A small business website in Dubai starts from about AED 4,900, a custom-designed site with a blog and Arabic from about AED 7,500, and an online store from AED 4,500. Portals, web apps and MVPs start from AED 18,500. Those are our fixed package prices; the rest of this guide explains why other quotes for the same brief can land far above or below them.
Put a number on your own brief first: the free website cost calculator turns a site type, page count and feature list into a cost range in AED, so you have something to hold the quotes against.
How much does each type of website cost in Dubai?
Here is what we charge, by type of site. Every price is fixed once the scope is written, and you own the code and hosting from day one.
| Type of site | What it usually includes | Delivery | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Site | Up to 7 pages, WordPress or Next.js, mobile-first, on-page SEO and schema, form to email or CRM, WhatsApp click-to-chat | 2-3 weeks | from AED 4,900 (USD 1,335) |
| Business Site (most chosen) | Up to 15 pages designed in Figma, CMS and blog, English plus Arabic RTL layout, technical SEO, GA4 events, CRM form integration | 4-6 weeks | from AED 7,500 (USD 2,040) |
| Starter Store | Shopify or WooCommerce, up to 50 products, UAE gateway, Tabby or Tamara, 5% VAT, courier rates | 3-4 weeks | from AED 4,500 (USD 1,225) |
| Growth Store (most chosen) | Custom-coded theme, up to 500 SKUs, Arabic storefront, Google Merchant feed, abandoned-cart flows | 6-8 weeks | from AED 7,900 (USD 2,150) |
| Custom Platform or MVP | Portal, dashboard, quoting tool or React/Next.js app with user roles and API integrations | 8-12 weeks | from AED 18,500 (USD 5,040) |
Full inclusions are on the web development packages and ecommerce packages. Hosting, licences and content writing beyond the agreed pages are separate.
Why do quotes for the same brief vary this much?
Ask five Dubai agencies to quote the same website and you can get five numbers that do not look related. One comes back at a few thousand dirhams, another at six figures, and the brief was identical every time. That rarely means four of them are trying it on. It usually means the brief described what the site should look like and said nothing about what it has to do.
Two quotes can both say "eight-page corporate website" and describe very different amounts of work. The gap opens over how much of the site is genuinely unique, who writes and migrates the content and how many other systems the site has to talk to.
Both ends of the market are real. A freelancer installing a bought theme and swapping the colours is doing a job that takes days. A studio designing a content model, building a custom front end, migrating two hundred old pages with redirects and wiring a payment gateway to an ERP is doing a job that takes months. The word "website" covers both.
That is also why the cheapest quote is often the most expensive one. When the scope is thin, the work does not disappear. It comes back as change requests, priced after you have committed.
What actually drives the price of a website?
Seven things, roughly in order of impact.
| Driver | Cheaper version | More expensive version | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page templates | One layout reused everywhere | Distinct layouts for home, services, case studies, blog and careers | Every unique template is design and front-end work no other page reuses |
| Content | You supply final copy and images | Copy written, photography arranged, old pages migrated with a redirect map | Content is often the largest line and the one most often left out |
| Design origin | Marketplace theme, colours swapped | Interface designed around your content, then built | A theme is a fixed cost. A designed build is measured in screens |
| Integrations | Contact form to an inbox | CRM, payment gateway, ERP, delivery partner, booking engine | Each system brings its own edge cases and failure states |
| Selling | Brochure site | Variants, VAT invoices, COD, instalments, shipping rules | Selling turns a website into software |
| Languages | English only | English and Arabic with right-to-left layouts | RTL is a second layout, not a translated file |
| Performance and search | Whatever the theme gives you | Core Web Vitals budget, structured data, redirect map | These need measuring and iterating after the pages exist |
How many unique page templates do you need?
Count them before you brief anyone. Most sites need far fewer than the page count suggests, and the difference between fifteen pages and fifteen templates is most of the budget.
A forty-page site built on six templates is a medium job. A twelve-page site where every page is a bespoke layout is a bigger one. When an agency quotes by page count rather than template count, they are padding or guessing.
List your pages and mark which ones share a structure. All service pages usually share one. All case studies share one. The homepage, about page and contact page are typically unique. Now you have a number two agencies can quote against. It takes about twenty minutes and it is the most useful thing a buyer can do to make quotes comparable.
Who is producing the content?
Whoever it is, they need to be named in the quote. Content is the main reason website projects slip, and most quotes leave it vague.
There are three versions and they cost very differently. You supply finished copy and images, which is cheapest and slowest if you have never done it. The agency writes from interviews, which costs more and moves faster. Or you have an existing site with hundreds of URLs that must be carried across without losing rankings, which is a migration project with its own redirect map and its own risk.
