Should You Budget For?
Every honest quote separates the build price from the running costs. Plan for these on top:
| Cost item | Typical AED / year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| .com domain | 40–80 | Annual renewal |
| .ae domain | 150–400 | Requires a UAE trade licence |
| SSL certificate | 0–1,500 | Let's Encrypt is fine for most sites; EV only matters for finance/medical |
| Web hosting | 1,200–18,000 | Depends on traffic and UAE-region server needs |
| CDN | 0–6,000 | Cloudflare's free tier covers most sites |
| Business email (Workspace / 365) | 800–2,400 per user | Never run email on the web host |
| Premium plugins / themes | 800–4,000 | Mostly a WordPress line item |
| Maintenance | 4,400–24,000 | Optional — patches, updates, backups |
| Content writing | 200–800 per page | If not written in-house |
| Translation (EN → AR) | 0.30–0.80 per word | Professional, not machine |
Planning rule: set aside 20–30% of the build cost each year for hosting, maintenance, and content. An AED 10,000 site carries roughly AED 2,500–3,000 a year in running costs if it is going to stay fast, secure, and indexed. Ongoing visibility work is scoped separately — see how much SEO costs in the UAE and our no-retainer SEO model.
How Should You Decide Your Website Budget?
Forget page counts for a moment. Answer four questions in order:
- What is the site meant to do? Generate leads, sell products, book appointments, or establish credibility? A credibility brochure has no business costing AED 25,000; a primary lead engine should never be a AED 4,000 template.
- What is a customer worth? At AED 15,000 lifetime value, two new customers a month pays for any site up to AED 30,000 in the first month. At AED 200 per customer, the maths is very different.
- What is the timeline? Two-week launches cost more than eight-week ones — compression has a price. Fixed event dates (GITEX, Dubai Shopping Festival, a launch) should be priced in.
- Who maintains it after launch? Without in-house technical cover, a maintenance block belongs in the day-one budget. The priciest website is the one nobody can update six months after launch.
A reasonable heuristic: a UAE SME turning over AED 1–10M a year should put 1–3% of annual revenue into the website. Under that band, you are trimming things that cost you leads; above it, you are probably over-building for your stage.
The quote-comparison shortcut: when a quote looks too good to be true, three questions settle it: who owns the source code outright, what launch performance is guaranteed, and what support exists when something breaks in week six? The answers reveal whether you are buying a website or buying a problem. Our full vetting guide is how to choose a web design agency in Dubai; delivery runs through our website development company in Dubai.
Why Fixed-Price Beats Retainers for Most Dubai Businesses
The standard UAE agency model is a monthly retainer — somewhere between AED 3,000 and AED 15,000 a month, open-ended, with the website effectively held hostage to the relationship. For most SMEs, project-based pricing wins: the scope, price, and dates are agreed upfront, everything transfers to you at the end, and maintenance is bought in deliberate 90-day blocks or not at all.
Retainers make sense when you have continuous iteration with a team you trust. They are a trap when they exist because the agency holds your credentials, your hosting, and the only copy of how anything works. That distinction — and the full model comparison — is covered in fixed-price vs retainer vs time-and-materials. Template-quality fixed-price work is also available under fixed-price web design.
FAQ
Why is there such a big price range for "the same" website?
Three things, almost every time: custom design versus template (a 2–3× conversion difference for a ~20% visual difference), engineering versus assembly (component architecture, caching, testing — repairable versus disposable), and aftercare (30–90 days of fixes and training versus handover-and-goodbye). The AED 5,000 and AED 50,000 quotes are rarely the same product.
Is AED 4,400 realistic for a real business website?
Yes — for up to six pages with custom design, a CMS, on-page SEO, Core Web Vitals tuning, and 30 days of support. What AED 4,400 does not buy: e-commerce, custom integrations, bilingual builds, or a custom web application. Below AED 4,000, "custom" claims should be treated as template installs until proven otherwise.
How much extra does Arabic add to the cost?
Roughly 30–45% on top of the base build for professional translation, RTL layouts, Arabic typography, and hreflang implementation. The expensive version is adding Arabic later to a site never designed for it — that runs two to three times the phase-one incremental cost. Specify RTL-readiness in the original scope.
Will I own the website outright?
You should — and you should get it in writing before paying a deposit. Full ownership means the source code, design files, hosting accounts, domains, and CMS credentials transfer to you on final payment, with an IP-transfer clause in the contract. "Perpetual licence" language, where the agency owns the code and rents it back to you, is the number-one lock-in pattern in the Dubai market.
What are the yearly running costs after launch?
Budget 20–30% of the build cost per year: hosting, domains, SSL, email, plugin licences, maintenance, and content updates. A AED 10,000 site typically costs AED 2,500–3,000 a year to keep fast, secure, and indexed. Content writing and translation sit on top of that if outsourced.
Can I start small and upgrade later?
Yes — and for most SMEs it is the right strategy. Start with the business-website tier, learn how customers actually use the site for six to twelve months, then invest the second budget where the data points. What makes this work is building on an extensible foundation (proper CMS, clean URLs, RTL-ready framework) so phase two is an extension, not a rebuild.
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