The verdict in three sentences
For an exporting company set up in a Dubai free zone (JAFZA, DMCC, Dubai South), a four-language website (EN, AR, FR, ES) costs USD 9,500 to 23,000 excl. VAT depending on page count and integration depth. Arabic requires a real RTL layout, which adds 15 to 25% to the development budget, and Spanish about 10% more in translation and QA. Raw machine translation is cheaper upfront, but loses prospects and rankings as soon as buyers read the technical sheets.
Detailed budget for a four-language site in 2026
The typical site has 25 to 40 pages per language: company profile, certifications, product ranges, technical sheets, export news and a request-for-quote form. The amounts below are 2026 orders of magnitude for an agency delivering a Next.js site with a headless CMS.
| Item | 25 pages per language | 40 pages per language |
|---|---|---|
| Design and mock-ups (LTR and RTL) | USD 1,900 to 2,900 | USD 2,600 to 4,200 |
| Development and multilingual CMS | USD 3,700 to 5,800 | USD 5,800 to 8,900 |
| Arabic RTL premium (15 to 25%) | USD 600 to 1,400 | USD 900 to 2,100 |
| Professional translation AR, FR, ES | USD 2,300 to 3,500 | USD 3,800 to 5,700 |
| International SEO (hreflang, sitemaps) | USD 500 to 850 | USD 700 to 1,150 |
| Per-language QA and launch | USD 400 to 650 | USD 600 to 1,050 |
| Total excl. VAT | USD 9,500 to 15,000 | USD 14,500 to 23,000 |
Translation is priced per source word. A 25-page site holds about 6,000 words in English; translated into three languages at USD 0.12 to 0.18 per word, that comes to USD 2,160 to 3,240. Technical sheets with industrial terminology (standards, tolerances, materials) sit at the top of the range.
RTL, hreflang and sitemaps: the technical difference
An Arabic site is not a mirrored English site. Reading direction flips, but not everything: numbers, product codes and phone numbers stay left to right. Directional icons (arrows, carousels) must flip, Arabic typography needs a suitable font (Noto Kufi, IBM Plex Sans Arabic) and more generous line height.
| Technical element | Common mistake | 2026 best practice |
|---|---|---|
| Language attributes | lang missing or identical everywhere | lang and dir="rtl" per page |
| hreflang | Missing return links | Reciprocal EN, AR, FR, ES and x-default tags |
| Sitemap | One file for all languages | One sitemap per language in Search Console |
| URLs | ?lang=ar parameter | Subfolders /en, /ar, /fr, /es |
| RTL layout | Global CSS mirror, reversed numbers | CSS logical properties, number isolation |
| Forms | Left-aligned fields in Arabic | RTL alignment, international phone validation |
| Translation | Machine only, no review | Human translation, glossary, native review |
Machine-translated sites are easy for buyers to spot: Spanish false friends ("éxito" for exit), technical terms translated literally, formal Arabic too heavy for a Gulf buyer. Google also detects unreviewed translated content and ranks it poorly. A 150 to 300 term glossary validated by the export team avoids most of these problems.
Mini case study
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Omar, export director of an electrical components maker in a Dubai free zone, targets Europe, West Africa, the Gulf and Spain. His current English and machine-translated French site produces about 12 qualified quote requests a month. He invests USD 17,000 in a 30-page-per-language site, human translation included. With well-ranked Arabic and Spanish pages, the cautious target is 20 requests a month. At a 10% conversion rate and an average first-year margin of USD 4,200 per new customer, the 8 extra requests bring about USD 3,360 of margin a month. The project pays back in 5 months.
FAQ
Do I need to translate the whole site into four languages?
Not at launch: product, certification and contact pages are enough at first, about 60 to 70% of the volume. Adding a full language later usually costs USD 2,100 to 3,700.
Is machine translation with review a serious option?
Yes for news, with native review at about USD 0.06 to 0.09 per word. For technical sheets and sales pages, human translation remains the better choice.
How long does delivery take?
Allow 10 to 14 weeks: 3 weeks of LTR and RTL design, 5 to 6 weeks of development, translation in parallel, then 2 weeks of QA per language.
Must the site be hosted in the UAE?
Not for a corporate site, but forms collect personal data covered by the UAE PDPL (Federal Decree-Law 45 of 2021), or the DIFC and ADGM regimes if you operate there. A privacy policy in all four languages is required.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current site, target markets and page count: we will price LTR and RTL design, translation and international SEO with a 10 to 14 week timeline. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
