A mobile app design studio designs the screens, flows and interactions for an iOS or Android app, then hands your developers a system they can build from. Two studios here publish a price: Eleken from $4,599 a month, and Fuselab Creative from $25,000 a project.
Your web app works. Customers keep asking for the mobile one. Designing it isn't resizing the web app, and the first version teaches you what to cut.
We design mobile apps 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:
- mobile app design is a listed service on its own site
- it works with startups
- it designs mobile interfaces, not only websites
- it's a studio, not a solo freelancer
We left out freelancers on marketplaces, app development shops that treat design as a free extra, and studios that mention mobile only in passing. Prices, ratings and client names come from each studio's own site.
The seven studios at a glance
Two of the seven publish a price. A third, Design Studio UI/UX, gives a cost range in its FAQ.
| Studio | Based | Best for | Price signal (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Studio UI/UX | New York and Kolkata | A defined MVP design, no retainer | FAQ says an app typically costs $5,000 to $100,000+ |
| Eleken | Kyiv, with a US entity in Delaware | An ongoing designer on your app | $4,599/mo part-time, $6,599/mo full-time, 2-month minimum |
| Fuselab Creative | McLean, Virginia | Funded teams that want a US studio | Projects from $25,000, hourly $100 to $149 |
| Hexcode (us) | Indore, India | App, site and brand from one team | Not published |
| Musemind | Not stated, lists offices in six cities | Design and build from one studio | Not published, form offers $5K to $100K+ bands |
| Phenomenon Studio | Tallinn, Lugano and Dover (USA) | Design first, build separately | Not published |
| Ramotion | San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, per its footer | Brand, web and app in one place | Not published |
The numbers behind it
| Studio | Clutch | Named clients |
|---|---|---|
| Design Studio UI/UX | 4.9 (60+ reviews, per its site) | SmartMoving, EroEV, Soul Food, Tailgait |
| Eleken | 4.9 (100+ reviews, per its site) | Aampe, Hubble Network, Frontend AI, Lambda |
| Fuselab Creative | 5.0 (15 reviews, per its site) | Grid AI, Geotab, Rybbon, RhythmX AI |
| Hexcode (us) | Profile, no reviews yet | 30 Sundays |
| Musemind | 4.9 (48 reviews, per its site) | Boon, Arrive, Trainmate, Konoom |
| Phenomenon Studio | 5.0 (52 reviews, per its site) | Wisdom, Nomupay, Ready Player Fit |
| Ramotion | Profile linked, no rating shown | Netflix, Stripe, Descript, Flatfile |
Figures from each studio's own site, checked . Ratings are as each studio states them. Named clients are ones the studio names on its own site.
Notes on each studio
Design Studio UI/UX
Offices in New York and Kolkata. It lists mobile app UI design, MVP app UX/UI, UX audits and usability testing, for both iOS and Android. Its FAQ says an app typically costs $5,000 to $100,000+, with no retainer required, and it cites 6 to 10 weeks from brief to developer handoff. It doesn't name startups as an audience, but MVP design is one of its services.
Good fit if: you want a defined MVP design with a developer handoff, and no retainer.
Eleken
A Kyiv studio that designs web and mobile interfaces for B2B SaaS teams. Plans are published: $4,599 a month for a part-time designer, $6,599 full-time and $11,999 for two, with a two-month minimum and a 3-day free trial.
Good fit if: you want an ongoing designer on your app, not a one-off project.
Not a fit if: you need a designer online through your whole US afternoon.
Fuselab Creative
A design agency in McLean, Virginia that works with startups and enterprises, and with government clients. It says projects start at $25,000 and hourly work runs $100 to $149, with discovery taking two to four weeks. Its site shows 5.0 on Clutch from 15 reviews.
Good fit if: you're funded and want a US-based team with a stated minimum.
Not a fit if: you need a quote under $25,000.
Hexcode (us)
We designed and built the website and native mobile app for 30 Sundays, a couples-only travel brand from India, with an AI trip guide. That's our only mobile app case study so far, so ask us for references. We don't publish a price and have no Clutch reviews yet. Read the 30 Sundays case study
Good fit if: you want the app, the site and the brand from one team.
Not a fit if: you only need app screens and a price before the first call.
Musemind
Offices in New York, Dubai, Berlin, Riyadh, London and Dhaka, with no headquarters stated. It lists mobile app design and development, and works with startups, scaleups and established businesses. It publishes no prices, only budget bands from $5K to $100K+ on its form, and its site shows 4.9 on Clutch from 48 reviews.
Good fit if: you want design and development of the app from one studio.
Phenomenon Studio
Offices in Tallinn, Lugano and Dover. It designs mobile apps for SaaS, healthcare, fintech and edtech, delivering high-fidelity screens for iOS, Android and cross-platform. It says a basic app UI takes four to six weeks and a complex one eight or more. Development is a separate service.
Good fit if: you want design first, and the build handled separately.
Ramotion
Offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, per its footer. It lists app design and branding among its services, and its client list includes Netflix, Stripe, Descript and Flatfile. It publishes no prices and shows no rating, so ask for mobile references at your stage.
Good fit if: you want a larger studio with a long client list, covering brand, web and app in one place.
What a mobile app design project includes
Scope drives price more than anything else. Compare what each quote covers, not only the total.
| Phase | What you get | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Research and flows | Who the app is for, and the paths they take through it | A quote with no research phase |
| Wireframes | Low-fidelity screens that settle layout and navigation | Skipping straight to polished screens |
| UI design | High-fidelity screens for iOS, Android or both | Designing for one platform and calling it done |
| Prototype and testing | A clickable prototype tested with real users | Testing only with your own team |
| Design system | Reusable components your developers can build from | Screens delivered as flat images |
| Developer handoff | Annotated specs and assets your engineers can use | No time for questions after handoff |
Six questions to ask before you sign
- Will you design iOS and Android separately, or one adaptive design?
- Do you use each platform's native components, so the app feels at home?
- Do you build what you design, or hand off to my engineers? If you hand off, who answers their questions?
- What's in the design system, and do we own the Figma files?
- How will you test the prototype, and with whom?
- What happens after launch, when real usage data comes in?
Questions
How much does mobile app design cost?
Published figures on this list: Eleken from $4,599 a month, and Fuselab Creative projects from $25,000. Design Studio UI/UX says an app typically costs $5,000 to $100,000+. The rest quote after a call.
How long does it take to design a mobile app?
Phenomenon Studio says a basic app UI takes four to six weeks and a complex one eight or more. Design Studio UI/UX quotes six to ten weeks from brief to developer handoff.
Should I design for iOS and Android at once?
Many startups start with one platform and add the other after the first version proves itself. Ask each studio how it handles both. Phenomenon Studio and Design Studio UI/UX each say they design for iOS and Android.
Should the design studio also build the app?
It depends on your team. Musemind lists design and development together, and Phenomenon Studio offers development as a separate service. If your engineers will build it, the handoff matters more than the studio's developers.
Can a studio design just the MVP?
Yes. Design Studio UI/UX lists MVP app UX and UI as a service. A smaller first version is cheaper to design, and it teaches you what to cut.
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.
Designing your first app?
Thirty minutes, no deck. Tell us what the app has to do and we'll tell you what we'd cut from version one, whoever you hire.
Book a call