DMCC vs IFZA vs Meydan: Which Costs Less Over Three Years

Figures below are authority or partner-sheet lines as of August 2026. Confirm the live tariff before you pay. Bookkeeping, formation advisory, compliance and banking work sit outside this map; they are not a Medici quote. Nataly Medici wrote this for UAE company formation and licensing. The brand queries dmcc, ifza and meydan free zone belong to the authorities.

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What this comparison holds constant

Founders compare year-one packages and then meet a different product in year two. This comparison holds the operating profile constant so the three-year total is a comparison.

The company is a single-shareholder LLC-FZ (or the IFZA FZCO equivalent). The work is management consultancy plus trading of non-restricted goods: three activities, or three activity groups where the zone sells groups. The workspace is a flexi desk. You sponsor two residence visas, one investor or partner and one employment visa, both issued from outside the UAE. Visas run two years where the zone issues a two-year permit. Medical fitness, Emirates ID and health insurance sit on separate invoices; they are not in the zone headline. VAT is out of the comparison: taxable supplies stay below AED 375,000. Share capital stays out of the total. An IFRS audit from year two is a Qualifying Free Zone Person condition under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 — a third-party invoice, labelled as an indicative market range where a figure appears, not a Medici quote.

Two modelling choices change the comparison if you ignore them. DMCC treats Service and Trading as different licence types. A second licence costs AED 20,265 per year. IFZA and Meydan combine professional and commercial work on one licence. The stacks below use one licence in every zone. Prepaid packages and August 2026 promotions sit in their own section.

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Three-year official stacks for the same consultancy and trading setup

Amounts are UAE dirhams, inclusive of VAT and Knowledge and Innovation Dirhams where the authority already bundles those charges. USD equivalents use 3.67.

Assumptions, restated above the numbers: August 2026; one shareholder; consultancy plus non-restricted trading on one licence; flexi desk; two visas from outside the UAE; two-year visa validity; no dedicated office; no VAT. DMCC year one is Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk at AED 43,780 on the live packages page, then standard renewal plus a flexi-desk lease from the schedule of charges. Commercial formation, advisory and accounting retainers are not in these stacks.

DMCC (Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk, one shareholder, two visas)

Year 1 on the packages page: Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk AED 43,780. That bundle covers application, registration, articles, licence, establishment card, a standard flexi desk with a three-visa quota, and one complimentary two-year investor visa. The second employment visa from outside the UAE is AED 2,973 on the schedule of charges (table: AED 2,972.5). Medical fitness, Emirates ID and insurance are not in that invoice.

Year 2 is the unbundled stack: licence renewal AED 20,265, establishment-card renewal AED 2,205, flexi-desk lease AED 16,000–19,000. Those three lines are AED 38,470–41,470 before person-fees. Year 3 repeats the licence, card and desk, and adds investor and employment visa renewals at AED 2,790 each on the visa-services table.

Confirm the live schedule and the current Jump Start PDF before you pay. A QFZP audit, if you claim 0% on qualifying income, is a separate market invoice from year two.

IFZA (2-visa package, one shareholder, two visas from outside UAE)

IFZA does not publish a live consumer cart on ifza.com. Partners still quote the September 2024 IFZA Dubai list: two-visa licence AED 16,900 including VAT. That figure is a partner sheet, not a Government of Dubai gazette. The establishment card is a separate bill; partners quote about AED 2,000. Employment visa issuance may sit inside a year-1 promo; confirm it on the proposal, do not assume AED 0.

Year 2 and year 3 licence lines stay on that same ladder unless you buy a prepaid term. Medical, Emirates ID, insurance, extra activities and general-trading premiums sit outside AED 16,900. From 30 September 2025 IFZA requires financial statements at renewal; a QFZP claim still needs the federal audit under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025.

Meydan (standard licence, separate visa allocation, one shareholder, two visas)

Year 1 licence from the authority’s own cost breakdown: AED 12,500, covering the LLC-FZ trade licence, up to three activity groups, and a flexi desk. Visa allocation is AED 1,850 per slot, so two slots are AED 3,700. Employment visa AED 3,500. Investor or partner visa about AED 4,000. Extra activities beyond the three included groups are AED 1,000 each. Immigration-card amounts are partner quotes around AED 2,000 — confirm them on the live calculator, because the public breakdown is cleaner on licence and allocation than on the card.

