For UAE firms with more work than developers
Hire dedicated developers in UAE on Gulf hours, with no visa or gratuity to pay
You have months of work queued and nobody free to clear it.
From AED 2,200excl. VATSee pricing →
- 08:30–17:30 GST, Monday to Saturday
- No permit, insurance or gratuity
- Code in your GitHub from commit one
- 4.9 on Google (76 reviews)
- Founder-led, 200+ projects since 2017
- ★ 4.9 on Google (76 reviews)Lucknow, India profile
- 200+ projects since 2017
- Top Rated on Upwork, 100% Job Success
Founder-led delivery
Overview
A dedicated developer from Codingclave works through it in your own repository, Monday to Saturday, 08:30–17:30 Gulf Standard Time, with no work permit, visa, insurance or gratuity on your books. The developer sits on our team in Lucknow, India, and works remotely only: we have no UAE office, and nothing here involves UAE employment. A full-time developer is AED 8,900–17,900 a month before VAT, and a short discovery call on WhatsApp (+91 92771 84741) settles where your role sits in that band. Below, the fee is set against the full bill for employing a developer in the UAE.
By Ashish Sharma, founder · Updated 12 October 2026
Quick answer
Is it cheaper to employ a developer in Dubai or hire a dedicated remote developer?
In cash, employing usually wins. At Indeed's UAE software engineer average of AED 6,341 a month (updated 30 Sep 2026), salary, a Category 2 work permit (AED 1,200 plus AED 50 for two years), basic insurance at AED 320 a year and gratuity accrual come to about AED 6,840 a month in year one, before visa, Emirates ID, medical, recruitment and a laptop. Agencies publishing dedicated-developer rates for UAE buyers charge about AED 8,800–24,000 a month at 160 hours. Remote wins when the work runs for months rather than years, when you cannot wait to recruit, or when you would rather not carry a two-year permit and a gratuity liability.
- Employ at the Indeed average: about AED 6,840 a month before visa and recruitment
- Published agency rates: about AED 8,800–24,000 a month at 160 hours
- Gratuity starts only after a year of service, then 21 days' basic pay a year
- Our developers work 08:30–17:30 GST, six days a week
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Remote from Lucknow, with the founder on the call
Of the five agency rate pages we compared, not one states plainly which office its developers work from. Ours work in Lucknow.
Who you are dealing with
Codingclave Development LLP, founded in 2017 by Ashish Sharma and still founder-led. Ashish takes the discovery call, prices the work and stays involved once it starts.
What we do not have in the UAE
No office, licence, staff, phone line or legal entity, and you sponsor nobody. Work runs on WhatsApp first, with email and video calls when a screen needs sharing.
Every emirate on the same terms
A company licensed in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or Ajman works with us exactly as a Dubai company does.
When you should hire inside the UAE instead
If the role needs on-site work, UAE security clearance, a UAE-resident employee or a government post that requires presence in the country, a remote developer is the wrong answer. We will say so on the first call.
Our other work for UAE firms is on the UAE overview.
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What a UAE employee really costs next to one monthly fee
Every line below except salary exists only because the developer is on your UAE payroll. Where an authority's fee varies, the table says so rather than printing a total nobody can check.
