Does It Make More Sense To Hire An Agency Or A Freelancer?

Whether you are an entrepreneur pursuing a dream, own an established business, or work for someone, you may have arrived at this crossroads: Should you hire a freelancer or an agency to build out your website or whatever digital asset you need to reach your goal?

We’ve worked with potential clients who had arrived at those same crossroads.

We’ve steered some people towards our services or another agency’s. And other times we have suggested a freelancer. We will give you as unbiased of an answer as possible.

We really hope we can steer you to the decision that works best for you personally and professionally. Whether you should work with an agency or a freelancer all depends on your needs. At the end of the day, the most important factors are skill, reliability, scalability, and your particular financial situation.

We believe the most simple and effective method to approach this answer is writing a tried and true pros and cons list. So without further adieu, here are the pros and cons of hiring an agency versus a freelancer.

What are the PROS of working with an agency versus a freelancer?

There is honestly a glut of agencies out there. There are plenty of great agencies, but they are floating within an ocean of terrible agencies. But make no mistake: when you find the right agency with an agglomeration of skill-sets, they are a package deal.

There’s a shared history amongst the team members and the clients that they’ve worked with. Team members can work together to improve processes, methodologies, and technologies over time.

There is a collective effort involved. The best agencies don’t have much turnover, have a proven track record, and sometimes offer a lot of reliable creativity. This is especially beneficial for projects that require out-of-the-box thinking, advanced functionalities, and interactivity.

1. Agencies have access to many resources that freelancers may not have access to

At Design In DC, we have a staff with diverse skills and have a methodology for completing projects. Project managers and project delivery processes are crucial to getting something done on-time and on-budget.

The mix of technical and creative talent also opens the doors of what is possible.

The right agency assembles a mix of left-brained and right-brained people on a project. Agencies, due to their scalability, may have additional resources at their disposal. This includes software packages, subscription services, and plugin licenses that you would normally have to purchase on your own.

2. Agencies can have a bevvy of established processes and a shared history of completing projects

It’s worth mentioning again the importance of shared methodologies carrying over through time. This results in clients being taken through a time-tested on-boarding process.

The collaborate client experience is organized and clear. Clients need to be open about their requirements and their opinions, but agencies can guide them through the process better.

For example, agencies effectively reuse different parts of code to speed tasks up. Junior developers are mentored by senior developers. The best agencies are work families to one another other.

3. Costs can sometimes be lower than a freelancer, but it depends on the project

With an agency you work with at least three types of talent (a designer, developer, and project manager). With a freelancer they could be a jack-of-all-trades, but what if you need to hire multiple freelancers?

If you need to hire multiple freelancers, the individual cost could be more. It’s not so much about overhead (although low overhead is important), but the buying power of an agency. Agencies can get a lot done for less because of client volume. It also goes back to shared history.

The agencies with big and diverse portfolios know how to adapt to many types of projects quickly. These well-managed agencies are built to scale. This is especially the case for agencies that cater to small businesses in addition to their other clients.

4. Agencies have systems with quality assurance (QA) and for properly scoping projects

Agencies have set up systems over time to improve efficiency, quality assurance, and scoping. Freelancers are usually less able to estimate the duration of a project and its scope.

Proper quality assurance also requires a lot of additional hours, and freelancers are tied up in production.

Being able to properly scope a project is critical, and agencies usually have more experience in knowing how much time and resources it takes to do things. “Scope creep” is a good way to go over-budget. Clients need to be better at speaking a technical or design language with a freelancer. Agencies are better at interpreting needs in plain-English.

5. Finally, agencies can offer long-term support that a freelancer may not have the bandwidth to provide

At Design In DC, we have worked with many clients on an ongoing basis as partners. Whether its website maintenance, hosting, SEO, or any other creative services, the ways to stay together are there if clients want it.

Once a freelancer is done with a project they often move on to the next one.

You are on your own for making updates and changes. Agencies often have a support team in place to train you on your website and can help with critical security updates.

