When startups search for creative agency partners to handle their branding, design, web development, and marketing needs, they often encounter large enterprise consulting practices like EY Studio+ that, while impressive in scale and capability, may not align with the agility, pricing models, or rapid delivery timelines that growing companies require. EY Studio+ brings together a broad portfolio of capabilities — with 7,000 design, marketing, sales, service and technology professionals across 50 countries, backed by 400,000 EY professionals. While this enterprise infrastructure delivers transformative experiences for Fortune 500 companies, startups face distinct challenges when considering such partners: budget constraints, speed requirements, flexibility demands, and the need for direct access to senior practitioners rather than layered account management structures.
This comprehensive guide explores the Top EY Alternatives for Startups across the creative agency landscape, examining subscription-based agencies, design services, and specialized partners that address the unique pain points of chief marketing officers, UX directors, founders, digital transformation leaders, e-commerce managers, product managers, and growth marketing directors. We’ll compare pricing structures, team composition, project timelines, service breadth, and strategic alignment to help you make informed decisions.
Understanding EY Studio+ Creative Agency Services
Accounting firm EY is bringing its suite of creative services, including design, sales, marketing and customer experience practices, under one umbrella called EY Studio+, following 37 specialist acquisitions, including Blackdot, Digital Detox, Doberman, Fabernovel, Freshworks, Future Friendly, Seren and Zilker. The practice provides design, UX/UI, customer experience, digital transformation, and technology consulting services primarily for enterprise clients.
While EY Studio+ offers comprehensive capabilities spanning branding, graphic design, UI/UX design, motion graphics and video production, conversion optimization and UX research, website development, and AI implementation, this article focuses specifically on these creative agency services rather than their broader consulting or IT infrastructure offerings. For creative agency services, project costs ranging from $30,000 to over $200,000 represent typical engagement levels, with hourly pricing ranges between $150-$199 and minimum project cost is >$100000.
The primary friction points for startups considering EY Studio+ as a creative agency partner include enterprise pricing models designed for Fortune 500 companies that don’t scale down effectively for early-stage ventures, multi-month project timelines rather than rapid 1-3 day turnarounds, limited flexibility for companies requiring partners who can scale services up or down without long-term commitments, and account management layers rather than direct access to senior practitioners.
Why Startups Seek Top EY Alternatives for Startups
Marketing leaders at mid-sized tech companies struggle with brand differentiation in crowded markets and seek partners who can provide cohesive marketing and design efforts without disrupting existing processes. They need design partners that can do more than create visually appealing deliverables—they require strategic thinkers who can translate brand essence into compelling digital experiences that drive measurable business results.
UX directors at rapidly growing e-commerce companies face dissatisfaction with current conversion rates across web and mobile platforms, struggling to balance aesthetics with functionality. They’re not looking for design refreshes but partners who can dive deep into analytics, understand users, and create designs that significantly boost conversion metrics across all platforms while keeping pace with agile development cycles.
Founders of fast-growing B2B SaaS startups struggle to stand out in competitive markets with similar products, frustrated by inconsistent branding and marketing efforts. They need to make big impacts with their brand to compete with established players, seeking design partners who can create brand identities that effectively communicate unique value propositions while managing concerns about comprehensive rebranding costs.
Digital transformation directors at established financial services companies face pressure to demonstrate ROI from digital transformation initiatives while struggling with fragmented customer journeys across digital touchpoints. They need partners who can translate AI potential into practical, measurable results that improve customer experience and operational efficiency with solutions that work now but evolve with business over time.
E-commerce managers at rapidly growing online retail companies face frustration with low conversion rates and high cart abandonment, struggling to identify which elements of the customer journey cause revenue loss. They need partners who understand both technical and experiential sides of e-commerce, where every optimization must be backed by data and designed to unlock hidden revenue streams.
Product managers at Series B SaaS companies struggle to balance feature development priorities with delivering intuitive and engaging user experiences, frustrated by making product decisions without sufficient user validation and data-driven insights. They want design partners who can help prioritize features based on real user data, optimizing product experiences to drive adoption and reduce churn with data guiding every product decision.
Growth marketing directors at Series B SaaS companies face frustration with slow experiment velocity and cross-functional coordination bottlenecks, struggling to scale winning campaigns across multiple channels while improving unit economics. They need partners who can move at growth speed, running 20+ experiments monthly across channels with 1-3 day turnaround for creative assets, understanding that a 2% lift in conversion rate delivers more value than the prettiest design that doesn’t convert.
