Quick answer: Sharjah SMEs pay AED 1,500 to 17,000 for a business website, AED 5,000 to 50,000 and more for a store and AED 24,500 to 245,000 for a portal, before 5 per cent VAT. Before signing with a web design company in Sharjah, check its licence and TRN, get line-item quotes, and put ownership, Arabic scope and speed targets in the contract.
Most Sharjah SMEs come to a web design company with two questions: what should this cost, and how do I avoid paying twice? The first has a clear answer once you separate the scope from the emirate. The second depends on what you check before signing: who the agency is, what the quote leaves out, who will own the site and how Arabic will be handled. This guide gives the 2026 price ranges, the Sharjah licence and Arabic rules that shape your brief, the steps to launch and a checklist to run before any deposit.
Key takeaways
- Published 2026 ranges start at about AED 1,500 for a basic site; a custom business website is listed at AED 2,900 to 17,000 before VAT.
- For the same scope, Sharjah isn’t meaningfully cheaper than Dubai; low prices usually mean a smaller scope, not a better deal.
- Your licence (SEDD mainland, Eitimad or a free zone such as SPC) changes what the website must do.
- If you sell online, website information must be in Arabic at minimum under Cabinet Decision No. 66 of 2023.
- Put ownership of the domain, hosting, code and design files in the contract before you pay a deposit.
Sources: Khaleej Times, Sharjah Census 2025 results, 24 June 2026 · Gulf News, Sharjah economic indicators 2025, updated 18 February 2026 · Gulf Today, SEDD first-half 2026 licences, 12 July 2026 · DataReportal, Digital 2026: United Arab Emirates
What Sharjah SMEs pay for a website in 2026
Few agencies publish Sharjah-only prices, so the table combines a price list written for Sharjah buyers with a UAE agency’s published tiers. Treat them as market ranges, not quotes.
| Website type | Published range, AED | Build time quoted | Typical SME fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic business site | 1,500 to 5,000 | Not stated | A few pages, template design, contact form |
| Self-edited WordPress site | 2,200 to 11,000 | 1 to 2 weeks | Owner updates content, simple services business |
| Custom business website | 2,900 to 17,000 | 1 to 3 weeks | Clinics, trading firms and consultancies with a custom design |
| Starter online store | 5,000 to 15,000 | Not stated | Small catalogue, one payment gateway |
| Online store, full range | 5,900 to 49,000 | 2 to 6 weeks | Larger catalogues, delivery zones, payment and courier links |
| Custom portal or B2B system | 24,500 to 245,000 | 6 to 16 weeks | Ordering portals, accounts, ERP or CRM integration |
| Website care plan | 600 to 1,800 a month | Ongoing | Updates, backups and fixes after launch |
| .ae domain name | 125 a year | Same day | Your own address, registered in your company’s name |
Sources: Codingclave, website development cost in Sharjah, updated 12 October 2026 (prices exclude VAT) · Redspider, business vs ecommerce website in the UAE, 13 August 2026 · AEserver, .ae domain registration. The last column summarises these sources.
VAT sits on top of these figures. The UAE introduced VAT on 1 January 2018 at 5 per cent, and a business must register once its taxable supplies pass AED 375,000, so an established agency’s invoice will usually add it. Ask whether a quote is before or after VAT; on an AED 12,000 build the difference is AED 600.
Source: UAE Ministry of Finance, VAT
For hosting, maintenance and red flags in cheap quotes, our guide to what a website costs in Dubai applies almost line for line in Sharjah. OXEDGE’s own 2026 price bands, which start above the cheapest published quotes, are on the OXEDGE pricing page.
Is Sharjah cheaper than Dubai?
Not for the same scope. Element8, a UAE agency, answers the question directly in its 2026 cost guide: for comparable work, a website isn’t meaningfully cheaper in Sharjah or the northern emirates. What Sharjah and the northern emirates do have is “a higher share of SME projects and local studios at accessible price points”, and agencies in Dubai routinely serve Sharjah clients as well.
Source: Element8, website cost in the UAE, 3 July 2026
A low Sharjah price usually means a smaller scope, not a better deal. The lowest published Sharjah offer one price list found was an online store from AED 1,499, with no inclusions listed. A price like that rarely covers Arabic, custom design or anything after launch.
Source: Codingclave, competitor prices checked 12 October 2026
A low Sharjah price usually means a smaller scope, not a better deal.