Year 2 renewal tracks the first-year licence configuration. Whether allocation AED 1,850 repeats every year is a calculator question, not a modelling plug. Medical, ID and insurance remain person invoices.

IFZA and Meydan land in a similar published band on this two-visa flexi-desk profile. DMCC’s year-two desk-plus-renewal is the structural gap, not a ranking of which zone is “better.” In US dollars at about 3.67, the DMCC Jump Start headline is roughly USD 12,000 for year 1 of the package; IFZA’s two-visa sheet is roughly USD 4,600; Meydan’s AED 12,500 licence is roughly USD 3,400 before allocation and visas. Commercial formation, advisory, compliance and banking work sit outside this map; not a Medici quote.

IFZA figures use the September 2024 IFZA Dubai price list because ifza.com still does not publish a live public tariff as of August 2026. Partner sheets reprint the same ladder. The “one residence visa free for life” line is a promo. Meydan licence and allocation fees come from the authority’s own cost breakdown and calculator. DMCC figures come from the official schedule of charges and the Jump Start terms.

These lines are a planning map against live authority pages. They are not a quote, and they are not a promise that a bank, a visa or a 0% tax rate will follow.

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Where year two and year three change the ranking

Year one is where marketing wins. DMCC looks expensive and is expensive. IFZA and Meydan look close, and they are close. The ranking holds over three years because Jump Start is front-loaded and the desk falls out of the bundle.

Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk at AED 43,780 includes the application, registration, articles, licence, establishment card, a standard flexi desk and one complimentary two-year visa. The desk is eligible for three visas. On a one-year Jump Start, year two is a licence renewal at AED 20,265 plus an establishment-card renewal at AED 2,205 plus a flexi-desk lease at AED 16,000–19,000. Those three lines alone are AED 38,000–41,000 before insurance, books and audit. IFZA’s year-two licence stays at AED 16,900. Meydan’s year-two licence-plus-allocation stays near AED 16,200. The desk remains inside both of those invoices. That is the structural gap.

Visa timing moves cash between years and does not reverse the ranking. Two-year permits mean year two has no visa issuance. Year three brings renewals. DMCC remains the high column.

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What each package includes, and what it leaves on the next invoice

A free zone quote is a bundle. The authority sells a licence, a registered address, an immigration file and a visa quota on one invoice. Government medical, Emirates ID and insurance land on other invoices. Compare the bundles or you compare theatre. The three zones pack different items into the headline price. DMCC Jump Start includes registration, articles, the establishment card and a flexi desk with a three-visa quota. IFZA sells a visa-count package and bills the establishment card as a separate line. Meydan publishes a base licence from AED 12,500 and adds visa allocation on top. Read the stacks above against this unpacking, then confirm the live tariff before you pay.

DMCC Jump Start and the standard tariff behind it

DMCC is a Government of Dubai authority. The standard build without a package is application AED 1,035, registration AED 9,020, articles AED 2,020, licence AED 20,285 per year, establishment card AED 1,825 on the setup schedule (issue AED 1,805 and renew AED 2,205 under visa services). A flexi desk at the business centre is AED 16,000–19,000. That stack is why Jump Start prints an “original price” of AED 57,481 and a package price of AED 43,780.

Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk is the right DMCC comparator here: a desk eligible for three visas, one two-year residence visa in the package price. You still pay employee-protection insurance, medical typing and Emirates ID typing. Basic Biz at AED 35,484 is a one-visa product. Prime Plus assumes you bring your own office. Crypto, Gaming and AI Centre packages at AED 31,000 are ecosystem offers.

Activity rules are the trap. Activities from a different licence type (Service, Trading, Industrial) need a new licence at AED 20,265 per year. A Service licence plus a Trading licence adds about AED 60,795 over three years. IFZA and Meydan do not charge that second licence for a hybrid of professional and commercial work.

IFZA visa-count packages

IFZA sells through Professional Partners. You do not pull a public shopping cart off ifza.com. Commercial and professional activities can sit on one FZCO licence. Three activity groups sit in the standard fee. Incorporation does not require your physical presence.

