Public website offers serving Dubai include from AED 999 for a five-page site, AED 5,900 for a semi-custom site with up to ten pages, and bespoke development from AED 9,500. These are different advertised purchases, not an average price for the same website. Five-page offer, semi-custom and bespoke packages.
Your budget should cover the website’s actual job: presenting the business, generating enquiries, taking bookings or selling online. Then add the work needed to launch it and the costs of keeping it operational. Page count alone is a poor guide to the total.
A lower price can be sensible for a straightforward business presence. A larger investment needs a clear reason: more demanding functionality, stronger design and content, or work your team would otherwise arrange separately.
What public website prices tell you
We reviewed public website pricing from 12 providers serving Dubai or the wider UAE in September 2026. This is a non-random sample of advertised offers, not paid invoices or a Dubai market average. Starting prices, package allowances and tax treatment differ; private proposals may differ too. The examples are grouped by the work advertised, with those differences kept visible.
| Website requirement | Advertised examples in the sample | What the price comparison tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Basic business presence | A five-page site starts at AED 999; another basic offer starts at AED 1,200; a small-business WordPress offer starts at AED 2,000. Five-page package, basic offer, WordPress offer. | Check content, editing access and hosting. These are separate offers with different allowances. |
| Template-based or semi-custom business site | AED 2,900 for up to five template-based pages; AED 5,900 for up to ten semi-custom pages; a theme-based corporate offer from AED 7,499; a multipage template-based package at AED 14,999 plus VAT. Design tiers, corporate offer, multipage package. | Using a template does not make two proposals equivalent in scope or price. |
| Ecommerce store | An entry offer starts at AED 3,600. A package with up to 50 product uploads is AED 6,500–15,000. Another storefront package with up to 50 SKUs is AED 23,999 plus VAT. Entry store, store package, storefront package. | Product allowances can look similar while design, systems and support differ. |
| Custom design or bespoke development | A Sharjah provider advertises premium custom design from AED 3,000; a Dubai bespoke package starts at AED 9,500; another custom-build offer starts at AED 15,000. Custom-design offer, bespoke package, custom-build offer. | Ask what “custom” means for that purchase: visual design, development or both. |
| Integrated booking portal | A tourism portal with a booking engine and supplier integrations is advertised from AED 22,000. Portal offer. | This is an operational system, not just a larger brochure website. |
The same research found an umbrella website starting price of AED 2,555, including hosting and SSL setup, without a directly comparable page allowance attached to that starting figure. Website starting offer. A headline price needs its scope before it can become your budget.
What about a website for AED 499?
One provider advertises a one-time AED 499 basic package, limited to up to five pages, with first-year domain and hosting. Its ecommerce package is AED 1,999 one-time, with up to 100 products. These are current advertised packages, not evidence that every business can launch its required website for those amounts. Basic and ecommerce package details.
Check that the actual enquiry or checkout journey, content work and handover you need fit the offer. A low fee is useful only if it buys the work you need; a higher fee is not proof of better delivery.
Ask whether applicable tax is included. Keep first-year inclusions separate from renewals, and compare the total for your own brief.
How Lunasol approaches website pricing
Lunasol quotes website design and development by scope. Its public offer is custom design without templates, with WhatsApp, booking and lead-form journeys defined for the project.
The commercial advantage is being able to connect the website with content, SEO and Meta Ads through one team when those services are commissioned. For a business planning to promote the site, that makes it possible to plan the message, the landing page and the campaign together.
Website development is separately scoped. You can ask for the website itself, then identify which supporting services belong in the launch budget and which should follow later. Discuss your website with Lunasol.
What makes the build cost change?
The job the website must do
A site that explains your services and collects enquiries is a different purchase from one that takes payments, manages availability or gives customers a private account.
Consider a Dubai home-maintenance business. A visitor could submit a request and wait for the team to arrange an appointment. Alternatively, the visitor could choose an available slot, pay a deposit and receive an automatic confirmation. The second version needs a booking process and connected systems, not simply a different button.