| Cost line | What you pay as the employer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | AED 6,341 a month average for a software engineer (139 reported salaries); range AED 2,526–15,916. Dubai AED 6,223, Abu Dhabi AED 10,139 | Indeed UAE, updated 30 Sep 2026 |
| Work permit (two years) | AED 250, 1,200 or 3,450 by MOHRE establishment category, plus an AED 50 application fee, excluding tax and collection charges. New firms start in Category 2 | MOHRE; Gulf News |
| Entry permit, residence visa, medical test, Emirates ID | Set by ICP or GDRFA and the health authority. We found no verified all-in total, so ask your PRO | Varies by authority |
| Health insurance | Mandatory in all seven emirates since 1 Jan 2025 (Dubai and Abu Dhabi earlier). Basic package AED 320 a year on a two-year policy | MOHRE |
| End-of-service gratuity | Nothing under one year of service. Then 21 days' basic pay a year for years 1–5 and 30 days after, capped at two years' wage, paid within 14 days of the contract ending. Or a savings scheme at 5.83% of basic monthly (8.33% after five years) | u.ae, Decree-Law 33/2021, Arts 51–53 |
| Emiratisation | The employee counts in your UAE workforce, which sets your targets if your firm is in scope | Gulf News; EY |
| Recruitment, laptop, licences, desk | Your own figures | None |
| Year one at the Indeed average | About AED 82,100, or AED 6,840 a month: salary 76,092, Category 2 permit 1,250, insurance 320 and gratuity accrual of about 4,439 (treating all salary as basic, which overstates it). Visa, Emirates ID, medical, recruitment and equipment come on top | Worked from the rows above |
On the remote route none of these lines reach you. One monthly fee replaces them: AED 8,900–17,900 for a full-time developer on about 160 hours, or AED 4,900–9,500 half-time on about 80, excluding VAT. Stack and seniority decide the point in the band, because a senior Flutter developer and a WordPress developer are different fees.
So the honest comparison is not salary against fee. At the Indeed average, employing costs less in cash than any published agency rate, ours included. The fee buys no recruiting wait, no two-year permit to write off if the role ends early, no gratuity building up, and an end date set by a notice term rather than labour law.
Indeed's figures are self-reported and partly drawn from job ads, so budget from the salary you would actually offer. A useful shortcut: 21 days a year is about 5.8% of basic pay each month, which is why the savings-scheme rate is 5.83%.
Want both sides costed for your role? Ask on WhatsApp with the stack and seniority.
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Permits, sponsorship and Emiratisation when the developer is outside the UAE
Remote hiring changes which forms you file. It does not change what MOHRE expects of your own workforce.
Generally no work permit or residence visa
The developer is not on your UAE payroll and does not live in the UAE, so no MOHRE work permit, residence visa or Emirates ID is issued. Your PRO can confirm how that sits with your licence.
Mainland private firms with 50 or more employees
The Emirati share of skilled jobs must rise by 2% a year, 1% in each half. Gulf News reports that from 1 July 2026 a firm that misses its target pays AED 10,000 a month (AED 120,000 a year) for each Emirati not hired.
Firms with 20 to 49 employees selected by MOHRE
Under Ministerial Resolution No. 455 of 2023, firms of that size in 14 sectors, information and communications among them, had to hire one UAE national by end-2024 and a second by end-2025 (EY). Free-zone companies are excluded, and we found no published 2026 figure.
The rule we work to
These targets apply to your own UAE workforce. Whether an overseas supplier's developer affects your headcount is for MOHRE or your PRO to confirm. We will never sell remote hiring as a way around Emiratisation.
Have a project in mind?
Send a few lines on WhatsApp or get a fixed AED quote.
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What UAE agencies publish for a dedicated developer, and what the rate leaves out
A rate card tells you the price. It rarely tells you what happens when the developer is on leave, or whose GitHub holds the code. Hourly rates are converted to 160 hours a month at the fixed USD 1 = AED 3.6725.
1. Hours in GST
Of the 160 hours, how many sit inside your Gulf working day, and does Saturday count?
2. Leave and holidays
Are missed hours made up, covered or not billed? An Indian public holiday can fall on a UAE working day.
3. Replacement
If the developer leaves, who pays for the days the next one spends reading the code?
4. Notice to stop
The notice term is the most you can lose. A two-month minimum is a different risk from a rolling month.
