ADGM vs DIFC: Which One Suits a Small Business?

ADGM vs DIFC comes down to where you and the business are going to be, and then to what you are putting in it. If that’s Dubai, it’s the DIFC. If it’s all in Abu Dhabi, it’s ADGM. At Start Business Services we work in Dubai, so we lean to the DIFC, and you should know that before you read on.

On the two authorities’ own fees there is nothing in it for a holding company. Like for like, with the fee each one charges a company that handles personal data (information about people) counted on both sides, the DIFC’s is USD 1,850 to open against ADGM’s USD 1,900. Every year after that ADGM’s is USD 1,500 against the DIFC’s USD 1,550, so over two years the two come to the same. Either way that fee is the small part of the bill.

ADGM is the better fit, or the cheaper one, in a few places. It costs less for an ordinary company with nothing tying it to Dubai, and less to keep a foundation (a legal entity that holds a family’s assets). It is the one open to a family office (a company that looks after one family’s money and affairs) where the family has between USD 10 million and USD 50 million. And it is the one to pick if you want English law applied exactly as it stands, or if life and business are in Abu Dhabi.

Both are financial free zones. A free zone is a self-governing business district with its own registrar and rules, and these two are built for regulated financial firms and for companies that only hold shares, property or investments. The detail on each one sits on our DIFC page and our ADGM page.

Both use common law, the kind of legal system the UK runs on, and each has its own courts and its own regulator. For a small business the differences that matter are which city you’re in and what it costs.

	DIFC	ADGM
Where it is	Dubai	Abu Dhabi, on Al Maryah Island and Al Reem Island
Since	2004	Created by law in 2013, opened in October 2015
The law	Its own laws, written on common-law principles	English common law, applied directly
Courts	DIFC Courts, working in English	ADGM Courts, with a court of first instance and a court of appeal
Financial regulator	Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)	Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA)
Who registers a non-financial company	The Registrar of Companies	The Registration Authority
Holding company	Prescribed Company: USD 1,100 in the first year, then USD 1,300 a year. Where it handles personal data: USD 1,850, then USD 1,550 a year	Special purpose vehicle (SPV): USD 1,900 in the first year, then USD 1,500 a year, with its USD 300 data-protection fee counted in
Foundation	USD 350 in the first year, then USD 650 a year. Where it handles personal data: USD 1,100, then USD 900 a year	USD 1,000 in the first year, then USD 500 a year, with its USD 300 data-protection fee counted in
Ordinary non-financial company	USD 20,000 in the first year, then USD 12,300 a year. Where it handles personal data: USD 20,750, then USD 12,550 a year	USD 5,800 in the first year, then USD 5,400 a year, with its USD 300 data-protection fee counted in
Family office (not a like-for-like total)	Family net assets of USD 50 million; USD 12,000 for the family office licence, on top of the fee to register the entity (USD 8,000 for a private company). The yearly cost isn’t counted here	Family net assets of USD 10 million; USD 5,600 to incorporate, then USD 5,300 a year
Service provider for the holding company	Must be appointed, unless the company is exempt	Must be appointed, unless the SPV is exempt
Usually the right fit when	Your home, your business or your property is in Dubai	It is all in Abu Dhabi

The fees are each authority’s own charges, in US dollars, from the DIFC Registrar of Companies’ table of company fees, updated July 2026, and the ADGM Registration Authority’s overview of fees, dated January 2025; how they are counted, and what they leave out, is at the end of “What does each one cost?” below.

What are the DIFC and ADGM?

The DIFC and ADGM are financial free zones. The DIFC is the Dubai International Financial Centre, in Dubai since 2004. ADGM is Abu Dhabi Global Market, which was created by an Abu Dhabi law in 2013 and opened in late October 2015. It covers Al Maryah Island and Al Reem Island.

What defines a financial free zone is the law. Inside one, the UAE’s federal civil and commercial laws don’t apply, although UAE criminal law still does. So each one writes its own commercial rules, runs its own courts and has its own financial regulator. The DIFC’s own page says “DIFC is empowered to create its own legal and regulatory framework for all civil and commercial matters.”

