If you ask five agencies in Dubai for a price, you may get five very different numbers. That is not always because one is cheating you. Websites come in different sizes, and the quotes often cover different things.
This guide gives you our real prices, explains what moves them, and lists what is often missing from a quote. All prices are in AED and ex VAT. UAE VAT of 5% is added on the invoice.
The short answer
At XMA Media, a service website is from AED 8,000 and an online store is from AED 15,400, both ex VAT. A service site takes 3 to 4 weeks. A store takes 5 to 6 weeks. The final price depends on the site type, the number of pages and the features you need.
Those are starting points, not a promise for every job. A bigger site costs more because it has more to design, write, build and test.
What decides the price of a website
The price is mostly decided by size and by what the site has to do. The main drivers are the number of pages, whether people can buy on the site, how many products you sell, and whether you need two languages. Each one adds design and build work.
Here are the questions that change a quote most:
- How many pages? A five page site and a twenty page site are different jobs.
- Does it sell things? A store needs product pages, a cart and a checkout. A service site only needs to get a visitor to act.
- How many products? A store with 20 products is smaller than a store with 400.
- Do you need Arabic and English? A second language means a second set of pages to write and check.
- Who writes the words? Copy takes time. Some agencies include it. Others bill it on its own.
- Do you need a content system? If your team will edit pages, the site needs a CMS built in.
Our website prices at a glance
Our service website starts from AED 8,000, a corporate site from AED 11,200, and an online store from AED 15,400. Store prices rise with the number of products. These figures come from our rate card and exclude VAT. Your own quote is set after we see your pages and features.
A store with more than 500 products, a marketplace or a custom web app is quoted case by case. We do not put a number on those until we have seen the scope.
Service website or online store
A service website exists to make one thing happen: a call, a booking, a message or a sale of a single service. An online store sells products from a catalogue. If you sell products, you need a store. If you sell your time or a service, a service site is usually enough.
The difference matters for price. Our own build times reflect this: 3 to 4 weeks for a service site and 5 to 6 weeks for a store. A store needs product pages, a short checkout and rules for shipping and tax.
If your store runs on Shopify, we have a separate page for Shopify stores.
What a website quote often leaves out
Many quotes look cheap because they leave things out. Before you say yes, ask what is not included. The usual gaps are copywriting, payment setup, hosting care after launch, a second language, and search work. Each one can add cost later.
On our own store builds, some items are separate lines:
- Payment gateway setup
- Cash on delivery
- Shipping and tax rules
- Product variants, such as size or colour
Other common gaps:
- Copywriting. At XMA Media, website copy is priced as its own line, per page.
- Arabic pages. Arabic is handled by our Arabic production service. We write it from scratch and do not translate the English.
- Search ranking. Getting found on Google and in AI answers is a separate SEO service, not part of a website build.
- Care after launch. A site that nobody looks after can break. We offer care plans for this.
None of these is wrong to buy separately. The problem is only when you find out after you sign.
What a care plan costs
A website care plan is a monthly fee that keeps the site running after launch. Our Basic plan is from AED 1,050 a month ex VAT. It covers uptime, backups, updates and security. It does not cover content changes, so you pay extra if you want us to edit pages.
There are two bigger plans:
- Standard adds four support hours a month, content updates and a monthly report.
- Priority adds a faster response, out-of-hours support, eight developer hours and ongoing optimisation.
We list the Basic price publicly. For Standard and Priority, ask us for a quote.
Platform fees are separate from the build
The build fee pays for design and setup. Your platform has its own monthly bill. If you use Shopify, for example, you pay Shopify directly. As of October 2026, Shopify lists its Basic plan at USD 19 a month billed yearly, or USD 27 a month billed monthly (source: shopify.com/pricing).
Those figures are in US dollars and can change, so check the page before you budget. Apps, themes and a domain name may add to the monthly total. Ask any agency for a list of every running cost you will pay after launch.
How to compare two quotes
To compare two quotes fairly, put them side by side and check the same six things on each: pages, products, languages, copy, payment setup and care after launch. A lower number often means fewer of these are included. Then ask for the build time in writing.
A short checklist you can send to any agency:
- How many pages and products does the price cover?
- Is the copy written and included?
- Is Arabic included, and written from scratch?
- Who sets up payments, shipping and tax?
- What happens in the first three months after launch?
- What is the build time, and when does it start?
If an agency cannot answer these in a short reply, that tells you something.
How we work at XMA Media
We write the copy, design the pages and build the site. We build four websites at a time, so a start date is something you reserve.
We do not guarantee sales or leads. A website cannot promise that, and an agency that does has priced the risk into your fee or is about to disappoint you. What we commit to is delivery: a date, a scope and a price, in writing.
Want a number for your own project? See our website design service and our pricing page, or send us the link to your current site and we will tell you what we see.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions Dubai business owners ask most about website cost. Each answer uses our own prices from our rate card, in AED and ex VAT, and our published build times. For a figure on your own project, send us your current link.
How much does a website cost in Dubai?
At XMA Media a service website starts from AED 8,000 ex VAT and an online store from AED 15,400 ex VAT. The final price depends on the site type, the number of pages and the features you need.
How long does it take to build a website?
A service website takes 3 to 4 weeks at XMA Media. An online store takes 5 to 6 weeks.
Does the price include VAT?
No. Every price in this post is in AED and excludes VAT. UAE VAT of 5% is added on the invoice.
Does the price include writing the website copy?
No. At XMA Media website copy is its own line, priced per page. Ask any agency whether copy is in the quote.
What does a website care plan cover?
The Basic plan, from AED 1,050 a month ex VAT, covers uptime, backups, updates and security. It does not cover content changes. Standard and Priority plans add support hours and faster response.
Can I get a website for less than AED 8,000?
Smaller pieces exist on our rate card, such as a single landing page or a one-page site. Our service website starts from AED 8,000. Ask us which one fits your goal.
Will a new website bring me sales?
We do not guarantee sales or leads, and no honest agency can. A site gives your ads and search traffic a clear place to land. What we guarantee is delivery, on a date, in writing.