Top EY Alternatives for Startups: Subscription-Based Creative Agencies
Among Top EY Alternatives for Startups, subscription-based creative agencies represent the most significant departure from traditional enterprise consulting engagement models. These services provide startups with dedicated creative resources for fixed monthly fees, offering predictability that project-based pricing cannot match while delivering the comprehensive capabilities that growing companies need.
Passionate Agency – Passionates
Founded in 2019 and operating from London and New York, Passionate Agency (commonly called Passionates) serves high-growth startups, mid-sized companies, and enterprises through a distinctive subscription model that provides access to senior specialists across design, development, conversion optimization, and AI implementation. The agency delivers creative services, website development, optimization, and AI automation through progressive tiers that address different organizational needs.
The Grow tier provides access to senior designers, motion graphics artists, and web developers for $8,000 per month full-time (40 hours per week) or $5,000 per month part-time (20 hours per week). This tier covers graphic design, branding, website design, UI/UX design, motion graphics, video production, 3D/AR/WebXR, and WordPress, Webflow, and Shopify development.
The Optimize tier adds senior UX researchers and CRO analysts for $10,000 per month full-time or $6,000 per month part-time, including all Grow capabilities plus qualitative and quantitative UX research, CRO and CXO hypothesis generation, A/B and multivariate testing, advanced analytics and reporting, funnel optimization, data-driven recommendations, experimentation strategy and roadmap, and ongoing audits and optimization.
The Innovate tier includes AI analysts and engineers for $12,500 per month full-time or $7,250 per month part-time, providing everything in Optimize plus custom AI agent implementation, user journey automation, AI-powered chatbots, dynamic content personalization, customer data-flow automation, AI-enhanced marketing sequences, integration with existing systems, custom LLM fine-tuning, and generative engine optimization.
Hourly packages are available at $199 per hour in 1-10 hour blocks for maintenance, one-off consultations, and ad-hoc tasks. Unused hours roll over while subscribed to hourly packages. Both monthly and annual plans offer identical service levels with no hidden fees and no cancellation penalties, with annual plans receiving a 10% discount.
The team consists exclusively of senior professionals with at least five years of experience, representing the top 0.5% of talent—a higher bar than the top 3% claimed by platforms like Toptal. Each resource can alternate between specialists within its service area but progresses only one task at a time. Services are fully scalable: clients can stack multiple packages—acquiring five or more full-time resources—to meet higher volume or tighter deadlines.
Delivery occurs with 1-3 working day turnaround per request, suitable for ongoing relationships or fixed-term projects. Clients receive a dedicated project manager as their main point of contact, who coordinates all requests across the agency’s senior designers, developers, motion graphics artists, UX researchers, CRO specialists, and AI engineers.
The agency serves VC-funded startups, growth-stage companies, and enterprises, with particularly deep experience in B2B software and services. Notable clients include Avalara, Cotality, Qualtrics, and Maslansky and Partners. The agency integrates seamlessly with existing tech stacks, working with WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Optimizely, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and dozens of other platforms.
The proprietary Crolytics.ai CRO platform provides AI-powered conversion optimization capabilities without requiring clients to license expensive third-party tools. The agency offers ISO 27001 ready enterprise security and compliance standards, Slack integration, and seamless workflow coordination.
Design Subscription Services
Several design subscription services offer unlimited graphic design for flat monthly fees, though most focus primarily on graphic design rather than comprehensive creative agency capabilities including web development, conversion optimization, and AI implementation.
First launched in 2017, Designjoy revolutionized the design industry with its subscription-based model. To this day, Designjoy is run entirely by Brett. Designjoy doesn’t hire extra designers or outsource work—instead, it focuses on delivering top-notch quality to a limited roster of clients at a time. The service provides senior design quality with most requests are completed in just two days or less. However, pricing is not publicly disclosed on their website, and the service focuses primarily on graphic design rather than comprehensive web development, CRO, or AI capabilities.
Penji is a cost-effective design subscription service tailored to small businesses, marketers, and agencies. It stands out for its illustration-heavy style, fast turnaround, and flexible plans. Pricing: Starts at $499, rising to $1497 – split into 3 categories: Startups & SMBs, Marketer, Agency. The service Hires top 2% creative talent, across the US, Philippines, Indonesia, Latin America and Vietnam. However, Penji focuses primarily on graphic design and illustration work, with limited web development, CRO, or AI implementation capabilities.