Sources: the DIFC’s laws and regulations and About pages, the DIFC Courts’ page on their legal framework, and ADGM’s legal framework and overview pages.

Which law applies, and whose courts?

Both run on common law with their own courts, which makes for a legal setting closer to the UK than to the rest of the UAE. The difference is how each one got there.

ADGM applies English common law directly, as it stands. Its courts put it this way: “ADGM is the first jurisdiction in the Middle East to directly apply English Common Law”. The DIFC wrote its own laws on common-law principles, and its courts apply what they call the DIFC’s common law system, “based predominantly on that of the United Kingdom”.

If English law exactly as it stands matters to you or to your lawyers, that’s a point for ADGM. For a small holding company it’s unlikely to be what decides it, because both give you common law and their own courts.

Sources: the ADGM Courts’ own page and its page on English common law, the DIFC’s laws and regulations page and the DIFC Courts’ questions and answers.

Who regulates what, and does your activity need a licence?

Each one has a financial regulator for financial services and a registrar for everything else, so the first question is whether what you do is a financial service at all. That means the kind of work a bank, a fund manager or an insurer does. Ordinary consulting, software or agency work isn’t one, and the DIFC’s own page counts legal, tax and advisory firms among its non-financial firms.

In the DIFC, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the DFSA, regulates anyone providing financial services in or from the DIFC, and the Registrar of Companies incorporates the companies. ADGM spells the split out. A firm that wants to provide financial services goes to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, the FSRA, first. A non-financial business deals with the Registration Authority, which registers, incorporates and licenses ADGM’s companies. There’s more on what each regulator licenses on our DIFC page and our ADGM page.

At Start Business Services we check what a business actually does before we decide where it belongs, because the licence has to describe the real work.

Sources: the DIFC’s laws and regulations and registrars pages and its non-financial firms page, and ADGM’s setting-up questions and answers, its Registration Authority page and its financial regulator page.

Holding and family wealth: DIFC Prescribed Company or ADGM SPV?

For holding shares, property or investments the two do the same job. The DIFC’s version is the Prescribed Company, ADGM’s is the special purpose vehicle, or SPV, and since July 2026 the DIFC’s has been open to anyone.

Neither one trades. ADGM’s page is blunt about it: “SPVs cannot be used to conduct operational business or hire staff.” A Prescribed Company is the same, because its licence is limited to holding and it can’t have staff. Both normally have to appoint a corporate service provider, a firm that acts for the company and can give it its registered address, unless the company is exempt.

In the DIFC, exempt means a company controlled by a business already registered there, a firm the DFSA has authorised, a government body or a listed company. An owner with no other DIFC company should expect to need a service provider.

What has changed is who can have one. In our experience holding and family-wealth work has tended to go to ADGM, because it has its SPV and its foundation, and the DIFC’s Prescribed Company used to be restricted. The DIFC’s own page now says it is “open to any applicant, following the 2026 amendments to the Prescribed Company regime.”

The service provider is a separate bill, and it’s the bigger one. In the DIFC it’s the main cost, and neither authority publishes what a provider charges. ADGM’s family offices page says “Whilst ADGM fees are fixed, third party providers fees will vary from provider to provider.”

We don’t publish a fixed figure for that part either, because it depends on the provider and on what the company holds, so we can’t tell you here which of the two costs less all in. Before you commit to either, get the provider’s fee in writing for the first year and for each year after, and put it beside the registrar’s fee.

On the registrars’ own fees there is little in it. The DIFC’s is lower to open, and ADGM’s is a little lower every year after: USD 1,500 against USD 1,550 with a data-protection fee on both sides. The rest is in our DIFC Prescribed Company guide.

What about a foundation?

For family wealth both have a foundation, a legal entity that owns the assets itself and holds them for the family. ADGM was the first in the UAE to offer foundations. Both run under common law with their own courts, so the choice usually comes down to where the rest of the family’s UAE life sits: Dubai points to the DIFC and Abu Dhabi to ADGM.

