Full disclosure first: DataDream is on this list. I'm writing it anyway, because the overviews currently online almost all come from parties that put themselves at the top, and because the question "which AI agency fits my business" deserves a better answer than a ranking of ten logos. The real answer doesn't start with names, it starts with segments. A corporate with forty systems and a compliance department needs a different agency than a trading company of fifteen people that wants to stop retyping invoices. Below is the Dutch market by segment, with what you can publicly establish about each agency, and the questions that let you separate the wheat from the chaff yourself.
Why segment matters more than ranking
"Best" doesn't exist without context. The agencies below differ less in quality than in who they serve: the size of the client, the size of the project, and who actually does the work. Ignore that difference and pick on name recognition alone, and you'll pay enterprise rates for an SMB problem, or drop a group-wide programme on a one-person shop. Both go wrong.
| Segment | Typical client | Examples of players |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise and corporate | 250+ employees, multiple departments, formal governance | Xebia, Xomnia, Rewire |
| SMB, hands-on implementation | 5 to 250 employees, one decision-maker, working system as the goal | DataDream, Brainy, Ploko |
| Data science and BI | Mid-size and large, data questions broader than AI | Data Science Lab |
| Development agencies with an AI arm | Companies already commissioning software | Appfront |
Enterprise and corporate
Xebia is an international IT consultancy with a large data and AI practice (which absorbed, among others, the former GoDataDriven). Strong in large-scale data platforms, cloud migrations and training entire teams through its own academy. A logical choice for organisations running a programme of months or years with multiple development teams in parallel.
Xomnia is an Amsterdam data and AI agency that supplies machine learning and data engineers and executes projects mainly for larger organisations. Think data problems that need a team of specialists, not a single automation.
Rewire focuses on large organisations and combines AI projects with building AI capability inside the client's own teams.
For this category: you get scale, governance experience and the reassurance of a large organisation. You also pay for that scale, and between you and the technology there is usually an account manager and a project manager.
SMB and hands-on implementation
DataDream (Middelburg) is my own agency, so read this paragraph with that in mind. The positioning: agentic engineering for SMBs. I build things myself, from AI agents and workflow automation to voice: at DataDream an AI agent answers the phone, and it runs in production. You talk directly to the builder, there's no account manager in between. EU-only hosting is available. The honest flip side: DataDream is small. A programme that needs ten developers at once doesn't belong here.
Brainy and Ploko are names you regularly see next to DataDream in comparisons and AI-generated overviews as SMB-focused players for AI automation. I haven't seen either from the inside, so I won't judge their work. What I can say: ask every SMB agency, including mine, the same test question. Which client has a system of yours live right now, and may I call them for ten minutes?
AI agents and automation
This segment deserves its own place, because the question is shifting. Two years ago companies asked for "something with AI", now they ask for an agent that takes over a task: an inbox that sorts itself, invoices that book themselves, a phone that gets answered outside office hours. That's different work from a chatbot or a dashboard, and not every agency can do it.
The enterprise players above build agents inside larger programmes. For SMBs the supply is thinner: you're looking for a party that has agents running in production itself, not just demos. DataDream is obviously the party I know best in this segment: agents and automation are the core of the work, with the in-house phone agent as verifiable proof. What an agent costs and why quotes come in a factor of ten apart is covered in this cost overview. And if you're torn between classic RPA and agents, that trade-off is covered too.
E-commerce and other specialisations
For webshops you rarely need a separate "e-commerce AI agency": e-commerce is usually a specialisation within an agency plus a layer of off-the-shelf tools (Shopify has the largest ecosystem there). What an agent can concretely do for a webshop, from product descriptions to customer service, is covered in the guide to AI agents for e-commerce.
Data Science Lab deserves a separate mention for companies whose question is really a data question: reporting, forecasting, BI. That's a different craft from building agents, and it pays to know which craft your question belongs to.
Appfront is a development agency that also does AI implementations and publishes a lot of comparative content about the Dutch AI market. When you read their overviews, the same applies as to mine: check who's writing.
How to choose from this overview
Four questions filter fast. One: is something running live at a client right now, and may you speak to them? Two: does the agency write the code itself, or does it deliver a report and a referral? Three: do you talk to the builder or to an account manager? Four: what happens to your data, and is that on paper? The full checklist with red flags is in how to choose an AI company. If you're unsure whether your problem belongs with an SMB agency or an enterprise consultancy, read the comparison between the two.
What an implementation costs
Market ranges, not any specific agency's price list. Strategy sessions to pick the right application up front typically cost 2,500 to 5,000 euro. Implementation projects at specialised agencies start from around 9,500 euro. A simple single-task agent runs roughly 2,800 to 23,000 euro in build cost, and the mid tier with multiple system integrations runs from around 23,000 to 140,000 euro. For SMBs the bottom of each range is the starting point, not the middle. On top of that, plan for ongoing monthly costs and 15 to 20 percent of the build cost per year in maintenance.
Conclusion
Pick your segment first, then your agency. For group-wide programmes with heavy governance you end up with parties like Xebia, Xomnia or Rewire. For a working system in an SMB context you want a builder you speak to directly who can show production work; DataDream is one of the options there, and the test question above works on every agency, including mine.
Want to know where AI pays off fastest in your business before you start comparing agencies? The free AI Readiness Scan gives a first analysis. And for an honest assessment of whether DataDream fits your question: book a 30-minute call. If another agency makes more sense, I'll say so.
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Frequently asked questions
- How do you choose an AI agency?
- Pick your segment first (enterprise programme or SMB project), then test every agency with four questions: is something running live at a client right now and may you speak to them, do they write the code themselves or deliver a report, do you talk to the builder or to an account manager, and what happens to your data. An honest agency has a concrete answer to all four.
- What does an AI implementation cost?
- Market ranges: strategy sessions typically cost 2,500 to 5,000 euro, implementation projects at specialised agencies start from around 9,500 euro. A simple single-task agent runs roughly 2,800 to 23,000 euro in build cost, the mid tier with multiple system integrations runs from around 23,000 to 140,000 euro. On top of that, plan for 15 to 20 percent of the build cost per year in maintenance. For SMBs the bottom of each range is the starting point.
- SMB agency or enterprise consultancy: which fits me?
- If your project touches one process within one department and you want a working system, an SMB-focused agency where you speak to the builder directly fits. If it touches multiple countries, heavy sector compliance or dozens of stakeholders, the coordination capacity of an enterprise party like Xebia or Xomnia isn't overhead but a necessity. Segment first, agency second.