A checklist for pricing influencer, video and website work in the UAE

Fees for influencers, video and websites are usually quoted, not published. This checklist is for the moment a quote arrives. It is general guidance and not legal advice, so take professional advice on the contract and on permits.

Influencer posts

• Ask what the fee covers. The post, the number of posts, the rights to reuse the content, the time it stays up, and who pays for any boosting.
• Ask about the UAE permit. The UAE Media Council lists a permit for an individual to provide advertising or media content on social media, either for compensation or free of charge. The page lists a commercial licence among the documents, and a training programme run by the Council^[1]. Ask the creator or agency to confirm their position and check with the Council.
• Ask who pays the permit fee. The Council shows the fee as free for the first three years and AED 1,000 after that^[1]. Settle in writing whether it sits inside the quoted fee.
• If the creator is visiting. The Council lists a separate temporary permit at AED 500, valid for three months and extendable to six at most, and the application goes through a licensed advertising agency in the UAE^[2].

I did not open any creator’s own page that publishes a fee, so I give no figure for a post. It is Not publicly stated.

Video

• Ask for the price per finished minute and per shoot day, not only a headline total.
• Ask what is included: script, voice over, music, studio, edits for other formats, revisions.
• Ask who owns the footage and the project files once you have paid.

For a reference point, published by Digitalnexa, opened on 4 November 2026 and possibly changed since: corporate video from AED 10,000, event video from AED 10,500 and animated video from AED 14,000, and package tiers from AED 1,500, where the tier at AED 9,000 and over adds scripting and studio space. The page shows a date of 25 August 2020^[3]. It is one supplier, not a sample of the market.

Websites

• Ask whether the quote is for design, build, content, hosting and updates, and which are separate lines.
• Ask what you must own at the end: the domain, the hosting account and the admin login.
• Ask what recurring costs follow the build, since a platform charges a subscription.

Two platforms publish subscription prices, opened on 4 November 2026 and possibly changed since. Shopify’s UAE page lists Basic at $24 a month paid yearly or $32 paid monthly, in USD^[4]. Wix lists plans from $17.77 a month for yearly subscriptions and says prices and currency vary by location^[5]. These pay for software, not for someone to build your site.

A quote you can compare

Put every quote into the same shape: what you get, what you own, what it costs now and what it costs each month after. Then run the media part through the media cost converter so you know what a budget buys. The wider picture is in what media and production cost in the UAE. If you want to talk through a quote, I offer a review of the services I provide, and you should treat me as a seller of services.