The registrar’s fee is a small part of what a foundation costs. The rest is the law firm that drafts its charter and the corporate-services firm that keeps its paperwork going each year, and their fees aren’t ours to quote. On the registrars’ own fees a foundation costs less to keep in ADGM. To open, a DIFC foundation that handles no personal data is USD 350, against ADGM’s USD 1,000 with its USD 300 data-protection fee counted in. Where it does handle personal data the DIFC’s is USD 1,100, and ADGM’s is the lower.

Don’t assume you need one. Plenty of families arrive asking for a foundation and leave with a holding company instead, and we treat that as the right answer. A foundation done properly costs real money every year, and it’s only worth that once there’s more than one generation to plan for.

A family office is a different tier again. The DIFC only licenses one where the family has net assets of USD 50 million between them. ADGM puts its floor at USD 10 million, so for a family between those two figures ADGM is the one that’s open. More on both in foundations and family offices.

Sources: the DIFC’s special purpose vehicles page, its Prescribed Company rules and its family businesses page, and ADGM’s special purpose vehicles page, family offices page, setting-up questions and answers and announcement of its foundations regime.

What does each one cost?

In reality the fee each authority charges is the small part of the bill. The bigger part is the office, and for a holding company the service provider, and neither authority’s fee list puts a price on those.

On our pricing, a technology company in the DIFC that isn’t a financial firm, on the discounted technology licence and a shared desk, runs roughly AED 89,000 to 97,000 (UAE dirhams) all-in to open and AED 65,000 to 75,000 a year after that. In US dollars that’s about USD 24,000 to 26,000 to open and USD 18,000 to 20,000 a year.

That’s a lot of money for a small business to tie up in an address when it could be going back into the business, so see the whole bill before you commit to either. The all-in figure is ours, and it’s for the DIFC. We don’t have one of our own for ADGM, so we haven’t put one here.

On the authorities’ own fees, it depends what you’re opening. For a holding company there is little in it. Both charge a data-protection fee where the company handles personal data, meaning information about people. With that fee on both sides the DIFC’s costs USD 1,850 to open against ADGM’s USD 1,900, and then USD 1,550 a year against ADGM’s USD 1,500. So the DIFC’s is USD 50 lower to open, ADGM’s is USD 50 lower every year after, and over two years the two come to the same.

The DIFC charges its data-protection fee only where the company handles personal data, so without it a DIFC Prescribed Company is USD 1,100 to open and USD 1,300 a year. ADGM’s fee overview counts its USD 300 data-protection fee in every total and gives no total without it, so we haven’t put an ADGM figure beside those two.

For an ordinary company that trades, ADGM is a lot cheaper since it cut its fee in January 2025: USD 5,800 in the first year against USD 20,000 in the DIFC, and less than half the DIFC’s fee every year after. If you need that kind of company and nothing ties you to Dubai, that’s a real difference in ADGM’s favour. A foundation costs less to keep in ADGM, USD 500 a year against USD 650 in the DIFC.

The DIFC figures for the ordinary company and the foundation are for one that handles no personal data, and the DIFC asks every new company which it is when it registers. Where one does, the DIFC adds a data-protection fee, which ADGM’s fee overview already counts in every one of its figures. With that fee a DIFC foundation costs more than ADGM’s on both counts.

ADGM also says “every legal entity must maintain a registered office address in ADGM and pay the associated lease registration fee”, and its overview doesn’t give the amount, so an ADGM company has that cost on top. A DIFC company that leases space for more than six months pays the DIFC’s own lease registration fee, USD 100 to USD 300 depending on the length of the lease.

Both have a cheaper door for technology firms. The DIFC’s is a discounted licence of USD 1,500 a year for the first two years, with USD 100 to register and, where the company handles personal data, the DIFC’s data-protection fee on top; the conditions are on our DIFC page. ADGM’s is a tech start-up fee of USD 1,500 a year for three years for those who qualify, with its data-protection fee on top.

