Which free zone, and how to weigh them

Every free zone leads with the same headline: 100% foreign ownership, no minimum capital, fast setup. So the headline is not the decision. What separates one free zone from another is where you can trade, what opening a bank account is likely to involve, and what the activity actually needs (the activity is the specific line of business named on your licence). The right free zone is the one that fits the business — and that is a question worth asking before you commit, not after.

The free zones we work with — the short list

These are the free zones that come up most often for owners building, moving or expanding a real business into the UAE. We have not ranked them — these are descriptions. Read it against the order further down: start with where your customers are, then use this to narrow on activity and banking.

We do not push a particular free zone. Banking acceptance varies by free zone and activity — we check the fit for what you actually do before anything is filed.

These are the free zones we actually set companies up in. The others exist, and some of them are very large, but they are not ones we work in — so we have left them off rather than list free zones we could not speak about first-hand. JAFZA is the port free zone at Jebel Ali and suits logistics, shipping and warehousing; DAFZA is airport-side and suits trading and aviation.

The rest of the Dubai list — for completeness

Here is every other free zone the UAE government names for Dubai. We do not set companies up in any of them. Each line is that free zone’s own description of what it is for, not a recommendation from us — if one of them is genuinely the right home for your business we will say so, and we will also tell you we do not work there.

Outside Dubai, u.ae names Masdar City, KEZAD, ADGM, Abu Dhabi Airports Free Zone and twofour54 in Abu Dhabi; Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, Hamriyah Free Zone and Shams in Sharjah; Ajman Free Zone and Ajman Media City; Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone; RAKEZ and Innovation City in Ras Al Khaimah; and Fujairah Free Zone Authority and Creative City in Fujairah. Three of those — ADGM, RAKEZ and Shams — are in our short list above; the rest we do not work in.

Source: the free zone authorities the UAE government lists for each emirate on u.ae, updated 6 May 2026. The one-line descriptions are each free zone’s own, taken from its own website on 5 August 2026.

Each free zone, in full

IFZA Silicon Oasis

IFZA, in Dubai Silicon Oasis, is one of the more widely used free zones for international trading and service businesses. Its substance requirements — the real, on-the-ground presence a business is expected to have, such as an office and staff — are realistic for a genuine working business. It tends to suit owners whose customers are largely outside the UAE.

It is not one of the cheap options: it sits mid-range on cost, nearer AED 26,000 a year than the AED 8,000 to 14,000 end, and while banks are comfortable with IFZA companies it does not carry the standing with them that the financial free zones do.

Meydan Free Zone

Meydan sits in Dubai, about 15 minutes from Downtown, with flexible licensing across trading, consultancy, IT and media. It suits an owner who wants a recognisable Dubai address and a broad activity list without the cost of a financial free zone. Less of a fit if you need large-scale warehousing or industrial space.

DMCC

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, is one of the largest and best-known free zones in the world, with offices, warehouses and services on site. It carries a higher cost and suits commodities, trading and larger or more established companies that value the address and the infrastructure. Often overkill for a small service business that does not need the address, the warehousing or the higher cost.

RAKEZ and SHAMS — the budget and northern options

RAKEZ, in Ras Al Khaimah, is cost-competitive and suits industrial, trading and warehouse activity, with offices and land available. SHAMS, in Sharjah, is a low-cost media and marketing free zone that allows remote incorporation. Both can be the right answer for the right business.

The UAE's common-law financial free zones

Two of the free zones above sit in a category of their own. The DIFC and ADGM are financial free zones, each running on its own independent common-law system — in English, with its own courts — separate from UAE civil law. That legal framework, familiar to international finance and the law firms that serve it, is why a regulated or holding business chooses one of these over an ordinary free zone. Both cost more than a standard free zone, and are only worth it for a business that genuinely needs what they offer.

DIFC — Dubai International Financial Centre

Dubai's financial district, often called the Canary Wharf of Dubai. Built for regulated finance — fund and asset managers, neo-banks, insurers and higher-tier international law firms — with its own regulator, the DFSA, and the DIFC Courts. It also has a technology side: non-regulated licences for software, data, AI and proptech, for credible tech businesses that want the common-law framework without being a regulated financial firm.

ADGM — Abu Dhabi Global Market

Abu Dhabi's financial free zone, on the same common-law model as the DIFC, with its own regulator, the FSRA, and the ADGM Courts. It suits fund and asset managers, fintech and digital-asset firms, family offices and holding structures — and is particularly known for its Foundations and SPVs, both used for holding assets within a group. A Foundation is a UAE structure that holds assets in its own name rather than a person's; an SPV (special-purpose vehicle) is a passive company set up to hold one set of assets and debts, kept separate from the rest of the group.

DIFC or ADGM? It is the question owners ask most, because the two look so similar. Both are common-law financial free zones; the deciding factors are practical — the specific regulated activity and which regulator is the better fit, whether you need to be in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the real cost once an office is added, and whether the structure is better served by ADGM's Foundations and SPVs. It depends on the activity and where you need to be.

How to choose the right free zone

Work it in this order, not from the price list.

1. Where are your customers? Mostly outside the UAE — a free zone is a clean fit. Selling into the UAE market — look at the Dubai mainland route first, as a mainland licence may suit better: it is a licence issued by Dubai's own economic department, and it lets you trade inside the UAE market. Since March 2025 most Dubai free zone companies can also apply to Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) for a branch or activity permit to trade within Dubai; financial establishments licensed in the DIFC are outside that route.

2. What is the activity? Ordinary trading and services point to a standard free zone; regulated finance points to a financial one (DIFC, ADGM).

3. How will it bank? Acceptance varies by free zone and activity — worth settling early.

4. Cost. The cheapest licence is rarely the cheapest outcome once banking and the substance the business genuinely needs are accounted for.

The rough numbers: budget free zones start at around AED 8,000 to 14,000 a year for the licence, mid-range ones sit near AED 26,000, and the premium and financial free zones start at AED 48,000. That is the licence on its own.

Set up end to end, a one-person free zone company — licence, establishment card (the free-zone registration that lets the company sponsor visas), one residence visa, corporate address, bank-account setup and corporate-tax registration — runs around AED 45,795 in the first year and about AED 24,645 a year after that. It moves with the activity, the free zone and the number of visas, so at Start Business Services we set the exact cost with you in the first conversation.

We lay out the full picture for your situation; the choice is yours, and we are happy to talk through whichever free zone you are leaning towards.

Written by Gareth Jones, Founder of Start Business Services — he advises UK, Irish and Australian owners on UAE company structures, free zones, banking and setup.