Migration is the one buyers underestimate most. Every old URL needs a decision: keep, merge or redirect. Get it wrong and traffic that took years to build disappears in a week. If your current site has meaningful search traffic, ask how redirects are handled and who signs off the mapping.
What does the site have to connect to?
Every external system adds cost, and the cost is in the edge cases, not the connection.
A payment gateway is the successful payment, the declined card, the refund, the partial refund, the customer who closes the tab mid-payment and the reconciliation report your accountant needs. A CRM connection means deciding what happens when the CRM is down. A courier means handling the address format they insist on.
That is why API integration is quoted separately on any honest proposal. If your quote lists integrations as one bullet with no detail, ask what happens in each failure state. Our S-Line build shows the difference: a static brochure site became a real-time shipment tracker and quotation tool, and almost all of that work sat behind the interface.
Does the site have to sell?
If money changes hands on the site, you are buying software, and the price reflects it. An ecommerce build carries work a brochure site never touches.
You need product variants and stock rules, 5% VAT on a compliant tax invoice, at least one UAE payment gateway, probably cash on delivery and increasingly Tabby or Tamara. You need shipping rules by emirate, an abandoned-cart path and a returns flow. Each is a decision, a build and a test cycle. If you are still choosing a platform, Shopify vs WooCommerce in the UAE compares the running costs.
The good news: this cost can be measured against revenue in a way a brochure site cannot. The bad news: a store quoted like a brochure site gets finished twice.
What yearly costs do quotes leave out?
Almost every comparison ignores year two. Ask for the running cost alongside the build cost.
- Domain renewal and SSL
- Hosting, sized for your traffic and, if needed, in a UAE region
- Platform subscription if you sell on Shopify, plus monthly app fees
- Paid plugin, theme or extension licences, usually annual
- Updates, backups and monitoring, either by someone on your team or a care plan: ours run at AED 550, 1,100 or 2,200 a month
A store on a subscription platform pays every month regardless of sales. A self-hosted store pays less in licences and more in attention.
Also ask what happens if you leave. If the code, hosting account and domain are not in your name, the exit cost is whatever the agency decides later. We put ownership in the client's name before development starts, and you should expect that in writing from anyone you hire. Who owns your website and your leads has the checklist.
How do you compare two quotes that are far apart?
Do not compare the totals. Compare four things and the totals usually explain themselves:
- The number of unique templates
- Who writes and migrates the content
- The itemised list of integrations, with failure handling
- The monthly cost after launch
If one quote is a third of another, one of those answers will differ, and now you can decide whether you want the difference. Sometimes you do not. A business that genuinely needs five pages and a contact form should not buy a custom platform.
What you should not accept is a single number with no breakdown. It cannot be compared and it cannot be held to. If you are still shortlisting, what to ask a web agency in Dubai before you sign covers the contract side, and the case studies show what each finished project included.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a website cost in Dubai?
A small business website of up to 7 pages starts from about AED 4,900 (USD 1,335). A custom-designed site of up to 15 pages with a blog and an Arabic layout is around AED 7,500 (USD 2,040). Online stores start from AED 4,500 (USD 1,225), and portals, web apps or MVPs start from AED 18,500 (USD 5,040). Template setups can be cheaper and large custom platforms run to six figures.
Why do Dubai web agencies quote such different prices for the same website?
Because the brief usually describes how the site should look, not what it has to do. Quotes diverge on the number of unique page templates, who writes and migrates the content, how many systems the site connects to and whether it takes payment. Ask every agency to price those four things and the gap usually explains itself.
What ongoing costs should I budget for after the website is built?
Domain renewal, hosting, SSL, any paid plugin, theme or app licences, a platform subscription if you sell on Shopify, and maintenance. A care plan that covers updates, tested backups and monitoring runs from AED 550 a month. Ask every agency what year two costs before comparing year one.
How long does it take to build a website in Dubai?
A focused business site of up to 7 pages takes 2 to 3 weeks once content is ready. A custom-designed site of up to 15 pages takes 4 to 6 weeks. Online stores take 3 to 8 weeks depending on catalogue size, and portals or MVPs take 8 to 12 weeks. Content and gateway onboarding are the usual causes of delay.
Is a fixed price or an hourly rate better for a website project?
A fixed price, as long as it is attached to a written scope that lists templates, content, integrations and what happens after launch. Hourly billing suits open-ended work such as ongoing changes. A fixed number with no breakdown is the one to avoid, because it cannot be compared or held to.
Get a fixed price for your website
Send your page list, any systems the site has to connect to and whether it sells. You get a written scope, a timeline and one fixed number back within one business day. Send your brief or see how we build on the web development page.
