Short answer: a .ae domain must be bought from a registrar accredited by the .ae Domain Administration (.aeDA), the registry operated by the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). Gate Hills is an ICANN-accredited registrar (IANA ID 4550) and is directly accredited by TDRA for .ae, registering .ae domains at AED 120 for the first year and renewing at AED 129.99 per year – the lowest .ae renewal price in the UAE. No UAE residency, Emirates ID or trade licence is required for a .ae name, and registration completes in minutes.
Below: what Gate Hills charges, what the registry requires of you, the four steps from search to a live domain, and how to check for yourself that a registrar is genuinely accredited.
What a .ae domain costs at Gate Hills
Annual prices in UAE dirhams. The renewal price is published alongside the registration price, so the cost in year two is known before you buy. Prices per year, excluding 5% VAT, which is added at checkout. Premium .ae names are priced by the registry and cost more. Last updated 23 July 2026.
| Extension | Registration | Renewal | Transfer in |
|---|---|---|---|
| .ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .co.ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .net.ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .org.ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .ac.ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .sch.ae | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
| .امارات | AED 120 / 32.68 USD | AED 129.99 / 35.40 USD | Free |
At AED 129.99, this is the lowest .ae renewal price in the UAE. The figure that matters on a domain is the recurring one: a .ae name is a cost you carry for as long as the business exists, so the renewal price, not the first year, is what you should compare.
One price covers the whole namespace. Registration is AED 120 and renewal AED 129.99 for .ae and for every second-level extension — .co.ae, .net.ae, .org.ae, .ac.ae, .sch.ae — and for the Arabic-script .امارات. The second-level variants are not priced as a separate premium tier, though they do each require supporting documentation.
Transfers in are free. Moving an existing .ae domain to Gate Hills costs nothing, on any of the extensions above. The transfer does not add a year: your existing expiry date carries over unchanged, and you renew at AED 129.99 when it falls due.
Gate Hills is accredited for .ae, .co.ae, .net.ae, .ac.ae, .sch.ae, .org.ae and .امارات, and operates under ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 22301 certification. Every registration includes DNS management and a free SSL certificate, and there are no add-ons presented at checkout.
How to register a .ae domain in four steps
- Check the name is available. Enter it in the Gate Hills domain search. If it is taken, the search returns available alternatives; the AI domain search generates name ideas from a description of your business.
- Choose the registration period. .ae domains can be registered for one to five years. A multi-year term fixes the current price for that period.
- Enter the registrant details. aeDA requires an accurate registrant name, email, telephone and address. A trade licence number and Emirates ID are not required for a standard .ae registration.
- Pay, and the domain goes live. Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or UAE PASS checkout. The domain is created in the registry immediately and appears in your dashboard, where you can set nameservers and DNS records.
Do you need UAE residency or a trade licence?
No. Any individual or company anywhere in the world can register a .ae domain. There is no residency requirement, no local-presence requirement, no Emirates ID requirement and no trade licence requirement for a standard .ae name. This is a deliberate aeDA policy choice to keep the namespace open, and it makes .ae more accessible than country-code domains that impose a local-presence test.
The open, no-documentation route is .ae itself and its Arabic-script equivalent. Every second-level extension requires additional supporting documentation, whatever its purpose – the price is the same, the paperwork is not:
Prices per year, excluding 5% VAT, which is added at checkout. Transfers in are free on every extension above.
| Extension | Intended for | Registration / renewal | Documentation required |
|---|---|---|---|
| .ae | Any person or organisation | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | No |
| .امارات | Arabic-script equivalent of .ae | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | No |
| .co.ae | Commercial entities | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | Yes |
| .net.ae | Network and internet providers | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | Yes |
| .org.ae | Non-profit organisations | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | Yes |
| .ac.ae | Accredited academic institutions | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | Yes |
| .sch.ae | Schools | AED 120 / AED 129.99 USD 32.68 / USD 35.40 | Yes |
| .gov.ae | UAE government entities | Not available | Restricted |
If you are not sure which documents apply to the extension you want, ask before you order – it is quicker than having a registration held pending review.
