WAVECT vs 9Y

Wavect or 9Y. Two small 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 and engineering agency with a Vienna headquarters and a Zagreb office per its Clutch profile, a 5.0 rating from 10 reviews there, and Red Bull, OMV and Swiss Post on the client list on its own homepage. 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.

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Independent comparison published by Wavect. Not affiliated with or endorsed by 9Y.

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Decision snapshot

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

Wavect is best when

  • 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.

The alternative is best when

  • You have a defined brief where design craft carries the project. Their own services page lists UI Design and UX Design as separate practices, and UX/UI is 20 percent of their Clutch service mix.24
  • You want AR or VR work. AR/VR development is 10 percent of their Clutch service mix, and it is not on their own services page, so ask them what that bench looks like today.42
  • Hourly billing is the shape you want. Their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 hourly band and a $10,000 minimum project size, which is a directory self-listing and not a quote, so ask them for a real quote for your scope.4

Questions to ask before you choose

  1. Their Clutch profile lists a Vienna headquarters and a Zagreb office.4 Ask where the people actually building your project would sit, and how handovers run between the two.
  2. Their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 hourly band, which is a directory self-listing and not a quote, and their own site publishes no prices.42 Ask them for an actual quote for your scope, whether there is a cost ceiling, and what happens to the total when scope changes, then ask us the same about our weekly fee and our fixed-price Werkvertrag.
  3. Their imprint lists two contracting entities, 9Y Media Group GmbH with a registered address in Graz and 9Y Media d.o.o., registered in Zagreb.3 Ask which one signs your contract and what law applies. We are one Austrian GmbH in Tirol, and you should put the same question to us.
  4. Who owns the product decision on your build, versus executing to a defined brief?

Commercial risk to watch

  • A directory hourly band and our published weekly and fixed-price entry points are not like for like, because the units differ and neither number fixes the scope.4 The only fair price comparison is their quote against ours.
  • The visible price is not the whole cost; the risk sits in team shape, pricing model, and the moment scope changes.
  • Ask what the vendor is paid to increase: hours, seats, retained advice, platform usage, or shipped outcomes.

Evidence notes

  • Every statement about 9Y on this page is drawn from the numbered sources below, with the date we opened each page. Check them yourself, and verify pricing, legal entity, references and terms before you sign.
  • An earlier version of this page carried a repeat-business percentage for 9Y and a Clutch cost sub-score. We could not find the repeat-business figure published anywhere we can link, so it has been removed rather than restated, and we no longer reproduce a rating platform sub-score, because a sub-score is not a price and not a like-for-like comparison.
  • This comparison is based on published facts and Wavect’s own operating model, not on a hidden quality claim about 9Y.
// 02

Project fit: not limited to small builds

Project size and provider headcount are separate decisions. Wavect’s delivery unit is a named senior core, but that does not limit the work to MVPs or short startup projects. Larger projects are split into phases with separate budgets and acceptance criteria. We also build internal systems and process automations inside a client’s existing repositories, tooling and workflows. A vetted bench supports continuity and scope-specific capacity. A larger provider may still be the better choice when the main requirement is several parallel teams, an incumbent framework agreement or certifications Wavect does not currently hold.
// 03

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, a Vienna headquarters and a Zagreb office per their Clutch profile.4 Their LinkedIn page lists an 11 to 50 band.6

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

PRICING MODEL

Their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 hourly band and a $10,000 minimum project size, which is a directory self-listing and not a quote.4 Their own site publishes no prices, so ask them for a quote and compare that against our weekly and fixed-price entry points.2

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

DESIGN BENCH

UI Design and UX Design are separate practices on their own services page, and UX/UI is 20 percent of their Clutch service mix.24

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

SCOPE OWNERSHIP

Their published offering includes Teams-as-a-Service alongside delivery work, so a team can also be staffed to your brief.2

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

SPECIALIST DEPTH

Published services are web, back end, mobile engineering, UI design, UX design, DevOps and Teams-as-a-Service; AR/VR is 10 percent of their Clutch service mix.24

75+ products since 2018, 5.0 on Clutch.

TRACK RECORD

Red Bull, OMV and Swiss Post on the client list on their homepage.1 Clutch rating 5.0 from 10 reviews, willing to refer 5.0. We found no published repeat-business figure, including on that profile.4

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The real difference, in practice

9Y is a credible pick and we will not pretend otherwise. The Austrian entity is 9Y Media Group GmbH, FN 437116v, a limited liability company registered since July 2015 and currently active.5 Their Clutch profile lists 10 to 49 people, a Vienna headquarters and a Zagreb office, and a service mix of 35 percent mobile app development, 25 percent web development, 20 percent UX/UI design and 10 percent AR/VR development.4 Their LinkedIn page lists an 11 to 50 employee band and Vienna as the headquarters.6 The client list on their homepage names Red Bull, OMV and Swiss Post, while the case studies linked from the same page are Wegfinder, KayX, Ukio, LIVELUVO and mySugr.1 Their Clutch rating is 5.0 from 10 reviews, with willing-to-refer also at 5.0.4 If you have a defined brief where design craft carries the project, they are built for it.