The price ladder partners still use in 2026 is the September 2024 IFZA Dubai list: zero visa AED 12,900, one visa AED 14,900, two visas AED 16,900, three visas AED 18,900, four and above AED 20,900, all including VAT. Two-year and three-year terms carry printed discounts of 15% and 20% (three-year two-visa discounted price AED 40,600). The “residence visa free for life” offer is a promo on that PDF.

AED 16,900 does not include the establishment card (about AED 2,000), medical, Emirates ID, status change, health insurance, extra activities or general-trading premiums. From 30 September 2025 IFZA requires financial statements at renewal. Companies at or below AED 3 million turnover with nine or fewer employees may file a Simplified Financial Statement on IFZA’s template. Everyone else files full audited statements. That is lighter than DMCC’s approved-auditor list. It is not a waiver of the federal QFZP audit.

Meydan modular licence and Fawri

Meydan Free Zone publishes the cleanest public breakdown of the three. Company setup starts from AED 12,500 for a zero-visa allocation. That fee covers the LLC-FZ trade licence, up to three business activity groups, and a flexi desk. The regular licence opens 2,500+ activities. Fawri starts from AED 15,000, opens 1,800+ activities, and is built for a solo founder who is shareholder, manager, director and UBO. This comparison uses the regular licence.

Visa allocation is AED 1,850 per slot, up to six under one licence. Employment visas are AED 3,500. Investor or partner visas are about AED 4,000. Extra activities beyond the three included groups are AED 1,000 each. Multi-year setups take up to 15% off. Optional Meydan Plus lines sit outside the authority licence comparison. You can buy the same work from an independent firm; accounting and tax for UAE companies is that work on Medici’s side.

Meydan’s renewal fee tracks the first-year licence configuration. Confirm the immigration card and Knowledge and Innovation Dirhams on the live calculator.

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Reputation, banking, activities, audit, location and visa quota

Price answers who invoices less. It does not tell you whether a bank will open the account or whether the activity list covers the work you sell. Founders who pick IFZA or Meydan on year-one cost and then spend six months on banking have not saved money. They have deferred a different bill. The non-cost gap between DMCC and the other two is the reason some companies pay the premium on purpose. Use the next subsections as a veto list. If one item fails for your model, the cheaper published licence is still the wrong home.

Reputation and banking

DMCC is the name counterparties recognise. The authority reports 26,000+ member companies, 15% of Dubai’s annual FDI, and a 2025 intake of 2,300 new companies. Technology is now its largest ecosystem, above 4,000 companies. The licence sits in Jumeirah Lakes Towers and Uptown Dubai. Banks open accounts for companies they can explain: source of funds, activity match, UBO file, and invoices that match the story. A DMCC letterhead helps the file. It does not replace the file.

IFZA and Meydan are real Dubai free zones with digital processes and large partner networks. They do not carry the same district weight. Some UAE banks onboard a plain consultancy with a clean UBO. Some compliance teams treat a flexi-desk hybrid as a higher-risk file. If your buyers are commodity traders or regional corporates with DMCC vendors on an approved list, the three-year premium can be cheaper than stalled collections. If your buyers are overseas SMEs who care that you have a UAE contract, IFZA or Meydan will do the legal job.

Activity lists and the hybrid licence

IFZA’s commercial argument is the hybrid licence: professional and commercial activities on one document, three groups in the fee. Meydan makes the same promise with 2,500+ activities on the regular licence and AED 1,000 per extra activity. DMCC publishes 900+ activities across 20 sectors and fences them with licence-type rules. Different licence type means a second licence at AED 20,265 per year.

Ask the zone to code the activities before you buy a package. “General trading” is a premium product. “Trading of specific non-restricted goods” plus “management consultancy” may fit one IFZA or Meydan licence and two DMCC licences. If your model needs two on DMCC, add about AED 60,795 over three years. That add-on is larger than the entire IFZA-versus-Meydan gap. Payments, brokerage and virtual-asset services need a regulator. A cheap trade licence does not become that licence.

