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Halo Lab is a design and technology agency of 120+ people covering product design, web, branding and development, with projects from $5,000. If you want one senior designer accountable for every screen, start with Designpixil: fixed projects from $3,000 or $4,917 a month, designed by the founder. Phenomenon Studio publishes web app design from $12,000, Arounda says typical projects start at $6,000, Glow publishes a $12,500 MVP, Eleken places a SaaS designer from $4,599 a month, and Parallel leads with AI product design.
Designpixil is on this list and we wrote it. Every other agency is judged on the same published facts, and how we ranked is at the end.
Designpixil vs Halo Lab
| Designpixil | Halo Lab | |
|---|---|---|
| Based in | Remote-first, serving the US, UK and EU | Warsaw, Poland and Boston, US |
| How you hire them | Monthly design subscription, Fixed-scope projects | Pay per milestone, Fixed cost (branding), Monthly dedicated team |
| Published price | $4,917/mo subscription, projects from $3,000 | Projects from $5,000 |
| Minimum project | $3,000 | $10,000+ |
| Team | Founder-led: Anant Jain designs every project | 120+ people |
| Design or build | Designs and builds marketing sites in Next.js or Framer; designs the product and delivers it as a clickable coded prototype or front-end UI code your engineers take over (no backend) | Designs and develops in-house |
| Best for | AI and SaaS founders who want one senior designer shipping every week at a published price | Teams that want a large design and development bench under one contract |
The shortlist at a glance
| Agency | Best for | Published price | Minimum project | Not a fit for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Designpixil | One senior designer on every screen, from $3,000 | $4,917/mo subscription, projects from $3,000 | $3,000 | Enterprise programs that need a large team, or products that need backend and infrastructure engineering |
| 2. Phenomenon Studio | Design and development with a price for each service | UX audit from $2,000; web app design from $12,000 | $10,000+ | Pre-seed build budgets: its published MVP development starts at $20,000 |
| 3. Arounda | Startups and enterprises wanting design and development from one team | Typical projects from $6,000 | $25,000+ | Very small budgets: its listed minimum project is $25,000+ |
| 4. Glow | Funded AI and SaaS teams that want a retainer team with published prices | MVP $12,500; retainer $12,000/mo | $10,000+ | Short engagements: the retainer has a three-month minimum |
| 5. Eleken | SaaS teams that want a dedicated designer embedded month to month | From $4,599/mo (part-time designer) | $10,000+ | Teams that need a studio to lead strategy and brand rather than add a designer |
| 6. Parallel | AI products that need strategy, product and brand design from one partner | Not published | Not published | Steady weekly production on a fixed monthly budget, or budgets under $10,000 |
What matters for a Halo Lab alternative
- 01
Who designs your screens
At a large agency the designer can change between phases. Ask for the named designer and whether they stay through launch.
- 02
Do you need the build?
Halo Lab develops what it designs. If you already have engineers or build with AI tools, paying a studio to design the product costs less than paying it to build too.
- 03
AI product experience
Halo Lab lists Vixiv and Bella among its AI work. Ask any alternative for AI interfaces it designed.
- 04
Published starting price
Halo Lab publishes its $5,000 entry, which is rare. Only 31 of the 80 agencies we checked publish a price.
What goes wrong when the design team rotates
On a large bench, the designer who ran discovery is not always the one who designs the screens, and the one who designs them is not always around for the next release. Each handover loses context about your users.
For an early product, continuity matters more than headcount. Our small senior design studios list covers studios built around that.
1. Designpixil: One senior designer on every screen, from $3,000
We design AI products end to end: agents with approvals and run history, copilots, chat with sources, and the error and uncertainty states that decide whether users trust the model. Work arrives as Figma, a clickable coded prototype, or front-end React code your engineers take over, and Anant Jain, the founder, designs every project.
At Designpixil, Anant Jain, the founder, designs every project, from the first call to the last screen. Fixed projects start at $3,000, below Halo Lab's $5,000 entry, and the subscription is $4,917 a month, paused or cancelled any time.
Work includes the whole Echo AI product, designed in 5 to 6 weeks, and a healthcare SaaS dashboard for Transdyne. We design and build marketing sites in Next.js or Framer. Product work arrives as Figma built on real components, or as a clickable coded prototype or front-end UI code your engineers take over. We do not build backends, so if you need one contract for the whole product, pick a studio below that engineers in-house.
