There are more than forty free zones in the UAE. Five of them cover almost every case we are asked about, and they start between AED 4,499 and AED 12,900 through SwiftHub. This page is for choosing between them; each zone's own page has the process, documents and full cost breakdown.
The honest headline first: the cheapest licence is almost never the right question. Entry prices across zones sit within a few thousand dirhams of each other, and the decisions that actually move your total — how many people you will sponsor, whether you need physical space, which emirate your bank will see — sit outside that number entirely.
The five zones at a glance
Two different kinds of figure sit side by side below, and the difference matters. The middle column is what the zone itself publishes. The right-hand column is our price. Where a zone publishes nothing, we say so rather than quoting somebody's estimate as though it were a rate. Checked August 2026.
| Zone | Emirate | Zone's published from | Through SwiftHub from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ajman Media City | Ajman | AED 4,999 | AED 4,499 |
| SHAMS | Sharjah | AED 5,760 | AED 5,750 |
| SPC Free Zone | Sharjah | AED 5,750 | AED 4,999 |
| RAKEZ | Ras Al Khaimah | AED 6,000 | AED 6,000 |
| IFZA | Dubai | Not published | AED 12,900 |
What actually decides it
Five questions, roughly in the order they matter. Most people get to a clear answer by the third.
1. How many people will you sponsor?
This moves the total more than the licence does. In most zones the visa quota follows the desk or office you lease, so hiring means upgrading premises before you are allowed to issue the visa at all — a step change that lands at the worst moment. SPC Free Zone states no cap tied to the licence, which removes that cliff. SHAMS takes the other approach and publishes a separate AED 11,000 tier with no visa quota. If you know you will hire, compare those, not the entry prices.
2. Do you need physical space?
A flexi-desk suits consultants, agencies and online sellers, and it is what most entry packages include. If you need to store, assemble or distribute anything, RAKEZ is the only zone here built for it — offices, warehouses and land. Choosing a desk-only zone and discovering you need a warehouse is an expensive correction, because it usually means moving zone rather than upgrading.
3. Which emirate do you need on the licence?
Only IFZA is in Dubai. SHAMS and SPC Free Zone are in Sharjah, RAKEZ in Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman Media City in Ajman. Every one of them gives you a UAE company with full foreign ownership, and none of them restricts where you can work from. What changes is the address on your paperwork — which matters for client perception in some industries, and for banking more than people expect.
4. What will your bank make of it?
Worth deciding before the licence, not after. No free zone opens your bank account and neither do we — a UAE bank runs its own compliance review. What it weighs is substance: where your shareholders live, where your customers are, whether anything about the company is genuinely in the UAE. A Dubai licence held entirely from abroad is still a thin file, and a Ras Al Khaimah company with a real warehouse and local invoices is not. Our assistance is AED 1,000 for a low-risk activity and AED 2,000 where the activity is treated as higher risk — see bank account opening.
5. Can you check the price?
An underrated criterion. Where a zone publishes its rates you can hold any quote — ours included — against the authority's own number. Ajman Media City goes furthest and publishes renewal prices too, which is the figure almost nobody quotes and the one that decides what ownership really costs.
Start here, by situation
- Consultant or freelancer, no staff, cost is the priority. Ajman Media City from AED 4,499, or SHAMS from AED 5,750.
- Selling online, and you hold physical stock. SHAMS — its AED 6,500 Trader Package puts e-commerce and general trading on one licence, which a narrow e-commerce licence does not cover.
- Hiring a team, and headcount is uncertain. SPC Free Zone, which states no visa cap tied to the licence.
- Storing, assembling or distributing goods. RAKEZ, the only one here with warehouses and land.
- A Dubai address is the point. IFZA — accepting that you will be comparing quotes rather than rates.
- Your customers are UAE businesses and consumers. None of the above — you want a mainland licence. See below.
What no licence price includes
The same items sit outside the headline figure in every zone, and they are where quotes stop being comparable. Each zone page prices these in its own context; the list itself does not change:
- The establishment card — no residence visa can be issued before it exists
- Immigration portal registration
- Each residence visa, which is four steps per person: entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID
- Corporate tax registration, required whether or not you make a profit
- Renewal, which is a different number from setup and is rarely quoted alongside it
Ask any consultant, us included, to mark each of those included or extra before you compare two prices. You can also model the whole thing on the company setup cost calculator, or see every zone's price beside DET's mainland fees on business license cost.
When a free zone is the wrong answer
A free zone company cannot sell directly into the UAE mainland. It needs a mainland licence, a distributor or a branch. If UAE businesses and consumers are going to be most of your revenue, starting in a free zone is the expensive route to where you are going — you will pay twice. That is the single most common mistake we are asked to unpick, and the disadvantages of free zone companies sets out the rest of them.
The reverse also holds. If your customers are overseas, a free zone is usually cheaper and simpler than mainland setup, with full foreign ownership either way.
Tax, honestly
No free zone on this page is a tax exemption, whatever the marketing says. UAE corporate tax is 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000 and registration is required regardless of profit. A qualifying free zone person can access 0% on qualifying income, subject to conditions you have to meet and evidence. VAT is mandatory above AED 375,000 turnover and voluntary from AED 187,500. Thresholds are the Federal Tax Authority's, at tax.gov.ae. Verified August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
On published entry price, Ajman Media City at AED 4,999. But entry prices sit within a few thousand dirhams of each other and exclude the same things everywhere, so the cheapest licence and the cheapest company are rarely the same choice. Visas and premises decide your total.
No. A free zone licence gives you a UAE company and does not tie you to that emirate for where you live or work. The emirate appears on your licence and your banking paperwork, which is why it is worth a moment's thought, but it is not a residence requirement.
Not directly. Onshore selling needs a mainland licence, a distributor or a branch. If UAE customers will be most of your revenue, a free zone is the expensive route — you end up paying for both.
It depends on whether you hold stock. If you only sell digitally, most zones work. If you import, hold or resell physical goods, SHAMS's AED 6,500 Trader Package combines e-commerce with general trading on one licence, which is the combination sellers usually discover they need after buying something narrower.
SPC Free Zone states there is no cap tied to the licence, which is unusual — in most zones the quota follows your premises. That removes the forced office upgrade when you outgrow a desk. It does not make the visas themselves cheaper: each person is still a separate immigration file.
Not inherently, and the price difference buys an address rather than a better company. All of them give full foreign ownership and a UAE company. A Dubai licence can help with client perception and with banking, but a Dubai licence operated entirely from abroad is still a thin file at a bank, while a smaller-emirate company with real local operations is not.
It is usually a new incorporation rather than a transfer, which means new licence fees, new visas and a gap you have to plan around. That is why the visa and premises questions are worth answering honestly at the start, even though they feel premature.
Entry packages generally do not. A zero-visa licence is a legitimate product, not a stripped-down one, but if you intend to sponsor anyone — including yourself — it does not answer your question. Ask for the figure with the establishment card and the visa steps included.
Next step
Tell us what you sell, who buys it, and how many people you expect to sponsor in the first two years. You get a written comparison across the zones that actually fit, with the establishment card, visa steps and renewal figure included rather than left off.