Agency Comparison
Pentagon Design vs Reaktor
Two top-rated UX agencies in Helsinki.
Side by side
Key data on both agencies. The accent dot marks where one leads.
| Pentagon Design | Reaktor | |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | 55/100 | ●63.5/100 |
| Hourly rate | €100-149/hr | Contact for rates |
| Team size | 10-49 | ●250+ |
| Location | Helsinki, Finland | Helsinki, Finland |
| Founded | — | — |
| Tier | Free | Free |
| Last reviewed | May 30, 2026 | May 30, 2026 |
What we said about each
What we said about Pentagon Design
"The published portfolio of 51 projects is dominated by brand identity, packaging, spatial/retail, service design, and industrial/product work for names like Hesburger, VR, Marimekko, Fazer, and the Mannerheim Museum, with awards including 11 Red Dot and 8 iF prizes signalling a design-strategy and brand house rather than a digital product shop. Digital appears only as one line on the services page with no UX/UI case study showing user research, flows, prototyping, testing, or product metrics…"
— UXAgencies editorial team, reviewed May 30, 2026
Read full review →What we said about Reaktor
"Reaktor publishes 60-plus freely visible case studies spanning aviation, health, finance, gaming, industrial, public sector and retail, and the design work holds up alongside the engineering: the Cathay Pacific in-flight system case cites 1,000-plus iterative passenger tests, accessibility-led design across 14 screen types, and Red Dot, iF and German Design Award wins, while the adidas ecommerce case documents research, design sprints and prototyping next to outcomes like 60% faster page…"
— UXAgencies editorial team, reviewed May 30, 2026
Read full review →Best for
Where each agency measurably leads — on pricing, team capacity, declared specializations, and editorial scoring. Use these to match an agency to your project priorities.
Choose Pentagon Design if you need
- •closer collaboration at a smaller team scale
- •disclosed specialization in SaaS & B2B
- •broader service offering — also covers Design Strategy and UX/UI Design
Choose Reaktor if you need
- •larger team capacity for multi-stream or enterprise-scale programs
- •disclosed specialization in FinTech / Healthcare
- •broader service offering — also covers User-Centric Design and Digital Product Consulting
- •a higher overall editorial score
Strengths and watch-outs
Both upsides and risks, straight from our editorial assessments.
Pentagon Design
✓ Strengths
- •Published portfolio spans 51 projects with recognizable public and private clients (VR, Hesburger, Fazer, Marimekko, City of Helsinki, Mannerheim Museum), concentrated in brand identity, packaging, and service/spatial design.
- •Awards page lists 76 honors including 11 Red Dot, 11 German Design, and 8 iF Design awards, plus a State Prize for Design, evidencing recognition in brand and industrial/product design.
- •Operating since 1996 with a 26-person team, a named CEO/Creative Director, and a Helsinki office address, supporting business legitimacy.
⚠ Watch-outs
- •If you need digital product UX/UI or SaaS interface work, ask for a dedicated digital case study and named UX/product designers, since the site shows only one passing digital-design mention and no product-UX process or screens.
- •Request quantified outcomes before contracting, because the case studies are image-led and publish no metrics on adoption, conversion, or business impact.
- •Confirm the engagement scope matches your need, as the published work is roughly two-thirds brand, packaging, service, and spatial design rather than software or web product delivery.
Reaktor
✓ Strengths
- •60-plus ungated case studies across aviation, health, finance, public sector and retail, with named enterprise clients including Cathay Pacific, adidas, HBO, Nasdaq, Varian and ABB.
- •Documented design-research practice on flagship work (1,000-plus passenger tests and accessibility design across 14 screen types on Cathay Pacific), plus multiple international design awards.
- •600-plus staff across 8 offices in 4 countries (Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Seinajoki, Amsterdam, Lisbon, New York, Tokyo), with 30% of employees over 13 years tenure for continuity on long programs.
⚠ Watch-outs
- •Most published cases emphasize awards, traffic volumes and engineering performance over usability research findings; ask for the research artifacts, testing methods and before-and-after UX metrics behind a comparable project.
- •Reaktor positions as a full-lifecycle strategy-design-engineering-AI consultancy, so confirm how much of the proposed team is dedicated UX/design versus engineering and strategy before committing.
- •No public rates are listed and engagements appear consultancy-scale; request a staffing plan and budget range early to confirm fit for a design-led rather than transformation-scale scope.
Service coverage
Where each agency overlaps and where each is unique.
Only Pentagon Design
- •Design Strategy
- •UX/UI Design
- •Brand Design
- •Business Growth
Both
None.
Only Reaktor
- •User-Centric Design
- •Digital Product Consulting
- •Data & AI Services
Industry coverage
Where each agency overlaps and where each is unique.
Pricing math
Estimated cost of a typical 12-week senior engagement (~480 hours), at each agency's published rate.
Pentagon Design
Rate: €100-149/hr
€48,000–€71,520
Reaktor
Contact for rates
Pricing is comparable between the two — choose based on specialization rather than cost.
Frequently asked questions
- Which scores higher overall, Pentagon Design or Reaktor?
- Reaktor scores 63.5/100, 8.5 points higher than Pentagon Design at 55/100. See our methodology for how scores are calculated.
- Which is faster to engage, Pentagon Design or Reaktor?
- Pentagon Design is typically faster to engage — smaller team, fewer procurement gates. Reaktor operates with longer lead times (typical 4–6 week onboarding), reflecting larger-scale program work. Confirm engagement timelines directly with each before signing.
- When should I consider both Pentagon Design and Reaktor?
- Consider running parallel discovery briefs with Pentagon Design and Reaktor if your project spans multiple workstreams, you want competitive proposals to compare scope and approach, or you're undecided between the specialization angles each brings (see the Best for cards above). Most engagements ultimately go with one — but the parallel-brief phase is a low-cost way to validate fit.
Read the full reviews
Side-by-side comparison is a starting point. The full editorial reviews include portfolio analysis, case studies, and the buyer-strength / watch-out detail behind the bullets above.
Comparison last updated May 30, 2026. Most recently reviewed: Pentagon Design on May 30, 2026. How we rank