Website cost in Dubai, explained with real AED prices

Why two quotes for one site rarely match

When people ask how much a website costs in Dubai, they usually have two or three quotes in hand that don't line up. The numbers can be thousands of dirhams apart for what sounds like the same job.

Usually it isn't the same job. One quote includes hosting, business email and someone writing the pages. Another covers the design and nothing else, and the rest arrives later as separate invoices.

So compare what's inside each quote before you compare totals. The website design price in Dubai that matters is what you'll have paid twelve months after launch, not the figure on page one of the proposal.

The choices that move the price

Page count is the obvious one. A three-page site takes a fraction of the time of a fifteen-page site with a page for every service and every area you cover. Each extra page needs its own layout and text, plus its own title and description for Google.

Custom design or template comes next. A template is a ready-made layout with your logo dropped in. It's cheaper because most of the work was done before you showed up, but you share that look with everyone else who bought it. Every site we build is custom designed, which is part of why our prices start where they do.

E-commerce is the big jump. Once a site needs a shopping cart, online payments, product pages and stock control, there's far more to build and far more to test. A store with 300 products is a different project from a brochure site with a contact form.

Then content. Someone has to write the words and supply the photos. If you write them yourself, it costs you a few evenings. If you'd rather not, copywriting is a separate line on most quotes, ours included, at AED 399. A logo works the same way. Ours is AED 499 on its own, or three concepts come inside the Business package.

And there's the ongoing side, which people forget to price at all. Hosting, the domain, SSL and email renew every year. Someone also has to make changes when your prices or opening hours move.

What a low quote often leaves out

A cheap quote isn't automatically a bad one. But check these four things, because they're where the second invoice usually comes from.

Hosting renewal. Plenty of entry-level packages give hosting for a short period only, and ours is no exception. The AED 999 offer comes with the domain free for a year but only one month of hosting. After that the site needs paid hosting or it goes offline. Our renewal is AED 599 a year and covers hosting, SSL, domain renewal and business email.

Email. A Gmail address works, but info@yourcompany.ae looks more settled on a quote or an invoice. Ask whether business email is included and how many accounts you get.

SSL. That's the padlock and the https in the address bar. Browsers flag sites without it as not secure, so it isn't really optional any more. Ask if it's included and whether it renews automatically.

Content. A quote that says five pages may mean five empty pages waiting for your text. Ask who writes them.

Worked examples using our own packages

Real numbers make this easier. These are our current package prices in AED, applied to the kinds of businesses we hear from most weeks.

A new cleaning company wants somewhere to send customers who found them on Instagram. The Special Web Offer at AED 999 gives three custom pages and a free domain for a year, with one month of hosting. Add hosting renewal at AED 599 and the first year comes to about AED 1,598, then AED 599 a year after that.

A clinic or consultancy with six services needs more room. Premium at AED 1,999 covers up to 8 pages, domain and hosting for a year, free SSL, 8 business email accounts and 10 stock photos. If nobody on the team wants to write the service pages, copywriting adds AED 399. That's AED 2,398 up front and nothing else due until hosting renews in year two.

A contractor who needs a logo as well as a page per service fits Business at AED 2,999. That's up to 15 pages, 3 logo concepts, domain, hosting and SSL for a year, 12 email accounts and 15 stock photos. Buying a logo separately alongside Premium would come to AED 2,498 for fewer pages, so if you need both, the bigger package often works out better value.

Shops sit in their own bracket. Enterprise at AED 4,999 adds a shopping cart and payments with unlimited pages. E-Commerce Business at AED 7,999 is built for catalogues of up to 300 products in 30 categories, with stock control and logo design included.

You can price your own mix with our instant price tool, or see every package side by side in the packages section.

When AED 999 is enough, and when it isn't

It's enough more often than agencies like to admit. If most customers find you through word of mouth or Instagram and then message you on WhatsApp, three pages that say who you are, what you do and how to reach you will do the job. The site is there so people can check you're real before they call.

It falls short if you want to show up in Google for several different services. Each service needs its own page with its own content, and three pages won't hold that. It won't work for selling online either.

One more case. If you already know you'll want ten pages within six months, start on Premium. Moving up later costs more than buying the right size first.

Buy for the next twelve months, not the next five years.

Budgeting for year two and beyond

The build is a one-off. Running costs aren't. Put hosting renewal in the diary every year, which with us is AED 599 including SSL, domain renewal and business email.

Changes are the cost people forget. Staff leave. Ramadan hours need updating on the website as well as on Google Maps. Care & support at AED 399 a month covers those edits, along with backups, security checks and priority WhatsApp support.

But if you only need something changed twice a year, a monthly plan probably isn't worth it for you. Ask us for a one-off price instead and keep the AED 399 a month.

Send us a rough outline of what you need on WhatsApp or call +971 52 292 3875, and we'll price it for you.

Questions people ask