5. Ownership
Whose GitHub or GitLab organisation holds the code from the first commit, and whose name is on hosting and the app stores?
| Agency page | Published rate | About AED a month at 160 hours | Minimum term | Not stated on the page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Techanic Infotech | AED 12,500–24,000 a month by role; AED 80–160 an hour by seniority | AED 12,500–24,000 | 1 month; a 15-day risk-free trial is advertised | Exact GST hours, leave cover, repo ownership |
| Apptunix | From AED 11,744 a month for 160 hours; hourly figures of AED 78 and AED 91.75 both appear | From AED 11,744 | 2 months | Taxes, tools, leave cover, hours beyond 160 |
| SISGAIN | USD 15–35 an hour | AED 8,800–20,600 | 1 month | A monthly figure; which office the developer works from (roles say UAE / GMT+4 beside an offshore team) |
| Sapphire Solutions | USD 17 / 22 / 29 an hour (junior / mid / senior), 40 hours a week | AED 10,000–17,000 | Rolling monthly, 160 hours | AED pricing; hours in GST |
| Code Brew Labs | From USD 21 an hour | From AED 12,340 | Not stated | A monthly figure; AED pricing |
We left ourselves out so the table holds only other firms' published figures. For the same 160 hours, ours is AED 8,900–17,900 a month. Asked for a list of developers in the UAE, we say we keep none, but these five checks will shortlist any provider, ours included. Dubai-against-India agency rates are in our guide to outsourcing from Dubai to India.
Comparing agencies? Ask for our figure for the same role.
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A working day in Gulf Standard Time
India is 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of the UAE all year, so our 10:00–19:00 day in India is 08:30–17:30 GST, Monday to Saturday. Suggested slots move to suit your team.
| GST | IST | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | 10:00 | Developer starts and picks up messages left overnight |
| 09:00 | 10:30 | Your office opens, if it starts at 09:00; the overlap begins |
| 09:30 | 11:00 | Suggested stand-up, on a video call or WhatsApp |
| 13:00–14:00 | 14:30–15:30 | Suggested slot for a review or demo |
| 15:30 | 17:00 | Suggested latest release, leaving two hours to fix anything that breaks |
| 17:30 | 19:00 | Developer's day ends; a written update if your proposal includes one |
| 17:30–18:00 | 19:00–19:30 | The only half-hour of a 09:00–18:00 office day without cover |
| Saturday | Saturday | Same hours, useful if your office opens on Saturdays |
| Sunday | Sunday | Off |
Against a 09:00–18:00 office day, that is 8.5 hours of overlap on six days, Saturday included if your office works it. Neither GST nor IST uses daylight saving, so January and July look the same. The gap at 17:30–18:00 is why releases belong in the early afternoon.
Need a developer on these hours? Send the stack and duration on WhatsApp.
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Whose name is on the repo, the hosting and the app stores
Before the first ticket, you invite the developer into accounts your company owns. We never register them in our name.
| Account | Registered to | Developer's access |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub or GitLab organisation | Your company | Member of your organisation, committing there from the first day |
| Hosting or cloud | You | A scoped user you create |
| Domain registrar and DNS | You | DNS edits only when a change needs them |
| Apple Developer and Google Play Console | Your company | A team role, never the account holder |
| Gateway merchant accounts (N-Genius, Telr, PayTabs, Stripe, Tabby, Tamara) | Your licence and bank | API keys you issue |
| Property Finder and Bayut feed credentials | Your brokerage | Feed or API credentials |
| WhatsApp Business and Meta Business | You | Partner or admin role |
| Analytics and Search Console | You | User access |
Commits land in your own repository from the first one, so you or any reviewer you choose can audit the work at any point, not only at handover. When the engagement ends you remove us, rotate the gateway and feed keys, and we hand over every login.
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UAE work a hired developer handles without a learning curve
Technology logos tell a UAE buyer very little. What matters is whether the developer has already wired up N-Genius or pushed a listing to Bayut, or will learn it on your hours.
Arabic and right-to-left builds
Mirrored layouts, Arabic and English mixed in forms and emails, and a bilingual QA pass before release. We do not claim native-speaker developers.
Cards and instalments
N-Genius from Network International, Telr and PayTabs for card payments in dirhams, Stripe if you already bill international customers through it, Tabby or Tamara for instalments, all on live keys you issue. See payment gateway integration.
Property Finder and Bayut listing feeds
Listings pushed from your CRM or website to both portals, on credentials issued to your brokerage. See Property Finder and Bayut integration.
AI and WhatsApp chatbots
Assistants that answer enquiries on your website or WhatsApp Business number and pass the chat to a person. See AI chatbot development.
