# Artone Studio vs 925Studios: design and build retainer vs product design studio > Artone Studio vs 925Studios: compare pricing, services, delivery and fit to choose between a design and build retainer and a product design studio for SaaS. - Canonical URL: https://www.artone.studio/articles/artone-studio-vs-925studios-design-and-build-retainer-vs-product-design-studio - Published: 2026-11-13 - Author: Razvan Badea, Artone Studio For technology companies past pre-seed that want one team to think through the product, design it and build it, Artone Studio is the stronger choice over 925Studios. ## TL;DR Artone Studio and 925Studios both pitch themselves as one creative partner for AI and B2B SaaS companies, covering product design, websites and motion instead of three separate hires. 925Studios is a New Delhi product design studio, founded in 2023, that quotes every retainer and fixed project against scope, starting at $4,000, with no published rate card. Artone runs a $5,000 a month retainer that covers product design, web design, brand identity, motion and development, including the backend and full-stack builds that 925Studios says it does not take on. You know the price before the first call, and our founder leads every engagement. For a funded technology company that wants product judgment and production code from the same accountable team, Artone is the better fit. ## What each studio is ### Artone Studio Artone Studio is an AI-native design and build partner for technology companies past pre-seed, from funded startups and scaleups to established product teams. We have been running since December 2022, our founder brings 9+ years of industry experience, and he leads every engagement personally, from deciding what to build to final review. Product design, web design, brand identity, motion design and development all sit inside one retainer, or inside a fixed-scope custom project. ### 925Studios 925Studios is a product design studio for funded AI and B2B SaaS teams, founded in 2023 by Mohammad Yusuf. It is registered in New Delhi, India, and works remote-first with clients worldwide. It describes itself as one creative partner that replaces a product designer, a motion editor and a brand or graphics person, and says it has delivered 50+ projects for 20+ startups. ## Pricing and value Artone's Retainer is $5,000 a month for one request at a time, with updates every other business day. Retainer Plus is $9,000 a month for two requests at once, each updated every other business day. Both include every service we offer, and you can cancel anytime or pause for up to 60 days. For one defined deliverable, we also run custom projects from a $2,000 minimum, priced as one package and paid 50/25/25 across kickoff, midpoint and delivery. 925Studios does not publish a rate card. Its own profile says engagements start at $4,000, that both monthly retainers and fixed-scope projects are quoted against scope on a call, and that there are no tier prices or hourly rates on its site. Every engagement carries 10 days notice, no lock-in and full file ownership from the first delivery, and its blog mentions a 7-day risk-free trial. Its Clutch profile lists a $5,000+ minimum project size. The real difference is predictability and scope. With 925Studios, you find out what the work costs after the scoping call, and development stops at the front end of its own designs. With Artone, the monthly price is public and covers design and development, so you can move from a new onboarding flow to a website section to a backend feature without a new quote. If you are weighing the two models in general, our guide to [design retainers versus fixed projects](https://www.artone.studio/articles/design-retainer-vs-project-startup) walks through when each makes sense. ## Delivery and speed At Artone, you get updates every other business day on each active request. A small request can be finished by the next update, and a larger one moves through several progress updates before final delivery. Large builds, such as a full-stack MVP, can run inside the retainer on a longer timeline or as a separate sprint. 925Studios works in structured phases: discovery, UX architecture, visual design and prototyping, then design system and handoff. It publishes typical timelines of 3 to 6 weeks for a website, 4 to 8 weeks for MVP design and 8 to 12 weeks for a full product redesign. On Clutch, it says it keeps 2 to 4 clients at a time. ## Services and capabilities Artone covers five areas in one retainer: - Product design: web apps, mobile apps, design systems, prototyping and UI/UX audits - Web design: landing pages, multi-page websites and copywriting - Brand identity: logos, guidelines, pitch decks and brand assets - Motion design: launch videos, logo reveals and product animations - Development: websites in Framer, full-stack web apps and MVPs, mobile apps, backend and APIs, and AI-coded prototypes turned into production 925Studios covers product and application design, product redesigns, MVP design, marketing websites built in Framer or