Audit, location and visa quota

Audit is a three-layer stack. DMCC wants audited IFRS statements from a DMCC-approved auditor within six months of year-end. IFZA wants financial statements at renewal from 30 September 2025, with a simplified template if turnover is at or below AED 3 million and employees are nine or fewer. Meydan wants audited statements or a declaration at renewal. Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires every Qualifying Free Zone Person to keep audited financial statements, with no revenue threshold, for tax periods from 1 January 2025. The bank will ask for statements even if the zone would have accepted a declaration. If you want 0% on qualifying income, budget the audit in all three columns.

Location is operational. DMCC is JLT and Uptown Dubai. IFZA headquarters is at Dubai Digital Park in Dubai Silicon Oasis. Meydan Free Zone sits at Nad Al Sheba. A flexi desk in all three cases is a registered address plus limited use of a business centre. If you will host inspections or a substance test for tax, that desk may fail.

Jump Start’s standard flexi desk is capped at three visas. IFZA’s 2-visa package is the slot you paid for. Meydan allows up to six allocations on one licence at AED 1,850 each. Quota is capacity. GDRFA and ICP decide the person.

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Who each zone does not fit

A zone can be cheap and still be the wrong legal home. The test is the work you will do and the counterparties who must trust the letterhead. Headcount in year two is the third filter, because visa quota on a flexi desk has a ceiling. Read the three profiles below as exclusions. If more than one exclusion applies, stop forcing a fit among these three. You may need a mainland licence or a financial free zone. Map that choice against banking access and tax before you file. Licence, bank file and tax position have to match. A cheap zone that fails one of those will cost more once you redo the structure.

DMCC does not fit

Skip DMCC if the company is a test vehicle or a two-person consultancy whose clients never ask where in Dubai you sit. Skip it if you need professional and trading codes on one licence and you refuse a second licence fee. Skip it if year-two cash is tight: the flexi desk returns as a line item. Skip Basic Biz if you need two visas. DMCC is a poor fit for anyone shopping “cheapest free zone in Dubai” as the decision rule.

IFZA does not fit

Skip IFZA if you need a Government of Dubai invoice with a public schedule of charges. Pricing lives on PDFs and partner proposals. Skip it if your bank has already rejected “new free zone, flexi desk, hybrid trading” files. Skip it if you need a central Dubai client office in year one. Silicon Oasis is a real address. It is not DIFC. Skip it if you want to file everything yourself on a government portal the way DMCC members do.

Meydan does not fit

Skip Meydan if you treat Fawri as the same product as a regular two-visa licence. Fawri is a one-person legal shape. Skip it if you need more than six staff on a flexi desk. Skip it if counterparties require a JLT address. Skip it if you planned to use the declaration form at renewal and also claim QFZP. Skip it if you need warehousing. A flexi desk plus three activity groups is a paper structure, not a logistics yard.

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Prepaid packages and the August 2026 promotions

The annual path is the honest comparison because you can exit after year one. Prepaid is cheaper per year if you are sure.

IFZA’s 2024 list discounts two years by 15% and three years by 20%. A two-visa three-year licence prints at AED 40,600 versus AED 50,700 undiscounted. That locks the licence. It does not lock medicals, insurance, books or the audit. Meydan advertises up to 15% off multi-year setups. Use the calculator for the exact configuration.

DMCC’s schedule lists Jump Start Standard Flexi Desk at AED 81,881 for two years and AED 120,000 for three years. The packages page in August 2026 also shows a Business Acceleration Offer: three-year Flexi Desk AED 96,000. Those offer prices can expire. Add the second visa, medicals and insurance from other invoices. Bookkeeping, advisory and audits sit outside this map; not a Medici quote.

Pay prepaid DMCC if the district is the point. Do not prepay to beat a spreadsheet if you will move in 18 months.

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Corporate tax sits outside the licence fee

Free zone marketing still leads with 0%. The Corporate Tax Law does not. A free zone person pays 0% on qualifying income only as a Qualifying Free Zone Person under Article 18 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022. Fail a condition in a period and the 0% path is closed for that company for five years.

