The UAE is not a market where you can take a US real estate platform, change the currency and call it done. Listings are regulated advertisements. Buyers arrive from more than 200 nationalities. Your inventory usually reaches the public through Property Finder and Bayut before it reaches your own site. The platforms that work here are the ones that understand those three facts.
This article compares what is actually available to a Dubai or Abu Dhabi brokerage in 2026. A disclosure up front: Midtide is our product and appears below alongside the others. Pricing was checked against each vendor's own page on 8 August 2026, and the regulatory sections are sourced to Dubai Land Department and ADREC publications rather than to industry blogs, because a great deal of what circulates about permits is wrong.
The gap in the UAE market
Research the market properly and one thing stands out: in the UAE, CRM software and website software are almost entirely separate industries.
The UAE-native CRMs, PropSpace and Reelly among them, are built around listings, leads, portal feeds and compliance paperwork. None of the ones we could verify ships a website builder. Meanwhile the global website builders, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, build perfectly good websites and have no concept of a Trakheesi permit, a BRN, or an XML feed to Property Finder.
So the typical Dubai brokerage runs a CRM for operations, pays an agency for a website, and maintains its listings in two places. That is the actual status quo, and it is worth naming because it explains why so many brokerage websites have stale inventory and no permit numbers on them.
What DLD requires on your listings
This is the part most comparison articles skip, and it is the part that carries financial risk. The details below come from DLD's own publications.
A permit is required for every advertisement. DLD's Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide (ref DLD/RERA/RL/LP/Manual/No.6/Vr.2, issued November 2024) states that brokerages must obtain a permit through the Trakheesi system for any real estate advertisement or marketing material, and that the permit number must be displayed on the ad. The permitted categories explicitly include electronic ads and real estate promotion platforms. A standard permit is AED 1,000 plus a AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee, processed in one working day.
The QR code. The Madmoun QR system took effect on 24 April 2023, and DLD states that all real estate companies must display the QR code on advertisements, visual or written. Worth being precise here, because the official wording is: DLD does not name broker websites specifically in the QR circulars, so while the permit number on your own listings is clearly required, the QR code on your own website is strongly implied and is the safe practice rather than something spelled out verbatim. If in doubt, display both.
ORN and BRN. Your Office Registration Number identifies the brokerage and the Broker Registration Number identifies the individual agent. Showing both on listings is universally expected and is enforced by the portals, though we could not source it to a specific statute, so treat it as standard practice rather than a citable rule. Note that ORN is Office Registration Number; several guides get this wrong.
The penalties are real and enforcement is now automated. DLD set fines at AED 50,000 per violation, escalating for repeat offences up to licence cancellation, with named categories including advertising without a permit and using expired permits. In February 2024 DLD fined 30 companies AED 50,000 each, and missing QR codes was one of the violations cited. Since GITEX 2024, DLD has run an AI advertising governance platform that had reviewed more than 279,000 listings and automatically modified 29 percent of them as of April 2025, covering Property Finder, Bayut and dubizzle. Non-compliant listings are no longer found by chance.
Abu Dhabi is a different system. ADREC's Madhmoun platform, run through DARI, has been mandatory for all property advertisements in Abu Dhabi since 7 July 2025, and is described as the first government MLS in the GCC. Agents need a BLN rather than a BRN, listings are capped at three brokers unless the owner grants exclusivity, and permit fees are published: AED 125 for a one-month sale listing, AED 50 for a one-month rental, plus VAT. ADGM on Al Maryah and Al Reem Islands is carved out and runs its own permit service. Note the spelling trap: Dubai's QR system is Madmoun, Abu Dhabi's platform is Madhmoun.
The platforms compared
| Platform | From | Website | Permit field | Arabic RTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midtide | ~AED 85/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PropSpace | AED 176/user/mo | No | Yes | CRM only |
| Reelly | On request | White-label only | Off-plan focus | Not stated |
| Bayut Profolio | With Bayut account | No | Yes | Portal tool |
| Lofty | Not published | Yes | US-centric | No |
| Squarespace | $19/mo | Yes | No | Limited |
| Wix | $17/mo | Yes | No | Partial |
| Webflow | $25/mo (Premium) | Yes | Build it yourself | Build it yourself |
Property Finder and Bayut do not publish brokerage subscription pricing; every figure in circulation is an agency estimate, so we have not printed one.