The fees in the table are each authority’s own charges, in US dollars: everything its fee list charges in the first year, and then in each later year. They leave out the office, the visas, the bank and the service provider, which is the firm a holding company normally has to appoint to act for it.

ADGM’s fee overview counts a data-protection fee of USD 300 a year in every total, so its figures include it. ADGM ties that fee to companies and foundations that handle personal data, the same test the DIFC uses, but its overview gives no total without it. The DIFC lists its own separately, USD 750 in the first year and USD 250 a year after, and charges it only where the company or foundation handles personal data, so the DIFC cells give both cases.

The family office row is not a like-for-like total: ADGM’s figures are the incorporation and renewal fees its family offices page gives, and the DIFC’s is the licence alone. ADGM also charges a lease registration fee, which its overview doesn’t price, and the DIFC charges one where a company leases space for more than six months (USD 100 to USD 300), so neither is in these figures.

The yearly figures include each authority’s yearly confirmation statement (USD 300 in the DIFC, USD 100 for an ADGM company), except in the family office row and for an ADGM foundation. The DIFC adds 20 dirhams (AED 20) to each licence.

Sources: the DIFC Registrar of Companies’ table of company fees, updated July 2026, the DIFC’s foundations handbook and the DIFC Commissioner of Data Protection’s notifications page for the data-protection charges, the DIFC Registrar of Real Property’s handbook for its lease registration fee, ADGM’s Office of Data Protection’s fees page, the ADGM Registration Authority’s overview of fees, dated January 2025 (we found no later version), and ADGM’s announcement of its lower fees. The family office figures in the table come from the DIFC’s family arrangements rules and ADGM’s family offices page.

What happens at the bank?

Banks are comfortable with DIFC companies, but a DIFC account still needs a lot of paperwork up front, and a foundation takes longer again.

The timings we give are for business accounts in general, not for DIFC companies in particular. In our experience the account itself takes 3 to 4 working days for a small, low-risk company with one owner, 7 to 10 days for a larger company with more shareholders or higher revenue, and up to three months for a heavily regulated company with a complicated ownership structure.

For a foundation, expect it to take several weeks, with the bank asking for proof of where the money came from and details of everyone who benefits from it. In our experience UAE banks have tightened up on these. A foundation usually ends up banking with a private bank in the DIFC or ADGM, the kind that looks after family money, rather than with an ordinary business account.

A holding company in either one helps here. In our judgement a bank finds a DIFC Prescribed Company or an ADGM SPV easier to read than a British Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands company, because it can see where the company sits and who answers for it.

Start Business Services speaks to the bank about the company before it is opened, so the licence, the activity and what the bank is told about the business line up from the start, and we deal directly with banks such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mashreq. The address helps, but what opens the account is the structure and the documents behind it, and approval is always the bank’s decision.

Banks recognise ADGM well too. For a regulated firm or a holding company opened properly that can make the account more straightforward, because the bank understands the rules and who regulates it. It doesn’t open the account on its own: the bank still looks at the activity, the owners and what is behind them. We don’t have bank timings of our own for ADGM, so there we confirm a realistic date once the activity is clear.

There’s more on our corporate banking page and on our ADGM page.

Which one suits you?

Find the line below that is closest to you.

• A business that provides financial services: the city decides it first, as it does for everyone else. In Dubai the DFSA regulates it, in Abu Dhabi the FSRA. Which licence you need depends on the exact activity, so start by telling us what the business does. For an application to the FSRA in ADGM we bring a specialist partner in.
• A holding company, when your home, business or property is in Dubai: a DIFC Prescribed Company. It keeps everything in one city.
• A holding company, when all of that is in Abu Dhabi: ADGM is the natural home, with its SPV.
• A holding company, when you aren’t tied to either city yet: the registrars’ fees are close and the law is unlikely to decide it, so it comes down to the service provider. Get that fee for both before you choose.
• An ordinary non-financial company with nothing tying it to Dubai: ADGM, because its own fee is well under the DIFC’s.
• A family with more than one generation to plan for: a foundation, in the DIFC if life is in Dubai and in ADGM if it is in Abu Dhabi, once you’ve checked a holding company won’t do.
• A family office: ADGM’s floor is USD 10 million of family net assets and the DIFC’s is USD 50 million.

