2026 pricing guide
What a Dubai company actually costs
Formation firms love a 'from' price that triples by checkout. Here is the whole bill: licence, visas, office, banking and the renewal that follows, itemised for every route.
The four numbers that make up your setup
Every Dubai formation, in any zone, reduces to four buckets. Get these right and no quote can surprise you.
| Bucket | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Licence and registration | AED 12,500 to 25,000 | The zone's annual fee plus one-off registration. Recurs at renewal. |
| Visas and immigration | AED 4,500 to 6,500 per person | Establishment card first, then permit, medical, Emirates ID each. |
| Workspace | AED 0 to 25,000+ | Entry licences include a registered address. Flexi desks from AED 6,000. |
| Extras | AED 0 to 5,000 | Attestation for corporate shareholders, external approvals, couriers. |
Cheapest free zone licences in Dubai right now
Indicative first-year totals for a zero-visa licence, cheapest first. Every figure is confirmed in writing before you pay.
| Free zone | From (year 1) | Setup time |
|---|---|---|
| Meydan FZ | AED 12,500 | 2 to 5 working days |
| DUQE | AED 12,500 | 3 to 5 working days |
| IFZA | AED 12,900 | 3 to 5 working days |
| Dubai South | AED 13,500 | About 1 week |
| DSO | AED 14,500 | About 1 week |
| Expo City | AED 15,000 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Maritime City | AED 15,000 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Gold & Diamond Park | AED 15,000 | 1 to 3 weeks |
The full table of all 24 zones lives on the free zones page. Cheapest is not automatically best: banking reputation, visa scaling and activity fit are worth a few thousand dirhams more often than founders expect.
Worked examples
Solo consultant, one visa, no office
- IFZA licence, zero-visa package: AED 12,900
- Visa allocation upgrade and establishment card: AED 2,000
- Residence visa, medical, Emirates ID: AED 5,500
- Year one: roughly AED 20,400. Renewal near AED 17,000.
E-commerce brand, two visas, flexi desk
- Meydan licence with e-commerce activities: AED 14,500
- Two visas all-in: AED 11,000
- Flexi desk: AED 6,000
- Year one: roughly AED 31,500.
Trading company selling into the UAE, three staff
- Mainland DET licence and approvals: AED 15,000
- Shared Ejari office: AED 10,000
- Three visas: AED 16,500
- Year one: roughly AED 41,500, with unrestricted onshore trade.
Costs founders forget
- Bank minimum balances. Traditional banks expect AED 25,000 to 50,000 maintained; digital banks like Wio run far lighter.
- Corporate tax registration. Mandatory even at 0%. Registration itself is free; missing it draws a AED 10,000 penalty.
- Accounting. Audited or management accounts underpin your tax filing. From about AED 300 a month for a small company.
- Attestation. Corporate shareholders need parent documents attested, typically AED 2,000 to 4,000 per document set depending on origin country.
Questions
Cost questions, answered without the asterisks
What is the absolute minimum to start a company in Dubai?
Around AED 12,500 to 13,000 for a zero-visa licence at Meydan, DUQE or IFZA. That gets a legal UAE company with a licence and registered address. Add roughly AED 5,500 when you want your own residence visa, and factor renewal at a similar level next year.
Are there hidden costs I should expect?
The usual surprises are the establishment card, document attestation for corporate shareholders, medical and Emirates ID fees per visa, and bank minimum-balance requirements. None of them are hidden in our quotes: every line item appears in writing before you commit.
How much does a residence visa cost through my company?
Budget AED 4,500 to 6,500 per person all-in: entry permit, status change, medical test, Emirates ID and visa stamping. Free zone packages sometimes bundle the first visa at a discount, and dependants cost slightly less than employees.
What does renewal cost each year?
Typically 80 to 100 percent of the year-one licence fee, since registration one-offs fall away but the licence and any workspace recur. Visas renew every two years. We flag the renewal figure next to every quote so year two never ambushes you.
Is mainland more expensive than a free zone?
Usually, by AED 5,000 to 10,000 in year one, driven mostly by the Ejari office requirement. In exchange you trade onshore without a distributor and scale visas without package limits. Whether that premium pays depends entirely on where your revenue comes from.
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