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What a Shopify store costs for a Dubai brand, in AED

Shopify bills in US dollars, so a Dubai brand has to convert. This guide shows the plan prices in AED at the dirham peg, what is different about payments in the UAE, and a budget list for comparing quotes.

ESTASOFT
12 min read
Cover image for a guide to Shopify store costs in AED for Dubai brands, listing plan prices, UAE payments, domain and theme, VAT and a budget list.
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      A Dubai brand owner who looks at Shopify pricing sees dollars. An agency quote arrives in dirhams. To compare the two, you need the Shopify figures in AED, a clear list of what else goes into a budget, and questions that make quotes comparable. This article gives you all three.

      Prices were checked on 3 November 2026 and they change, so confirm each figure on Shopify's own pages before you decide. For the cost groups that apply to any Shopify store, read How much does a Shopify store cost? This article stays on the Dubai and AED side. It gives no agency price ranges, because no public source supports one.

      Shopify bills a UAE store in US dollars

      Shopify's pricing page for the UAE shows its plans in US dollars. Its page on local currency billing lists the countries that can be billed in their own currency. The UAE and the dirham are not on it, and for countries not listed the page says Shopify bills are issued in US dollars. So expect to pay Shopify in USD.

      Use the UAE page, not the global one. On the same day, Shopify's main pricing page, which names no country, showed higher dollar prices for Basic and Grow. Its FAQ says pricing and payment options can differ depending on where your business is based. Check the amount in your billing settings before you pay, and ask your card issuer what it charges to convert a dollar payment.

      The dirham peg and how the AED figures are worked out

      The Central Bank of the UAE publishes exchange rate sheets for VAT obligations. The September 2026 sheet prints the US dollar at 3.6725 dirhams. The bank's page on the monetary system describes a fixed exchange rate against the dollar, with buy and sell levels of 3.673 and 3.672. This article uses 3.6725.

      The method is one line: dollars times 3.6725 equals dirhams. For example, 69 times 3.6725 is 253.4025, which is AED 253.40. Your bank or card may use its own rate, so treat every AED figure here as a guide, not a bill.

      Shopify plan prices in AED

      These are the figures on Shopify's UAE pricing page on 3 November 2026. Yearly billing is shown as a monthly price.

      • Basic: $32 a month, or $24 a month on yearly billing. That is AED 117.52 (32 times 3.6725) or AED 88.14 (24 times 3.6725).
      • Grow: $92 a month, or $69 on yearly billing. That is AED 337.87 or AED 253.40.
      • Advanced: $399 a month, or $299 on yearly billing. That is AED 1,465.33 or AED 1,098.08.
      • Plus: from $2,300 a month, which is from AED 8,446.75. The page shows no yearly price for Plus.

      Shopify's Help Center says a yearly cycle charges the full year up front. The pricing page also advertises a 3 day trial, then $1 a month for 3 months. Offers change, and the page says pricing can differ by location.

      On staff, Basic includes no additional accounts, Grow up to 5 and Advanced up to 15.

      Payments in the UAE

      Shopify Payments. The UAE is on Shopify's list of supported countries. A Shopify changelog entry dated 26 August 2026 says Shopify Payments in the UAE was available only on Plus before, and is now also available on Advanced. The entry names no other plan. The UAE pricing page, however, marks Shopify Payments as included on all four plans, so ask Shopify which plan you need before you buy. Shopify's UAE help pages add these points:

      • It handles Visa, Mastercard and Maestro cards, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay.
      • It is for online selling only, so shop sales need a separate card terminal.
      • Eligible business types are LLC, free zone LLC, sole establishment and free zone sole establishment. Non-profits are not eligible. You need business documents such as a trade license, and a UAE bank account in dirhams.
      • Payouts are in AED. The minimum payout is AED 20, and the minimum settlement time is 5 business days.

      Card rates. The UAE pricing page lists online standard card rates with a fixed fee in dirhams: 2.9 percent plus AED 1.00 on Basic, 2.8 percent plus AED 1.00 on Grow, 2.7 percent plus AED 1.00 on Advanced and 2.5 percent plus AED 1.00 on Plus. On an AED 300 order that is AED 9.70 on Basic and AED 9.10 on Advanced. The page lists higher rates for American Express and international cards. Shopify's UAE payouts page says fees vary by location and points to that pricing page, so confirm the rates in your admin before you plan margins.

      Other gateways. The Help Center says that if Shopify Payments is your only provider, you pay no third-party transaction fee, and that manual methods such as cash on delivery and bank transfer carry none either. With another card provider, Shopify charges a third-party fee on top of what the provider charges you. The UAE pricing page shows 2 percent on Basic, 1 percent on Grow, 0.6 percent on Advanced and 0.2 percent on Plus. On AED 1,000 of card sales that is AED 20, AED 10, AED 6 and AED 2. The pricing page also says showing prices in local currencies requires Shopify Payments, so ask how that works for dirhams.

