Ziina Review

Ziina is a Dubai payments app for UAE freelancers and small businesses, run by Ziina Payment LLC under licences from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). It started in 2020 as a consumer app for paying friends with a phone number. It now sells payment links, an online payment gateway with Shopify and WooCommerce plugins, QR and NFC acceptance, and Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android. Pricing is published, and as of October 2026 a business pays 2.6% + AED 1 on every payment it receives, whatever the method. International cards and non-AED currencies cost an extra 1.5%, and 5% VAT is added to the fee only. There is no monthly fee, setup fee or contract. Funds land in a Ziina wallet and are cashed out to a UAE bank account once a day, within two business days for amounts under AED 25,000, according to Ziina. Cash-outs are free until 31 October 2026 and cost AED 1 each from 1 November 2026. Ziina signs up each business directly under its own terms, so approval is fast. The trade-off is that those terms give it wide powers to hold settlement and close accounts. Ziina's own FAQ says it may hold funds for 45 to 120 days when it terminates an account, and in 2026 a run of Trustpilot reviews describes exactly that.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Ziina’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

What Ziina is

Ziina is a Dubai payments company that began as a consumer app for sending money to friends with a phone number instead of an IBAN. It has since become mainly a way for small UAE businesses to get paid. Its About page and its October 2026 licence announcement say it was founded in Dubai in 2020 by siblings Faisal, Sarah and Talal Toukan. Its Y Combinator profile (Winter 2021 batch) and a September 2024 TechCrunch report instead list Faisal Toukan, Sarah Toukan and Andrew Gold as founders, so the accounts differ. The regulated entity is Ziina Payment LLC, which its terms describe as a licensed financial institution regulated by the CBUAE under commercial licence number 1112672.

Ziina raised a $7.5 million seed round in 2021 and a $22 million Series A in September 2024 led by Altos Ventures, with Y Combinator, FJ Labs, MEVP and others taking part. These are investors, and no controlling owner has been announced. In its October 2026 licence announcement Ziina reported more than 500,000 annual customers and $1.5 billion in annualised payment volume, and said it serves one in ten UAE SMEs. Those figures are the company's own.

Licences and how payments flow

The Central Bank of the UAE's register of licensed institutions (April 2026 edition) lists Ziina Payments L.L.C, Dubai, as a Stored Value Facility (SVF) with identification number 05.01.01.009.2024.02, the same number Ziina's Key Facts Statement gives. Ziina says the SVF licence was granted in June 2024. In an October 2026 announcement, Ziina said it had received a Retail Payment Services Category III licence, which it says covers merchant acquiring, payment aggregation and domestic fund transfers, including payment links, QR payments, Tap to Pay and its online gateway. It also said the CBUAE authorised it in August 2026 to conduct Exchange Business Category IV activities, covering international transfers. We could not check these newer authorisations against the regulator's own register.

Each business signs Ziina's own General Terms and Conditions. Customer payments settle into the business's Ziina wallet, and the business cashes out to a UAE bank account. Ziina does not name the bank or processor behind its card acceptance. Its terms refer only to a payment gateway provider, a nominated bank holding wallet balances and a Tap to Pay technology provider. In practice Ziina is the business's payment provider and holds the relationship, which is why we classify it as a payment facilitator rather than a gateway or a traditional acquirer.

Pricing

Ziina publishes its prices on ziina.com/fees, in UAE dirhams. As of October 2026 a business pays 2.6% + AED 1 per transaction for every way of receiving money: payments from a customer's Ziina balance, NFC, QR codes, payment links, Tap to Pay and the website payment gateway. International cards and payments in a currency other than AED add 1.5% per transaction. Every fee is subject to 5% VAT, which the page says is applied to the fee, not to the whole transaction.

• AED 100 sale on a UAE card: fee AED 3.60 plus AED 0.18 VAT, so you receive AED 96.22
• AED 100 sale on an international card: fee AED 5.10 plus AED 0.255 VAT, so you receive about AED 94.65
• AED 20 sale on a UAE card: fee AED 1.52 plus VAT, about 8% of the sale, because the AED 1 fixed fee dominates small payments
• Chargebacks: AED 98 per case plus VAT, refunded if you win
• Cash-outs: free until 31 October 2026, then AED 1 each from 1 November 2026, plus any fee your bank charges
• No monthly, setup, API integration, team-member or refund-processing fee; QR stand AED 49, NFC card AED 39 for one or AED 79 for three

There are no volume tiers or negotiated rates on the page, so a business processing large monthly volumes pays the same rate as a newcomer. The 1.5% international surcharge also adds up for a business selling to tourists or overseas buyers. Ziina advertises no fees on the first AED 1,000 a new business receives, under its promotion terms.

