How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Maid? (Quick Answer)
There is no single number, and anyone who gives you one is rounding off a lot of variables. What you pay to hire a maid in the UAE or elsewhere in the Gulf is made up of several separate costs, set by different people:
- The wage or rate — agreed directly between you and the worker or the agency representing her, and shaped by the arrangement (hourly, monthly, live-in, live-out) and the worker's experience.
- Government sponsorship and visa costs — set by the labour and immigration authorities of the country where the work takes place, not by any agency or platform.
- Agency fees, if you go through one, for sourcing and managing a candidate.
- What you pay to use a platform like ours to find and contact a worker or agency in the first place.
The last one is the only figure we set ourselves, so it's worth being upfront about it. Sponsors can search and contact a limited number of candidates for free — one job posting, ten candidate searches a month and three saved candidates. Beyond that, access is AED 99 for a week or AED 199 a month on the Professional plan, with a discount for paying annually. That's the cost of finding and messaging a match directly through the app. What you then agree with that match — the wage, the hours, the contract length — is between the two of you.
| Cost | Who sets it | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly, daily or monthly pay | You and the worker or agency, agreed directly | Arrangement, experience, live-in vs live-out |
| Agency placement fee (if used) | The agency | Which agency, service level, sourcing |
| Visa, medical, Emirates ID, insurance | The country's labour/immigration authority | Permit type, new hire vs renewal |
| Access to search and contact candidates | Us | Free limited plan, or AED 99/week, AED 199/month |
Cost by Hiring Type
Rates differ by the kind of work you're agreeing to, not by a fixed catalogue. Arrangements available through the platform include hourly, daily and monthly work, live-in or live-out, full-time or part-time, flexible hours, and weekends- or weekdays-only. Contracts can be temporary (one to six months), short-term (six to twelve months), long-term (one to two years), permanent or renewable, and a trial period can be arranged before either side commits.
Because the wage attached to each of these is agreed between sponsor and worker (or agreed with an agency representing her), it moves with the same factors any negotiation does: how many hours you actually need covered, whether the worker lives in, how much experience she has, and the length of contract you're offering. Two sponsors hiring the same role on different terms will land on different numbers — and that's expected, not a gap in pricing.
The One-Time Cost of Sponsoring a Maid
Separate from what you pay the worker is the cost of sponsoring her to work legally — visa, medical test, Emirates ID, insurance, and any fee charged by a government-linked centre such as Tadbeer for processing the paperwork. These are set by the UAE's labour and immigration authorities (MOHRE and related bodies), not by an agency or by us, and the amounts change from time to time.
We don't process visas, permits, medical certificates or travel — that's arranged by the agency or the sponsor directly, under the rules of the country where the work will happen. For current figures on what sponsorship actually costs, see our breakdown at /blog/housemaid-visa-costs-uae, and check the relevant authority's own guidance before you budget.
Agency Fees vs Hiring Independently
You can find a worker two ways through the platform: through a licensed agency's listing, or through a profile a worker has created and manages herself. Both appear side by side in search results, and both are contacted the same way — directly, through the app.
What differs is what sits behind the listing:
| Agency-listed | Self-registered | |
|---|---|---|
| Who manages the profile | The agency | The worker herself |
| Background checks / skill assessment | Handled by the agency, beyond the document checks we do | Not part of our verification |
| Placement fee | Set by the agency, on top of wages | None — no agency fee to pay |
| Contract support | Often included by the agency | Agreed directly with the worker |
We check the documents uploaded with every profile — passport, national ID, medical certificate, police clearance, experience letters — before it's listed. Anything beyond that, including deeper background checks or skill assessment, is the agency's own process where one is involved.
We are an introduction platform, not a recruitment agency ourselves, so we hold no recruitment licence and need none for connecting a sponsor with a worker or agency. Where agencies are involved, we partner only with agencies licensed in Ethiopia and the GCC. What any individual agency charges for placement is its own fee structure — for more on how that works, see /blog/maid-recruitment-agency and browse listed agencies at /maid-agency-dubai.
Does Nationality Affect the Cost?
