It is the first question every business asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on what the website needs to do. A simple brochure site and a bespoke booking platform are both "websites", but they are not the same project — so the price gap is huge for good reason.
In the UAE we typically see three bands. A polished marketing site for an established brand, a content-managed site with custom design and several templated page types, and a custom build with integrations, multi-language and ongoing iteration. The further right you go, the more the cost is in thinking and engineering, not pages.
Where budgets get wasted
The most expensive website is the one you have to rebuild in eighteen months. Money disappears into unclear scope, designing by committee, and "while we are at it" features that never get used.
- Pay for a clear brief before you pay for pixels.
- Invest in the templates you will reuse, not one-off bespoke pages.
- Budget for the first three months after launch — that is when a site earns its keep.
Our rule of thumb: spend enough that the site can grow with you, and not a dirham more on things you cannot measure.