Twenty free zones, and they are not equivalent.
The zone determines your permitted activities, your visa quota, whether a physical office is required, your banking access and your renewal cost. Choosing the wrong one forces a full rebuild — new licence, new visa, new account. It is the costliest mistake in this market, and the one you are allowed to make when you are sold the zone that pays the agent best.
The advertised price is almost always a licence without a visa. On top of the licence come the establishment card and visa processing, charged per person: the real first-year cost is often well above the zone's headline figure. The visa quota decides the office, and the office decides the real cost. A flexi-desk opens one to two visas, six at most at DMCC; beyond that an office is required and the annual budget changes category. A zone that does not publish its fee schedule is an expensive zone. Only a minority of zones publish a public rate: those are the accessible ones. The rest are quoted per file, and rarely downwards. We obtain the chosen zone's official schedule before any signature.
Information as at 21 September 2026. Zones revise their schedules frequently and run seasonal offers; the licence never includes the visa, the establishment card or processing fees unless stated. We obtain a firm quote from the chosen zone before any signature.
Three zones cover 90 % of cases.
The rest of the catalogue exists for specific situations: a regulated activity, physical goods, a warehousing need, a precise technology sector.
IFZA
More than 1,500 activities, incorporation in 48 hours, flexi-desk accepted. This is what we pick for a digital entrepreneur who wants a residence visa without paying for a prestigious zone's name.
RAKEZ
Three visas included against one in most Dubai entry packages, at half the annual cost. The trade-off: an hour and a half of road to Dubai.
DMCC
The strongest banking reputation of any free zone. A DMCC file clears where others stall — and the price gap pays for itself at the first account opened without argument.
Twenty minutes to frame your project, and start it now.
Free, with no conditions. We tell you at the end what we would do in your place — including building nothing at all, or staying where you are. The answer is often no, and we would rather say so before billing anything.
- Which jurisdiction holds for your case — and which would not.
- What it truly costs in year one, and the year after.
- What can make it fail, and at which point it happens.
Free, no commitment · Monday to Saturday, 9am to 1am Central European time — that is until 7pm in New York. French and English.