In 2026, a small-business website in Dubai typically costs AED 4,000–12,000 for a simple one-to-five-page brochure site, AED 10,000–30,000 for a six-to-fifteen-page bilingual business site with forms and basic SEO, and AED 25,000–100,000 or more for e-commerce or custom functionality. Add AED 500–5,000 a year for domain, hosting and maintenance.
Those are typical ranges in the UAE market, not a price list. The spread is wide because "a website" can mean anything from a template filled in over a weekend to a custom-built platform with payment and inventory. This post explains what moves the number, what tends to be left out of quotes, and how to compare offers properly.
What actually drives the price of a website?
Six things account for most of the difference between a AED 5,000 quote and a AED 50,000 one:
- Number of pages. Each page needs structure, copy, images and a mobile layout. Ten pages is roughly twice the work of five.
- Languages. An Arabic version is not a translation pasted in. Right-to-left layout, Arabic typography and a second set of SEO titles add 25–40% to the build.
- Custom design vs template. A template gets you something standard fast. Custom design means layouts drawn for your content, and it costs more because a designer is actually designing.
- Functionality. Contact forms are cheap. Booking systems, payment gateways, product catalogues, member areas and CRM integrations are not.
- Content. If you supply finished copy and photos, the price drops. If the studio has to write, shoot and source everything, expect AED 2,000–8,000 on top.
- Who builds it. A freelancer, a small studio and a large agency carry very different overheads, and you pay for them.
Typical website price ranges in the UAE market
These are the bands we see most often when clients share competing quotes with us:
- Landing page or one-pager: AED 2,500–7,000. One scrolling page, one goal, usually built for an ad campaign.
- Brochure site (1–5 pages): AED 4,000–12,000. Home, about, services, contact. Fine for a clinic, consultancy or trade business that needs to look credible.
- Business site (6–15 pages, bilingual): AED 10,000–30,000. Separate service pages, Arabic and English, blog, forms, Google Business Profile and basic on-page SEO. This is what most Dubai SMEs actually need.
- E-commerce: AED 15,000–60,000. Depends heavily on product count, payment gateway, shipping rules and whether stock syncs to anything.
- Custom platform: AED 40,000–150,000 and up. Portals, marketplaces, anything with user accounts and business logic.
Anything far below these bands is usually a template with your logo dropped in, or a price that excludes things you will need. Anything far above should come with a very specific explanation. If you want to know what a good site at the business-site tier should contain, we have listed the 12 things every small-business site needs.
What is usually hidden in a website quote?
The headline number is rarely the whole cost. Check each of these before you sign:
- Domain and hosting. A .ae or .com domain runs AED 50–250 a year. Decent hosting is AED 300–1,500 a year. Some quotes bundle these at a mark-up; some leave them out entirely.
- SSL certificate. Should be free and included. If it is a line item, ask why.
- Copywriting and translation. Who writes the words? Who translates them into Arabic? This is the most common gap.
- Photography and stock images. Licensed stock costs money. Your own shoot costs more but converts better.
- Revisions. Two rounds are standard. Unlimited revisions usually means an unlimited timeline.
- Maintenance. Updates, backups, security patches and small edits. Typically AED 200–800 a month or a per-hour rate.
- Ownership. Ask directly: do I own the domain, the hosting account, the code and the content when I pay the final invoice? The answer should be yes without conditions.
Freelancer, agency or department: which is cheaper?
A freelancer is usually cheapest per hour and fine for a simple site, but you carry the risk if they disappear, and you become the project manager. A full-service agency charges the most and is built for large brands with large budgets. A small studio or an outsourced marketing department sits in between: fixed scope, fixed price, one point of contact, and the same team handles the website, the ads that send traffic to it and the print that carries the same brand.
The cheapest option is not the one with the lowest invoice. It is the one where the site gets finished, gets found, and does not need rebuilding in eighteen months.
How to get a fair website quote in Dubai
Before you ask anyone for a price, write down:
- The list of pages you need, with a sentence on what each one is for.
- Whether you need Arabic, and who will provide the translation.
- Every form, booking, payment or integration you expect.
- What content you already have: logo files, photos, copy, brand colours.
- Your deadline and the reason for it.
Send the same list to every studio. If the quotes come back with wildly different numbers, the brief was understood differently; ask what each one assumed. A good studio will respond with a fixed written scope and a fixed price before any work starts, and will tell you the delivery date. Ours is two weeks from kickoff, provided content and approvals arrive on time.
What a website costs with us
Our web design work is priced per project, in writing, before kickoff. A typical bilingual small-business site falls inside the business-site band above. You own the domain, the hosting, the code and every file. There is no lock-in and no monthly fee unless you choose ongoing marketing support. If you need the site live inside three days, that is possible for most brochure sites, with a rush fee. Send us your page list through get a quote and you will have a number within one working day.