Stores built with the pages gateways check
We write the policy pages a store needs (refunds, delivery, terms, contact), tell you which of them each gateway or instalment provider reviews, and put a live test order through with you before handover; details on our e-commerce cost page.
Stacks
Next.js, WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Flutter and React Native. Name the stack in your first message, and availability is confirmed on the discovery call.
Have a project in mind?
Send a few lines on WhatsApp or get a fixed AED quote.
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A WordPress developer by the month for a Dubai site
Most WordPress requests are really one of two jobs: a backlog that never ends, or a site that needs replacing. They are priced differently.
A feature backlog suits monthly hours
Campaign landing pages, WooCommerce changes, Arabic versions of existing pages, a new form wired into your CRM. Work like this never quite finishes, and a set number of hours each month keeps it moving without a fresh quote for every change. Half-time, about 80 hours, is AED 4,900–9,500 a month.
A broken or dated site suits a fixed rebuild
When the theme is abandoned, plugins fight each other or the site was never built for phones, patching costs more than it saves. Our WordPress rebuilds are AED 2,200–11,000.
Or a freelancer?
For one fix, a freelancer is fine. For a running backlog, ask whose hosting and admin accounts it runs on, and who does the work when that person is away. Our freelancer vs agency guide covers the wider choice.
Weighing WordPress against custom? Read WordPress vs custom for a Dubai business. If the site only needs updates, backups and security, website maintenance at AED 600–1,800 a month fits better.
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When a fixed quote beats a dedicated developer
If you send us five weeks of clearly defined work, expect a fixed quote back, not a monthly fee. Three tests decide it.
Less than about eight weeks of defined work
A rule of thumb: below that, the first days spent reading your code are too big a share of what you pay for. A two-week fix is freelancer territory.
Nobody on your side to set priorities each day
A dedicated developer works your queue. If no one can answer "what next?" each morning, the hours drift.
The scope can be written down now
If you can list the screens, the integrations and what finished looks like, a fixed price is cheaper and cleaner. Sign that written scope and the figure is locked; new scope is the only thing that reopens it.
Then take a fixed band from our price list: a mobile app is AED 17,000–108,000 and custom software AED 24,500–245,000. A fixed build is billed in three parts: 40% as the developer starts, a further 40% once a mid-project milestone we set together is met, and the remaining 20% at launch; any bug that turns up during the first half-year live is ours to fix free. Breakdowns: mobile app cost in Dubai, website cost in Dubai and custom software and CRM cost. A first product suits MVP development; a live app needing upkeep suits app maintenance at AED 1,500–4,500 a month.
Think yours is a fixed build? Send the scope on WhatsApp and get a band back.
Pricing in AED
Our prices, monthly or fixed
Dedicated developer, full-time
AED 8,900 – AED 17,900a month
Excl. VATDedicated developer, full-time (about 160 hours a month) · Monthly retainer, scope agreed in writing
The agreed hours inside Monday to Saturday, 08:30–17:30 GST, working in your repository and accounts.
Get a quote for this plan
Dedicated developer, half-time (about 80 hours a month)
Suits a running WordPress or WooCommerce feature and fix backlog on your existing site, with Arabic pages if needed.
WordPress website
A fixed rebuild when the current site is beyond patching.
Mobile app (iOS + Android, Flutter or React Native)
A defined Flutter or React Native build once the scope is known.
Custom software, portal or SaaS
A scoped portal, booking system or internal tool.
E-commerce store (Shopify, WooCommerce or custom)
An online shop, including the policy pages a payment provider will check, with one real order run together before handover.
- Fixed price in AED
- Free scoping call
- No obligation
Your agreement is with Codingclave Development LLP, India. For monthly work the proposal sets out:
- paid hours inside the 08:30–17:30 GST window (the window is when the developer is reachable)
- notice to stop, and any minimum term
- leave, sick-day and Indian public holiday cover
- replacement if the developer leaves
- the billing cycle, and who supplies any Arabic copy
Each one is agreed in the written proposal before you sign. Two things are settled already: invoices come in dirhams and your finance team wires each to our AED account, so nobody handles rupees, and once the final invoice is paid, the code and IP are wholly your company's.
