WAVECT vs 9Y

Wavect or 9Y. Two small senior teams, a real overlap in mobile and web, different centres of gravity.

This one is close, so we will keep it honest. 9Y is a design-led agency across Vienna and Zagreb with strong logos: Red Bull, OMV, Swiss Post per their published references, and a 5.0 overall on Clutch. We are a senior-only team in Tirol with founders on every call. The differences that matter are billing model, who owns the product call, and specialist depth in AI and on-chain work.

Book a thirty-minute call

“Both agencies were good. Only one asked whether the feature list was the right feature list.”

// 01

How they actually differ

Six dimensions where 9Y and Wavect actually diverge.

WAVECT DIMENSION ALTERNATIVE

Senior-only team in Austria, both founders on every call.

TEAM SHAPE

10 to 49 people across Vienna and Zagreb per Clutch, design-led delivery.

Weekly outcome fee or fixed-price Werkvertrag. No timesheets, cancel any week.

PRICING MODEL

$50 to $99 per hour per Clutch. Cost is their lowest Clutch sub-score at 3.9.

Senior product work; we are not a dedicated design studio.

DESIGN BENCH

UI/UX is a published core practice, roughly a fifth of their mix per Clutch.

Product call in the contract: scope pushback, fractional CTO, roadmap ownership.

SCOPE OWNERSHIP

Strong delivery to brief; Teams-as-a-Service for staffing needs.

LLM products, RAG, on-chain work with seven figures secured on mainnet.

SPECIALIST DEPTH

Mobile, web, UI/UX, plus AR/VR and Unity per their published mix.

75+ products since 2018, 5.0 on Clutch.

TRACK RECORD

Red Bull, OMV, Swiss Post references, 5.0 overall on Clutch, 83% repeat business per their published figures.

// 02

The real difference, in practice

9Y is a credible pick and we will not pretend otherwise. A small design-and-engineering agency, founded 2015, split between Vienna and Zagreb, with published references like Red Bull, OMV and Swiss Post, a 5.0 overall Clutch rating, and a claimed 83 percent repeat business. Their mix per Clutch leans mobile and design: app development, web, UI/UX, some AR and Unity work. If you have a defined brief where design craft carries the project, they are built for it.

The first structural difference is billing. Clutch lists 9Y at $50 to $99 per hour, a classic agency hourly band, and notably their lowest Clutch sub-score is cost at 3.9. We do not bill hours at all: a weekly outcome fee you can cancel any week, or a fixed-price Werkvertrag where we are legally bound to deliver.

The second is scope ownership. Both shops execute well. The question is who tells you a feature should die. Our model puts product judgement in the contract: founders with product management depth on every call, scope pushback as part of the job, and fractional CTO work when the gap is leadership, not hands. Add specialist depth they do not advertise: LLM products, RAG, and seven figures secured live on mainnet.

Defined brief with design weight, take 9Y, you will likely be happy. Open product question, AI or on-chain depth, or outcome-based billing, see how we build mobile products.

// 03

When each is the better call

// 01

When Wavect is the better call

  • The product question is still open and you want someone contractually incentivised to push back on scope.
  • You want outcome billing: a weekly fee or a fixed-price Werkvertrag instead of an hourly meter.
  • Your build needs AI or on-chain depth beyond standard app engineering.
  • You need fractional CTO work alongside the build, not only execution.
// 02

When 9Y is the better call

  • You have a defined brief where design craft carries the project. UI/UX is their published core, not our bench.
  • You want AR, VR or Unity work, which they list and we do not.
  • Hourly transparency matters to you and their published $50 to $99 band fits your budget maths.
  • You want big-brand agency references like Red Bull and Swiss Post in front of your stakeholders.

Defined brief with design weight, 9Y is a fair pick. Open product question, outcome billing, or specialist depth, talk to us.

// 04

Relevant Wavect work

// 05

FAQs

One of the closest in size and overlap, yes. Both are small senior teams doing mobile and web for brands and startups. The honest differences are billing model, who owns the product call, and our depth in AI and on-chain work versus their depth in design and AR.
We do not run a dedicated design department and they publish UI/UX as a core practice, so on dedicated design bench, yes. Our design work is senior product work: flows, interfaces and UX decided by the people building the product.
Depends on the project shape. Their published Clutch band is $50 to $99 per hour; our weekly retainers run €400 to €20,000 and fixed-price work starts at €3,500 for a Discovery Phase. Hourly looks cheaper per unit and gets expensive when scope drifts. Outcomes look bigger per week and cap your risk.
Mostly it does not, and nearshore capacity is part of how they hit their price band. It is worth knowing where your team sits and how handovers work. Our answer is simpler: one senior team, founders included, no split.
Source: 9y.coLast reviewed:
Book a thirty-minute call