By Sam — Free Zone Cost Analyst Ex-corporate-services consultant. Eight years pricing UAE free zones and pulling apart the “all-inclusive” packages that aren’t.
For a lean 2026 e-commerce launch, both Ajman NuVentures (ANCFZ) and Sharjah’s SPC Free Zone start in roughly the same place: an advertised entry licence in the AED 4,888–6,275 band. The gap shows up the moment you add a residence visa, an e-channel deposit, and renewal — so the right pick depends less on the headline and more on your visa count.
I price these two zones for online sellers more than almost any other pairing, because they sit at the cheap end of the market and the marketing around both leans hard on a single low number. This is the comparison that low-cost e-commerce founders actually need: not which emirate is “better” — both Ajman and Sharjah are perfectly good places to base an online store — but which zone product matches how you plan to trade, hire, and renew. Let me walk through the fees the way I’d do it for a paying client.
The 30-second answer for online sellers
If you want one zero-visa, pay-as-you-go licence to test an online store and keep cash in the business, ANCFZ’s entry package is built precisely for that and issues fast. If you want one or two visas from day one, a digital licence you can manage online, and the option to stack up to five activities under one roof, SPC is the more natural home. Neither is “cheaper” across the board — they’re cheapest at different points on the visa curve, and that’s the whole game.
I’ll show you the numbers, then give you a verdict by business type at the end so you can match a package to your own plan rather than to a banner ad.
What you’re actually comparing (this part trips people up)
Before any fee table, you need to know that “Ajman” and “ANCFZ” are not the same product, and people lose money assuming they are.
Ajman NuVentures Centre Free Zone (ANCFZ) is a newer free zone authority known for an aggressive entry price and very fast licensing. It advertises packages “from AED 4,888” on a flexible, pay-as-you-go basis, and it markets a two-hour licence issuance — among the fastest setup claims in the country. (ANCFZ packages; persona.tax Ajman 2026 guide)
That AED 4,888 figure is real as an advertised entry point, but it is a zero-visa, minimal-inclusions starting price. The moment you add one visa quota, ANCFZ’s own pricing moves to roughly AED 12,000, and renewals tend to start around the same AED 12,000 mark depending on activity. (ajmanbusinesssetup.com ANCFZ guide; safeledger.ae Ajman cost) So the honest way to read ANCFZ is: cheap to start, mid-priced once you’re a real visa-holding business. Do not budget the AED 4,888 number as your all-in cost. [verify the live 1-visa quote against ANCFZ before you commit]
For context, the older, separate Ajman Free Zone (AFZ) authority prices a basic e-commerce licence from about AED 5,750 (no visa) up toward AED 6,800, with a one-visa-plus-office setup landing near AED 10,300 in year one. (safeledger.ae; yabs.ae Ajman e-commerce) That’s a different product from ANCFZ — useful to know, but this comparison stays on ANCFZ vs SPC.
SPC Free Zone (Sharjah Publishing City) is the Sharjah-based zone that, despite the “publishing” name, licenses a broad activity list including e-commerce. Its e-commerce licence is advertised from about AED 5,750 on promotion, with a commonly quoted package at AED 6,275 that includes one activity, one visa quota, a shared workspace, and a digital trade licence. (arnifi.com SPC cost; noblecoreventures.com Sharjah e-commerce) Its biggest structural perk is letting you combine up to five activities under a single licence — handy if you’ll pivot between, say, e-commerce and consulting without buying a second licence. (dubaisetup.ae SPC 2026 guide)
So you’re really comparing a zone optimised for the cheapest possible start (ANCFZ) against a zone optimised for a cheap start that already includes a visa and broad activities (SPC). Keep that framing as we go.