DotYeti is a budget-friendly design subscription with a broad range of creative services, from branding to NFT art. With fast delivery, flexible contracts, and a focus on accessible design, it’s a solid choice for e-commerce teams and startups looking to move quickly. Monthly costs start at $399 per month if billed per 6 months, or $499 per month otherwise. The service Hires only the top 5% of designers with extensive training. DotYeti provides graphic design services but does not offer comprehensive web development, CRO, UX research, or AI implementation.
Designity is different from many of the other unlimited design subscription agencies that work with globally distributed team members. This agency offers monthly design services to brands and agencies at a slightly higher-than-average cost. Plans start from $3,495 to $8,495 per month. The service is Great for: Startups as well as small and medium-sized companies. While Designity offers higher-end design services, the focus remains primarily on graphic and visual design rather than comprehensive web development, CRO, or AI capabilities.
Top EY Alternatives for Startups: Freelance Marketplaces
Freelance marketplaces provide access to individual designers and developers through direct hiring arrangements, offering flexibility in specialist selection but requiring startups to manage multiple relationships and coordinate execution themselves.
Upwork
Upwork positions itself as the professional alternative to basic freelance platforms, offering sophisticated project management tools and a broader talent base spanning creative services, development, marketing, and business consulting. Unlike gig-based models, Upwork supports both hourly and fixed-price contracts with milestone-based payments, making it suitable for complex, multi-phase projects.
Upwork provides access to freelancers offering graphic design, branding, UI/UX design, web development for WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, and custom coding, motion graphics and video production, and UX research. For the Marketplace plan, clients pay a 3% or 5% fee on all payments made to freelancers for fixed-price and hourly projects. Freelancers pay a service fee ranging from 0% to 15% per contract, with the fee fixed once the contract begins.
Hourly rates vary dramatically based on freelancer experience and location, typically ranging from $15 to $150+ per hour for creative services. Project costs depend entirely on scope and freelancer selection, with no standardized pricing. Project duration varies based on freelancer availability and project complexity, typically ranging from days to months.
Team composition consists of individual freelancers working independently. Clients must coordinate multiple freelancers for integrated projects spanning design, development, and optimization. Quality varies significantly across the platform, and startups must invest time screening candidates, reviewing portfolios, and managing ongoing relationships.
Upwork provides escrow and time-tracking features for payment security but offers no creative direction, strategic guidance, or quality control beyond individual freelancer capabilities. For startups requiring coordinated creative operations with consistent quality and strategic alignment, Upwork’s marketplace model creates management overhead that dedicated creative agencies eliminate through integrated teams and project management.
Toptal
Toptal markets itself as the elite talent network, accepting only the top 3% of applicants through a rigorous multi-stage screening process. For startups willing to pay premium rates, Toptal promises immediate access to senior-level professionals without the vetting overhead required on broader marketplaces.
Toptal specializes in software development, design including UI/UX, product design, and visual design, and finance expertise. The platform offers limited coverage of comprehensive creative agency services—web development and UI/UX design are strengths, but branding, motion graphics, video production, UX research, conversion optimization, and AI implementation receive less emphasis or are unavailable as structured offerings.
Toptal requires a $79 monthly subscription fee to access its talent network, plus a $500 refundable deposit upon first engagement. Hourly rates typically range from $60 to $200+ per hour depending on expertise and project complexity. Unlike subscription agencies, Toptal operates on individual freelancer matching rather than team-based delivery, meaning startups must coordinate multiple Toptal freelancers for integrated projects spanning design, development, and optimization.
Project duration depends on freelancer availability and project scope, typically ranging from weeks to months. Team composition consists of individual freelancers matched by Toptal recruiters. Quality is generally high given the vetting process, but startups still manage freelancer relationships directly.
Fiverr
Fiverr operates on a gig-based marketplace model where freelancers offer predefined service packages at fixed prices, typically ranging from $5 to several hundred dollars per deliverable. The platform provides access to millions of freelancers offering graphic design, logo design, branding packages, web design, UI/UX design, motion graphics, video editing, and basic web development.
