The verdict in three sentences
A trilingual corporate website with right-to-left (RTL) Arabic is not a translated English site: layout, typography and editorial governance must be designed for three languages from the first mock-up. With a Dubai agency, the budget sits between 60,000 and 200,000 AED excluding VAT, with an RTL surcharge of 15 to 25 % on the front-end build and translation at roughly 0.35 to 0.60 AED per word. The most underestimated success factor is the approval workflow between corporate communications, legal and subsidiaries.
The 2026 budget for a trilingual site in Dubai
The figures below are 2026 order-of-magnitude estimates on the UAE market for industrial groups with 500 to 5,000 employees.
| Item | Content | Dubai market budget (ex VAT) | Share of budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| UX design and trilingual mock-ups | Sitemap, mirrored EN and AR mock-ups | 10,000 to 30,000 AED | 15 % |
| Front-end and back-end build | 30 to 60 pages, CMS, search | 30,000 to 100,000 AED | 45 to 50 % |
| Arabic RTL surcharge | Mirroring, Arabic fonts, testing | 15 to 25 % of the build | 8 to 12 % |
| Translation EN to AR and FR | 25,000 to 60,000 words in total | about 0.35 to 0.60 AED per word, 10,000 to 35,000 AED | 15 to 25 % |
| Editorial workflow and roles | Writer, approver, legal, publisher | 5,000 to 20,000 AED | 5 to 10 % |
| Hosting, security, annual maintenance | CDN, backups, updates | 8,000 to 25,000 AED per year | Recurring |
At Kolonell, the site foundation falls under the Premium plan: 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 FCFA, i.e. 3,050 to 5,340 EUR (about 13,000 to 23,000 AED at an indicative rate of 4.3 AED per EUR). The headless CMS with multi-level approval workflow is then priced as a custom application, 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) for a simple workflow. Maintenance ranges from 35,000 to 120,000 FCFA per month, about 50 to 180 EUR.
What Arabic changes technically
RTL is not just right-aligning text. These are the points that cause the most rework during acceptance testing.
| Element | Arabic requirement | Risk if missed | Indicative extra cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page direction | dir="rtl" attribute and logical CSS | Menus and icons flipped in the wrong place | Included if planned at mock-up stage |
| Typography | Dedicated Arabic font, larger line height | Unreadable or clipped text | 1,000 to 4,000 AED |
| Numbers and dates | Choice between Western and Eastern Arabic numerals | Inconsistent reports | Low |
| Charts and tables | Mirrored axes and columns | Data misread | 2,000 to 7,000 AED |
| Forms | Translated validation and error messages | Form abandonment | 1,500 to 5,000 AED |
| Multilingual SEO | hreflang tags for ar, en, fr and sitemaps per language | Wrong version shown in Google | 1,500 to 4,000 AED |
A practical tip: have the Arabic mock-up approved by a native speaker in the communications team before the build. A fix at mock-up stage costs a few hours; during acceptance testing it costs days.
Editorial governance: who publishes what, in which language
An industrial group publishes financial releases, job openings, sustainability news and product pages. Without rules, the Arabic version quickly falls three months behind. Plan for:
- a single source language (often English in Dubai) and a target translation turnaround, for example 5 working days;
- a two or three level approval chain depending on content sensitivity;
- a completeness indicator per language in the CMS;
- compliance with the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law 45 of 2021) for forms.
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Hypothetical illustration: Layla, head of corporate communications at a 2,200 employee industrial group in Dubai, must publish 40 institutional pages and about 8 news items a month in three languages.
Initial volume: 30,000 source words translated into Arabic and French, 60,000 words at 0.45 AED, i.e. 27,000 AED. News: 8 items a month at 400 words, 6,400 translated words a month, about 2,900 AED monthly. For the site, a local agency quotes 140,000 AED ex VAT. A Kolonell Premium foundation at about 23,000 AED plus a headless CMS at about 19,000 AED brings development to around 42,000 AED: the saving, roughly 98,000 AED, funds years of news translation.
FAQ
What budget for a trilingual corporate website in Dubai in 2026?
Between 60,000 and 200,000 AED ex VAT with a local agency, excluding translation. At Kolonell, the Premium foundation costs 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 FCFA, i.e. 3,050 to 5,340 EUR.
How much does Arabic translation cost?
Roughly 0.35 to 0.60 AED per word depending on technicality and turnaround. Legal or financial content sits at the top of the range.
Does RTL add much to the bill?
Expect a 15 to 25 % surcharge on the front-end build. It falls toward the low end if RTL is planned from the mock-ups.
Why a headless CMS?
It separates content from presentation and handles language versions and multi-level approvals cleanly. At Kolonell, it starts at 2,500,000 FCFA, about 3,810 EUR, for a simple workflow.
How do you stop Google from showing the wrong language?
With reciprocal hreflang tags for ar, en and fr, a distinct URL per language and a sitemap per version. A mistake can cut traffic in one language by 20 to 40 %.
Let's scope your project. Share your sitemap, content volume per language and approval levels, and we will price the Premium foundation and headless CMS with an 8 to 14 week plan. 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.
