Mobile App Development Cost in Dubai & UAE: AED 17K–108K

What an app costs in Dubai and the UAE

A mobile app for iOS and Android costs AED 17,000 to 108,000 on our UAE price list, excluding VAT, and takes 4 to 12 weeks to build. That covers design, one Flutter or React Native codebase for both stores, the backend, testing and launch from your own developer accounts. The price is the same in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the northern emirates.

For context, the Dubai cost guides I read on 12 October 2026 put a basic app at about AED 18,000 to 147,000. Prices on this page were checked on that date.

Where an app lands in our band depends mostly on two things: how many kinds of user it serves, and whether money moves through it. The three bands below are my rough guide from apps we've scoped. They aren't separate prices.

What the app does	Typical AED, excl. VAT	Build time
Single-purpose: bookings, a loyalty card, a catalogue with enquiries	about 17,000–35,000	4–6 weeks
Takes payments and has an admin panel: orders, memberships, deposits	about 35,000–70,000	6–9 weeks
Two-sided or real-time: customers and providers, live tracking, in-app chat	about 70,000–108,000	9–12 weeks
App plus a separate back office: dispatch, a merchant portal, a link to your ERP	the app band, plus AED 24,500–245,000 for the back office	6–16 weeks, built in parallel

Build weeks exclude store review. The payment gateway integration is quoted on top once you have picked a provider.

The last row is where most "why is my quote so high" conversations end up. A delivery or marketplace business rarely needs just an app. It needs the app and the software behind it, and that second part is priced on our custom software, CRM and ERP cost page.

Not sure an app is the right first build? A business website is AED 2,900 to 17,000 on the same list, and the website development cost in Dubai guide helps with that decision.

What other Dubai guides quote (checked 12 October 2026)

On 12 October 2026 I read the cost guides that come up first when you search Google in the UAE. These are their published bands, with each page's own date. Where a page gives only US dollars, I converted at the dirham peg of USD 1 = AED 3.6725.

Guide (page date)	Basic or entry	Mid-range	Complex or enterprise
Decipher Zone (6 May 2026)	AED 18,000–92,000	AED 92,000–294,000	AED 294,000–735,000; enterprise to 1,470,000+
TekRevol (updated 2 Sep 2026)	AED 25,000–80,000	AED 80,000–220,000	AED 220,000–400,000; enterprise 400,000+
Apptunix (15 Apr 2026)	AED 25,000–40,000+	AED 40,000–80,000+	AED 80,000–200,000+; a Dubai agency team AED 146,800–300,000+
Netguru (5 Dec 2025)	Simple AED 25,000–80,000; agencies AED 146,800–220,200	not given	Enterprise AED 1,100,000–1,800,000+
Riseup Labs (16 Feb 2026)	Freelancer AED 25,000–45,000; boutique 45,000–90,000; large agency 70,000–120,000	AED 65,000–300,000 depending on vendor	AED 160,000–500,000+ depending on vendor
Code Brew Labs (16 Jul 2025)	Simple AED 25,000–35,000	Medium AED 35,000–50,000	Complex AED 50,000–80,000+
Cubix (3 Apr 2026)	Low-complexity row printed as AED 8,000–180,000 beside USD 5,000–50,000; its "basic app" row is USD 10,000–50,000 (AED 37,000–184,000)	not given	Summary says apps start at USD 40,000, about AED 147,000
Codingclave (our list)	AED 17,000–108,000	same band	same band, 4–12 weeks

Two other guides, Appinventiv's and sisgain.ae's, wouldn't load that day, so I've left them out rather than guess.

Why the floors run from AED 8,000 to AED 147,000

Three things explain most of the spread, and none of them is that one vendor is honest and another is not.

Conversion and copy slips. Cubix's low-complexity row prints an AED 8,000 floor beside USD 5,000, and USD 5,000 is about AED 18,400 at the peg. Apptunix prints AED 25,000 next to USD 20,000, which is closer to AED 73,500. Netguru gives yearly maintenance as 15 to 20 percent of the build in one paragraph and 15 to 25 percent in another. When a page shows two currencies that disagree, trust the dollar figure and convert it yourself.