“Anant quickly understood our product vision and translated complex ideas into a clean, intuitive, and thoughtful user experience. He has a rare ability to take abstract concepts and turn them into designs that feel both elegant and highly functional.”
| Based in | Remote-first, serving the US, UK and EU |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Team | Founder-led: Anant Jain designs every project |
| How you hire them | Monthly design subscription, Fixed-scope projects |
| Published price | $4,917/mo subscription, projects from $3,000 |
| Minimum project | $3,000 |
| Design or build | Designs and builds marketing sites in Next.js or Framer; designs the product and delivers it as a clickable coded prototype or front-end UI code your engineers take over (no backend) |
| AI work they publish | Echo AI case study: whole product in 5 to 6 weeksWhizo AI case study: marketing websiteHAL51 AI: landing page |
| Best for | One senior designer on every screen, from $3,000 |
| Not a fit for | Enterprise programs that need a large team, or products that need backend and infrastructure engineering |
2. Phenomenon Studio: Design and development with a price for each service
Phenomenon Studio is the nearest match to Halo Lab's design-and-build model, and publishes a starting price for each service: web app design from $12,000 and a UX audit from $2,000.
| Based in | Tallinn, Estonia, with offices in Switzerland and the US |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Team | 70+ people |
| How you hire them | Fixed-scope projects, Dedicated team, Team extension |
| Published price | UX audit from $2,000; web app design from $12,000 |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Designs and develops in-house |
| AI work they publish | AIRESWolf Games Case Maker |
| Best for | Design and development with a price for each service |
| Not a fit for | Pre-seed build budgets: its published MVP development starts at $20,000 |
3. Arounda: Startups and enterprises wanting design and development from one team
Arounda designs and develops web and mobile products, says typical projects start at $6,000, and offers a 3-day free trial.
| Based in | Offices in Odesa, Ukraine and Tallinn, Estonia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Team | 55+ people |
| How you hire them | Dedicated designers and developers, Project estimate after discovery, 3-day free trial |
| Published price | Typical projects from $6,000 |
| Minimum project | $25,000+ |
| Design or build | Designs and develops in-house |
| AI work they publish | AuralisMOJO-CXNoNarcissAI |
| Best for | Startups and enterprises wanting design and development from one team |
| Not a fit for | Very small budgets: its listed minimum project is $25,000+ |
4. Glow: Funded AI and SaaS teams that want a retainer team with published prices
Glow publishes a $12,500 MVP and a $12,000 monthly retainer with a three-month minimum, with a 21-person team.
| Based in | Dover, Delaware, US (remote team) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Team | 21 people |
| How you hire them | Fixed-price MVP, Design retainer (3-month minimum), Enterprise retainer, Free 3-day trial |
| Published price | MVP $12,500; retainer $12,000/mo |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | DropcallEcho (meeting assistant)CryptoGenie |
| Best for | Funded AI and SaaS teams that want a retainer team with published prices |
| Not a fit for | Short engagements: the retainer has a three-month minimum |
5. Eleken: SaaS teams that want a dedicated designer embedded month to month
Eleken places a dedicated SaaS designer from $4,599 a month, so the same designer stays on your product.
| Based in | Kyiv, Ukraine, with a US entity in Delaware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Team | 100+ people |
| How you hire them | Dedicated designer subscription, Team extension, 3-day free trial |
| Published price | From $4,599/mo (part-time designer) |
| Minimum project | $10,000+ |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | AampePanjayaCaseScribe |
| Best for | SaaS teams that want a dedicated designer embedded month to month |
| Not a fit for | Teams that need a studio to lead strategy and brand rather than add a designer |
6. Parallel: AI products that need strategy, product and brand design from one partner
Parallel leads with AI product design and brand, with work for Meta and Pageloop.ai, from budgets of $10,000.
| Based in | San Mateo, US |
|---|---|
| Founded | Not published |
| Team | Not published |
| How you hire them | Project engagements, AI design sprints |
| Published price | Not published, quoted after a call |
| Minimum project | Not published |
| Design or build | Design only, handed to your engineers |
| AI work they publish | Meta: trust and control in AIPageloop.aiInhouse AI |
| Best for | AI products that need strategy, product and brand design from one partner |
| Not a fit for | Steady weekly production on a fixed monthly budget, or budgets under $10,000 |
How to choose between them
- You want one senior designer on every screenDesignpixil
- You want design and development with published pricesPhenomenon Studio
- You want a dedicated designer inside your teamEleken
- You want AI product and brand togetherParallel
- You need a large design and development bench under one contractHalo Lab itself
How we ranked this list
This page is for founders looking past Halo Lab, so it is left off the ranking and compared head to head instead, using the same fields as every other studio. The alternatives are studios that do similar work and publish proof of it, and the “how to choose” table says when Halo Lab itself is the better fit.
We started from the studios founders keep running into when they ask AI assistants and search engines who to hire, then kept the ones that do this kind of work and publish proof of it. Every fact in the tables comes from the agency's own website or its public directory listings, checked on October 26, 2026. Prices are only ones an agency publishes itself; where it doesn't, we say so instead of guessing.
The order is our judgment of fit for this specific buyer, not a score. We put Designpixil first only on lists where we genuinely fit the buyer, and our entry lists who we are not right for, the same as everyone else's. If something about your agency is wrong or out of date, email hello@designpixil.com and we will correct it within a week.