Products and how it works

A business opens an account in the Ziina app with an Emirates ID. It can start taking payments as a professional account before full verification, within limits of AED 50,000 a month and AED 3,600 per payment. Once Ziina verifies the business, usually with a trade licence, the monthly limit goes and the single-payment limit is AED 90,000. From the app it can send payment links by chat or email, show a QR code, take contactless cards and wallets on its phone with Tap to Pay, or add checkout to a website through the Shopify or WooCommerce plugins, an embedded checkout or the REST API. Customers pay with Visa, Mastercard or American Express cards, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and do not need a Ziina account. Team members can be added at no cost with set permissions.

Tap to Pay is the in-person product; we found no countertop terminal on Ziina's site. Its Tap to Pay terms restrict use to the UAE and to the business's own premises or other locations Ziina allows. It needs an internet connection. That suits market stalls, deliveries, events and service businesses well, but it is not a full point-of-sale system with inventory or receipt printing.

Payouts

Money from customers goes into the business's Ziina wallet. The terms say it is credited after Ziina's internal review, "usually by the end of the day following receipt", but Ziina reserves the right to set and change settlement timelines, including a default delay. From the wallet, a business can cash out to a UAE bank account in its own name once a day. Ziina's business page says funds usually arrive in one to two business days for amounts under AED 25,000. Its FAQ gives two business days under AED 25,000 and four to five business days above it. The minimum cash-out is AED 10. We found no paid instant-payout option. Cash-outs carry no Ziina fee until 31 October 2026 and cost AED 1 each from 1 November 2026.

Contract, holds and account closures

There is no contract term, no monthly commitment and no early termination fee. Read the risk clauses before you rely on Ziina for a large share of your income. The General Terms and Conditions, last updated 6 August 2026, let Ziina withhold, suspend or delay settlement at any time. The listed reasons include pending or excessive chargebacks or refunds, suspected fraud, a financial partner failing to settle, risk of loss, and legal or regulatory requirements. Where it believes a chargeback is likely, it can hold that amount until the customer's dispute window has expired. It can delay or block transactions on confidential criteria and may be legally barred from explaining why. It can suspend or terminate an account with or without notice. You are liable for chargebacks, network fines and Ziina's collection costs.

The terms describe closure two ways: through the app (clause 27.1), or by an emailed request that may take up to 30 business days, after which your Emirates ID and phone number cannot open a new account for six months (clause 4.10). On closure, Ziina makes any unrestricted balance available for transfer but can keep funds back to cover links, API payments, recalls, chargebacks and reversals. Its FAQ is more specific: when it terminates an account it may hold funds for 45 to 120 days to cover chargebacks or disputes, or refund payments to the original payers where it sees fraud or high dispute risk. An account with no transactions for a calendar year can be terminated, and a balance stays claimable for six years. On fee changes, the Key Facts Statement promises at least 60 days' notice, but the terms say Ziina may change fees at any time and will notify in advance "wherever possible". Disputes are governed by UAE law with the Dubai courts having exclusive jurisdiction. The Key Facts Statement names Sanadak, the UAE's Ombudsman Unit, as the escalation route for unresolved complaints.

Reputation and complaints

Ratings are strong overall. As of October 2026 the Ziina app has a 4.7 average from about 20,000 ratings on the UAE App Store. On 28 October 2026 Ziina's Trustpilot profile showed a TrustScore of 4.4 from 678 reviews. The distribution is polarised: about 80% five-star and 18% one-star, with very little in between. Recent five-star reviews mostly praise individual support agents by name and quick responses.

The one-star reviews from April to July 2026 follow a consistent pattern. Business owners report accounts closed or restricted after a compliance review, in some cases soon after receiving their first payments. They describe balances held for weeks or months, several citing holds of up to 120 days, and little explanation from support. Other complaints concern slow cash-outs, a fee applied after a promotion ended, and consumers who paid scammers through Ziina and could not recover the money. These are individual accounts and we could not verify them, but they match the hold and closure powers in the terms and the 45-to-120-day holds Ziina's own FAQ describes. We found no lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action naming Ziina.

Who Ziina suits

Ziina works best for UAE freelancers, home businesses, event and market sellers, and small online shops that sell mainly to UAE customers in dirhams. It suits a business that wants to take card and wallet payments today, by link, QR code, website or phone, without a terminal, monthly fee or contract. The flat 2.6% + AED 1 is easy to plan around, and VAT applies only to the fee.

It is a weaker fit for a business selling mostly to international customers, where the 1.5% surcharge applies to every payment. The same goes for anyone needing settlement outside the UAE or in another currency, or a larger merchant that would expect a negotiated rate. A business whose cash flow cannot absorb a frozen balance for weeks or months should also look elsewhere. Ziina's prohibited list includes gambling and unregulated crypto, and the terms let it refuse any activity outside its internal risk appetite, so it is not built for high-risk merchants.