Different buyers. A floor of AED 146,800, the figure Apptunix gives for a Dubai agency and Netguru for agencies generally, prices a full agency team with account managers and a Dubai office behind it. That suits a funded startup or a corporate buyer with a procurement process. TekRevol says most funded business apps land at AED 90,000 to 290,000. A salon or a trading company building its first app is a different buyer. Next to enterprise bands, a sensible SME quote looks suspiciously cheap.

Different meanings of "basic". Some guides count the admin panel and backend inside a basic app. Others price the app screens alone and add the backend later. Ask every vendor whether the figure includes the admin, the backend and store submission before you compare two numbers.

Several of these guides, like this one, are written by teams outside the UAE. Decipher Zone is based in Jaipur and Riseup Labs in Dhaka; we work from Lucknow. Code Brew Labs lists a Dubai office. None of these guides, ours included, is a binding quote. The figure to rely on is the one in a written scope.

Got a quote you can't make sense of? WhatsApp me on +91 92771 84741 with what the app should do, or forward the quote you already have. I'll tell you where it sits against our list and what I would ask the other vendor.

Dubai agency, India-based team or freelancer: what the hours cost

The same guides publish hourly rates. They show how far apart the markets are. They are less useful for comparing quotes.

Guide	Dubai agency, per hour	Offshore or India-based, per hour
Apptunix	AED 220–550	AED 73–147 (Asia, including India)
TekRevol	AED 180–500 (senior)	AED 60–200
Netguru	AED 50–100 junior; AED 150–250+ senior	not given
Cubix	USD 60–110, about AED 220–404 (UAE)	not given
Code Brew Labs	USD 60–70, about AED 220–257 (UAE)	USD 25–40, about AED 92–147 (Asia)

Apptunix also prices a whole app by who builds it: AED 36,700 to 110,100 with a freelancer, AED 73,400 to 220,200 with an offshore agency, and AED 146,800 to 300,000 or more with a Dubai agency.

What you get with each:

• A Dubai agency gives you people in the room and a vendor with a UAE trade licence. That matters if you are bidding on a tender that requires a UAE-registered supplier, or if you simply work better face to face.
• A freelancer is the right call for a small fix or one new screen. For an app with payments, an admin and a year of updates ahead, you take on the project management yourself, and the one person who knows the code may move on.
• A remote team such as ours costs less than a Dubai agency and comes with a project lead, design and QA. You give up in-person meetings.

We don't quote hours. We write the scope, then fix one price against it. If you are weighing NDAs, IP clauses and how remote delivery works day to day, read why Dubai businesses outsource software development to India.

What moves an app quote

Two honest quotes for "a booking app" can be AED 40,000 apart. The gap almost always comes from one of these.

Screens and user roles

Screens matter less than roles. An app used only by customers is one product. Add a provider side (a stylist, a driver, a technician) and you have two sets of journeys, two sets of permissions and twice the testing. Count your user types before you ask anyone for a price.

The backend and the admin panel

Every app that stores bookings, orders or accounts needs a backend and somewhere for your staff to manage it. A simple admin that lists bookings and lets you refund one is inside the app band. A back office with stock, dispatch rules or accounting exports is software in its own right. It sits in the custom-software band.

Arabic and right-to-left layouts

Bilingual is a design decision, not a translation job. Layouts mirror, icons that point flip, numbers and dates change format, and any screen with mixed English and Arabic text needs checking by someone who reads both. We build Arabic and English from the first wireframe and run a bilingual QA pass before release. You supply or approve the Arabic copy, because a machine-translated checkout loses more trust than it saves money.

Decipher Zone estimates that Arabic adds 15 to 25 percent to design time and 8 to 15 percent to development hours. Retrofitting Arabic into an English-only app always costs more than building both from the start.

Payment gateways

We integrate Stripe, Telr, PayTabs, Network International's N-Genius, and Tabby or Tamara for instalments. Gateway work is quoted on top of the app band after discovery, once we know your provider and how many payment flows the app needs. A one-off card payment is a smaller job than deposits, refunds and saved cards.

For comparison, Decipher Zone puts each gateway at USD 3,000 to 8,000, about AED 11,000 to 29,400, and Riseup Labs adds AED 20,000 to 40,000. The gateway's own transaction fees go to the provider, and the PayTabs vs Telr vs MyFatoorah comparison sets them side by side. Our payment gateway integration work starts with that choice.