Headline licence fees, 2026
Here’s the side-by-side as I’d present it to a client, with the caveat that every zone quotes “from” prices and your real number depends on visas, office type, and activity.
| Item (2026, indicative) | ANCFZ — Ajman NuVentures | SPC — Sharjah Publishing City |
|---|---|---|
| Advertised entry licence | From ~AED 4,888 (zero-visa, pay-as-you-go) | From ~AED 5,750 promo; ~AED 6,275 with 1 visa quota |
| Realistic 1-visa setup | ~AED 12,000 (licence with 1 visa quota) | ~AED 6,275 package + visa issuance costs |
| Residence visa (per person) | ~AED 3,500 | ~AED 3,500–4,500 (medical + EID + stamping) |
| Activities per licence | Activity-based; confirm bundle at quote | Up to 5 activities under one licence |
| E-channel / refundable deposit | Confirm at quote | ~AED 2,500–3,000 |
| Step up to multi-visa | Installment route ~AED 12,000 (AED 10,000 upfront) | Standard package ~AED 11,500 (past 2 visas) |
| Renewal (year 2) | From ~AED 12,000 (activity-dependent) | Confirm at renewal; package-dependent |
| Headline issuance speed | ~2 hours (advertised) | Digital from ~45 min–2 hrs; realistically 1–5 working days |
Sources for the table: ANCFZ packages, ajmanbusinesssetup.com, safeledger.ae, arnifi.com SPC, noblecoreventures.com, henryclub.ae SPC. Treat all as 2026 indicative ranges, not quotes.
The single most important row in that table is “realistic 1-visa setup.” If you only ever read the “from” prices, ANCFZ looks cheaper. Add a visa and the picture flips: SPC’s ~AED 6,275 one-visa package plus visa issuance often lands below ANCFZ’s ~AED 12,000 one-visa licence. That’s not a knock on ANCFZ — it’s just two different pricing philosophies, and you want the one that’s cheap at your visa count.
Fees, line by line
ANCFZ: cheap to start, mid-priced to operate
ANCFZ’s pitch is genuinely strong for one scenario — a founder who wants to incorporate today, hold no visa yet, and keep almost all their capital in the business. The “from AED 4,888” pay-as-you-go entry is built for exactly that, and the two-hour issuance claim means you can have a licence in hand the same morning you decide to start. (ANCFZ)
Where founders get caught is assuming AED 4,888 survives contact with a visa. It doesn’t. ANCFZ’s one-visa-quota licence is quoted around AED 12,000, and the installment option (about AED 10,000 upfront, AED 12,000 total) exists precisely because that step up is a real jump. (ajmanbusinesssetup.com) Renewal from roughly AED 12,000 means year two costs more than the AED 4,888 you may have anchored on. None of that makes ANCFZ a bad deal — it makes it a staged deal. Budget the stage you’ll actually be at twelve months in.
SPC: a visa already in the box
SPC’s e-commerce package is priced so that one visa quota is part of the advertised ~AED 6,275 — you’re not bolting it on later. (arnifi.com) The two extras to plan for are the residence-visa issuance cost itself (~AED 3,500–4,500 once medical, Emirates ID, and stamping are counted) and the e-channel registration with a refundable deposit of roughly AED 2,500–3,000. (noblecoreventures.com) Past two visas, SPC nudges you to its standard package near AED 11,500. (henryclub.ae)
The five-activities-per-licence allowance is the quiet money-saver here. An online seller who also wants to invoice for consulting, or run a small trading line alongside the store, can do it on one licence instead of buying a second — the kind of structural saving that doesn’t show in a “from” price but matters over three years.
If you want to see how this low-cost band compares with the bigger Dubai zones for online stores, my IFZA vs RAKEZ for e-commerce breakdown covers the next tier up, and the auditor’s guide to UAE free-zone setup costs walks through the fee categories every zone uses so the line items above make sense.
Visas: where the real cost lives
For most online sellers, the licence is not the expensive part — the visas are. Whichever zone you pick, budget roughly AED 3,500–4,500 per residence visa once you include the medical test, Emirates ID, and stamping. (noblecoreventures.com)
The structural difference is when you pay for the quota. SPC folds one visa quota into the headline e-commerce package, so a solo founder needing one visa starts from a lower effective base. ANCFZ keeps the quota out of the AED 4,888 entry and prices the one-visa licence around AED 12,000, which suits a founder who genuinely doesn’t need a visa yet — for example, someone already on a spouse or golden visa who just needs the company. Match the structure to your visa reality and you’ll usually find one zone is clearly cheaper for you, even though neither is cheaper in the abstract. My cheapest free zones for freelancers guide goes deeper on the zero-and-one-visa maths if that’s your situation.
