LED screen price in UAE: what an LED display costs in Dubai, per square metre and in total

LED screen price per square metre in the UAE

Published guide prices in Dubai run from about AED 2,900 to 5,500 per square metre for indoor screens at P2.5 to P3.9, AED 3,000 to 7,500 for outdoor P10, AED 5,500 to 9,000 for fine-pitch indoor screens at P1.5 to P2.0, and AED 9,000 to 18,000 for COB screens at P0.9 to P1.2. Those are prices for the screen itself.

The figures are from a Dubai supplier's published guide (UP2).

For comparison, a manufacturer's retail display guide gives factory-level prices in US dollars, converted here at the dirham's fixed rate of 3.67 (LED Screen Board):

Specialist screens, from manufacturers' guides cited on our other pages:

How to read these tables:

• They're ranges for a reason. The top of each band is roughly double the bottom. The difference is the quality of the LEDs, the brightness, the cabinet and the supplier's scope, all covered below.
• Factory prices are lower than Dubai prices because they exclude freight, duty, VAT, local stock, installation, warranty and the supplier's margin.
• None of them is a project price. A screen needs a structure, power, control and installation before it shows a picture.
• All prices in this guide exclude VAT. Quotations in the UAE, including ours, normally show prices before the 5% VAT, which is added on the invoice.
• Prices move. LED prices have fallen over the years, and exchange rates and freight costs shift. Treat any published figure as a guide for the year it was written.

What decides the price

Seven things decide what an LED screen costs: pixel pitch, area, whether it's indoor or outdoor, brightness, the quality of the LEDs and electronics, the cabinet, and how the screen is serviced. Pitch is the biggest, because halving the pitch quadruples the number of LEDs.

Pixel pitch

The distance between pixels, in millimetres. A P5 screen has four times as many LEDs per square metre as a P10 screen, and a P2.5 screen sixteen times as many. More LEDs cost more, though not in proportion, since smaller LEDs are cheaper each and the cabinet and power supply costs are shared. The right pitch is about 1 mm for each metre between the screen and the nearest viewer. Buying finer than that is the commonest way to overspend. Our pixel pitch guide explains it.

Area

Price scales with square metres, with two adjustments. Very small screens cost more per square metre, because the controller, design and installation visit are the same for 2 square metres as for 10. Very large screens earn a quantity discount on the modules.

Indoor or outdoor

An outdoor screen at a coarse pitch costs as much per square metre as an indoor screen with many times the pixels. The published figures show it: outdoor P10 at AED 3,000 to 7,500 against indoor P2.5 to P3.9 at AED 2,900 to 5,500. Outdoor modules have larger, brighter, sealed LEDs, heavier weatherproof cabinets and bigger power supplies.

Brightness

More nits cost more. An outdoor screen for a south or west face in Dubai needs 6,000 to 8,000 nits, where a shaded or north-facing one can use less. Indoors, a screen beside a glass front needs more than one deep in a mall.

LED and electronics quality

The LED maker, whether the LEDs use gold or copper bonding wire, the driver chips and the power supplies. These don't show in a photograph, and they decide how the screen looks in year four. A higher refresh rate, needed for screens that are filmed, also adds cost.

The cabinet

Die-cast aluminium cabinets cost more than sheet steel and are lighter, more accurate and better at shedding heat. Outdoor cabinets sealed front and back cost more than those sealed at the front only.

Service side

Front-service screens, where modules come out from the face, cost a little more than rear-service ones, and save the cost of an access walkway behind.

What doesn't change the price much

• Colour. Every modern full-colour screen shows the same range of colours.
• Resolution as a separate item. It follows from pitch and size.
• Shape of the rectangle. Wide or tall costs the same per square metre. Curves and custom shapes cost more.

A quick way to estimate

To estimate a screen, multiply its area by the published price per square metre for its pitch, then multiply by a factor for everything else: about 1.3 to 1.5 for an indoor wall screen, 1.5 to 1.8 for an outdoor screen fixed to a wall, and 1.8 to 2.2 for an outdoor screen on its own column and foundation.