Describe what happens after the visitor clicks. That is where an apparently simple request can become additional development work.
Design and content, not just page count
Ten pages built from a shared layout are different from ten individually designed pages. A polished homepage also does not tell you whether service pages, forms and mobile layouts receive the same attention.
Written content is another budget decision. Supplying approved text and suitable images gives the project a different starting point from asking the agency to research, write and produce them. Product uploads similarly depend on whether names, descriptions, prices, variations and images are ready to use.
If you need original photos or video, include production in the budget. Do not assume that space for a video on a page includes the work of making that video.
Languages and customer journeys
If your UAE customers need both English and Arabic, price the actual work: translation or original writing, layout adaptation, menus, forms, confirmation messages and testing. A language selector alone does not answer who prepares and checks the second language.
For online selling, specify the payment provider, delivery areas and any connection to stock or order systems. An integration with an existing service and a newly built operational system require different amounts of work.
Replacing an existing website
For a replacement website, budget for content migration, changed-URL redirects and launch monitoring where needed. Google’s site-migration guidance explains why moving an existing site needs separate attention.
Avoid treating a redesign as a blank page if there are working parts worth keeping. Improving the right pages may be a better use of budget than replacing everything.
Budget separately for launch and running costs
Use this calculation:
First-year website budget = build fee + launch work outside the build + first-year running costs not already included.
Keep advertising spend and ongoing marketing in a separate budget, even if the same agency manages them. That lets you see what you are paying to create and operate the website, and what you are paying to attract customers.
Ask which stage the fee covers: approved design, implemented build, launch or an operational site with working customer journeys. Budget for the remaining work and ongoing responsibilities.
For launch, check content, translation, domain/DNS connection, platform configuration, integrations, testing and any agreed measurement setup. A submitted enquiry, WhatsApp click, booking and purchase are different actions; price the tracking you actually want commissioned.
For running costs, separate the domain, hosting or platform, paid apps, maintenance and future content changes. Establish who pays renewals and who handles defects, backups and recovery. These responsibilities can sit with your team or a provider; they do not all have to be included in the build fee. Count each cost once.
For a store using Shopify’s built-in online storefront, hosting is included in the platform plan. Agency support, apps and other services can still be separate purchases. Shopify hosting information.
For an online store, distinguish connecting the payment gateway from paying the transaction fees. The development quote may cover setup, while the payment provider charges when customers pay. Stripe’s UAE pricing illustrates this separate transaction-based cost.
Then ask for the second-year running cost. A first-year inclusion does not explain the renewal price, what maintenance covers or what a future design change will cost.
Where should you spend first?
Fund the customer journey before decorative extras. A service business needs visitors to understand its offer, trust the information and make contact. A store needs people to find the right product and complete a purchase.
If the budget is limited, launch a smaller complete website. You could prioritise the key services and enquiry route, then add further content or features when there is a clear use for them. Keep the functions necessary to serve customers in the first phase.
Do not pay for a fully custom system simply because “custom” sounds more professional. Ask which requirement needs it and whether a supported existing tool can do the job.
Also distinguish initial search setup from an ongoing SEO programme. A website can have sensible page titles, useful content and accessible navigation without a monthly SEO campaign being included. Following good practice does not guarantee a particular Google position. Google’s SEO guidance.
The same applies to enquiries. Website work can improve the route from interest to contact, but results also depend on the offer, traffic and how the business handles the response.
Get a price for the website you need
Before requesting a budget, prepare a short description of your business, the main action visitors should take, the pages you need, any existing website and the content you can supply. Add language requirements and the tools the site must connect to.
Ask for two clear amounts: the cost to launch the agreed site and the expected cost to keep it running. Keep optional improvements visible so you can choose when to fund them.
If your website needs to work alongside content and customer acquisition, Lunasol can bring those services together around the same business goal. Share your website brief with Lunasol and ask for a scope-based proposal covering the build and any supporting work you want commissioned.