The question lands in almost every first conversation we have: "Al Reem or Al Maryah?" And usually the person asking has half-convinced themselves the more famous address must be the safer choice. So here is what we tell them — because the answer typically saves a small firm tens of thousands of dirhams a year for no loss of standing whatsoever.

The single most important fact is this: both islands are the same jurisdiction. Al Reem joined ADGM under UAE Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2023, effective 24 April 2023. From that date, a company on Al Reem holds an identical ADGM licence to one on Al Maryah, under the same English common law, the same regulator (the FSRA), and the same ADGM Courts. There is no "Al Reem version" of ADGM. There is just ADGM, across two islands.

What is genuinely identical

The ADGM commercial licence, issued by the same Registration Authority.
The legal framework — English common law applied directly, not as a fallback.
The regulator — the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, for any regulated activity.
The courts — the independent ADGM Courts, with exclusive jurisdiction across both islands.
How banks, auditors and counterparties treat your address: as a full ADGM address.

What actually differs: the rent

Al Maryah is the compact, premium, fully-built core, where supply is tight and prices reflect it. Al Reem's 2023 expansion added roughly 500,000 sqm of newer office space to the jurisdiction — the two islands now form a 14.38 million sqm financial district. More supply, newer buildings, and landlords competing for tenants all push Al Reem's pricing well below the core:

Dedicated desk (meets the office requirement and gives your registered address): about AED 3,500/month on Al Maryah versus AED 1,200/month with us on Al Reem.
Day pass: AED 100/day at MY Coworking.
Private office (for regulated firms and larger teams): from roughly AED 5,000/month on Al Maryah; competitively quoted by team size on Al Reem.

A worked example

Picture a two-person consultancy that needs one dedicated desk to hold its licence and house the team. On Al Maryah, that's roughly AED 42,000 a year. With us on Al Reem, it's AED 14,400 a year. You keep close to AED 27,600 every year — and the licence on your wall is exactly the same one. Over three years that's more than AED 80,000 retained in the business.

"Isn't the cheaper island a lesser address?"

No — and this is the misconception worth killing. The lower cost is a supply story, not a status story. Your Al Reem registered address satisfies the ADGM office requirement exactly as an Al Maryah one does. You are paying less for real estate, not buying a downgrade.

So how should you choose?

Write down why you chose ADGM. If the answer is the licence, the common-law certainty, the FSRA's standing, or the courts, every one of those is fully delivered on Al Reem. The Al Maryah premium buys a postcode, not better regulation. For a startup watching runway or a firm watching overheads, that premium is better spent on the business.

Go deeper: how Al Reem became fully part of ADGM, where the price gap comes from, and whether you even need an office.