Software development agency vs. freelance developers

After founding Solidstudio, Pawel was an originator in terms of pursuing expertise in eMobility. With the build-up of a solid knowledge-base on industry’s needs & wants, he now keeps a close eye on products’ development. He’s also hugely responsible for the business’ side and designs the business models for our products.

Paweł Małkowiak

So, you’d like to outsource the development of your 

 ? You’re probably wondering what is better: hiring freelance software developers or teaming up with a software development agency. Both solutions have their advantages and drawbacks.

Ultimately, it all depends on the level of your technical expertise, the unique requirement of your product, and the other considerations. For example, even if you have an internal software development team, outsourcing the work might still be a good idea because your team might not have the skills you need or strategically it’s not a good idea for the team to engage in another project.

Here’s everything you need to know about both options to help you choose the one that leads your project to success.

This is probably the first consideration a company makes when deciding between hiring freelance developers and a 

 . After all, reducing expenses it a critical point in every business strategy.

When it comes to costs, expect agencies to charge more than freelancers. That’s because they charge a commission which ranges from 50 to 100% per hour. This is how agencies generate revenue.

But a lot of reasons stand behind that cost. Agencies pick the right developers for your project requirements, assure the quality of delivered work, and manage the entire process. They also care about their employees by providing them with a comfortable workspace, training opportunities, and other employment perks. Note that by hiring an agency, you don’t have to worry about any administrative tasks related to employment - the software development company will do that for you.

However, if you’re on a very tight budget and need developers right this instant, hiring freelancers might be a better option. But only provided that you have the technical expertise required to recruit the right people. Don’t forget that recruiting takes time and money. You’ll need to look for freelancers and then manage the collaboration with them.

By hiring a software development agency, you’ll gain the opportunity of scaling your team up or down depending on the changing requirements of your project. Agencies are flexible and able to provide you with highly skilled and experienced technology experts.

Freelance developers, on the other hand, aren’t vetted by anyone, so you need to do that on your own. And even if you have the required tech expertise, that process might take a while. And if your needs grow, you’ll have to repeat the process all over again. There’s just no other way to expand a team of freelance developers than to hire them.

Software development isn’t only about the quality of code written by the developers. The success of your project also depends on how you manage task organization and collaboration with the development team.

Even the best developers in the world won’t create a great product if the project is poorly managed. So if you have no experience whatsoever in managing development teams, better leave that to an agency. The beauty of partnering with a software development company is that you don’t need any project managers or a CTO - the agency will assume that role by assigning a manager to your project. Such managers act as a bridge between the client and the development team, acting as process guardians and ensuring that the development process runs smoothly.

Agencies know how to plan the development of an application and prepare tasks for the developers. They usually have experience with many projects and probably faced most of the problems that you might encounter during the development of your product. Such companies have proper processes in place to avoid such common pitfalls and follow global standards in software development such as 

If you’re obliged by investors to meet specific deadlines to release your software, you need a reliable solution that involves risk management. If you hire two freelance developers and one of them gets a better job offer and quits, you’re not going to deliver the product on time. A dev shop, on the other hand, will quickly assign a new person to your project. Agencies usually have developers working on their internal projects while they’re waiting to be assigned to new clients.

These considerations should help you pick between hiring freelance developers and partnering with a software development agency.

If you’re looking for a reliable provider of software development services, get in touch with us. At Solidstudio, we have plenty of experience in delivering digital products to clients across different industries.

Software Development Agency vs Freelance: Which is Right for Your Business?

29 MAY 2019 • 7 MIN READ