labs@atheron:~/compare/agency$ diff ./us ./them
Us or an agency
A new studio beside firms with long track records.
A development agency gives you a team, a process and references you can call. So do we, except the references: we are new, and our own products are our only case studies. Here is how the two compare, with published rates.
// In one sentence
What each one is
Atheron Network Labs
A small Canadian development studio that builds web and mobile apps, AI systems, bots and blockchains, and runs products of its own. Every estimate comes from a published rate card.
An agency
A firm you pay to design and build your software, usually by the hour or by the project, with its own team and process.
// Prices
What it costs
Ours come from our rate card through the estimator, the same numbers a visitor gets there. Theirs are published figures, with the source linked and the day we read it.
Atheron Network Labs
A fixed-price MVP web app sprint, priced from the rate card in force. Every other build is priced by the estimator from the same card.
MVP web app sprint, fixed price: ≈ US$37,600CAD 53,500
Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.
Theirs
Clutch publishes what the software development companies it lists charge, from verified client reviews, in US dollars. Each agency quotes its own price.
- Hourly rates Clutch publishes
- Canada: USD 100 (CAD 142) – USD 149 (CAD 212) an hour
- United States: USD 50 (CAD 71) – USD 99 (CAD 141) an hour
- Most projects Clutch has reviewed: USD 10,000 (CAD 14,246) – USD 49,000 (CAD 69,805)
- Average project Clutch reports: USD 132,480 (CAD 188,731)
- Updated by Clutch on September 21, 2026.
// Side by side
Point by point
A price you can see before you talk to anyone
Atheron Network Labs
Yes
The estimator on our site prices any build from our rate card.
An agency
No
Clutch publishes ranges. Each agency quotes its own price.
Free to start
Atheron Network Labs
No
Estimates are free. Building is paid, with a deposit.
An agency
No
A delivery date committed in the quote
Atheron Network Labs
Yes
Every quote commits to the end of its range.
An agency
Depends
Depends on who you hire.
Years of client work behind it
Atheron Network Labs
No
A new studio. Our own products are our case studies.
An agency
Depends
Depends on who you hire.
A Canadian company on the contract, in CAD
Atheron Network Labs
Yes
A Canadian company in Kelowna, British Columbia. Quotes in Canadian dollars.
An agency
Depends
Depends on who you hire.
// Said plainly
What an agency does better
- Years of client work. Clutch lists agencies with verified reviews from past clients. We have none to show you yet: our case studies are our own products.
- A larger team on day one. An established firm can put more people on your project from the first week, where we keep our team small on purpose.
- People in your city. A local agency can hold workshops in your office. Our calls are online, from Kelowna, and held in English.
// Choosing
Who should pick which
Pick them if
Pick an agency if you need references you can call, a large team from the first week, or people who can sit in your office.
Pick us if
Pick us if you want a fixed price and a committed date before work starts, an estimate you can check yourself on our site, and engineers who build and run products of their own.
// Sources
How we checked
- A figure about anyone else is printed only where we read it on a public page, linked here with the day we read it.
- Agency rates are Clutch's published ranges, from its verified client reviews. They describe the firms Clutch lists, not any one firm.
- Where a route is many firms or people, the honest answer is often that it depends, and the table says so.
- Names are used to compare, nothing more. We are not affiliated with any company named on these pages.
October 3, 2026. US dollars converted at 1.4246 USD/CAD, the Bank of Canada daily average for October 2, 2026. Our conversion, not their price.
// Next step
Price your build
The estimator prices it from the same rate card as every number on this page, in a few minutes, with no call.