Maps and live location

Showing a branch on a map is minor. Live tracking of a driver, routing and geofenced service areas are real work. The map provider also bills usage separately as the app grows.

WhatsApp, AI bots and property feeds

A WhatsApp or AI assistant alongside the app is a separate line on our list, AED 4,900 to 59,000. Real estate apps that pull listings from Property Finder or Bayut are quoted once we have seen the feed; Property Finder and Bayut integration has its own page.

Personal data, designed in from the start

Consent screens, account deletion and decisions about what you store on customers are cheaper to design in than to bolt on. We settle them in the wireframes, before a line of code. Changing them after launch means reworking screens, the database and the admin at once.

What different businesses usually build

Industry apps follow the same list, but most pair the app with a back office. This table is the one-line version.

Business	What usually gets built	Detail
Restaurant or cloud kitchen delivery	Customer and rider apps in the AED 17,000–108,000 band; restaurant portal, admin and dispatch in the AED 24,500–245,000 custom-software band	Food delivery app development
Grocery shop or supermarket	Customer app AED 17,000–108,000, with the staff app priced separately and a full store platform AED 24,500–245,000	Grocery app development in Dubai
Gym or fitness studio	Member app AED 17,000–108,000; the big running-cost question is which sales Apple and Google take a cut of	Gym and fitness app development
Cleaning, maintenance and other home services	Customer and provider apps in the app band; the admin with scheduling and dispatch AED 24,500–245,000	Home service app development
Courier or logistics operator	Driver app in the app band; dispatch and merchant portal AED 24,500–245,000	Logistics app development
Limousine or taxi fleet	Passenger and chauffeur apps AED 17,000–108,000 each; dispatch or a corporate portal AED 24,500–245,000	Taxi and limousine app development
Salon or spa	Booking app with deposits: AED 17,000–70,000, 8–12 weeks to both stores	Salon booking app cost in Dubai

Abu Dhabi and Al Ain app costs: what changes and what doesn't

Our price list is identical in every emirate and free zone. An app for an Abu Dhabi business costs AED 17,000 to 108,000 excluding VAT, takes 4 to 12 weeks, and runs on the same 40/40/20 payment schedule as one for a Dubai business.

The market is not identical. Apptunix's Abu Dhabi guide (3 February 2026) publishes USD 20,000 to 180,000 or more, about AED 73,000 to 660,000. It gives AED 73,000 to 550,000 for an Abu Dhabi-based team. Its basic tier alone starts at roughly AED 73,500, more than four times our floor. TekRevol's FAQ adds that government and enterprise work in Abu Dhabi prices higher, citing procurement standards and ADGM's separate data regime. It also says Sharjah and the northern emirates run slightly lower.

For an Abu Dhabi client, the build is the same. The paperwork around it is what changes. Any sector or free-zone rules on customer data are scoped with you and your compliance team before the price is fixed.

Al Ain sits in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Since January 2025, business registration there has been handled by the Abu Dhabi Registration and Licensing Authority (ADRA). Have the trade licence ready on day one. The Apple and Google developer accounts, the D-U-N-S record and the gateway application must match the legal name exactly as on the licence.

Pricing a website for an Abu Dhabi business instead? The website development cost guide covers it; the price is the same in every emirate.

Android app development price in the UAE: Android, iPhone or both

On our list, Android and iPhone together cost AED 17,000 to 108,000 from one codebase. An Android-only build is quoted on its scope, because dropping iPhone saves the iOS set-up and testing, not half the cost.

The UAE is an Android-majority market. StatCounter's UAE figures for September 2026 show Android at 73.3% and iOS at 26.68%. If you have read that iPhone holds most of the UAE market, those numbers say otherwise. Still, iPhone's share is large enough that very few consumer apps can skip it.

We build in Flutter or React Native, so one codebase produces both apps. For comparison, Decipher Zone publishes Android-only builds at AED 18,000 to 367,000, and Apptunix's Android guide gives AED 36,000 to 440,000.

Store fees and commission

Both stores charge to publish. The Apple Developer Program is USD 99 a year, about AED 364. Google Play is a one-time USD 25, about AED 92. Both are converted at the peg.

