element61
Brussels analytics and AI consultancy with 145+ consultants and nearly two decades of Belgian market presence.
Founded 2007 | Brussels, Belgium | ~145 consultants (98.7 FTE per latest filings) employees | Last updated: July 2026
ai-consultingdata-engineeringmlops
What is element61?
element61 is a Brussels, Belgium analytics, performance management, and AI consultancy founded in 2007, with 145+ consultants averaging 9 years of experience each (98.7 FTE per latest financial filings). It layered data science and AI onto an already-mature BI and performance-management practice, and became the first Belgian partner for Microsoft's 'Analytics on Azure' Advanced Specialization. It primarily serves Belgian and Benelux enterprise clients.
element61 was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The firm employs ~145 consultants (98.7 FTE per latest filings) people and works primarily with clients in Cross-industry Benelux enterprise sectors. Its primary differentiator is: Started as an analytics and performance-management consultancy in 2007 and layered data science and AI on top of an already-mature BI practice, combining both under one roof..
element61 tech stack and services
PythonBI/analytics platformsMicrosoft AzureData governance tooling
| Service area | Details |
|---|---|
| Combined BI and AI enterprise programs | Available for Cross-industry Benelux enterprise clients |
| Azure-based analytics and ML platform builds | Available for Cross-industry Benelux enterprise clients |
| Data governance alongside AI model development | Available for Cross-industry Benelux enterprise clients |
| Performance management modernization with embedded ML | Available for Cross-industry Benelux enterprise clients |
element61 use cases
Short answer: element61 is best suited for belgian and Benelux enterprises wanting a long-established analytics and performance-management consultancy that has built out a dedicated data science and AI practice..
| Use case | Industries | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Combined BI and AI enterprise programs | Cross-industry Benelux enterprise | Python, BI/analytics platforms |
| Azure-based analytics and ML platform builds | Cross-industry Benelux enterprise | Python, BI/analytics platforms |
| Data governance alongside AI model development | Cross-industry Benelux enterprise | Python, BI/analytics platforms |
| Performance management modernization with embedded ML | Cross-industry Benelux enterprise | Python, BI/analytics platforms |
element61 pricing
Short answer: element61 uses a consulting retainer, project-based pricing approach. Minimum engagement starts at Not published.
| Engagement model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting retainer | Monthly rate; not public | Ongoing AI engineering |
| Fixed project | From Not published | Well-defined scope |
element61 does not publish a public rate card. Contact them directly via their website to get project-specific pricing.
element61 pros and cons
| Advantages | Things to consider |
|---|---|
| +Founded 2007 — one of the longest-running firms on this list, with over 15 years of continuous operation | -Originated as a BI and performance-management consultancy, so AI/ML is a newer practice layered onto an older core business rather than the founding focus |
| +145+ consultants averaging 9 years of analytics and AI experience each (per company website) | -Belgium-centric market presence may mean less experience outside Benelux client norms |
| +First Belgian partner for Microsoft's 'Analytics on Azure' Advanced Specialization | -Pricing and minimum engagement are not published |
| +Combined BI, data science, and AI practice under one roof simplifies vendor management for Benelux buyers |
element61 vs alternatives
How element61 compares to the other top Machine Learning Development companies.
