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 | Lautmaler |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | 60.3/100 | Higher score: 61.8/100 |
| Hourly rate | Contact for rates | Contact for rates |
| Team size | Larger team: 10-49 | |
| Location | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Berlin, Germany |
| Founded | 2016 | — |
| Last reviewed | More recent review: Aug 6, 2026 | Aug 5, 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 Lautmaler
A decade of conversational AI, and the client list reads like the German enterprise directory: Telekom, VW Group, Deutsche Bahn, BVG, Merck, Gothaer, sipgate. Two engagements are published in real depth. The sipgate chatbot is integrated across every service channel, serves customer-service agents as well as end users, and comes with a downloadable whitepaper on how it was built.
Reviewed Aug 5, 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
- closer collaboration at a smaller team scale
- broader service offering — also covers AI Marketing
Choose Lautmaler if you need
- larger team capacity for multi-stream or enterprise-scale programs
- disclosed specialization in Healthcare / Public Sector
- 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
Lautmaler
Strengths
- Two case studies published with genuine technical depth, including how conversation quality is measured and improved after launch
- Enterprise references at scale—Telekom, VW Group, Deutsche Bahn, BVG, Merck—across six industries rather than one
- Builds its own tooling (imPersonator for agent persona design, a Unity-to-dialog-manager bridge for XR) and partners with Cognigy and Parloa rather than reselling one platform
Watch-outs
- Outcome numbers live inside downloadable PDFs rather than on the case pages—ask for them before comparing against agencies that publish openly
- No team size or founding year is published, so scale has to be established in the first call
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.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has more SaaS & B2B experience, DEPT or Lautmaler?
- Both agencies show documented SaaS & B2B work. Lautmaler has the broader industry stack overall, with disclosed experience in Healthcare, Public Sector beyond their shared focus.
- Which scores higher overall, DEPT or Lautmaler?
- Lautmaler scores 61.8/100, 1.5 points higher than DEPT at 60.3/100. See our methodology for how scores are calculated.
- When should I consider both DEPT and Lautmaler?
- Consider running parallel discovery briefs with DEPT and Lautmaler 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.