Total Cost of Setting Up a Business in Dubai: 2026 Breakdown

The honest answer to "how much does it cost to start a business in Dubai" is that it depends heavily on jurisdiction, activity, and structure, but breaking down the actual cost components rather than quoting a single headline figure gives a far more useful picture for anyone actually budgeting a launch.

The core trade license fee itself varies considerably: a straightforward professional license for a sole establishment with a single activity generally starts around AED 10,000 in government fees alone, while a multi-activity commercial LLC can run AED 25,000 or more, with each additional business activity beyond the initial selection adding its own supplementary charge (activity-specific fees range roughly AED 150 to AED 15,000 depending on the specific activity chosen). Free zone packages tend to bundle license, facility, and sometimes visa costs together, with lean setups (license, flexi-desk, one visa) starting around AED 15,000 to 25,000 for the first year, while a mainland LLC with a physical office typically runs higher, often AED 35,000 to 60,000 or more once office rent, the Ejari-linked Market Fee (2.5% of annual rent), and other mainland-specific charges are factored in.

Beyond the license itself, real budgeting needs to include trade name reservation (AED 620-900), MOA notarization for LLCs and partnerships (AED 1,000-2,000), a Local Service Agent fee for mainland professional licenses (commonly AED 5,000-15,000 annually), and the establishment card for immigration registration (AED 1,500-2,500). Visa costs sit on top of all this as a separate, per-person expense, generally AED 4,000-7,000 for an investor or partner visa and a broadly similar range per employee, meaning a founder budgeting for themselves plus two employees needs to add roughly AED 12,000-21,000 in visa costs alone to whatever license package they've chosen. Given how many guides quote only the headline license fee and leave out these additional layers, entrepreneurs planning a UAE launch should build a complete first-year budget covering license, name reservation, notarization, establishment card, and visas per person, rather than being surprised when the actual total lands meaningfully above whatever single number first appeared in a search result.