Those multipliers are our working rule for budgeting. They aren't quotations, and a survey can move a project outside them in either direction.

What the estimate tells you:

• The range is wide, by a factor of two or three. That's the real state of the market until a survey and a specification narrow it.
• The low end assumes economy LEDs, a simple frame, easy access and a short cable run.
• The high end assumes premium LEDs, high brightness, a clad or recessed finish, difficult access or a long electrical run.
• Use it to decide whether the project is affordable at all, and whether a smaller size or a coarser pitch would bring it into budget. Then get a quotation.

Beyond the screen: every line of a quotation

A complete LED screen quotation has about ten lines, and the screen is usually a little over half of the total. One manufacturer's published breakdown for a large outdoor project put the LED cabinets at 56% of the cost, with the structure, electrical work, installation, control system, freight, content, spares and contingency making up the rest.

That breakdown, for a 100-square-metre outdoor screen, is from EagerLED's cost guide:

The shares shift with the job. A small indoor wall has almost no structure. A roadside screen on a column has a great deal.

What each line covers:

• The screen. Modules, cabinets, power supplies and receiving cards, by the square metre.
• Structure. The steel frame the cabinets fix to. Outdoors, also the column, the foundation and the cladding. For a freestanding screen this can equal the cost of the screen.
• Installation. Labour, lifting equipment, scaffolding or a crane, and night or out-of-hours working where the site requires it. The retail guide cited above puts simple wall installation at about US$200 to $500 and structural steel jobs at $2,000 to $10,000 or more.
• Electrical work. A dedicated supply sized for the screen's maximum load, a distribution board, breakers, surge protection and earthing. The distance to a suitable supply is the variable.
• Control system. A media player for scheduled content, or a video processor where laptops and cameras are connected, plus the software.
• Calibration and commissioning. Setting brightness and colour so every module matches.
• Content. The first set of artwork or video, made at the screen's pixel size.
• Spares. Extra modules, power supplies and cards from the same batch.
• Permit and drawings. For outdoor advertising screens, the application, the structural calculations and the fee.
• Warranty and maintenance. What's covered, for how long, and what a service contract costs after.
• VAT, at 5%, on the total.

A quotation that lists only "LED screen, supply and install" as one line gives you no way to compare it with another. Ask for it broken down.

Three worked projects

Three typical projects show how the figures combine: an indoor shop wall, an outdoor screen on a building wall, and a roadside screen on a column. Each uses the published price per square metre for the screen and our budgeting multiplier for the rest. They're estimates to plan with, not prices we're quoting.

What changes each one

• The shop wall is the most predictable. The screen fixes to a frame on an existing wall, power is nearby, and there's no permit. The spread comes from the LED quality and whether the wall is recessed with joinery.
• The outdoor wall screen depends on the wall. Concrete that takes fixings directly is cheap. A clad facade needs a sub-frame back to structure. Height sets the access cost, and the run to a three-phase supply sets the electrical cost.
• The roadside screen is a civil engineering job with a screen on top. The foundation, the column, the crane and the structural design can cost as much as the screen. The published outdoor price is for P10, and a finer pitch for a nearer audience raises it.

For each type in detail, see indoor LED screens, outdoor LED screens and LED billboards and advertising screens.

What changes the price after a survey

A budget estimate turns into a firm quotation at the site survey, and six findings account for most of the movement: what the wall or ground can carry, where the electrical supply is, how the screen is reached, what the landlord requires, what the permit allows, and the exact buildable size.