Setup time: both fast, with an asterisk
Both zones market eye-catching speed. ANCFZ advertises a two-hour licence; SPC advertises digital issuance as fast as 45 minutes to two hours. (persona.tax; dubaisetup.ae)
Here’s the asterisk I always add for clients: those headline times measure digital licence issuance once your documents are clean and approved. The realistic end-to-end timeline — name reservation, document collection, payment, then visa processing if you need one — runs closer to 1–5 working days, and the visa stage adds days on top of that regardless of zone. (arnifi.com) So treat “two hours” as the best case for the licence document, not for a fully operational, visa-holding company. Both zones are genuinely fast; just plan your launch around the document-plus-visa timeline, not the banner number. If you want the full sequence, my 10-step UAE free-zone setup guide lays out every stage in order.
Ownership, banking and what online sellers actually need
The fee tables get all the attention, but the things that quietly make or break an e-commerce setup are ownership, banking, and the practical fit of the package. Both zones clear the basics, so this is about degree, not pass/fail.
100% ownership and the legal form
Both ANCFZ and SPC offer 100% foreign ownership of the company, which is the baseline expectation for any UAE free zone in 2026 and removes the need for a local partner. (dubaisetup.ae SPC guide) For an online store that’s almost always structured as a single-shareholder FZ-LLC / FZE, this is a non-issue at either zone — but confirm the exact legal form on your quote, because it affects how banks and payment gateways onboard you.
Bank account and payment-gateway reality
This is the part that surprises first-time founders more than the licence fee. A free-zone licence lets you form the company; it doesn’t guarantee a corporate bank account or a payment gateway will say yes on day one. Newer and lower-cost zones can face slightly more bank scrutiny than the big Dubai names, so budget time — not just money — for opening an account, and have your business plan, supplier invoices, and proof of activity ready. For an e-commerce business, the payment gateway (the thing that lets you actually take card payments online) is often the longer pole than the bank account, and gateways will ask for the same KYC. Neither ANCFZ nor SPC controls that approval, so treat it as a separate workstream regardless of which zone you choose.
Office type: what “shared workspace” really means
The cheap packages at both zones assume a flexi-desk or shared workspace, not a private office. For a pure online store run by one or two people, that’s usually fine and is exactly why these packages are affordable. But if you’ll hold inventory, you need a separate warehousing arrangement — neither the ANCFZ entry package nor the SPC promotional package includes storage space, and adding a physical office or warehouse changes the economics entirely. Decide your space needs before you compare prices, because a flexi-desk licence and a physical-office licence are different products even within the same zone.
A three-year cost view (worked example)
Year one is the number everyone quotes; year three is the number you actually live with. Here’s the way I model it for clients, using the indicative figures above. These are illustrative totals, not quotes — your real numbers depend on your visa count and office type. [verify each line against a live quote before relying on it]
Scenario A — solo founder, no visa needed
At ANCFZ, a zero-visa pay-as-you-go entry near AED 4,888 in year one, with renewals trending toward the ~AED 12,000 band, gives a rough three-year envelope in the region of AED 4,888 + (two renewals). At SPC, a no-visa promotional licence near AED 5,750 with package-dependent renewals lands in a similar ballpark. In this scenario ANCFZ usually wins year one outright; the three-year gap narrows once renewals are counted, so ask both zones for the renewal figure in writing. (ANCFZ; arnifi.com SPC)
Scenario B — solo founder, one visa from day one
This is where SPC tends to pull ahead. Its ~AED 6,275 package already contains a visa quota, so your year-one base (package + ~AED 3,500–4,500 visa issuance + ~AED 2,500–3,000 refundable e-channel deposit) often totals less than ANCFZ’s ~AED 12,000 one-visa licence plus its own visa issuance. Over three years, the zone that included the quota up front usually stays cheaper at this visa count. (noblecoreventures.com)
Scenario C — growing seller, two-plus visas and extra activities
Once you’re past two visas, SPC moves you to its standard package near AED 11,500, and ANCFZ’s multi-visa pricing climbs similarly. At this stage the deciding factor is often SPC’s five-activities-per-licence allowance: a seller who’d otherwise need a second licence to add consulting or trading can avoid that cost entirely. Price the whole operation — visas plus activities plus renewal — not just the licence line. (henryclub.ae)
The pattern across all three scenarios is consistent: there is no single “cheaper” zone, only a cheaper zone for your visa count and activity mix. That’s why the comparison tool beats any blog table — including this one.
