How do I choose a web design company in Dubai?

Choose a web design company on what you can check: price, process, ownership, results, references and the contract. That holds in Dubai as anywhere else. Ask each agency the same questions, get written quotes and compare the same lines side by side. An agency that will not answer has told you something.

We are a web agency ourselves, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and we build for UAE businesses remotely. We use ourselves as the example below, with the same questions you should put to everyone. Treat our answers as an example of what an answer can look like, not as the right one.

1. Is the price published?

An agency that shows its prices lets you compare before the first meeting. If the site only says “request a quote”, you know nothing until you have spent time on a call.

Check what the price covers. Is it a fixed price for the whole build, or an hourly rate where the total is an estimate? And what does the site cost every year afterwards? Domain, hosting and email should be separate lines. Ask whether the price includes VAT. The standard rate in the UAE is 5% under Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, and a quote that leaves it out will be 5% higher on the invoice.

Example: our packages are AED 2,900, AED 4,500 and AED 6,900 at a fixed price, excluding VAT. What drives the price of a website in general is covered in how much does a website cost in Dubai.

2. What does the process look like?

Ask how the work runs, step by step: who you talk to, when you see something, and how many rounds of changes are included. An agency with a clear process can answer straight away. Without one, the timeline is a guess.

Ask in particular when you approve design and copy, and what happens if you want to change something after you have approved it.

Example: we start with a 30-minute call and send a fixed-price quote by email within 24 hours. You follow the build on a shared preview link. The full sequence is on process.

3. Who owns the domain, the code and the content?

This is the check that costs the most when it goes wrong. The domain should be registered with your company as the registrant. You should be able to take the code with you if you change agency. Copy and images you paid for should be yours.

Ask directly: “If we stop working together, what do I take with me, and what does it cost?” The answer belongs in the contract, not only in the meeting.

Example: with us, the site is yours. We run hosting for you if you want us to.

4. Can the agency show measurable results?

Ask for results with numbers, a source and a period. “More customers” is a claim. “Clicks from Google went from X to Y between two periods, according to Search Console” can be checked.

Ask about the projects that did not go well, too. An agency that only shows its best cases is not showing you how it usually goes.

Example: our results so far are from Swedish clients. For one cleaning company in Gothenburg, clicks from Google rose from 1,453 to 3,933, or 170%, comparing 1 April to 29 June with 30 June to 27 September 2026, measured in Google Search Console. Across the nine clients we have Search Console access for, clicks rose 160% in total, and two of the nine went down. We do not yet have UAE cases to show, and we say so. Three of the Swedish cases are under work.

5. Can you contact the references?

A reference is not a logo on a page. Ask for the name and contact details of two or three clients, and call them. Ask whether the agency kept to price and timeline, and how it responds when something breaks.

A reference in your own industry is worth more than one in your own city. A clinic can tell you whether the agency understood booking flows. A contractor can tell you whether the site brought in quote requests.

6. What does the contract say?

Read the contract before you sign, and look for five things:

• Lock-in. How long are you tied in?
• Notice period. How long does it take to leave?
• Changes. What does a change after launch cost, and how are larger changes priced?
• Payment. When do you pay, and how much up front?
• Invoicing and VAT. Who issues the invoice, from which country, and how is VAT handled?

Example: we take 50% at the start and 50% at launch, because you should not pay the full amount up front to an agency you have not worked with. We invoice from our Swedish company. That works for UAE customers who are VAT registered and have a TRN, because a VAT-registered business that imports services accounts for the VAT itself under the reverse charge (article 48). We do not have a UAE registration yet, so we cannot take customers without a TRN for now.

Which questions should you ask every agency?

Bring the list to every meeting, and ask everyone the same questions.

1. What does the site cost in total, and is the price fixed?
2. Is VAT included in that price?
3. What does it cost per year after launch, line by line?
4. Who is the registrant of the domain?
5. Do I get the code and the content if we stop working together?
6. How many rounds of changes are included, and what do more cost?
7. How long from decision to published site?
8. Can you show results with a source and a period?
9. Can I talk to two of your clients?
10. Who does the work, and who do I contact after launch?

How do you compare the quotes?

Put the quotes in one table with the same rows. The differences show at once, and so do the missing lines.

Line	Agency A	Agency B
Price for the build, fixed or estimated
VAT included or excluded
Number of pages, and who writes the copy
Cost per year after launch
Domain registrant
Price for changes
Lock-in and notice period
Delivery time
Results with a source

An empty cell is a question to ask, not a no. If you get no answer to it, you have learned something about the agency.

More about how we work from Sweden is on Swedish agency, remote delivery.