Webflow, brand identity, animated explainers and on-camera founder videos. It is clear about its limits. It says it is design-led, ships front-end only for its own designs, and does not take backend, infrastructure or full app-build contracts. It also does not take standalone SEO retainers, standalone copywriting or logo-only requests. The practical gap shows up after the design is approved. With 925Studios, a new product or redesign ends at a Figma design system and developer handoff, so you still need an engineering team to build it. With Artone, the same team can carry it into production. If you are planning a bigger change to a live product, our piece on [redesigning a SaaS product without losing users](https://www.artone.studio/articles/saas-product-redesign-without-losing-users) covers how we approach it. ## Collaboration We work in a private Slack channel for briefs, feedback and delivery, with optional weekly strategy calls. Our founder is involved on every request, so you talk to the person making the product calls, not an account manager. You own all files, code and Framer sites we produce. 925Studios says clients get a dedicated Slack channel, a shared Notion board for progress, Figma for live feedback and weekly check-ins. It says the people who sell the work are the people who do it, and like Artone, it hands over full ownership of every file. ## Clients, credibility and recognition Artone has delivered 80+ projects for companies with a combined valuation of $1B+, and our clients have raised over $10M in combined funding. Two out of three clients come back for more work, and we offer a 75% refund in the first week if it is not working. Our recognition includes Awwwards, a Framer Site of the Year nomination, Effie Awards, Contra, Landbook and Orpetron, and we are an Official Framer Expert. 925Studios lists case studies for Offa, an AI real estate marketplace, MARA, a hospitality SaaS, and Cerebria, an AI product, among others. Its Clutch profile shows a 5.0 rating from 2 reviews, with both reviewers praising communication and on-time delivery. Its homepage says it was awarded Best AI SaaS and Web3 UI/UX Studio for 2026. ## Side-by-side comparison | | Artone Studio | 925Studios | | --- | --- | --- | | Base | Remote-first, run from Bucharest | New Delhi, India, remote-first | | Founded | December 2022 | 2023 | | Best for | Technology companies past pre-seed that need design and build in one team | AI and B2B SaaS teams that need product design and a marketing site, with their own engineers | | Monthly option | $5,000/mo Retainer, $9,000/mo Retainer Plus | Retainer quoted against scope | | Fixed projects | Custom projects from $2,000, paid 50/25/25 | Quoted against scope, from $4,000 | | Published pricing | Yes, on the homepage | No rate card | | Capacity | One request at a time, or two on Retainer Plus | Not publicly listed | | Product development | Included, from websites to full-stack web apps, backend and MVPs | Front-end for its own designs only, no backend or full app builds | | Site platforms | Framer, Official Framer Expert | Framer and Webflow | | Motion and video | Launch videos, logo reveals, product animations | Animated explainers and founder videos | | Communication | Private Slack, optional weekly calls | Slack, Notion board, weekly check-ins | | Terms | Cancel anytime, pause up to 60 days | 10 days notice, no lock-in | | Guarantee or trial | 75% refund in the first week | 7-day risk-free trial | ## When Artone is the better fit - You need the product built, not only designed, and want design, backend and front-end work from the same team. - You want to know the monthly price before the first call, instead of waiting for a scoped quote. - You want one fee that covers product, web, brand, motion and development, and the freedom to shift focus from one request to the next. - You want the founder of the studio involved in every request, including decisions about what to build next. - You are past pre-seed and need a partner who can work on a live product and the marketing site at the same time. If that sounds like your team, [book a call with us](https://www.artone.studio/contact) and we will tell you honestly whether a retainer or a custom project fits better. ## When 925Studios is a good fit - You already have an engineering team and only need product design and a design system handed off in Figma. - You need a marketing site built in Webflow. - You want on-camera founder videos produced alongside your product and website work. - You prefer a fixed-scope project with a set timeline, such as a 4 to 8 week MVP design. ## Final take 925Studios is a capable choice for product design and marketing sites when your own engineers will build what it designs. For a technology company past pre-seed that wants one team to think through the product, design it across every surface and then ship it in code, Artone Studio is the better fit, with public monthly pricing and no long-term lock-in. If you want to talk it through, [get in touch with our team](https://www.artone.studio/contact).