UAE Trade License Cost Calculator: Mainland vs Free Zone vs Offshore

Three jurisdictions, three very different bills

Ask "what does a UAE trade licence cost?" and any honest answer starts with "which regime?" The spread is wide enough that the jurisdiction decision often matters more than every other cost decision a new entity makes:

• Mainland (DED/DET): most commercial licences renew at AED 8,000–15,000+ per year, plus market fees of around 5% of your annual office rent — and mainland requires a physical office with an Ejari-registered lease, which is the real cost driver.
• Free zone: the widest range in the market. Zero-visa packages at RAKEZ start around AED 5,500–6,000; a small setup with one visa typically runs AED 11,000–17,000; premium zones like DMCC start around AED 35,000 with flexi-desk and one visa. What you are paying for across that range: visa quota, address prestige, and the zone's sector ecosystem.
• Offshore (RAK ICC, JAFZA Offshore): setup from roughly AED 6,000–12,000 at RAK ICC (JAFZA Offshore runs higher, from around AED 15,000), with annual renewals of about AED 7,500–11,000 all-in through the registered agent. No visas, no office, no UAE market access — offshore is a holding and structuring vehicle, not an operating one.

Run your own numbers

Our free Trade Licence Cost Calculator does the comparison properly: pick your activity type, visa needs, and office requirements, and it estimates setup plus annual running cost across mainland, free zone, and offshore side by side. No signup. It will not pick your jurisdiction for you — banking needs, client location, and visa plans should do that — but it makes the money dimension honest.

What drives the number inside each regime

• Mainland: activity category, office size (drives both rent and visa quota), and third-party approvals. Dubai's timeline and fee mechanics are covered in our Dubai renewal guide.
• Free zone: visa package size is the main lever — each additional visa slot raises the package. Zone choice matters too; the same trading activity can differ by tens of thousands between a premium Dubai zone and a northern-emirates zone. Our DMCC/JAFZA/RAKEZ comparison goes deeper.
• Offshore: mostly flat — agent quality and jurisdiction. The cost risk is not the fee; it is forgetting the renewal entirely because no one visits the entity, a failure mode we cover in the multi-regime compliance guide.

Whichever door you choose, the renewal date starts ticking the day the licence is issued. Proziyo tracks licences across all three regimes — with each authority's own checklist and lead times — so the calculator is the last time you think about it manually. Start a free trial.