The short answer
Host inside the UAE when a law, regulator or contract requires your data to stay in the country, or when every millisecond matters to visitors who are all in the Emirates. For most business websites, a well-connected overseas datacenter, plus caching or a CDN, is fast enough and gives you more choice for the money. Measure before you decide.
Local and overseas compared
| What to compare | In the UAE | Overseas |
|---|---|---|
| Network distance to UAE visitors | Shortest | Longer; depends on the route and the country |
| Data residency rules | Data stays in the country | Data is stored abroad; check whether your sector allows it |
| Choice of plans and hardware | Narrower in most markets | Wide |
| Price for the same resources | Often higher | Often lower |
| Visitors outside the UAE | Further away | Can be closer, depending on the location |
Latency: measure it, do not guess
Speed depends on the network route between your visitors and the server, not only on the distance on a map. Open our data centers page to test the round-trip time from your own browser to each of our locations, then pick the fastest for your audience.
- Cache pages so most visits never wait for the server.
- Use a CDN for images, scripts and styles when your audience is spread across countries.
- Keep the database next to the application, wherever you host it.
Data residency
Some sectors, such as government, health and financial services, can have rules on where personal or customer data is stored. These rules depend on your sector, your regulator and your contracts.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check the requirements that apply to your business with your regulator or a legal adviser.
Where our servers are
Our plans run in international datacenters in Europe, USA, Malaysia and Singapore, and each plan shows its location before you order. The company and support team are in Dubai, on Gulf time.