What are the CONS of working with an agency versus a freelancer?

Depending on your needs, sometimes working directly with an individual is the way to go. Individuals can be hyper-responsive, flexible, and even potential long-term hires. There is more risk involved, but sometimes the personal and direct connection leads to something wonderful and lasting.

While we can make the case that the costs are potentially be lower with an agency, another case can be made for the total opposite. Every agency needs to pay multiple salaries, overhead, operating costs, software, tools, and on top of that a profit needs to be made.

Individual freelancers can be nimble and offer highly-specialized skills that an agency would probably hire a freelancer for any way. They can also be great for one-time tasks. Freelancers can also work more directly and sit on teams depending on the scope of a contract.

1. Some agencies are less responsive and take much longer to work on a project than a freelancer

An experienced freelancer, one with a full range of skill-sets, can work faster than an agency. If you are their sole focus, then they are going to be faster by design.

Experienced freelancers also tend to work with a network of other freelancers to get your project out of the door. If a freelancer can’t do everything for you, they may outsource certain tasks to build out functions.

As long as they are nimble and have the network of talent, this is fine. Individuals tend to be more nimble than businesses with established codes and processes.

2. Freelancers are possibly much less expensive than agencies, as long as they have a proven track record with the type of project you need

Some freelancers are their own project managers and have great time management skills. It takes the right kind of freelancer, but they can be found. The only thing to be careful of is making sure you don’t become the project manager.

That, of course, saves you an entire individual that needs to get paid.

Multi-talented “Swiss Army knife” freelancers are tough to find, but they’re an incredible value if you do.

Make sure you work with a freelancer that can speak your language, and that you give really good instructions. Freelancers may be working solely on your project, so there is a further “do-or-die” incentive at play. The amount of overhead for some agencies can add an unnecessary bloat for your needs. While in the pros, we showed that sometimes all of the overhead costs are very beneficial, sometimes they are not.

3. Freelancers just might be better-suited for small-scale or highly-specialized projects

We speak with some people that are looking for some edits or small additions of code to their existing websites.

Some are looking for projects that may just be too small in scale for our agency to work on. Freelancers are perfect for one-off projects or ones that require a hyper-specialized skill-set.

For example, you may be looking for a particular Python script that can perform a very specific function. That’s a better task for a freelancer than an agency, as agencies tend to be less nimble than freelancers.

4. While some agencies are very relationship-driven, others are not. Freelancers are the more likely to offer a personal connection

At Design In DC, we are very relationship-driven and view every project as a partnership. Often our clients feel right at home. But working as an individual is a different experience entirely. No amount of communication that an agency provides can change that.

As long as you can speak to the language of the freelancer and have a strong working relationship, the process will be fulfilling and smooth.

The other potential strike against an agency is that freelancers are more flexible be brought directly onto the team of a business on a contract-basis. Some businesses want to bring on a freelancer to contract out a specialized project that they need. An agency can’t be physically there all hours of the day like a freelancer.

So what do you think? Does it make more sense to hire an agency or freelancer?

Hopefully our pros and cons list helped you out. The one stone-cold recommendation we’ll give you in your search is this: interview both agencies and freelancers. You don’t truly know if an agency or a freelancer is right for you until you speak with both.

Make sure you ask tough questions and ask for references.

There is nothing worse than paying for a project and it turning into a disaster and a sunk cost. Agencies and freelancers cannot be painted with a broad brush. Some agencies are awful or bland. Other agencies can provide you with a truly special experience. Same goes with freelancers.

That’s why it is so tantamount to speak to as many potential freelancers and agencies as you possibly can. Be careful, because there are a lot of good talkers, but always ask to see the track record and how they can specifically apply that to your needs.

We wish you a tremendous amount of luck in your search. If we can help you in better defining your project or want to potentially work with us, we are here for you. We offer a wide variety of services and we would love to speak with you! If you would like to take your business to the next digital frontier, let us know.