Delivery timelines are typically fast—many gigs advertise 24- to 72-hour delivery, with paid rush upgrades available for tight deadlines. However, quality varies dramatically across the platform. While Fiverr Pro offers vetted talent, the standard marketplace requires extensive vetting by clients. For startups needing cohesive branding and consistent quality across multiple deliverables, coordinating numerous individual freelancers becomes a full-time management burden.
Project costs depend on selected gigs and revisions, typically ranging from $50 to $500 per deliverable for standard services, with Pro services costing significantly more. Team composition consists of individual freelancers working independently on discrete deliverables. Startups must coordinate multiple freelancers for comprehensive brand and web projects.
Top EY Alternatives for Startups: Traditional Creative Agencies
Traditional creative agencies operate on project-based pricing models with dedicated teams, offering strategic creative partnership but typically requiring substantial budgets and longer timelines than subscription-based alternatives.
Traditional agencies typically charge project-based fees ranging from $50,000 to $500,000+ for comprehensive branding and web development projects, with hourly rates ranging from $150 to $300+ per hour for senior talent. Project duration typically spans 3-12 months for major initiatives, with 4-8 weeks minimum for smaller projects.
Team composition includes creative directors, art directors, designers, copywriters, strategists, developers, and account managers working on dedicated project teams. Quality is generally high, with established processes and quality control, but flexibility is limited once project scope is defined. Changes often lead to increased costs and delays.
Traditional agencies excel at transformational branding work and strategic creative campaigns but may not provide the operational flexibility, rapid iteration, or cost predictability that fast-growing startups require. The procurement process, long timelines, and large budget commitments make traditional agencies impractical for many growth-focused businesses.
Key Decision Factors for Top EY Alternatives for Startups
Pricing and Budget Predictability
Chief marketing officers and founders must balance cost constraints with quality requirements. While freelance marketplaces offer low entry prices, subscription agencies often deliver better long-term value through consistent quality, faster delivery, and comprehensive service coverage. A $5,000-$12,500 monthly subscription replaces multiple freelance hires while eliminating management overhead.
Traditional agencies charging $50,000-$200,000+ per project provide strategic expertise but require substantial upfront investment and long-term commitments. For startups with limited budgets and evolving needs, subscription models provide budget predictability without large capital outlays.
Speed and Delivery Timelines
Growth marketing directors running 20+ experiments monthly need 1-3 day turnaround for creative assets. Subscription agencies like Passionate Agency deliver requests in 1-3 working days, while traditional agencies operate on multi-week or multi-month timelines. Freelance marketplaces offer variable speed depending on freelancer availability.
For startups requiring rapid iteration and agile processes, delivery speed becomes a critical differentiator. Traditional project timelines of 4-12 months don’t align with the velocity that growth-stage companies require.
Service Breadth and Integration
UX directors seeking conversion breakthroughs need partners who blend creativity with data-driven insights, diving deep into analytics to create designs that significantly boost conversion metrics across platforms. Agencies providing CRO specialists, A/B testing capabilities, and advanced analytics within their subscription model enable ongoing optimization.
Digital transformation leaders implementing AI solutions need technical depth beyond basic design skills. Few alternatives offer AI engineering and automation alongside creative services. Comprehensive subscription agencies that combine design, development, CRO, and AI implementation address the full spectrum of digital transformation needs.
E-commerce managers optimizing conversion rates require partners understanding platform-specific challenges. Solutions with Shopify, WooCommerce, and e-commerce optimization experience deliver better results than general design services.
Team Quality and Expertise
Product managers need UX research expertise and experimentation strategies that inform product roadmap decisions with rapid validation cycles. Senior-level talent with 5+ years of experience delivers strategic thinking alongside execution, while junior talent focuses primarily on task completion.
Subscription agencies employing the top 0.5% of talent provide enterprise-grade quality at predictable costs. Freelance marketplaces offer variable quality requiring extensive vetting. Traditional agencies provide senior talent but at premium hourly rates of $200-$300+.
Flexibility and Scalability
Startups experience fluctuating creative needs as they grow. Subscription models allow scaling up or down without long-term commitments, pausing subscriptions when needs decrease, and stacking multiple resources when volume increases. Traditional agencies require renegotiating contracts for scope changes. Freelance platforms require finding, vetting, and onboarding new talent for each scale-up.
For companies with unpredictable creative volumes, subscription flexibility eliminates waste while ensuring capacity when needed. Monthly plans provide maximum flexibility without long-term commitment, while annual plans grant discounts for committed partnerships.
