Comparison updated August 2026
Side by side
Published data on both agencies. Where one side measurably differs, the dot marks it: the higher score, the lower published rate, the larger team, the more recent review. Which of those is an advantage depends on your brief.
| Attribute | DEPT | Elsewhen |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | Higher score: 64/100 | 61.8/100 |
| Hourly rate | €130-170/hr | Contact for rates |
| Team size | Larger team: 1000-9999 | 50-249 |
| Location | Amsterdam, Netherlands | London, United Kingdom |
| Founded | 2016 | 2011 |
| Last reviewed | Aug 6, 2026 | Aug 6, 2026 |
What we said about each
Our take on DEPT
Signs is the most visible AI work here: a sign-language learning platform using computer vision to check the learner's signing, which reached more than 20 million people in its first week and recorded 20,000 signs learned in ten days. It is a collaboration with NVIDIA and the American Society for Deaf Children rather than a commissioned client project, which is worth knowing when you read it as evidence. The commissioned AI work is more ordinary and more useful as a guide: a return-value…
Reviewed Aug 6, 2026
Read the full assessment →Our take on Elsewhen
Fifteen years old, around 150 people, and a client list—Google, Spotify, Mastercard, Inmarsat, Zego—that is unusually easy to verify for a firm this size. The AI work is published under NDA, and it is the most numerate anonymized work in this register. Semantic search built on vector matching for one of Europe's largest package-holiday providers: matching by meaning in under 250 milliseconds, tracking to £15 million in incremental annual booking revenue within two weeks of go-live, with a 1.
Reviewed Aug 6, 2026
Read the full assessment →Best for
Where each agency measurably leads on the published data — team capacity, declared specializations, editorial scoring, and rates where both publish them. Use these to match an agency to your project priorities.
Choose DEPT if you need
- larger team capacity for multi-stream or enterprise-scale programs
- broader service offering — also covers AI Marketing
- a higher overall editorial score
Choose Elsewhen if you need
- closer collaboration at a smaller team scale
- disclosed specialization in FinTech
- broader service offering — also covers AI Consulting
Strengths and watch-outs
Both upsides and risks, straight from our editorial assessments.
DEPT
Strengths
- Named clients with figures attached across three sectors: retail returns, clinical search, sports fan engagement
- Computer vision applied to genuinely hard interaction problems, not generative demos
- International delivery capacity, so multi-market rollouts do not need a second agency
Watch-outs
- Signs is collaborative work with NVIDIA, not a client engagement—judge the commissioned cases separately
- Published AI work is weighted toward audience-facing products—ask for an operated system with an SLA if that is what you need
- At this scale, insist on knowing the named team, not the agency's aggregate credentials
Elsewhen
Strengths
- The published AI outcomes are financial and specific: £15m incremental annual bookings, +1.3% conversion, sub-250ms matching
- Verifiable scale behind the claims—Google, Spotify, Mastercard and Inmarsat all appear with named engagements
- Operating since 2011, so the AI practice sits on a long product-engineering record rather than replacing one
Watch-outs
- Every AI case is anonymized by sector—the named clients are attached to the non-AI work
- At 150 people, ask who staffs your engagement and whether the AI toolchain team is the one you meet
- No rates published
Service coverage
Where the two overlap, and where each covers ground the other does not.
Industry coverage
Where the two overlap, and where each covers ground the other does not.
Pricing math
What a 12-week engagement at one full-time equivalent (~480hours) costs at each agency’s published rate. An arithmetic projection, not a quote — real scopes move with seniority mix and team shape.
DEPT
Rate: €130-170/hr
€62,400–€81,600
Elsewhen
Contact for rates
Only DEPT publishes a rate, so there is no gap to measure. Elsewhen quotes per engagement — ask for a rate card early, since a comparison that starts on scope and ends on price tends to end late.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has more SaaS & B2B experience, DEPT or Elsewhen?
- Both agencies show documented SaaS & B2B work. Elsewhen has the broader industry stack overall, with disclosed experience in FinTech beyond their shared focus.
- Which scores higher overall, DEPT or Elsewhen?
- DEPT scores 64/100, 2.2 points higher than Elsewhen at 61.8/100. Both portfolio quality and business credibility feed into the score — see our methodology for the full breakdown.
- When should I consider both DEPT and Elsewhen?
- Consider running parallel discovery briefs with DEPT and Elsewhen if your project spans multiple workstreams, you want competitive proposals to compare scope and approach, or you're undecided between the specialization angles each brings (see the Best for cards above). Most engagements ultimately go with one — but the parallel-brief phase is a low-cost way to validate fit.
Read the full reviews
A side-by-side is a starting point. The full assessments carry the portfolio analysis, documented engagements, and the evidence behind every strength and watch-out above.