Pricing

Across the four services on this site, budgets in 2026 typically fall between AED 2,500 and AED 250,000, depending entirely on which service and what scope. SEO retainers run AED 3,000 to 5,900 a month for most sectors, rising to a flat AED 15,000 for enterprise programmes, with a one-off technical audit from AED 2,500. Website builds are a single project fee of AED 5,500 to 35,000. Mobile apps range from AED 30,000 for a simple single-platform build to AED 250,000 for fintech-grade work. Google Ads has no build fee at all: you pay a management fee of AED 3,500 a month (or 15% of spend, whichever is higher) on top of a recommended minimum of AED 5,000 in monthly ad spend. The honest answer to “how much” is always “it depends on scope,” but the ranges above are real, current figures pulled directly from our own pricing guides, not marketing estimates. Location within the UAE also plays a role: agencies serving Dubai and Abu Dhabi tend to price at the top of these ranges because competition for talent and office space is higher, while a business in a smaller emirate targeting a purely local audience can often work with a smaller budget and still be competitive.

What do you actually get at each price level?

Each tier is a different combination of scope and attention, not just a bigger invoice. On SEO, Starter (AED 3,000) covers one location and low competition, Growth (AED 4,400) adds multiple services or locations, and Competitive (AED 5,900) is built for contested sectors like real estate, legal, medical and finance; the flat AED 2,500 audit is diagnosis only, with no ongoing work. On websites, a brochure build (from AED 5,500) gets you 5 to 10 template pages, a custom site (AED 15,000 to 35,000) covers 15 to 30 pages with bespoke design, and eCommerce (from AED 12,000) adds a product catalogue and checkout. App tiers scale the same way: a single-platform app (from AED 30,000) covers the basics, a dual-platform app with accounts and payments (AED 92,000 to 200,000) is the common mid-market choice, and fintech or marketplace builds (from AED 250,000) add compliance, real-time data and higher security requirements. For Google Ads, the fee buys strategy and optimisation, not clicks themselves — your ad spend is separate and paid directly to Google. Tiers for Google Ads scale by spend and complexity rather than a fixed package: a single-campaign account running at the AED 5,000 minimum suits testing one product or service, a mid-size account covering Search, Display and Shopping needs a larger budget and more hands-on optimisation, and a multi-brand or multi-location account requires dedicated account management to avoid budget being wasted across too many campaigns at once.

Why do agency prices differ so much for the same service?

The gap almost always comes down to what is included, not raw skill. A low quote on SEO often excludes technical audits, content production or reporting, leaving you to pay for them later as add-ons. A cheap website quote may reuse a generic template and charge extra for revisions, while a higher quote bakes in custom design and a fixed number of revision rounds. On apps, the biggest hidden cost is post-launch maintenance: some quotes include a year of bug fixes and updates, others charge from day one. Google Ads management fees vary because some agencies bundle creative and landing page work into the retainer while others bill it separately. Location and specialism matter too — an agency with genuine experience in a competitive vertical like real estate or fintech will price higher because the strategy work is harder, not because the platform costs more. Contract length is another lever worth asking about directly. Some agencies discount their monthly fee in exchange for a 12-month commitment, while flexible month-to-month arrangements usually cost more per month because the agency is carrying more risk of early cancellation. Neither structure is wrong, but you should know which one you are being quoted before comparing two numbers side by side.

Should you pay monthly retainer or per project?

It depends on whether the work is ongoing or finite. SEO and Google Ads are retainer services by nature: rankings and campaigns need continuous adjustment, so you pay monthly for SEO (AED 3,000 to 5,900, or a flat enterprise fee) and monthly for Ads management (AED 3,500 or 15% of spend). Website design and app development are project work with a defined end point, so they are priced and paid as a fixed project fee — AED 5,500 to 35,000 for a website, AED 30,000 to 250,000+ for an app — usually in milestone instalments rather than one lump sum. The exception is maintenance: once a website or app is live, ongoing maintenance reverts to a small monthly fee (AED 450 a month for websites, 15 to 20% of build cost per year for apps) to cover updates, security and bug fixes. If you are unsure which category your need falls into, the simplest test is whether the work ends when a deliverable is handed over (project) or whether it needs continuous attention to keep working (retainer). Many businesses end up running both models side by side: they commission a project-based website or app as a one-off build, then move straight into a monthly retainer for SEO or Google Ads to drive traffic to what they just built. Treating the build and the ongoing marketing as two separate budget lines, rather than expecting one to cover the other, avoids the common mistake of launching a new site with no plan, and no budget, to bring visitors to it.

How long before the spend pays for itself?

Timelines differ by service, and knowing them in advance stops you from judging a campaign too early or too late. SEO is the slowest to show results: expect 3 to 6 months for initial movement and 6 to 12 months for a genuine return, because Google needs time to trust a site’s authority. Google Ads is the fastest — traffic starts on day one, but 2 to 4 weeks of spend is needed before you have enough data to optimise properly and see a reliable cost per acquisition. A new website does not generate a return by itself; the payback period depends entirely on the conversion work layered on top, but most businesses recover a brochure site’s cost within 3 to 6 months of steady traffic. Apps take the longest to break even because the build cost is higher and user acquisition has to happen after launch, so budget 6 to 18 months post-launch depending on your marketing spend. In every case, the fastest path to payback is choosing the tier that matches your actual competition level rather than the cheapest option available. Businesses that run SEO and Google Ads together typically see a faster overall payback than either channel alone, because paid traffic can validate which pages, offers and keywords convert while the slower organic gains build in the background. By the time the SEO retainer starts paying off on its own, you already know which pages to prioritise because the ads have been telling you for months.