UAE CRMs
PropSpace
The established UAE-native CRM, operating since 2012, and the one most brokerages of any size will end up evaluating. AED 176 per user per month with a practical minimum of around AED 500 a month for three users and a twelve-month commitment, discounted 10 percent for annual prepayment and 25 percent for two years. Property management is priced separately per unit with a fifty-unit minimum.
It handles listings, leads, compliance paperwork and portal distribution properly, and markets a direct API to Property Finder rather than a delayed XML feed, which tells you feed latency is a real irritation for brokerages. What it does not do is build you a website. If you have a web agency already and need operations software, this is a strong and well-proven choice, and we would recommend it over Midtide for a large brokerage whose priority is CRM depth.
Reelly
Dubai-based, founded 2022, built around an off-plan project database with AI-generated PDF presentations and an API. It offers a white-label layer under your own domain, but that is not the same as a website builder, and pricing is not published on any of its three tiers. If your business is primarily off-plan and your value to clients is inventory knowledge, it is worth a conversation. If you need a public website with your own resale listings on it, it is not the tool.
Bayut Profolio
Free with a registered Bayut agent account, and genuinely useful for managing what you publish to Bayut and dubizzle, which are the same group. It is portal-side listing management rather than a CRM or a website, so treat it as one channel's control panel rather than as your system of record.
Lofty and other global CRMs
Lofty and Propertybase both pair a CRM with website capability and both are used in the region, usually through a partner. The caution is that they are built around US MLS workflows, so you are buying infrastructure shaped for a market whose rules do not apply here, and Trakheesi fields are not part of the data model. Zoho configured by a local partner such as emQube is a common alternative and is quoted per project. All of these can be made to work; none is designed for the UAE out of the box.
General website builders
Squarespace at $19 a month and Wix at $17 a month billed annually both produce attractive sites quickly, and for a brokerage whose listings live on Property Finder and whose website is a credibility page, either is a reasonable and cheap answer. Webflow at $25 a month for the Premium plan gives you a real CMS with 20,000 items, enough for any portfolio, if you have a designer.
The constraint is the same across all three. None has a property CMS with a permit field, none can send a feed to Property Finder, and Arabic support ranges from partial to something you build yourself. Wix's own help centre states it does not support IDX integration, which is a fair proxy for how it treats structured property data generally. You can add listings through third-party apps, and brokerages do, but the permit number ends up in a description field and the compliance exposure described above becomes yours to manage manually.
Midtide
A website builder with a property CMS behind it, and the UAE-specific parts exist because agents here asked for them.
Listing permits as a real field. Properties on a UAE site carry a permit number and an expiry date as structured fields, not as text buried in a description. The permit number is displayed on the public listing page. The field accepts Trakheesi, Madhmoun or other UAE listing permits, so it works for Dubai and Abu Dhabi inventory in the same portfolio.
Property Finder feed. Midtide connects to Property Finder, and your permit number travels with the listing, so what the portal receives is already compliant. We set the connection up for you at no charge rather than leaving you to configure a feed URL.
Arabic that actually works. Twelve languages with one-click AI translation across your whole portfolio, and genuine right-to-left layout for Arabic and Hebrew rather than translated text in a left-to-right template. Given that over 200 nationalities bought Dubai property last year and Indian, British, Chinese and Russian buyers are the largest cohorts, running English, Arabic, Russian and Chinese is a realistic requirement rather than a luxury.
AED pricing and multi-currency display. Plans are priced in dirhams, from roughly AED 85 a month, and listings can display live prices in any of 33 currencies, up to four at once. With a majority of Dubai buyers coming from overseas, showing a price in the buyer's own currency is a small thing that removes a step. There is no setup fee, and the support team will design and set the site up with you for free if you ask.
Leads and team assignment. Enquiries land on a six-stage pipeline from new through contacted, viewing, offer and won or lost, with notes and manual entry. Assign a listing to an agent and enquiries on that property route straight to them. It is deliberately lighter than PropSpace: no drip campaigns, no lead scoring.
Connect it to Claude. Securely connect your site to Claude and update listings, draft pages, or review this week's enquiries by asking. You choose what Claude can reach, and access is revocable from your dashboard. No other platform in this comparison offers it.