Prices are in UAE dirhams (AED) and exclude VAT. Project prices are converted from our GBP price list at GBP 1 = AED 4.90 (11 October 2026) and rounded; monthly plans are set in AED. Codingclave is an India-based supplier and is not registered for UAE VAT. VAT-registered UAE businesses usually account for VAT on imported services under the reverse-charge mechanism; confirm with your tax adviser.
Fixed AED quote
A monthly figure for your role
Give us the stack, how many weeks of work are queued and when you want to start. After a short discovery call you get a view on dedicated or fixed, and a monthly figure in writing.
Ashish Sharma
Founder, Codingclave
Ashish or the team replies on WhatsApp or email during our hours, Mon–Sat, 8:30am–5:30pm GST.
- ★ 4.9 on Google (76 reviews) · Lucknow, India profile
- 200+ projects since 2017
- Top Rated on Upwork, 100% Job Success
- Founder-led delivery
Prefer WhatsApp?
WhatsApp AshishSend the stack and the queue
The stack, roughly how many weeks of work are waiting, the hours you need covered in GST, and the accounts you already hold.
A short discovery call
To agree whether a dedicated developer or a fixed quote fits. Sometimes the honest answer is the second.
A written proposal
Monthly fee, hours, start date and every term listed under our prices, in writing before you sign.
Access set-up
You invite us into your organisation and the accounts above. We never open accounts in our name.
The first week
Agreed first tickets, a demo slot and the update rhythm set in the proposal.
Monthly review
Keep going, change the hours or stop, within the notice term agreed in writing. At the end, every login is handed back and our access removed.
FAQ
Questions UAE businesses ask us
Can’t see yours? Ask Ashish directly — you’ll get a straight answer, not a sales script.
Ask Ashish directly
How much does it cost to hire a dedicated developer in the UAE per month?
What is a software developer's salary in Dubai per month?
Do I need a UAE work permit for a developer working from India?
Does a remote developer count towards Emiratisation?
Who owns the code if I hire developers through an agency?
How quickly can a dedicated developer start?
Will a remote developer work UAE business hours, including Saturday?
Is it better to hire a freelancer on Upwork or a dedicated developer?
Ashish Sharma · Founder
How many weeks of work are waiting, and in which stack?
Give us the stack, how many weeks of work are queued and when you want to start. After a short discovery call you get a view on dedicated or fixed, and a monthly figure in writing.
- WhatsApp us or fill in the form
- Free scoping call
- Fixed AED quote, no obligation
- ★ 4.9 on Google (76 reviews) · Lucknow, India profile
- 200+ projects since 2017
- Top Rated on Upwork, 100% Job Success
- Founder-led delivery
Keep exploring
- UAE
UAE overview
- Service
App maintenance after launch
- Service
Website maintenance in Dubai
- Service
Payment gateway integration
- Service
Property Finder and Bayut feeds
- Service
Startup MVP in Dubai
- Price guide
Custom software and CRM cost
- Price guide
E-commerce cost in Dubai
- Guide
Mobile app cost in Dubai
- Guide
WordPress or custom for a Dubai site
Ashish Sharma
Founder, Codingclave · Updated 12 October 2026
Ashish founded Codingclave in Lucknow, India, in 2017 and still leads delivery on every project.
Sources (12)· public sources cited on this page
- MOHRE – Issuance of a new work permit (overseas)
- Gulf News – New work permit costs in the UAE
- u.ae – End of service benefits for private-sector employees
- MOHRE – Health insurance scheme
- Gulf News – Emiratisation targets, June 2026 deadline
- EY – MOHRE requirement for companies with 20–49 employees
- Indeed UAE – Software engineer salaries
- Techanic Infotech – Hire dedicated developers (rate card)
- Apptunix – Hire web developers (rate card)
- SISGAIN – Hire dedicated developers (hourly rate)
- Sapphire Solutions – Hire dedicated developers in UAE
- Code Brew Labs – Hire mobile app developers Dubai