.امارات, the Arabic-script alternative
.امارات (dotEmarat) is the official Arabic-script top-level domain for the UAE, administered by the same registry and available from registrars accredited for it, Gate Hills included. It was the first Arabic-script country-code domain in the region. Registering the Arabic form alongside the Latin one is common practice for brands with an Arabic-speaking customer base.
How to check that a registrar is accredited
Only registrars accredited by the .aeDA can create names in the .ae namespace. Anyone else offering .ae domains is reselling on top of an accredited registrar, which means your registration agreement, and your recourse if something goes wrong, sits with a party you have no direct relationship with.
TDRA publishes the authoritative list. Before buying from any provider, including this one, check the name against it:
Gate Hills appears on that list under the UAE Local Registrars tab. Note that registrars are listed by the legal or trading name filed with the registry, which is not always the brand name on the website – worth keeping in mind when you cross-check any provider.
About Gate Hills
Gate Hills Technology FZCO, trading as Gate Hills, is a domain registrar licensed in the DMCC free zone in Dubai. It is an ICANN-accredited registrar under IANA ID 4550 and is directly accredited by TDRA for .ae and .امارات. It holds direct accreditations with Nominet for .uk, CNNIC for .cn, NIRA for .ng and the TRA of Bahrain for .bh, and is certified to ISO/IEC 27001 for information security and ISO 22301 for business continuity by TUV Rheinland.
What that means for a .ae registration handled here:
- A direct registry connection. Domains are created through Gate Hills’ own EPP integration with the aeDA registry. There is no intermediary between the registrant and the registry.
- Published renewal pricing. The renewal figure sits next to the registration figure on the domain pricing page.
- Support in Arabic, English and Italian from a Dubai-based team, 07:00 to 23:00 GST Monday to Saturday, on +971 4 4984000.
- A registrar API for agencies and resellers registering .ae at volume, documented on Postman.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a .ae domain cost at Gate Hills?
AED 120 for the first year and AED 129.99 per year on renewal, for a standard .ae domain – the lowest .ae renewal price in the UAE. Premium names are priced by the registry and cost more.
Do the prices include VAT?
No. All prices shown are exclusive of VAT. UAE value added tax of 5% is added at checkout.
Is Gate Hills an accredited .ae registrar?
Yes. Gate Hills Technology FZCO is accredited by ICANN as a domain registrar under IANA ID 4550, and is directly accredited by TDRA for .ae and for dotEmarat, its Arabic-script equivalent. Both can be verified on the accrediting bodies’ own public lists.
Does .co.ae cost more than .ae?
No. Registration is AED 120 and renewal AED 129.99 for .ae and for every second-level extension, including .co.ae, .net.ae, .org.ae, .ac.ae, .sch.ae and .امارات. The price is identical; the difference is that every second-level extension requires supporting documentation, while .ae and .امارات do not.
How much does it cost to transfer a .ae domain to Gate Hills?
Nothing. Transfers in are free for .ae and all its second-level extensions. A transfer does not extend the expiry date — the existing date carries over, and the domain renews at AED 129.99 when it comes due.
Can a non-resident register a .ae domain?
Yes. .ae is open to registrants worldwide, with no residency, local-presence or trade-licence requirement.
How long does .ae registration take?
Minutes. The domain is created in the registry as soon as payment clears. Propagation to global DNS resolvers usually completes within an hour.
Is WHOIS information private for .ae domains?
Only partly. aeDA policy requires certain registrant details to remain publicly visible in the .ae WHOIS, so the full privacy protection available on some generic domains is not available on .ae.
Can I move my .ae domain to another registrar later?
Yes. The domain belongs to the registrant, not the registrar. You can request an authorisation code and transfer it to any other aeDA-accredited registrar. Gate Hills does not charge a fee to release a domain.
What happens if a .ae domain expires?
It enters a redemption period during which the registrant can restore it, normally for a fee above the renewal price. After that it is deleted and returns to the available pool. The full sequence is set out in the domain lifecycle policy.
