Freelancer or agency for your website: how to choose

I work as a freelancer, so keep that in mind as you read. That is exactly why I will try to tell you honestly when an agency is the better choice. There is no right answer for everyone: it depends on the size of the project, on how many skills it needs and on how you like to work.

What a freelancer offers

• You talk to the person doing the work. No hand-offs between sales, project manager and developer: decisions are faster and less information gets lost.
• Lower fixed costs. Less overhead to maintain: for the same work, the price can be lower.
• Flexibility. It is easier to fit the work to a particular budget or deadline.

The limits of a freelancer

• The hours are those of one person. A very large project with tight deadlines may need several people working at once.
• The skills are those of one person. If you also need photography, copywriting, ad campaigns and social media, you will have to coordinate several professionals, or ask the freelancer whether they work with others.
• If the freelancer stops, the project stops. Illness or the unexpected weigh more.

What an agency offers

• More skills under one roof: design, development, copy, marketing.
• Continuity: if one person is away, another steps in.
• Structured processes, useful in large projects with many people involved on your side.

The limits of an agency

• Higher costs, because the structure has to be paid for.
• More hand-offs. You often talk to an account manager, not to the people doing the work.
• The people actually working on your project may change over time, or be less experienced than whoever pitched it to you.

How to reduce the risks, whoever you choose

The most serious risks are the same either way, and the contract prevents them:

1. Domain, hosting and external services registered in your name.
2. The code delivered to you, in a repository you control.
3. Logins and passwords collected and shared with you.
4. Essential documentation, so anyone can pick up the work.
5. Maintenance and support costs in writing, with response times.

When to choose which

• Freelancer: a medium-sized website or web app, direct contact, a careful budget, content largely ready.
• Agency: a large project with tight deadlines, many skills to combine, many people to coordinate on your side.

Questions to ask everyone

1. Who will actually work on my project?
2. Who will I talk to during the work?
3. What happens if the person running the project stops?
4. Who owns the code, the domain and the logins when the work ends?
5. Can you show me similar work, and put me in touch with a client?

This is how I work: you always talk to me, from the first idea to launch, and I stay available after launch too. To compare quotes, read how much a website costs. To arrive ready for the first conversation, use the list of what to prepare before building a website.