Method
How the numbers on this site are made
Every fee, deadline and rule here links to the body that sets it and shows the date that page was last opened. This page explains the rules we work to, including the ones that cost us content.
Last checked
This site publishes 93 sourced figures and rules: 88 from official government pages and laws, and 5 from a named setup consultancy, labelled as industry wherever they appear. The most recent check was on 2026-09-16. Where a ministry does not print an amount, the page says so and links to the page that leaves it open.
Where the figures come from
- Investment registration: the Ministry of Investment's investor guide and its published law pages.
- Company and registration fees: the Ministry of Commerce service pages, which state the fee, the service time and the conditions for each service.
- Staff: the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development's rules for work licence fees and the financial equivalent, its localization decisions, the General Organization for Social Insurance's law pages, and Saudi Press Agency announcements of Cabinet decisions.
- Tax: the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority's VAT Law and its published table of fines.
- Industry figures: a named Saudi setup consultancy's published cost page, used only where it is the clearest available description and always attributed in the sentence that uses it.
What we could not verify
These are lines a setup budget would normally include. We could not open an official page publishing an amount for them, so no amount appears anywhere on this site, not even as a range:
- The Iqama issuance fee. The Ministry of Interior and national platform service pages refused our connections.
- GOSI contribution rates and their wage bases. GOSI's public law pages describe coverage but print no rate.
- The VAT registration thresholds. The VAT Law leaves them to the regulations, and we could not open a ZATCA page stating them.
- A fixed investment licence or registration fee, or a waiver of one. Neither the current investor guide nor the ministry's law page prints either.
- Chamber of Commerce subscription amounts.
- Medical insurance premiums per employee.
- The number of SMEs in Saudi Arabia; the Monsha'at site refused our connections.
A missing number is uncomfortable to publish and easy to fake. Leaving it out is the point of the site.
How the figures stay current
Every figure carries an expiry date. A check run before each deploy lists anything past it and opens every source link, and a figure is re-verified at its source before the site goes out again. The Ministry of Investment figures carry the shortest expiry, because that guide is the document most likely to change.
What this site is not
We are not a government body, not a law firm, and not affiliated with the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, ZATCA or GOSI. Nothing here is legal, tax or licensing advice. Eligibility, fees and obligations are decided by the authority concerned, not by us.
How the site is paid for
Two ways, and both are kept away from the figures. When quote requests open, a request may be passed to setup consultancies, and those firms may pay us for the introduction; it doesn't change what you pay. This site may also show advertising. Ads never change our figures, and no consultant or advertiser can pay to have a fee presented differently.
Corrections
If a figure here is out of date or wrong, the fastest fix is a link to the official page that says so. The contact and corrections page explains how to send one and what happens next.
Who runs the site
Operator details are published here before this site launches.