The conditions that bite a flexi-desk consultancy are substance, adequate employees and assets, the de minimis cap on non-qualifying income, and audited financial statements. Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 puts the audit on every QFZP, with no revenue floor, for tax periods from 1 January 2025. A two-person IFZA company can file a simplified statement for the zone and still need a full audit for the Federal Tax Authority if it elects QFZP.

Small Business Relief is a different election. Do not assume it. VAT is a third regime: mandatory registration at AED 375,000 of taxable supplies. None of these federal lines care whether you paid AED 12,500 or AED 43,780 for the trade licence.

If the tax file is the reason you are in a free zone, treat the accountant and the auditor as a separate engagement. That work is accounting and tax.

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When the flexi desk stops being the cheap option

The comparison above is a flexi-desk company. Upgrade when a bank, a tax substance review or a customer demands a room you can stand in. DMCC serviced desks run AED 22,000–35,000 on the schedule. Meydan’s published upgrades are AED 3,500 per month for a dedicated desk, AED 15,000 per year for a shared office, AED 30,000 per year for a dedicated office. IFZA executive offices are partner-quoted; budget a five-figure extra. One dedicated office year can exceed the entire three-year IFZA-versus-DMCC gap on a flexi desk.

Upgrade also when headcount breaks the quota. Three visas is the Jump Start flexi ceiling. Six is Meydan’s published allocation ceiling on one licence. Keep the flexi desk when the company is a contracting vehicle, the people live on other visas, and the bank has already said yes. In that case IFZA or Meydan is the cheaper three-year home.

Start with a veto, then look at the numbers. If you need a regulator for the activity, none of these three packages is the licence — the regulator chooses the zone. If your profile is two visas, consultancy plus non-restricted trading, flexi-desk, and a three-year horizon, IFZA and Meydan land in a similar cost band that fits lean setups. If the address matters — JLT, a public Government of Dubai tariff, or a commodities-hub membership — DMCC's higher cost reflects a different product. Confirm the live package, the establishment card, and the auditor you will use in month 13. Medici maps jurisdiction against banking access first, then files.

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FAQ

How do IFZA and Meydan compare over three years?

On this two-visa flexi-desk profile they sit in one published band. The IFZA two-visa sheet is AED 16,900 a year; Meydan’s licence is AED 12,500 plus allocation AED 1,850 per slot plus visa issuance. Card, medicals and whether allocation repeats are calculator questions. Confirm IFZA’s partner sheet and Meydan’s calculator on the day you pay.

Does a cheaper IFZA or Meydan licence make banking harder?

Sometimes. Banks underwrite the company, not the brochure. A DMCC letterhead is more familiar to compliance teams. An IFZA or Meydan company with a clean UBO file still opens accounts. A DMCC company with a messy file still does not. Nobody can promise an account.

Can I put consultancy and trading on one licence?

IFZA and Meydan allow professional and commercial activities on one licence, with extra activity fees after the included groups. DMCC requires a second licence at AED 20,265 per year if the codes sit in different licence types. Code the activities with the zone before you buy a package.

Do all three zones require a full audit?

DMCC requires audited IFRS statements from an approved auditor within six months of year-end. IFZA requires financial statements at renewal from 30 September 2025, with a simplified template for small companies. Meydan requires statements or a declaration at renewal. Every Qualifying Free Zone Person must keep audited statements under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025. If you want 0% on qualifying income, budget a full audit in all three.

How many visas can I hold on a flexi desk?

Jump Start’s standard flexi desk is capped at three. IFZA sells packages by visa count. Meydan allows up to six allocations on one licence at AED 1,850 each. Quota is capacity. GDRFA or ICP decides each person.

Are the prices in this article promotional?

Some are. DMCC’s Business Acceleration Offer (AED 96,000 for three-year Jump Start Flexi Desk) was on the packages page in August 2026. IFZA’s “visa free for life” line sits on the September 2024 price list. Meydan’s multi-year discount is “up to 15%”. Re-read the live page before you wire funds.

Does 0% corporate tax depend on which of these three I pick?

No. 0% on qualifying income is a federal QFZP test. Substance, qualifying income, de minimis and audited statements apply in DMCC, IFZA and Meydan. A flexi-desk company can fail substance in any of the three.

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