Key takeaways
- A professional business website typically costs from about $1,500 for a landing page to $30,000 for a large bilingual CMS-driven site, while custom web apps usually start around $25,000.
- A landing page takes 1–3 weeks, a corporate site 4–8 weeks, a CMS-driven site 6–12 weeks and a custom web application 3–6 months or more.
- The biggest price drivers are template versus custom design, bilingual Arabic/English support, content readiness, SEO foundations and integrations.
- A website is not a one-off purchase: budget for the domain, hosting, maintenance, licences and content updates after launch.
- Preparing your goals, sitemap, content, brand assets and budget range before contacting an agency leads to more accurate quotes and faster delivery.
A professional business website in the UAE or Saudi Arabia typically costs from about $1,500 for a simple landing page to $30,000 for a large bilingual CMS-driven site, while custom web applications usually start around $25,000 and can exceed $100,000. Timelines range from one to three weeks for a landing page to three to six months or more for a custom web app. The price depends on the number of pages, design depth, bilingual Arabic/English content, integrations, and whether you use a template or a custom build.
What types of business websites are there?
Landing page
A single focused page for one campaign, product or service, built to turn visitors into leads. It is ideal for launches, ad campaigns and events.
Corporate website
Typically 5–15 pages: home, about, services, projects, team, careers and contact. Its job is credibility, showing clients, partners and investors that you are established and professional.
CMS-driven website
A site your team updates without a developer, using a content management system (CMS), for news, articles, service pages, branches or job postings. Larger organisations, multi-branch businesses and anyone publishing content regularly usually need this level.
Custom web application
When the site must do something, such as client portals, booking engines, quote requests, dashboards, marketplaces or workflows connected to your internal systems, you are building a web application, not just a website. Our guide on when your business needs a web application, not just a website explains the difference in detail.
How much does a business website cost?
The ranges below are indicative for a professional team in the region and vary with scope, content readiness and integrations.
| Type | Typical scope | USD | AED / SAR | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | One page, lead form | $1.5k–$5k | 5.5k–18k / 5.6k–19k | 1–3 weeks |
| Corporate site | 5–15 pages | $5k–$15k | 18k–55k / 19k–56k | 4–8 weeks |
| CMS-driven site | Many pages, blog, CMS | $10k–$30k | 37k–110k / 37.5k–112.5k | 6–12 weeks |
| Custom web app | Portals, logic, integrations | $25k–$100k+ | 92k–367k+ / 94k–375k+ | 3–6+ months |
What drives the price up or down?
Template or custom design
A premium theme or website builder gets you online quickly and cheaply, but you share the look with many other sites and may hit limits on performance, flexibility and Arabic layouts. A custom design reflects your brand precisely, is built around your content, and usually loads faster because it contains only what you need. Many businesses start with a well-configured template and move to custom as they grow; others need custom from day one for brand or technical reasons.
Bilingual Arabic and English
A proper bilingual site is more than a translation plugin. It needs mirrored right-to-left layouts, Arabic typography that reads well, separate URLs for each language, correctly tagged language versions for search engines, and content written natively for each audience. Planned from the start, this adds a meaningful but manageable amount of design, development and content work; retrofitted later, it costs considerably more.
Content
Content is the most underestimated item. Who writes the copy in both languages? Who supplies photos of your team, office and projects? Professional copywriting, photography and video can be a significant share of the total budget, and missing content is the most common reason website projects stall.
SEO foundations
Every professional site should include technical SEO basics: fast loading, clean URLs, a proper heading structure, meta titles and descriptions, structured data, an XML sitemap and correct language tags for Arabic and English. These are far cheaper to build in than to fix later. Speed matters too; see our Core Web Vitals guide.
Features and integrations
Forms connected to your CRM, WhatsApp chat buttons, booking calendars, maps, payment gateways, careers portals or member areas each add effort. Anything involving user accounts or payments moves you towards web application territory.
What ongoing costs should you expect?
- Domain name: usually a modest annual fee; local domains such as .ae or .sa are registered through accredited registrars and may require documents.
- Hosting: from a few dollars a month for small static sites to a few hundred for high-traffic sites or application hosting. Choose a provider with good performance in the region.
- Maintenance: security updates, backups, uptime monitoring and small edits, often covered by a monthly support plan.
- Licences: premium themes, plugins, fonts or CMS subscriptions, where applicable.
- Content and SEO: fresh content, new pages and ongoing optimisation to keep ranking.
A website is not a one-off purchase. Budget for the first year of hosting, maintenance and content updates alongside the build, so the site stays secure, fast and current.
What should you prepare before contacting an agency?
Having these ready leads to more accurate quotes and faster delivery:
- Goals: what should the website achieve: leads, bookings, recruitment or credibility?
- Audience and languages: who are your visitors, and do you need Arabic, English or both?
- Sitemap draft: a simple list of the pages you expect.
- Content status: what text, images and videos exist, and who will produce the rest?
- Brand assets: logo files, colours, fonts and brand guidelines.
- References: two or three websites you like, and why.
- Integrations: CRM, booking, payments, WhatsApp and analytics.
- Budget range and deadline: even a rough range helps the agency propose the right solution.
How long does it really take?
Timelines depend as much on you as on the agency. The design and build phases are predictable; delays usually come from slow content delivery, multiple rounds of stakeholder feedback and late changes to scope. Naming one decision-maker on your side and delivering content early can shorten a project by weeks.
The bottom line
Expect roughly $1,500–$5,000 for a landing page, $5,000–$15,000 for a corporate site, $10,000–$30,000 for a bilingual CMS-driven site, and $25,000 or more for a custom web application, with timelines from a few weeks to several months. The right choice depends on what your website needs to achieve, not only on its size. When your site needs real functionality, explore our web application development services.
Planning a new website or a redesign? Book a free consultation with the TaahadSoft team, and we will help you define the scope and give you a clear estimate for cost and timeline.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a company website cost in the UAE?
A professional corporate website of 5–15 pages typically costs $5,000–$15,000, or roughly AED 18,000–55,000. A landing page costs less, while a large bilingual CMS-driven site usually costs $10,000–$30,000. These are indicative figures that vary with scope, design and content.
How long does it take to build a business website?
A landing page typically takes 1–3 weeks, a corporate site 4–8 weeks and a CMS-driven site 6–12 weeks. Custom web applications usually need 3–6 months or more. The most common causes of delay are late content delivery and multiple rounds of feedback.
Is a website template better than a custom design?
A template is faster and cheaper and works well for early-stage businesses, but you share the look with many sites and may hit limits on performance, flexibility and Arabic layouts. A custom design reflects your brand precisely and usually loads faster. The right choice depends on your budget, brand importance and technical needs.
Does a bilingual Arabic and English website cost more?
Yes. A proper bilingual site needs mirrored right-to-left layouts, suitable Arabic fonts, separate URLs per language and content written for each audience. Planned from the start, the extra cost is manageable; adding Arabic later costs considerably more.
What are the yearly costs of a website after launch?
Ongoing costs include the domain name, hosting, maintenance such as security updates and backups, any theme, plugin or font licences, and content and SEO updates. The amount depends on the site’s size, traffic and type of hosting.