In the market, yes — nationality is often a real driver of wage expectations, alongside experience and demand for a given nationality at a given time. That's a market pattern, not something we price or set: what you offer a worker of any nationality is agreed directly between you.
Workers on the platform are mainly Ethiopian, alongside Filipino, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Kenyan and Ugandan candidates, with experience recorded from no experience up to 10+ years. If you're specifically comparing costs for Ethiopian workers, we've covered that in more detail at /blog/how-much-does-a-maid-cost-in-ethiopia, and /blog/hire-ethiopian-maid covers hiring one specifically.
Hidden and Recurring Costs
Beyond the wage and the one-time sponsorship costs, a few things catch sponsors out because they're easy to forget when budgeting:
- Flights, if part of the agreement — who covers them is a term to settle upfront, not something set by us or by law.
- End-of-service gratuity and overtime, where they apply, follow the labour law of the country the work takes place in.
- Replacement arrangements, if a placement doesn't work out — this is agreed directly between you and the agency or worker, and it's worth settling before you commit, not after.
Employment terms, replacement policies and any guarantee are matters between the sponsor and the agency or worker, governed by the labour law of the country concerned. We introduce the two parties; we don't employ anyone, set salaries, or provide those guarantees ourselves.
Total First-Year Cost: What It's Made Of
There's no single total we can hand you, because the pieces that make it up come from different sources — some set by government, some by negotiation, one by us. What a full first year actually adds up to is:
- One-time: visa, medical, Emirates ID, insurance and any processing fee (government-set), plus an agency placement fee if you use one.
- Recurring: twelve months of the agreed wage, plus any platform access renewal if you're still searching or managing contact beyond the free plan.
The one part of that we can quote precisely is our own access cost — see the summary table above, or /pricing for the current plans. Everything else, get as a real quote: contact a specific agency or worker through their listing and ask what they're proposing, rather than budgeting off an average.
How to Hire a Maid at the Best Price
The cheapest legitimate route isn't a discount agency — it's cutting out costs that don't need to be there. Searching and contacting candidates directly, rather than through layers of intermediaries, is what the free and paid sponsor plans on the platform are built for: one free job posting and ten searches a month to start, or a paid plan if you need more reach.
From there:
- Browse available candidates and agencies at /maids.
- See how hiring works end to end at /hire-housemaid-uae.
- If you're posting a role rather than searching, /jobs is where candidates find it.
Whichever route you take, get the wage, hours, contract length and any replacement terms agreed and in writing before the work starts — that's what actually protects the price you thought you were paying.
FAQ
How much does it cost to hire a maid in the UAE? It depends on the arrangement (hourly, monthly, live-in or live-out), the worker's experience, whether an agency is involved, and separate government sponsorship costs. There's no fixed figure — wages are agreed directly between sponsor and worker or agency.
Is hiring through an agency more expensive than hiring independently? Usually, because an agency placement fee sits on top of the wage. What that fee covers — sourcing, contract support, background checks — varies by agency, so it's worth comparing what's included, not just the number.
Does nationality affect the cost of hiring a maid? Nationality is one of several factors that influence wage expectations in the market, alongside experience and demand. It isn't something we set — it's part of what you and the worker or agency agree.
What visa and sponsorship costs should I budget for? Visa, medical test, Emirates ID and insurance costs are set by the UAE's labour and immigration authorities and change over time. See /blog/housemaid-visa-costs-uae for a fuller breakdown, and check official guidance for current figures.
Can I hire a maid part-time or hourly instead of full-time? Yes — hourly, daily, monthly, live-in and live-out arrangements are all available, including flexible hours or weekends-only, with contract lengths from a short trial to long-term or permanent.
How much does it cost to use the platform itself? Sponsors get a free limited plan — one job posting, ten searches a month, three saved candidates. Full access is AED 99 a week or AED 199 a month, discounted if paid annually. See /pricing.
Who pays if I need to replace a maid who doesn't work out? Replacement arrangements are agreed directly between you and the agency or worker, not set by us. It's worth settling this term before you commit to a contract, not after.
For more on what a first hire actually involves, see /blog/hiring-a-maid-in-dubai and /blog/hire-maid.