What moves the price
| Factor | Lower end | Higher end |
|---|---|---|
| Design approach | Purchased theme with your logo and colours | Custom design for each page type |
| Arabic and right-to-left | English only, or Arabic pages added later | Arabic designed alongside English and tested on phones |
| Content | You supply final text and photos | Copywriting, translation and photography included |
| Integrations | Contact form by email and a WhatsApp link | Payment gateway, courier, CRM or ERP connections |
| Delivery zones | Sharjah City only | Separate zones for the east coast and central region |
| After launch | Handover and a login | Monthly care plan with backups and fixes |
Sources: Codingclave, Sharjah delivery zones, integrations and care plans · Element8, Arabic right-to-left design and build effort
Delivery zones are a genuinely local line. The 2025 census counted 1,899,202 people in Sharjah city, 61,936 in Khorfakkan and 59,401 in Kalba, and licences issued in Khor Fakkan rose 126 per cent in 2025. A store that ships to the east coast or to Al Dhaid and Al Madam needs those zones and fees set up at checkout, which is extra build and test time.
Sources: Khaleej Times, Sharjah Census 2025 · Gulf News, Sharjah regional licence growth 2025 · Codingclave, Sharjah delivery zones
Your Sharjah licence shapes the brief
Where your company is licensed decides what you can sell online and which rules the website must meet. Tell the agency at the first meeting.
In Sharjah: Mainland licences come from the Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD), which issued 4,597 new licences in the first half of 2026, including 167 e-commerce and 233 Eitimad licences. Eitimad covers home-based and electronic businesses run through social networks, for UAE nationals living in Sharjah. SPC Free Zone, set up in 2017 under the Sharjah Book Authority, says it hosts more than 20,000 companies, lists e-commerce packages from AED 5,750 plus government fees, and can issue a dual licence with Sharjah mainland. Other free zones include Shams, SAIF Zone, Hamriyah and SRTI Park. Emiratis are 11 per cent of residents.
Sources: Gulf Today, SEDD first-half 2026 licences · Gulf News, Eitimad licence for online businesses · SPC Free Zone, why SPC Free Zone, 18 September 2026 · Codingclave, Sharjah free zones · Khaleej Times, Sharjah Census 2025
OXEDGE has a direct stake in this: our company, Oxedge FZE LLC, holds its trade licence from SPC Free Zone, so the Sharjah licensing questions below are ones we have answered for ourselves.
| Your set-up | What it means for the website |
|---|---|
| SEDD mainland licence | Check that your licensed activities cover what the site sells; the federal personal data law applies to every form |
| SEDD e-commerce licence | Arabic product information, policies and invoices, plus payment and delivery for Sharjah addresses |
| Eitimad home licence | Sales often start on Instagram and WhatsApp, so the site must link cleanly to both and be easy to update yourself |
| SPC or another free zone | Confirm with your zone whether you may sell to mainland customers; a dual licence is one route SPC offers |
Sources: Gulf News, Eitimad and e-commerce licences · SPC Free Zone, dual licence · Pinsent Masons, UAE consumer protection regulation · u.ae, data protection laws
Arabic, data and ownership: the legal minimums
Three sets of rules become website scope for most Sharjah SMEs. This is general guidance, not legal advice; confirm your position with SEDD, your free zone or a lawyer.
Arabic for anyone selling online. The executive regulation of the federal Consumer Protection Law, Cabinet Decision No. 66 of 2023, was issued on 3 July 2023 and took effect on 14 October 2023. As Pinsent Masons summarises it, data, advertising, contracts and website information displayed by e-commerce providers must be in Arabic, with other languages allowed in addition, and each product’s details must appear in Arabic as well as its original language.
Source: Pinsent Masons, UAE consumer protection regime revamped
Consent for personal data. Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on personal data protection came into force on 2 January 2022. It prohibits processing personal data without the owner’s consent, subject to exceptions, and requires companies to secure it. For a website, that means a privacy notice, a consent line on forms and encrypted form submissions.
Source: u.ae, data protection laws
Who owns the code and design. Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2021 on copyright came into force on 2 January 2022 and protects computer programs and applications as a specific type of work. Gowling WLG advises anyone commissioning developers to cover these works in the agreement, so write the transfer of custom code, design files and content into the contract.
Source: Gowling WLG, the new UAE copyright law 2021, 22 March 2022
Arabic is cheapest when planned from the first wireframe. Our article on twelve things that break in Arabic-first UX lists what to test. When you brief agencies, ask for bilingual website design with Arabic in the first layouts rather than a translation phase at the end.
How OXEDGE does this
We scope Sharjah SME websites around your licence, your customers and your languages before any price is fixed.