| Company | Best for | Key difference | Rating | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dida Datenschmiede | Organizations that need a tightly-scoped, research-grade ML solution... | Team composed primarily of mathematicians and physicists, explicitly rejecting black-box tooling in favor of custom-built models as its sole service line. | 4.8 | Full comparison |
| Tensorway | Mid-market fintech, energy, and supply-chain companies that want... | Spun out of Anadea's applied R&D unit in 2019, giving it a mature delivery bench uncommon for a five-year-old AI boutique. | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| NILG.AI | Companies earlier in their AI adoption curve that... | Founder-led by a University of Porto PhD with a public AI-education arm (100K+ YouTube subscribers, Microsoft education partner) that doubles as a technical credibility signal. | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Neurons Lab | Financial-services firms that need agentic AI systems with... | Positions itself as an end-to-end AI enablement partner specifically for financial services, with governance and compliance tooling built into the core offer rather than added on. | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Addepto | Mid-market to enterprise buyers in aviation, logistics, or... | Explicit 'proof-of-concept to production' positioning addresses the common failure mode where enterprise ML pilots never reach deployment. | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| InData Labs | Companies wanting a decade-plus data science track record... | Runs its own R&D center rather than purely project-based delivery, spanning generative AI/GPT integration through classic predictive analytics and computer vision. | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| Xomnia | Dutch and Northwest European enterprises wanting a single... | Acquired Aurai in 2025 specifically to consolidate strategy, platform, and applied-AI capability under one roof as it scales toward regional market leadership. | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| WeAreBrain | Startups and scale-ups wanting AI-native product development combined... | Frames itself around culture and retention — 'a winning team, not an agency' — with a long average client tenure as central to its pitch alongside technical delivery. | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Deeper Insights | Enterprises across healthcare, real estate, and financial services... | Team holds 500+ citations and patents globally (per company website), signaling research depth rather than a purely delivery-focused staffing model. | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Alexander Thamm | Large German and DACH-region enterprises — especially automotive... | 'Whitebox solutions' positioning emphasizes transparency and manufacturer independence, backed by 3,500+ completed projects and blue-chip automotive clients. | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Nexocode | Startups and scale-ups wanting a small, senior AI... | Explicitly flat organizational structure with no traditional management hierarchy — every team member is described as equally involved in growth and delivery decisions. | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Predli | Organizations wanting a structured path from first AI... | 'Predli Studio' is a dedicated build function that turns AI strategy directly into production-grade custom solutions, rather than handing delivery to a separate vendor. | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Synergy Labs | French and EU businesses wanting practical, dashboard- and... | Focuses specifically on business-facing applied ML — smart dashboards, customer segmentation, recommendation engines — built to EU compliance rules, rather than broad AI R&D. | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| xtream | Italian and pan-European scale-ups wanting AI features embedded... | Combines UX design, product management, and software engineering with applied ML and BI — AI is delivered as part of a full digital-product build, not a bolt-on service. | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Miquido | Companies wanting AI and ML features — RAG,... | Offers on-device AI development and AI guardrails alongside core ML, computer vision, and NLP work — a more product-engineering-centric AI offering than pure consulting-first competitors. | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Neoteric | Companies wanting a well-reviewed, mid-size Polish AI and... | 4.9/5 rating across 70 verified Clutch reviews and 300+ completed projects across five continents gives an unusually large, independently verifiable review base for a company of this size. | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Grape Up | Automotive and finance enterprises wanting agentic AI and... | Built its own productized platforms (Databoostr, Cloudboostr) alongside custom delivery — a hybrid product-plus-services model less common among pure consultancies on this list. | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Deviniti | Enterprises in regulated or complex sectors wanting generative... | 50+ Atlassian-certified professionals and Atlassian Partner of the Year finalist status give it unusually strong enterprise-IT integration credibility alongside its generative AI practice and Bielik.AI open-source contributions. | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| STX Next | Enterprises wanting Python-native ML and AI engineering from... | Built and open-sourced DeepNext, an autonomous AI developer agent, and holds AWS Advanced Tier, Snowflake, Databricks, Azure, and Amazon Bedrock partnerships simultaneously. | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| CN Group CZ | Nordic, German, and Austrian enterprises wanting an established,... | Combines Scandinavian management style with Czech, Slovak, and Romanian engineering talent, and layers AI/ML onto a much older core business in embedded systems and industrial automation. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| ASSIST Software | Manufacturing and agriculture clients in the DACH region... | Runs 25+ active R&D projects and participates in 25+ EU-funded research programs alongside 160+ research-institution partnerships — an unusually research-heavy profile for a 30+ year old nearshore vendor. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Software Mind | Large enterprises wanting AI/ML delivered alongside broader custom... | 48-month average client relationship length and ISO 9001/14001/27001 certification stack signal an enterprise-process-mature vendor built for long-term programs rather than short AI pilots. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Future Processing | Insurance, finance, and energy enterprises wanting an outcome-based... | Publicly states that 95% of generative AI pilots deliver no measurable return and positions its own outcome-based delivery approach against that failure pattern, backed by named case studies with hard percentage metrics. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| SPD Technology | Fintech and payments companies wanting AI/ML delivered by... | Secured direct partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS specifically to reinforce its cloud and AI/ML capabilities — a more direct foundation-model-vendor relationship than most peers on this list disclose. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Zühlke | Large regulated enterprises — medtech, finance, industrial —... | Founded in 1968 as a product-innovation engineering firm, giving it a far longer institutional track record than any other company on this list — AI/ML is one current-generation capability within a much broader innovation-consulting practice. | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Arnia Software | Companies needing deep R&D-level engineering — database engines,... | Machine learning expertise grew out of Arnia's original R&D work in database engines and operating systems, giving it lower-level systems engineering depth uncommon among application-focused AI vendors on this list. | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Reaktor | Enterprises wanting AI capability embedded within a broader... | Co-created 'Elements of AI,' a free AI literacy MOOC with the University of Helsinki taken by over half a million people worldwide — a public-education contribution unmatched by any other company on this list. | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Framna | Nordic and Benelux enterprises wanting mobile-first digital product... | Formed in 2023 through the merger of three established agencies backed by Waterland Private Equity, giving it unusually broad simultaneous coverage of Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Poland under one group. | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| N-iX | Large enterprises wanting AI-augmented software engineering at significant... | Legally headquartered in Valletta, Malta, with its primary engineering hub historically in Lviv, Ukraine; relocated 600+ Ukrainian engineers to safety in 2022 without dropping a single client project, and reports zero delivery disruptions since founding in 2002. | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Sigma Software | Large enterprises wanting a Swedish-incorporated, EU-contractable IT consultancy... | 60% owned by the Swedish Sigma Group since 2006, giving Sigma Software a Swedish corporate parent and legal entity while its founding engineering culture and historical delivery base trace to Kharkiv, Ukraine. | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Nordcloud (an IBM Company) | Large enterprises already committed to a major public... | Acquired by IBM in 2020 and now operates as an IBM subsidiary, giving it direct backing from one of the largest enterprise technology vendors globally, while holding all three major cloud certifications simultaneously. | 3.7 | Full comparison |
element61 FAQ
What is element61?
element61 is a Brussels, Belgium analytics, performance management, and AI consultancy founded in 2007, with 145+ consultants averaging 9 years of experience each (98.7 FTE per latest financial filings). It layered data science and AI onto an already-mature BI and performance-management practice, and became the first Belgian partner for Microsoft's 'Analytics on Azure' Advanced Specialization. It primarily serves Belgian and Benelux enterprise clients.
How much does element61 charge?
element61 uses consulting retainer, project-based pricing. Minimum engagement starts at Not published. A discovery call is required to get project-specific quotes.
What tech stack does element61 use?
element61 works with Python, BI/analytics platforms, Microsoft Azure, Data governance tooling. Primary industries served include Cross-industry Benelux enterprise.
Is element61 right for enterprise?
Belgian and Benelux enterprises wanting a long-established analytics and performance-management consultancy that has built out a dedicated data science and AI practice.. ~145 consultants (98.7 FTE per latest filings) team size. Key consideration: Originated as a BI and performance-management consultancy, so AI/ML is a newer practice layered onto an older core business rather than the founding focus.
What are the best element61 alternatives?
The best alternatives to element61 depend on your use case. Top options are:
- dida Datenschmiede: team composed primarily of mathematicians and physicists, explicitly rejecting black-box tooling in favor of custom-built models as its sole service line.
- Tensorway: spun out of anadea's applied r&d unit in 2019, giving it a mature delivery bench uncommon for a five-year-old ai boutique.
- NILG.AI: founder-led by a university of porto phd with a public ai-education arm (100k+ youtube subscribers, microsoft education partner) that doubles as a technical credibility signal.
Compare element61 with other Machine Learning Development companies
element61 vs dida Datenschmiede element61 vs Tensorway element61 vs NILG.AI element61 vs Neurons Lab element61 vs Addepto element61 vs InData Labs element61 vs Xomnia element61 vs WeAreBrain element61 vs Deeper Insights element61 vs Alexander Thamm element61 vs Nexocode element61 vs Predli element61 vs Synergy Labs element61 vs xtream element61 vs Miquido element61 vs Neoteric element61 vs Grape Up element61 vs Deviniti element61 vs STX Next element61 vs CN Group CZ element61 vs ASSIST Software element61 vs Software Mind element61 vs Future Processing element61 vs SPD Technology element61 vs Zühlke element61 vs Arnia Software element61 vs Reaktor element61 vs Framna element61 vs N-iX element61 vs Sigma Software element61 vs Nordcloud (an IBM Company)
Last reviewed: July 2026. Verify all details directly with element61 before making a decision.