The hidden costs I always flag
A “from” price is the start of the conversation, not the end. For both ANCFZ and SPC, ask the consultant to put these in writing before you pay:
The e-channel / immigration deposit — refundable, but it’s real cash out the door (roughly AED 2,500–3,000 at SPC; confirm ANCFZ’s equivalent). The establishment card and registration fees, which sometimes sit outside the headline package. Office type — a flexi-desk or shared workspace is what the cheap packages assume; a physical office changes the number entirely. And renewal, which is where ANCFZ’s ~AED 12,000 floor matters: a zone that’s cheap in year one but pricier to renew can cost more over three years than one priced flat. I break down this exact category-by-category trap in the auditor’s guide to setup costs, and the Ajman formation cost forensic breakdown does it specifically for Ajman.
The bottom line, by business type
Rather than crown a winner, here’s how I’d actually advise, because the right zone depends entirely on your shape of business. Both are solid, low-cost homes for an online store.
How to lock in the right number
Whichever way you lean, do this before paying anyone: get a written quote that states the licence fee, the visa quota included, per-visa issuance cost, the e-channel/immigration deposit, the office type assumed, and the year-two renewal — all on one page. If a consultant won’t put renewal in writing, that tells you something. Run both zones through the same template and the cheaper option for your specific visa count and activity mix becomes obvious.
When you’re ready to put ANCFZ and SPC side by side on your own inputs, compare them now with your real visa count and activity list — that’s the only version of this table that matters.
FAQ
Is ANCFZ really cheaper than SPC for an e-commerce licence? Only at zero visas. ANCFZ’s advertised entry (~AED 4,888) beats SPC’s (~AED 5,750–6,275) if you need no residence visa. Add one visa and the order often reverses, because SPC includes a visa quota in its ~AED 6,275 package while ANCFZ’s one-visa licence is around AED 12,000. (ANCFZ; arnifi.com)
What does an SPC e-commerce licence actually cost in 2026? The commonly advertised package is around AED 6,275 for one activity, one visa quota, a shared workspace, and a digital licence, with promotional pricing from ~AED 5,750. Plan for ~AED 3,500–4,500 per visa issuance and a ~AED 2,500–3,000 refundable e-channel deposit on top. (noblecoreventures.com)
Why do I keep seeing “AED 4,888” for ANCFZ? That’s ANCFZ’s advertised zero-visa, pay-as-you-go entry price. It’s a real starting point but not an all-in cost — once you add a visa quota, ANCFZ’s pricing moves to roughly AED 12,000, and renewals start near the same figure. Budget for the stage you’ll be at, not the banner. (ajmanbusinesssetup.com)
How fast can I get an e-commerce licence from either zone? Both advertise very fast issuance — ANCFZ markets two hours, SPC markets digital issuance from about 45 minutes to two hours. In practice, the full process including documents and (if needed) a visa runs closer to 1–5 working days. (persona.tax; arnifi.com)
Can I run more than one business activity on these licences? SPC lets you combine up to five activities under a single licence, which is useful if you’ll mix e-commerce with consulting or trading. For ANCFZ, confirm the activity bundle on your specific package at quote stage. (dubaisetup.ae)
Which should I choose for a first online store? If you need a visa now, SPC is usually the lower effective cost and gives you activity flexibility. If you don’t need a visa yet and want to incorporate today, ANCFZ’s fast, low entry is hard to beat. Price both at your real visa count before deciding.
Written by: UAE Freezone Compare Editorial Team
Reviewed by: UAE Business Setup Research Team
Last reviewed: June 2026
Our guides are reviewed using public authority information, official package pages, available fee schedules, partner quotations and manual research. Prices and requirements can change depending on activity, visa count, office requirement, shareholder structure and authority approval.
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FAQs
| Are prices final? | No. Request the current verified quote before committing. |
|---|---|
| Can requirements change? | Yes. Free zone and bank requirements can change by activity, visas, office and shareholder profile. |