Every free zone advertises a headline package price. Almost nobody starts a company for the headline package price. The gap is not dishonesty — it is that the quote covers the licence, and a company is not just a licence.
What the headline price usually covers
- The trade licence itself
- Registration and name reservation
- Often a flexi-desk or shared workspace
- Sometimes a visa allocation — but usually not the visa costs
What it usually does not
- Establishment card — required before you can process any visa
- Residence visas — entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, stamping, per person
- Health insurance — mandatory for every visa holder
- Bank account opening — free, but slow, and some businesses use a facilitator
- Attestation and translation of foreign documents
- Office upgrade, if your visa quota needs more than a flexi-desk
- Corporate tax and VAT registration, and the accountant to keep them straight
Price your actual setup
Licence, visas, office and the recurring costs — not just the headline package.
Calculate setup cost →The recurring costs nobody quotes
Setup is a one-off. Running the company is not:
- Annual licence renewal — often close to the original cost
- Visa renewals every two or three years
- Office or desk renewal
- Accounting and audit — audited financials are required for a Qualifying Free Zone Person, and are good practice regardless
- Corporate tax filing, within nine months of your year end
- VAT returns, usually quarterly, once registered
A company that costs AED 15,000 to open and AED 25,000 a year to keep alive is not a cheap company. Model year two, not just day one.
Why the cheapest package is rarely the cheapest company
The lowest-priced free zone packages tend to carry the tightest visa quotas and the least flexible office terms. If you need three visas and the package allows one, the upgrade often costs more than choosing a slightly dearer package at the start.
Work backwards from what you actually need — how many visas, which activities, which customers — and price against that. Choosing the licence first and discovering the constraints later is the expensive route.
The activity you licence matters
Your licensed activity determines what you may legally do, what visas you can obtain, and in some cases which free zones will accept you. Picking a vague activity because it sounds broad is a common mistake; picking the wrong one means amending the licence later, at cost.
Related tools
- Business Setup Cost Calculator — the full cost, not the headline
- Trade Licence Activity Finder — the right activity for your plan
- Formation Timeline Estimator — how long each step really takes