- A discovery session that maps your licence, what you sell and the channels your customers use, including WhatsApp and Instagram.
- Arabic and English designed together, with native-speaker review of pages, forms and error messages.
- A line-item proposal that separates design, build, Arabic, integrations and the yearly running cost.
- Mobile speed targets in the acceptance criteria, and the domain, hosting and code registered in your company’s name.
From first call to launch: the steps
Published build times are 1 to 3 weeks for a business site and 2 to 6 for a store, but the clock starts only once scope and content are settled. These eight steps keep a project inside those ranges.
Source: Codingclave, build times
1. Check the licence and TRN. The National Economic Register lets you look up economic licences, and SEDD is one of the licensing authorities it lists. If the agency charges VAT, check its tax registration number with the Federal Tax Authority’s TRN verification service and make sure the name matches the contract.
Sources: u.ae, National Economic Register · Federal Tax Authority, VAT and TRN verification
2. Write a one-page brief. The goal, pages, languages, integrations and a budget band, so proposals answer the same question.
3. Compare line-item quotes. Design, build, Arabic, content, integrations and the care plan as separate lines, with VAT shown.
4. Sign a contract that covers ownership and acceptance. Payments should follow deliverables you can test, and the contract should define “finished”, including mobile speed. Google’s Core Web Vitals set good thresholds at 2.5 seconds for the main content to load, 200 milliseconds to respond to a tap and a layout shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.
Source: web.dev, Web Vitals
Payments should follow deliverables you can test, and the contract should define “finished”, including mobile speed.
5 to 8. Discovery, design, build and handover. Discovery fixes the sitemap and who writes each page; design covers both languages; testing happens on real phones; handover leaves the domain, hosting, analytics and code in your company’s accounts.
What to ask a web design company in Sharjah before you sign
Our guide to choosing a web design agency has a full scorecard and RFP template that works in Sharjah too. Run this shorter list on the final quote, before any deposit. If you’re still deciding whether to hire an agency at all, our comparison of a freelancer, an agency or an in-house team sets out what each costs and who owns the site afterwards.
0 of 10
- The agency’s licence shows on the National Economic Register or its free zone, and the name matches the quote
- If the quote adds VAT, the TRN checks out on the FTA’s verification service
- The quote lists design, build, Arabic, content, integrations and care plan as separate lines
- It states whether prices include or exclude 5 per cent VAT
- The Arabic scope is written down: which pages, who translates and who reviews
- The domain, hosting and analytics will be registered in our company’s name
- The contract transfers custom code, design files and content to us on final payment
- Acceptance includes mobile speed targets and testing in both languages
- Payments are tied to deliverables we can see and test, not only to dates
- The care plan, its monthly cost and its response times are agreed before launch
Nine or ten: sign. Six to eight: close the gaps in writing first. Five or fewer: ask for a revised proposal.
Watch for warning signs too. A price sent before anyone asked about your business is a template. An agency that registers the domain in its own name “to make it easier” owns your address. A proposal silent on life after launch costs you later.
To see the kind of bilingual websites and stores we design, browse the OXEDGE portfolio, then ask any agency you’re considering for live examples you can open on your own phone.
Questions Sharjah buyers ask
How do web design service prices compare in Sharjah?
Published 2026 price lists put a Sharjah business website at AED 1,500 to 17,000, an online store at AED 5,000 to 50,000 and more and a custom portal at AED 24,500 to 245,000, before 5 per cent VAT. A comparable brief costs about the same as in Dubai; Sharjah simply has more small studios at entry-level prices.
How do I choose a web design firm in Sharjah?
Check the agency’s licence and TRN, get line-item quotes, and put ownership, Arabic scope and speed targets in the contract. What matters is that it understands your licence and builds Arabic properly.
Do I need a web design company based in Sharjah?
No. Agencies in Dubai routinely serve Sharjah clients. What matters is that the agency understands your licence and builds Arabic properly.
Does my Sharjah website have to be in Arabic?
If you sell online, yes: website information from e-commerce providers must be in Arabic at minimum under Cabinet Decision No. 66 of 2023. For a services firm that only takes enquiries it’s a strong choice rather than a stated duty; check your own case with a lawyer.
How long does a small business website take?
Published build times are 1 to 3 weeks for a business website and 2 to 6 weeks for an online store, once scope and content are agreed.
Can I sell online with an Eitimad licence?
Eitimad covers home-based and electronic businesses that run through social networks, for UAE nationals living in Sharjah. Check with SEDD that your licensed activities cover selling through your own website before you build a full store.
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