• The wall isn't what it looked like. A facade that appears solid turns out to be cladding on a light frame, or blockwork that won't take the load. The screen then needs a steel sub-frame back to the building's structure, which adds steel, fixings and an engineer's design.
• The power is further away than expected. A large screen needs a dedicated supply, often three-phase. If the nearest board with spare capacity is on another floor or across a car park, the cable run and the trenching become a real cost. Sometimes the building's supply has to be upgraded.
• Access is harder. A screen at height over a pavement or a road needs a crane or a lift, a permit for it, and often night working. Inside a mall, work is limited to the hours after closing.
• The landlord or mall has rules. Cladding to match the building, a maximum size, a required finish or a particular contractor for electrical work.
• The permit limits the position or the content. A screen facing traffic is assessed as a still-image sign, which can change what's worth building.
• The size moves to fit whole cabinets. A requested 4 metres becomes 3.84 or 4.16.
• Ground conditions, for a column. Buried services or poor soil change the foundation.

None of these can be judged from a photograph, which is why we survey before quoting, at no charge. It's also why a quotation given without a visit should be treated as an estimate.

Factory price and installed price

A factory price from China can be well under half of an installed price in Dubai for the same screen. The gap is freight, 5% customs duty, 5% VAT, clearance, the structure, installation, electrical work, commissioning, warranty and the local supplier's margin. Buyers who compare a factory quote with a local one are comparing two different things.

What it costs to land a screen

Goods imported into the UAE pay 5% customs duty on their CIF value, which is the cost plus insurance and freight, and then 5% VAT on that value plus the duty. Together that's about 10.25% of the CIF value, according to a freight forwarder's guide (Topway Shipping).

A worked example for a screen with a factory price of US$10,000:

The freight figure is an assumption for illustration. Port handling, a customs broker and delivery to site add to it. A VAT-registered business recovers the import VAT through its return, so for most companies the real added cost is the duty and the logistics.

What a local supplier adds

• A survey and a specification that fits the site.
• The structure, designed and fabricated.
• Installation, with the equipment and people to do it safely.
• Electrical connection by a licensed electrician.
• Calibration on site.
• A warranty you can call on. If a module fails in month five, someone comes.
• Spares held locally.
• The permit, for outdoor screens.
• Responsibility. One party answerable if the screen doesn't work.

When buying direct makes sense

For a company with its own engineers, a structure already built and experience of importing, buying modules or cabinets direct can save money. For a business buying one screen, the saving is usually smaller than it looks once the items above are added, and the risk sits with the buyer: wrong specification, damage in transit, no local warranty, and nobody to install it.

Questions for a direct quote

If you do get a factory price, ask what's included: the controller, the cables, the spare modules, the packing, the freight terms, and whether the warranty means sending parts back to China at your cost.

Running costs over five years

An LED screen costs money every year it runs: electricity, maintenance, content, and for an outdoor advertising screen the permit. Over five years, those can add up to as much as the purchase price. For an outdoor screen in Dubai, the permit is often the largest of them.

The four yearly costs

• Electricity. An outdoor screen averages about 250 watts per square metre, according to a manufacturer's guide (Unilight), and an indoor screen about 100 to 280. One 2026 guide to Dubai utility bills gives the commercial electricity rate as 38 fils per kWh plus a fuel surcharge of about 6.5 fils, with 5% VAT on top (EGSH). The fuel surcharge changes month to month, so check your own bill.
• Permit. The published fee for an electronic advertising screen on land in Dubai is AED 1,000 per square metre per year, with part of a metre counted as a whole one and a surcharge in some zones (Mada Media). Indoor screens don't need it.
• Maintenance. A Dubai supplier's guide suggests 8 to 12% of the screen's value a year for a maintenance contract (UP2). A retail display guide suggests 2 to 5% for indoor screens (LED Screen Board). Outdoor screens in Dubai's heat and dust sit at the higher end.
• Content. New artwork or video as often as your offers change. It's the cost most often forgotten and the one that decides whether the screen keeps earning its place.

