An edtech design studio designs the screens learners, teachers and administrators use: course discovery, lessons, progress and the dashboards behind them. None of the five studios below publishes a price, and the Clutch minimums run from $5,000+ to $100,000+.
Your learners sign up, finish one lesson and disappear. The content is good. The product around it makes them work too hard. You're not alone, and it's usually fixable in onboarding and the path to the next lesson.
We design for edtech too, so this list isn't ranked. Studios are in alphabetical order, us included, and nobody paid to be on it.
How we picked
A studio made the list if:
- edtech or learning products appear on its own site, as a page, an industry or a case study
- it works with startups or product teams
- it designs the product or site, not only course content
- it's a studio, not a solo freelancer or a talent marketplace
We left out freelancers on marketplaces, course production houses and studios that mention education only in passing. Prices, ratings and client names come from each studio's own site or Clutch profile.
The five studios at a glance
None of the five publishes a price. Four set a minimum on Clutch.
| Studio | Based | Best for | Price signal (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos Studio | Kyiv, Ukraine, per its Clutch profile | Design and front-end code in 4 to 8 weeks | Clutch minimum $5,000+, $50 to $99/hr |
| Design Monks | Dhaka, Bangladesh, per its Clutch profile | Learning platforms with several user roles | Clutch minimum $5,000+, $50 to $99/hr |
| Hexcode (us) | Indore, India | Tutoring sites and product, sprint by sprint | Not published |
| Lazarev | San Francisco | Funded edtech, from onboarding to dashboards | Clutch minimum $100,000+, $100 to $149/hr |
| Octet Design Studio | Mumbai, India, per its Clutch profile | Edtech-only page, at a low rate | Clutch minimum $5,000+, $25 to $49/hr |
The numbers behind it
| Studio | Clutch | Named clients |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmos Studio | 5.0 (21 reviews) | Bravo1Alpha, Loamly, Ply |
| Design Monks | 5.0 (26 reviews) | Skillophy, Plenty Pay, Triply, Fitmate |
| Hexcode (us) | Profile, no reviews yet | Cuemath |
| Lazarev | 5.0 (19 reviews) | Abu Dhabi University, Level All, Campus AXESS, HITA |
| Octet Design Studio | 4.9 (28 reviews) |
Figures from each studio's own site and Clutch profile, checked . 'Clutch minimum' is the minimum project size a studio sets on Clutch, not a quote. 'Per its Clutch profile' means the location is the one the profile lists. Named clients are ones the studio names on its own site. Octet names none on its edtech page.
Notes on each studio
Cosmos Studio
Lists EdTech among the industries it designs for, alongside SaaS, AI, defense and MedTech, and says one team handles research, UX, UI and front-end code in React and Next.js. It says a typical project takes 4 to 8 weeks. Its Clutch profile shows a $5,000+ minimum and 5.0 from 21 reviews. The clients on its homepage are in defense and AI, so ask for an edtech reference.
Good fit if: you want design and working front-end code from one team.
Design Monks
Has an edtech page that names course discovery, learning continuity and multiple user roles as its focus, and lists gamified tools, virtual classrooms and teacher and parent dashboards. Its homepage shows Skillophy, a learning platform that mixes live and recorded courses, as a four-month web app project. It lists a team of 50+ on Clutch.
Good fit if: your product serves learners, teachers and admins and you want a lower rate.
Hexcode (us)
A 15-person studio in Indore, founded in 2020, with US overlap until 1pm PT. Our edtech client is Cuemath, a 1:1 online math tutoring company, where we have worked on the website and product for over a year and a half. It is our only named edtech client. We don't publish a price and have no Clutch reviews yet. See our product design work
Good fit if: you want one team for the marketing site and the product, in two-week sprints.
Not a fit if: you want a studio with a long edtech portfolio, or a price and a Clutch rating before the first call.
Lazarev
A San Francisco agency with an edtech case list. It redesigned Level All around personalized onboarding, learning journeys and progress dashboards, and Campus AXESS into one control center for student records and admissions. It sets a $100,000+ minimum on Clutch and shows 5.0 from 19 reviews.
Good fit if: you're funded and want a senior team on activation and course completion.
Not a fit if: you're pre-seed with a small budget.
Octet Design Studio
Has a dedicated edtech page and says it has completed 120+ edtech projects with 10+ edtech designers, which are its own figures. It lists adaptive learning, mobile-first design and learning analytics. Its Clutch profile shows $25 to $49 an hour, a $5,000+ minimum and 4.9 from 28 reviews. The page names no clients.
Good fit if: you want a studio that does edtech full time and at a low hourly rate.
Who is your product really for?
Edtech serves the person learning and the person assigning the work. Decide which one you design for first, then pick a studio that has shipped for that user.
| Your buyer | Design this first | Leave for later |
|---|---|---|
| Learners pay directly | Onboarding and the first lesson | Community features |
| Parents pay, kids use it | A parent view and a kid view | Reporting for schools |
| Schools or companies buy | The admin dashboard and rollout | Gamification |
| Selling a course platform | Course discovery and the player | A mobile app |
Six questions to ask before you sign
- Which learning products have you shipped, and can I speak to one client?
- How will you measure whether learners finish more lessons?
- Do you design for learners, teachers and admins, and how do you test each?
- How do you handle accessibility and younger users?
- What do I own at the end, and what do you hand to engineers?
- What's not included, and what would it cost to add?
Questions
How much does edtech design cost?
None of the five studios publishes a price. On Clutch, Cosmos Studio, Design Monks and Octet set a $5,000+ minimum and Lazarev sets $100,000+. Hourly rates run from $25 to $49 (Octet) to $50 to $99 (Cosmos Studio and Design Monks).
Do these studios have edtech experience?
Four have edtech on their own sites. Design Monks and Octet have edtech pages, Lazarev lists edtech cases, and Cosmos Studio names EdTech among its industries. We name Cuemath. Ask each for a reference in your type of product.
Can a studio design for learners and teachers?
Yes. Design Monks lists teacher and parent dashboards, and Lazarev's Campus AXESS case covers student records and admissions.
How long does an edtech design project take?
Cosmos Studio says a typical project takes 4 to 8 weeks, and Design Monks shows its Skillophy learning platform as a four-month project.
Do I need a mobile app or a web app first?
It depends on who uses it. Octet says it designs mobile-first for edtech, and Design Monks lists mobile-first design as a solution. Start where your learners already are.
Why isn't this list ranked?
Because we're on it. Ranking a list we compete in would tell you more about us than about the studios. So it's alphabetical, with the facts we could check.
Related
Spotted something wrong? Email shabbir@hexcode.design with a link and we'll fix it.
Do learners drop off after the first lesson?
Thirty minutes, no deck. Tell us where learners stop and we'll tell you what to fix first, even if the answer is one of the other four.
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