Dubai company setup cost calculator
Setup quotes in Dubai are quoted as one number and delivered as six. Pick your structure, activity, office and visa count and see year one broken into licence, formation, office, immigration, visas and government charges, plus what it renews at.
Full foreign ownership, fastest to set up, trades freely outside the UAE and with other free zones. Selling directly into the mainland market needs a distributor or a branch.
Estimated year one cost
AED 32,000
Annual renewal from AED 20,000 once the entity is running.
Free zone visa allocation is tied to your office package. A flexi desk typically supports one to three visas.
These are typical 2026 ranges across the main Dubai jurisdictions. Actual quotes vary by free zone, activity approval and whether external regulatory consent is required. Corporate tax applies at nine percent on profits above the published threshold, and VAT registration is required once turnover crosses the mandatory limit.
Free zone against mainland, in practice
The decision is commercial rather than legal. If your revenue comes from outside the UAE, a free zone gives you full ownership, a faster file and a lower running cost, and the office package is the lever that sets your visa allocation. If you need to invoice UAE customers directly, take retail space or bid for government work, mainland is the only clean answer, and full foreign ownership is now available across most activities.
The cost people underestimate is not the licence. It is the office and the visas. A flexi desk keeps year one lean but caps your team, and moving up a tier later triggers a fresh lease, a larger immigration card and a new quota. If you know you are hiring within twelve months, price the second tier now.
Most of our clients set up an entity and buy property in the same quarter, because both feed the same residency file. Check the residency angle with the Golden Visa checker, read the relocation guide for the full sequence, or start with an advisory call.
Figures are typical 2026 ranges across the main Dubai jurisdictions and are indicative, not a quote. Actual pricing depends on the free zone, the activity approval and any external regulator involved.
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