A worked example: 12 m² outdoor screen, five years

A 4 × 3 metre outdoor wall screen running 16 hours a day:

What follows:

• Five years of running costs are in the same range as the purchase. A budget that stops at the quotation is half a budget.
• The permit is the biggest yearly line for an outdoor advertising screen, and it scales with area. A smaller screen saves on it every year.
• Electricity is manageable and falls further with an energy-saving screen, dimming at night and darker content.
• Indoor screens are far cheaper to run. No permit, a third of the power, and less maintenance. A 6-square-metre shop wall at 200 watts per square metre for 12 hours a day uses about 5,300 kWh a year, roughly AED 2,400.

Lifespan and the cost per year

Manufacturers quote 100,000 hours for LEDs. In practice, plan on an outdoor screen in Dubai looking good for something like seven to ten years with proper cooling and maintenance, and an indoor screen longer. Dividing the purchase price by the years of service, and adding the yearly costs, gives the real cost of the screen. A cheaper screen that fades in four years costs more per year than a dearer one that lasts eight.

Does a screen pay for itself?

A screen pays for itself when it replaces a cost you already have or brings in sales you can measure. The clearest cases are a business paying monthly for rented advertising near its own premises, a venue renting screens for events every week, and a landlord who can sell advertising slots. For a single shop, the return is real but harder to prove.

• Against rented advertising. One Dubai media agency lists community digital screens at AED 5,000 to 25,000 a month for a slot (Outdoor Advertising UAE), which is AED 60,000 to 300,000 a year. Set against the outdoor wall screen above, at AED 54,000 to 162,000 to buy and about AED 23,000 to 31,000 a year to run, ownership can pay back within a year or two for a business that advertises all year at its own site. A rented slot on a prime road reaches far more people than your own wall does, so compare like with like.
• Against printing. A printed banner or lightbox face is cheap once and costs again at every change. A business that changes its offer monthly should add up a year of printing and fitting before deciding.
• Against event rental. A hall that rents a screen for each wedding or conference can count the events per year and the rental price of each.
• From selling slots. Possible on a well-placed screen, with the right permit. Budget on your own use, and treat income from others as a bonus until it's signed.
• From sales. A screen draws the eye, and suppliers quote large uplift figures with little evidence behind them. If you want proof, run an offer on the screen only and count the redemptions.

Our LED billboards and advertising screens page goes through owning against booking in detail.

Why quotes differ, and how to compare them

Two quotations for the same size and pitch can differ by a third or more, because size and pitch don't define a screen. The LEDs, the brightness, the cabinet, the structure, the scope of work and the warranty all vary. Line the quotations up item by item before looking at the totals.

• Find the exclusions first. A low price usually has a short scope. Electrical supply, structure and the permit are the items most often left out.
• Check the module specification sheet. If two sheets show different LED packages or brightness at the same pitch, they're different products.
• Ask to see the same product running, ideally one installed a couple of years ago.
• Ask who installs it. The supplier's own team, or a subcontractor.
• Ask what happens when a module fails, and how long it takes.

Cheap LED screens: what low prices cost

A cheap LED screen is cheap for one of five reasons: lower-grade LEDs, less brightness, a lighter cabinet, a shorter scope of work, or a thinner warranty. Some of those are sensible savings for the right site. Others show up as fading, patchiness and failures within two or three years, which in Dubai's heat is sooner than buyers expect.

Where low prices come from

• LED grade. Economy LEDs with copper bonding wire cost less and cope worse with heat and humidity. They're acceptable indoors in air-conditioning and a poor choice outdoors.
• Brightness. A screen specified at the minimum looks fine in the showroom and washes out on a west-facing wall in July.
• Driver chips and refresh rate. Cheaper chips give a picture that flickers on camera and loses detail when dimmed.
• Power supplies. Unbranded supplies are the first parts to fail.
• Cabinets. Thin steel, sealed at the front only, with no thought for ventilation.
• Mixed batches. Modules from different production runs, which never quite match in colour.
• No spares, no calibration, no warranty support.
• Refurbished or ex-rental screens sold as new.