Commission is the larger line for some apps. Under Apple's Small Business Program, developers who earned up to USD 1 million in proceeds in the previous calendar year, or are new to the App Store, can enrol and pay 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases. The standard 30% rate applies to those above the threshold (Apple, read 12 October 2026).

Commission applies to digital goods sold in the app. Physical goods and services, a delivery order or a gym membership for example, are paid through your own gateway. Apple and Google take nothing from those. The gym and fitness app page works through exactly where that line falls.

Flutter, React Native or native

Flutter handles right-to-left layouts at the framework level, which makes it our usual pick for bilingual consumer apps. React Native fits when you already have a React website whose code the app can share. Fully native Swift and Kotlin apps are two separate builds, worth it mainly for heavy hardware features such as AR or Bluetooth devices, and quoted on their own. The full comparison is in Flutter vs React Native for UAE apps.

Year-one running costs

The build is the biggest cheque, not the only one. Budget roughly AED 21,000–62,000 a year on top of the build (hosting AED 2,400–7,200, maintenance AED 18,000–54,000, store fees about AED 456), before gateway fees and any store commission. Decipher Zone estimates year one at 1.5 to 2 times the build cost once marketing and third-party services are added.

The lines below are what you'll actually pay, with our prices where we sell that line.

Cost line	What to budget	Paid to
The build	AED 17,000–108,000, once, excl. VAT	Us
Apple Developer Program	USD 99 a year, about AED 364	Apple
Google Play registration	USD 25 once, about AED 92	Google
Hosting, backups and monitoring	AED 200–600 a month on our hosting and support plan	Us
App maintenance: OS and SDK updates, fixes, small changes	AED 1,500–4,500 a month, or AED 18,000–54,000 a year	Us
Gateway transaction fees	A percentage per transaction, set by the provider	Your gateway
Store commission	Only on digital goods sold in the app	Apple and Google
Version 2 features	Quoted once you know what users want	Us

A worked example: an app at AED 50,000 with payments and an admin, hosting at AED 300 a month and a maintenance plan at AED 2,000 a month comes to about AED 78,000 in the first year, plus gateway fees.

Bug fixes in what we built are free for six months after launch, so some clients start the maintenance plan later. The plan covers what free fixes don't: the yearly iOS and Android releases, SDK deadlines from the stores and the small changes every live app needs.

Apps that are left alone do get removed. Apple warns developers of apps that have gone three years without an update and have almost no downloads, and gives 90 days to update. Our app maintenance plans exist for exactly that. For ongoing feature work rather than upkeep, a dedicated developer runs AED 8,900 to 17,900 a month full-time or AED 4,900 to 9,500 half-time.

Want year-one figures for your own app? WhatsApp me on +91 92771 84741 with the app's purpose and how customers will pay. You'll get the build band and the monthly lines that apply to it, in AED.

How long it takes, and the queues outside the build

The build itself is 4 to 12 weeks on our list. A typical 9-week app with payments and an admin runs roughly like this:

1. Weeks 1–2: discovery and design. We map the user journeys, agree the scope and fix the price, then design the screens. You sign off a clickable prototype before code starts.
2. Weeks 3–7: build. App, backend and admin, demoed every week. New ideas that appear here are swapped for something of equal size or priced as version 2, which is how a 9-week project stays a 9-week project.
3. Weeks 8–9: testing and launch. Device testing, the bilingual QA pass if the app is in Arabic and English, a live payment test, then submission to both stores.

The delays that catch people out are rarely in the code. Apple and Google publish an organisation's app only once the company is enrolled. That needs a legal entity, a D-U-N-S number, and a website and email on the company's own domain. Personal Google Play accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with 12 testers for 14 days before publishing to production. The gateway checks your trade licence and your website before it approves you.

Publish under your company's own accounts from day one, so the app never belongs to a developer's personal login. We've written a step-by-step guide to the store paperwork. Begin it in week one and it overlaps with design.

Need something in front of users sooner? Our startup MVP builds are smaller first versions.

How you pay and what you own

These terms are the same for every UAE client:

• 40% at the start, 40% at a mid-project milestone we agree up front, 20% at launch. The milestone is something you can see, usually your sign-off on the working app before testing.
• Invoices in AED, paid by bank transfer to our AED account. No currency conversion on your side.
• A fixed price once the scope is agreed. It changes only if you change the scope, and any change is priced in writing before work starts.
• You own all code and IP on final payment, and the app sits in your Apple and Google accounts.
• Free bug fixes for six months after launch on everything we built.
• VAT: our prices exclude VAT. We are not UAE VAT-registered; VAT-registered buyers usually apply the reverse charge. Confirm with your tax adviser.