Our view at Start Business Services is that you choose between the DIFC and ADGM by where you and the business are going to be, and only then by what you are putting in it, because both give you common law, their own courts and their own regulator. When you and the business are going to be in Dubai, the DIFC is the one to look at first. When it is all in Abu Dhabi, it is ADGM.

Neither is better in itself. The DIFC is the older of the two, open since 2004, and it is in Dubai. ADGM opened in 2015 and is in Abu Dhabi. We lean to the DIFC because Dubai is where we work, and when you, the business and the bank are all in Dubai it is the one on your doorstep.

If ADGM is the better fit, we open that too: we do the formation, the banking and the visas ourselves, and bring in specialist partners for an application to the financial regulator or for drafting a foundation. If you aren’t sure which of the two fits, tell us what the business does and where you are going to be, and we’ll tell you which one we would choose and why.

Common questions

Is the DIFC a free zone?

Yes. The DIFC is a financial free zone in Dubai. It makes its own civil and commercial rules and has its own courts and its own financial regulator. ADGM is the same kind of thing in Abu Dhabi.

DIFC or ADGM: which is better for a small business?

Neither is better in itself. Start with where you are going to live and work. For an owner in Dubai that points to the DIFC, and for an owner in Abu Dhabi to ADGM. ADGM is cheaper for an ordinary non-financial company, it costs less to keep a foundation there, and it has the lower floor for a family office.

What types of company can be formed in ADGM and the DIFC?

In ADGM the main ones are a non-financial company, a financial services firm that goes through the FSRA, a special purpose vehicle for holding assets, a foundation and a single family office. The DIFC has a similar range: a private company, a financial firm regulated by the DFSA, the Prescribed Company for holding, a foundation and a family office.

How do ADGM’s rules compare with the DIFC’s?

Both are financial free zones, so the UAE’s federal civil and commercial laws don’t apply inside either one. ADGM applies English common law directly. The DIFC wrote its own laws on common-law principles. Each has its own courts and its own financial regulator: the FSRA in ADGM and the DFSA in the DIFC.

ADGM vs DIFC for family wealth: which one?

Both have a foundation and a holding company, so it usually comes down to where the rest of the family’s UAE life sits: Dubai points to the DIFC and Abu Dhabi to ADGM. On the registrars’ own fees a foundation costs less to keep in ADGM. To open, a DIFC foundation that handles no personal data is USD 350, against ADGM’s USD 1,000 with its USD 300 data-protection fee counted in. Where it does handle personal data the DIFC’s is USD 1,100, and ADGM’s is the lower.

Which is cheaper, the DIFC or ADGM?

It depends what you’re opening, and the authority’s fee is the small part of the bill. For a holding company there is nothing in it once a data-protection fee is counted on both sides: the DIFC’s is USD 50 lower to open and ADGM’s is USD 50 lower every year after. An ordinary non-financial company is a lot cheaper in ADGM: USD 5,800 in the first year against the DIFC’s USD 20,000, and less than half the DIFC’s fee every year after. A foundation costs less to keep in ADGM.

How long does it take to open a company in ADGM or the DIFC?

ADGM publishes a figure. Its setting-up questions and answers say “the expected timeframe is to have your application approved within 10 business days.” For a foundation it says about 3 to 5 days, once the registrar has everything it needs. The DIFC gives a figure for its first stage only, an initial approval “typically within 3 to 5 working days”, so we don’t put one figure on the whole of it. The stages are on our DIFC page.

Sources: ADGM’s setting-up questions and answers and the DIFC’s handbook on setting up a non-financial company.

Should tax decide between the DIFC and ADGM?

We wouldn’t choose between them on tax, and we don’t give tax advice. The UAE Government portal gives the corporate tax rate as 0% on profit up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that. How that applies to your company, in the DIFC or in ADGM, is a question for your accountant.

Source: the UAE Government portal’s corporate tax page.