Savings that are safe

• A coarser pitch, where nobody stands close. This is the biggest saving available and costs nothing in quality.
• A smaller screen. Saves on the screen, the structure, the power and, outdoors, the yearly permit.
• A standard size and shape, built from whole cabinets.
• A wall-mounted position in place of a freestanding column.
• Economy LEDs indoors, in a cool, clean room.
• A simple player where no live inputs are needed.
• A shaded or north-facing position outdoors, which allows lower brightness.

Savings that cost more later

• Under-specifying brightness for a sunlit face.
• Indoor or semi-outdoor modules used outside.
• Skipping the spares.
• A structure without an engineer's design.
• No maintenance in the first years.
• Avoiding the permit. An unpermitted advertising screen can be ordered off, and the investment with it.

The cheapest screen to own is one specified for where it's going. A mall kiosk screen and a roadside billboard need different things, and paying for billboard quality in a mall is as wasteful as the reverse.

Small screens, display boards and LCD prices

If you're pricing a 32, 43 or 55-inch display, or an LED board for a shop, you're almost certainly pricing an LCD screen or an LED sign board, not an LED video screen. LED screens aren't sold by the inch. At these sizes an LCD is sharper and far cheaper, and a UAE supplier publishes prices from about AED 4,000 for a single 43-inch commercial screen set-up.

The figures are from a UAE supplier's guide (Cameo Advertising).

• "LED TV" and "LED display" in a shop's sense mean an LCD panel with LED backlighting. It's a different product from an LED video wall made of modules.
• An LED board for a shop usually means a lit sign: a name in LED letters, a lightbox or a scrolling message board. Those are priced by the sign, not the square metre. See LED sign boards and LED scrolling message boards.
• LED video screens start to make sense at about 2 to 3 metres across, or for shapes and brightness an LCD can't manage.
• Sizes quoted in feet, such as an 8 × 12 foot screen, are LED screens: that one is about 2.4 × 3.7 metres, or 9 square metres. Price it by area and pitch like any other.

Our digital signage page covers LCD screens and networks.

Buying, renting or leasing

Buy a screen if you'll use it for more than a few weeks a year. Rent one for a single event, a wedding or a short campaign. We sell and install screens and don't rent them, so for a one-off event a rental company is the right call, and their price will include delivery, set-up, an operator and removal.

• Rental is priced per square metre per day, with the first day the most expensive and later days cheaper. It suits weddings, conferences, product launches and concerts.
• Buying beats renting quickly. A venue that hosts events every week, a hotel ballroom or a wedding hall recovers the cost of a permanent screen within a modest number of events, and has it available every day.
• Leasing and instalments. Some suppliers and finance companies offer payment over time. It spreads the cost and adds interest. Ask your bank or the supplier what's available.
• A screen you own is an asset. It can be moved, resized and resold, especially if it's built from standard cabinets.

Payment, warranty and what to ask

Our terms are 50% with the order and 50% on completion, with prices quoted before VAT. Screens carry a 1-year warranty, and we offer maintenance contracts afterwards. Whoever you buy from, get the payment stages, the warranty terms and the exclusions in writing before paying a deposit.

• Payment. Half with the order, which pays for the screen to be made and shipped, and half when it's installed and working.
• VAT. 5% is added to the quoted price on each invoice.
• Quotation validity. Prices depend on exchange rates and freight, so quotations are valid for a stated period.
• Lead time. Typically 3–8 weeks from order, since screens are made to size.
• Warranty. One year on our installations, covering the screen and our workmanship. Ask any supplier whether the warranty covers labour on site as well as parts.
• After the warranty. A maintenance contract with a stated number of visits, a response time and a price.
• What voids a warranty. Power surges without the specified protection, physical damage, and alterations by others.

Ten questions before you sign

1. What's the buildable size and resolution?
2. Which LEDs, and what brightness after calibration?
3. What's included in the structure and the electrical work?
4. Who applies for the permit, and who pays the fee?
5. How many spare modules come with it?
6. What does the warranty cover, and for how long?
7. Who installs it, and when?
8. What will it cost to run each year?
9. What's excluded?
10. Can I see one you installed two years ago?