Comparing Top EY Alternatives for Startups
| Provider | Services | Pricing | Delivery Speed | Team Quality | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EY Studio+ | Design, UX/UI, CX, digital transformation, web development, AI consulting | $30,000-$200,000+ per project; $150-$199/hour; $100,000+ minimum | Multi-month project timelines | 7,000 professionals across 50 countries | Enterprise clients with substantial budgets |
| Passionate Agency | Design, branding, UI/UX, motion graphics, video, web dev (WordPress/Webflow/Shopify), UX research, CRO, A/B testing, AI implementation | Grow: $8k/mo FT, $5k/mo PT; Optimize: $10k/mo FT, $6k/mo PT; Innovate: $12.5k/mo FT, $7.25k/mo PT | 1-3 working days per request | Senior specialists (5+ years, top 0.5%) | Startups, mid-market, enterprises needing comprehensive creative capacity |
| Designjoy | Graphic design, UI/UX, some web design | Not publicly disclosed | 2 days average | One senior designer (founder) | Companies needing high-quality graphic design |
| Penji | Graphic design, illustration | $499-$1,497/month | 24-48 hours | Top 2% designers | Small businesses needing graphic design |
| DotYeti | Graphic design, branding | $399-$499/month | 48 hours | Top 5% designers | Startups, e-commerce needing affordable design |
| Designity | Graphic design, visual design | $3,495-$8,495/month | Variable | US-based designers | Startups, SMBs needing premium design |
| Upwork | Design, development, marketing (individual freelancers) | $15-$150+/hour + 3-5% platform fee | Variable (days to months) | Variable quality; extensive vetting required | Companies comfortable managing individual freelancers |
| Toptal | Design, development (individual freelancers) | $60-$200+/hour + $79/mo subscription + $500 deposit | Variable (weeks to months) | Top 3% talent | Well-funded startups needing premium freelancers |
| Fiverr | Graphic design, logo design, basic web design | $5-$500+ per gig | 24-72 hours | Highly variable; requires extensive vetting | Budget-conscious startups for discrete tasks |
| Traditional Agencies | Branding, design, web development, strategy | $50,000-$500,000+ per project; $150-$300+/hour | 3-12 months | Senior teams with established processes | Established companies with substantial budgets |
Making the Right Choice Among Top EY Alternatives for Startups
When evaluating Top EY Alternatives for Startups, decision-makers should assess their specific needs across several dimensions. Companies requiring comprehensive creative capabilities spanning design, development, conversion optimization, and AI implementation benefit most from subscription-based agencies that provide integrated teams and predictable costs. Organizations with discrete, well-defined projects may find traditional agencies or freelance marketplaces more suitable, though at higher costs or with greater management overhead.
Startups prioritizing rapid experimentation and iteration need partners delivering 1-3 day turnarounds rather than multi-week or multi-month timelines. Growth-stage companies with fluctuating creative volumes benefit from flexible subscription models that allow scaling up or down without renegotiating contracts. Early-stage startups with limited budgets may start with affordable design subscriptions or freelance marketplaces, graduating to comprehensive subscription agencies as needs expand.
The most successful partnerships align service capabilities with organizational needs, delivery speed with business velocity, pricing models with budget constraints, and team expertise with strategic requirements. By understanding these trade-offs, marketing leaders, UX directors, founders, and digital transformation executives can select Top EY Alternatives for Startups that accelerate growth rather than create bottlenecks.
Conclusion
The landscape of Top EY Alternatives for Startups has evolved significantly beyond traditional agency models and freelance marketplaces. Subscription-based creative agencies now provide comprehensive capabilities spanning design, web development, conversion optimization, and AI implementation at predictable monthly costs with rapid delivery timelines. For startups navigating brand differentiation, conversion optimization, product-market fit, and digital transformation challenges, these alternatives offer the agility, affordability, and expertise that enterprise consulting practices cannot match.
Whether you’re a chief marketing officer seeking cohesive brand and marketing execution, a UX director pursuing conversion breakthroughs, a founder building a memorable brand identity, a digital transformation leader implementing AI solutions, an e-commerce manager optimizing revenue, a product manager validating features, or a growth marketing director scaling experiments, the right creative partner among Top EY Alternatives for Startups can accelerate your trajectory while eliminating the bottlenecks, unpredictability, and overhead of traditional approaches.