When Midtide is the wrong choice
If you run a large brokerage and your bottleneck is CRM depth rather than your website, PropSpace is the better buy and its per-user pricing will be fair at your size. If your business is off-plan inventory and your edge is knowing what is available before anyone else, Reelly is solving a problem we do not address. If you need drip email campaigns, lead scoring and call-centre style follow-up automation, none of that is in Midtide and you should look at a full CRM. And if your listings all live on Property Finder and your website is genuinely just a brand page, Squarespace at $19 a month will do the job and look good doing it.
Common questions
Do I need a Trakheesi permit number on my own website listings?
Yes. DLD's Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide requires a permit for any real estate advertisement, explicitly including electronic ads and promotion platforms, and requires the permit number to be displayed on the ad. That covers listings on your own brokerage website, not only portal listings.
What is the fine for advertising a property without a permit in Dubai?
AED 50,000 per violation, escalating for repeat offences up to cancellation of the brokerage licence. In February 2024 DLD fined 30 companies AED 50,000 each, with missing QR codes among the cited violations. DLD also runs an AI platform that had scanned more than 279,000 listings and auto-modified 29 percent of them as of April 2025.
How much does a Trakheesi advertising permit cost?
AED 1,000 for a standard permit plus a AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee, processed in one working day. A project launch event permit is AED 5,000. The commonly quoted AED 1,020 is simply the AED 1,000 plus fees, and the AED 220 figure sometimes cited is the broker card, which is a different thing.
What is the difference between Madmoun and Madhmoun?
Madmoun is Dubai's QR code system for verifying the validity of real estate adverts, effective April 2023 and run by DLD. Madhmoun is Abu Dhabi's advertising permit platform run by ADREC through DARI, mandatory since 7 July 2025. Different emirates, different systems, unhelpfully similar names.
Which website builder is best for a Dubai real estate agency?
It depends on whether listings need to live on your site. If they do, you need a platform with a property CMS and a permit field, which rules out the general builders; Midtide covers this from about AED 85 a month. If your website is a brand page and your inventory lives on Property Finder, Squarespace at $19 a month is sufficient. If your priority is CRM depth rather than the website, PropSpace at AED 176 per user is the stronger buy.
How do listings get onto Property Finder and Bayut?
Through an XML feed. Your CRM or website generates a publicly accessible feed URL and the portal pulls it on a schedule, so updating a listing at source updates it on the portal without manual re-entry. Property Finder also runs a developer network offering standardised APIs. Critically, the permit number is a required field in the feed: listings without a valid permit linked are blocked or removed.
How much do Property Finder and Bayut cost for brokerages?
Neither publishes brokerage subscription pricing; it is negotiated with their sales teams. Per-listing and per-lead figures circulating in blog posts are agency estimates without a primary source, so treat them with caution and get a quote.
Do I need an Arabic version of my real estate website?
Not strictly, since most transactions run in English, but it matters for credibility with local and GCC buyers and for search visibility in Arabic. If you do it, it needs true right-to-left layout with proper hreflang and separate localised URLs, not just translated text poured into a left-to-right design. Russian and Chinese are often higher-value additions than Hindi, since most Indian buyers transact in English.
How many real estate brokers are there in Dubai?
32,294 registered brokers across 9,785 brokerage offices at the end of 2025, according to DLD figures published in March 2026, with broker-led transactions up 54 percent year on year and commissions of AED 13.59 billion. Higher figures circulating for early 2026 are not supported by DLD data.
The bottom line
Start by deciding what your website is for. If it is a brand page and Property Finder carries your inventory, buy Squarespace and spend the saved money on portal listings. If you need operations software above all, PropSpace is the established UAE answer and worth its price at scale.
If you want your listings on your own site, the question that matters is whether the platform treats a permit number as a real field. DLD now scans listings automatically and fines at AED 50,000. A website that cannot store and display permit data is not a neutral choice in this market; it is an ongoing manual obligation that someone in your office has to remember.
Midtide is a website builder for estate agents and agencies, with listing permits, Property Finder and Arabic built in for the UAE. Start for free or get in touch and we will set up your Property Finder connection at no cost. For the global picture, see the best real estate website builders in 2026.
