How Much Does a Website Cost in the UAE in 2026? Published Price Ranges Compared
By the Arksoft team · Updated · 4 min read
Short answer
Cost guides published by UAE agencies put a basic business website at roughly AED 1,500 to 18,000, a corporate site mostly between AED 6,000 and 45,000, an online store from about AED 8,000 to well over AED 100,000, and custom platforms often above AED 100,000. The ranges overlap and differ a lot between agencies, so compare quotes by scope rather than by headline price.
Website prices in the UAE by type of site
We collected the AED ranges that four agencies publish in their own 2025-2026 cost guides and put them side by side. These are their figures, not ours, and each agency defines the categories slightly differently, so read across a row for the spread rather than for one exact number.
| Type of website | Element8 (Mar 2026) | Redberries (Dec 2025) | Cubix (Jun 2026) | Tenet (Apr 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic or landing-page site | 1,500 - 6,000 | 3,000 - 7,000 | 3,000 - 15,000 | 3,500 - 18,000 |
| Small business site with a CMS | 4,000 - 10,000 | 8,000 - 15,000 | 10,000 - 30,000 | 7,000 - 55,000 |
| Corporate or custom-designed site | 6,000 - 25,000+ | 15,000 - 45,000 | 15,000 - 40,000 | 18,000 - 145,000 |
| Online store | 10,000 - 50,000+ | 20,000 - 80,000+ | 30,000 - 120,000+ | 8,000 - 110,000 |
| Portal, platform or enterprise site | 25,000 - 100,000+ | 100,000+ | 120,000 - 200,000+ | Not listed separately |
Why two quotes for the same website can differ ten times
The gap between the lowest and highest figures in the table is not mainly about profit. It is about scope that the word "website" hides: a template filled with your logo, and a site designed from scratch with written content, two languages and integrations, are both called a website.
Who does the work matters too. Cubix publishes UAE hourly rates of AED 90 to 130 for developers and AED 70 to 100 for designers, and puts freelancer projects at AED 3,000 to 30,000 against AED 15,000 to 120,000 for agencies. A lower quote often means fewer hours of design, content and testing, which is fine if you know that is what you are buying.
Element8 also notes that location inside the UAE makes little difference for comparable work. A website from a Sharjah, Dubai or Abu Dhabi company is priced on scope, not on the emirate.
What pushes the price of a website up
These are the items that move a quote the most. Ask for each one to be priced or listed separately:
- Arabic and English. A second language adds translation or writing, right-to-left layouts, Arabic fonts and a second round of testing, and each language needs its own URLs to rank in search.
- Custom design instead of a template. A design built for your brand takes days of design work before development starts.
- Number of page templates. Twenty pages built from three templates cost far less than twenty pages that each look different.
- Content. Writing, photography and video are often the largest hidden cost, and the main cause of delays.
- Features and integrations. Bookings, client portals, calculators, payment gateways, CRM and ERP connections each add development and testing time.
- Online store setup. Product count, variants, delivery rules by emirate, Tabby or Tamara instalments, and stock synced with a POS.
- Migration from an old site. Moving content and redirecting every old URL with traffic, so that search rankings are kept.
Running costs after the website goes live
The build price is not the full cost. Budget for these every year, and ask whether your quote includes any of them for the first year:
- Domain name: Tenet puts a domain at AED 50 to 500 a year, depending on the extension and registrar.
- Hosting: Tenet gives AED 40 to 500 a month, from shared hosting for a small site to managed cloud hosting for a busy one.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, security monitoring and small changes, either as a monthly plan or paid by the hour.
- Software subscriptions: a Shopify plan, premium WordPress plugins, a CMS licence, booking software or email marketing tools.
- Search and marketing: SEO, content and Google Ads are separate monthly budgets, and most sites need some of them to bring in enquiries.
- VAT: UAE VAT is 5%. Check whether a quote is stated before or after VAT.
How long a website takes to build
Time and cost move together. These are the timelines we work to at Arksoft, with the scope each one covers:
| Size | What it includes | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Starter website | Up to 6 pages in one language, designed for your brand, with contact forms and WhatsApp | 2-3 weeks |
| Business website | 10-20 pages in Arabic and English, a CMS, a blog, SEO setup and analytics | 3-5 weeks |
| Custom web platform | Bookings, client portals, calculators or system integrations | 5-8 weeks |
| Online store | From a starter Shopify store to a custom storefront for a large catalogue | 2-10 weeks |
Questions to ask before you accept a website quote
Two quotes are only comparable when they answer the same questions. Ask every company you speak to:
- Who owns the domain, the code, the design files and the content when the project ends?
- How many pages and page templates are included, and how many rounds of design changes?
- Is the Arabic version a full right-to-left site with its own URLs, or translated text in the same layout?
- Who writes the content, and what happens to the schedule if it is late?
- Can our team edit pages, add articles and change images without a developer?
- What SEO setup is included: page titles, structured data, sitemaps, redirects from the old site and Search Console?
- What do hosting, maintenance and support cost from the second year?
- Which costs are excluded, such as stock photos, plugins, payment gateway fees or VAT?
Why we do not publish fixed prices
Like most agencies in the UAE, we do not put fixed prices on our service pages, because the factors above change the scope more than any package can cover. After a short call we send a fixed quote and schedule for the scope we agreed.
If you already have quotes from other companies, send them over and we will tell you what each one includes and leaves out, whether or not you work with us.