When not to build an app yet

An app is the right answer less often than app developers like to admit.

If you have not yet proven people will pay, test demand first. A waitlist page starts at AED 2,900 and a WhatsApp ordering or booking test at AED 4,900, both on the startup MVP page. Build the app once the test shows which journey customers actually use.

If you sell products, an online store usually comes first. Ours cost AED 5,900 to 49,000 and take 2 to 6 weeks, including the policy pages payment gateways check before they approve you. The e-commerce development cost page has the detail. An app makes sense once repeat customers order often enough to keep it on their phone.

And if customers deal with you once or twice a year, a fast website with booking does the job for AED 2,900 to 17,000.

Who builds it

Same team and same price list whether your business is in Dubai Silicon Oasis, JAFZA or any other free zone.

Codingclave Development LLP was founded in 2017 by Ashish Sharma and is still founder-led. We are based in Lucknow, India. We have no UAE office or UAE legal entity. UAE clients work with us over WhatsApp on +91 92771 84741, by email and on video calls. Our hours are Monday to Saturday, 08:30 to 17:30 Gulf time, which is 10:00 to 19:00 in India; the UAE is 1.5 hours behind India.

The proof we can point to: a 4.9 rating on Google from 92 reviews, which you can read on our reviews page, 200+ projects since 2017, and Top Rated status on Upwork. In the Gulf, we built the Dubai Digital Xchange website on Next.js with Sanity CMS, and the Sharqiyah International Race (Al Khobar) website on Next.js. Both are on our UAE case studies page. Neither is a mobile app, and I won't present them as one.

A Dubai agency is the better choice if a tender requires a UAE-registered vendor, if you want someone in your office every week, or if a regulator will audit your supplier. We would rather say that now than after a deposit.

Questions to ask any app developer, us included

Ten questions sort vendors quickly. Ask everyone on your shortlist, including us.

1. Is the price fixed once the scope is written, and what exactly would change it?
2. Does the figure include design, the backend, the admin panel and store submission?
3. Which Apple and Google accounts will the app be published under? The answer should be yours.
4. When do the code and IP become mine, and where does the code live during the build?
5. Is Arabic included, who writes the Arabic copy, and who checks the right-to-left screens?
6. Which payment gateway is in the quote, and are the integration and its fees separate?
7. What does the payment schedule look like, and what has to be finished before each payment?
8. What happens after launch: how long are bug fixes free, and what does maintenance cost per month?
9. Is VAT included, and is the vendor registered for UAE VAT?
10. Can I speak to the person who will actually build the app?

A vendor who answers all ten in writing is easy to compare. One who won't is telling you something too.

Get a fixed AED price for your app

Send three things: what the app should do, who uses it (customers only, or customers and staff or providers) and how money moves through it. WhatsApp me on +91 92771 84741 during our hours, Monday to Saturday 08:30 to 17:30 Gulf time, or use the free quote form. After a short discovery call you get a written scope with one AED figure, excluding VAT, and the weeks it will take. If the brief points to a website or a WhatsApp test instead of an app, I'll say so.

Sources

• StatCounter: mobile OS market share, United Arab Emirates
• Apple: App Store Small Business Program
• Apple: Developer Program enrolment
• Apple: App Store improvements (removal of outdated apps)
• Google Play Console: registration and the USD 25 fee
• Google Play: testing requirements for new personal accounts
• Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development: ADRA launch
• Dubai cost guides: Decipher Zone, TekRevol, Apptunix Dubai, Apptunix Abu Dhabi, Apptunix Android, Netguru, Riseup Labs, Code Brew Labs, Cubix

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Reviewed by Ashish Sharma, founder of Codingclave Development LLP. Our prices are from our current UAE list, set from our master list at GBP 1 = AED 4.90 (11 October 2026); monthly plans are set in AED, and the AED figure in your signed scope is fixed. Competitor figures, StatCounter and Apple's Small Business Program terms were read on 12 October 2026.