The first structural difference is billing. Their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 hourly band and a $10,000 minimum project size.4 That band is a directory self-listing rather than their quote, and their own site publishes no prices at all, so treat it as an indication and ask them what your scope actually costs.2 We do not bill hours: a weekly outcome fee you can cancel any week, or a fixed-price Werkvertrag where we are legally bound to deliver. An hourly band and a weekly or fixed price are not like for like, which is exactly why the only comparison worth making is their quote against ours.

One factual note on structure, and it is not an allegation of anything: their imprint lists two contracting entities, 9Y Media Group GmbH with a registered address in Graz and 9Y Media d.o.o., registered in Zagreb, while Vienna and Zagreb are the offices on their Clutch profile and LinkedIn page.346 Registered seat and working office differ for plenty of companies. It matters only because it tells you which entity signs and what law applies, so ask them, and ask us the same: we are one Austrian GmbH in Tirol.

The second difference is scope ownership. Both teams 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. Their published service list is web, back end, mobile engineering, UI design, UX design, DevOps and Teams-as-a-Service, and it does not include LLM or on-chain work.2 Ours does: 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 .

// 05

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. Their own services page lists UI Design and UX Design as separate practices, which we do not.2
  • You want AR or VR work. It is 10 percent of their Clutch service mix, though it is not on their own services page, so ask them what the current bench looks like.42
  • Hourly billing is the shape you want, and their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 band, which is a self-listing rather than a quote.4
  • You want big-brand references like Red Bull and Swiss Post in front of your stakeholders. Both are on the client list on their homepage.1

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

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FAQs

One of the closest in size and overlap, yes. Both are small teams doing mobile and web for brands and startups. Their Clutch profile lists 10 to 49 people and a mix that is 35 percent mobile app development and 25 percent web development.4 The honest differences are billing model, who owns the product call, and our depth in AI and on-chain work versus their published depth in design.
We do not run a dedicated design department, and their own services page lists UI Design and UX Design as separate practices, so on dedicated design bench, yes.2 Our design work is senior product work: flows, interfaces and UX decided by the people building the product.
Nobody can answer that from published figures, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Their Clutch profile lists a $50 to $99 hourly band and a $10,000 minimum project size; that is a directory self-listing, not their quote, and their own site publishes no prices.42 Our weekly retainers start at €400 per week, full-stack delivery runs €10,000 to €30,000 per month, and fixed-price work starts at €3,500 for a Discovery Phase. An hourly band cannot be compared against a weekly fee or a fixed price, because the units differ and neither number fixes the scope. So ask them for a quote for your actual scope, ask us for ours, and compare those two numbers.
Mostly it does not. Their Clutch profile lists a Vienna headquarters and a Zagreb office, and their imprint lists two contracting entities: 9Y Media Group GmbH with a registered address in Graz, and 9Y Media d.o.o., registered in Zagreb.43 We are not suggesting anything is wrong with that, and registered seat and working office differ for plenty of companies. It is worth asking who signs your contract, what law applies, where the people on your project sit, and how handovers work. Our answer is simpler: one Austrian GmbH in Tirol, one senior team, founders included.
Source: 9y.co
Last reviewed: byKevin Riedl wiki ↗

Sources for the statements about 9Y

Every numbered claim above links to the source we checked, with the date we checked it. Linking a source is not a partnership or an endorsement.

  1. Homepage: self-description and the client list naming Red Bull, OMV and Swiss Post 9Y. retrieved 2026-08-04
  2. Services page: the published service list, and the absence of any published price 9Y. retrieved 2026-08-04
  3. Imprint: the two contracting entities, 9Y Media Group GmbH with a registered address in Graz and 9Y Media d.o.o. in Zagreb 9Y. retrieved 2026-08-04
  4. Clutch directory profile: self-listed hourly band, minimum project size, company size, offices, service mix and review rating Clutch. retrieved 2026-08-04
  5. Austrian commercial register data for 9Y Media Group GmbH, FN 437116v: legal form, registered seat, registration date and active status wirtschaft.at. retrieved 2026-08-04
  6. LinkedIn company page: self-listed employee band and Vienna headquarters LinkedIn. retrieved 2026-08-04

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