      Domain and theme

      Domain. Shopify's UAE domains page says domains typically start at $9 a year, which is AED 33.05 (9 times 3.6725). The exact price shows in your admin before you buy. Renewals are billed separately from your plan, at a price that depends on the extension. Shopify's help page lists the extensions it sells, and .ae is not on that list. The same page says not all extensions can be bought through Shopify, and that you can buy one from another domain host and connect it to your store. Confirm with Shopify before you plan to buy a .ae name there. See Domains, DNS and hosting explained for who should own it.

      Theme. Shopify's theme store counts 24 free themes and 1,333 paid themes. Its first page of results listed 24 paid themes priced from $170 to $500. The page shows dollar signs without naming the currency. If they are US dollars, that is AED 624.33 to AED 1,836.25 (170 and 500 times 3.6725). Read the terms on each theme page to see what a paid price covers. A theme must also work well in Arabic: see Arabic and English on one store.

      VAT and how prices are shown to shoppers

      The UAE Ministry of Finance says VAT was introduced on 1 January 2018 at a standard rate of 5 percent. Registration thresholds, foreign sellers and e-invoicing are covered in Selling to the UAE and Saudi Arabia: VAT, customs and delivery basics.

      For shoppers, the question is whether the price on your product page includes VAT. The English text of the VAT executive regulations on the UAE legislation portal (Cabinet Resolution No. 52 of 2017, Article 27) says declared prices for a taxable supply are inclusive of tax. It allows tax-exclusive prices for exports and for sales to VAT-registered customers, if the price is clearly labelled as exclusive of tax. The portal text does not say whether it is the latest amended version, so ask your tax adviser how the rule applies to your store. In Shopify the setting sits under Settings, then Taxes and duties, and the Help Center says tax inclusion can also be set separately for each market. That page does not mention the UAE.

      What drives the build cost

      These items move a quote:

      • Design level: a theme as it comes, a theme adapted to your brand, or a custom design.
      • Products: the number of products and variants, and who enters them.
      • Arabic and right to left: a mirrored layout, two sets of text and tests in both languages. The UAE government's consumer protection page says eCommerce businesses covered by the law must give consumers product information in Arabic, among other details, and says the law covers platforms registered in the UAE. Ask an adviser whether it covers you.
      • Integrations: couriers, accounting, stock systems and payment providers.
      • Migration: moving products, customers and old web addresses from an existing site.
      • Content: product texts, policy pages and translations.
      • Photography: who shoots, how many images per product, and who edits.

      A line-item budget list

      Copy this list into a spreadsheet and ask each supplier of Shopify store builds to fill the lines that are theirs. Convert dollar lines with the method above.

      1. Shopify plan, per month or per year, in USD and AED.
      2. Domain and yearly renewal.
      3. Theme, if you buy one.
      4. Card rate and third-party transaction fee.
      5. Apps, each with its monthly price.
      6. Design and build, split by page type.
      7. Arabic and right-to-left work, including testing.
      8. Product entry and migration.
      9. Content and photography.
      10. Integrations.
      11. VAT on each supplier quote.
      12. Support after launch.

      Questions to ask for a quote. They work for any supplier, including ESTASOFT, which has an office in Dubai.

      • Is the price in AED or USD, and with or without VAT?
      • Which lines above are included, and which are mine to pay?
      • Which Shopify plan do you assume, and does it allow Shopify Payments in the UAE?
      • How many design rounds are included, and how is extra work priced?
      • Will the Shopify account, domain and theme files be in my company's name?
      • What does support cost after launch?

      A worked example: the platform part only

      This example uses only the Shopify figures above. It leaves out design, build, Arabic work, content, apps, payment provider fees, support and VAT, so it is not a store budget.

      • Basic, yearly billing: 24 times 12 is $288. Add a domain at $9 for $297 in total, which is AED 1,090.73. Check: 288 times 3.6725 is AED 1,057.68, and the domain is AED 33.05.
      • Advanced, yearly billing: 299 times 12 is $3,588. Add the same domain for $3,597, which is AED 13,209.98. Check: 3,588 times 3.6725 is AED 13,176.93, plus AED 33.05.

      Compare the plan gap with the third-party fee gap. Advanced costs $275 a month more than Basic on yearly billing (299 minus 24), which is AED 1,009.94. The third-party fee falls from 2 percent to 0.6 percent, a gap of 1.4 percent. On paper the two are equal at about AED 72,100 of card sales through another gateway each month (1,009.94 divided by 0.014). This ignores the provider's own fees, the Shopify Payments card rate and everything else that Advanced adds.

      This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.

      ESTASOFT offers Shopify solutions. Send a short brief on the contact page, and read How much does a Shopify store cost? to compare quotes line by line.

      Sources

      Written by
      ESTASOFT

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