Should You Hire a Developer or an Agency? An Honest Comparison

    We are an agency. And we are going to tell you when each option is the right one — including when it is not us. Because the fastest way to lose a client is to be the wrong fit and deliver a bad outcome. We would rather point you in the right direction and earn your trust than take a project we should not.

          Option
          Cost
          What You Get




          **Junior Developer** (full-time)
          $60K-$90K/yr + benefits
          40 hrs/week, needs mentorship, single skill set


          **Senior Developer** (full-time)
          $100K-$160K/yr + benefits
          40 hrs/week, self-directed, deep expertise


          **Freelancer**
          $50-$200/hr, project-based
          Flexible hours, specific task, you manage


          **Agency** (project)
          $5K-$50K per project
          Full team (design + dev + QA), managed delivery


          **Agency** (retainer)
          $2K-$10K/month
          Ongoing support, priority access, multiple skills




    These are 2026 market rates for competent professionals in the United States. You can find cheaper options offshore, but that introduces communication overhead, timezone challenges, and quality variance that often costs more in the long run than the savings.

    Hiring a full-time developer is the right call when:


      - **You have 40+ hours per week of development work.** If you consistently need full-time development capacity, hiring is more cost-effective than any other option. An agency charging $150/hour for 40 hours a week costs $312,000/year. A senior developer costs half that.
      - **You are building a software product.** If software is your product — a SaaS app, a platform, a mobile application — you need developers on your team. The institutional knowledge they build about your codebase, your users, and your architecture is irreplaceable.
      - **You need long-term maintenance of complex systems.** If you have custom internal tools, integrations, or infrastructure that requires ongoing attention, an in-house developer who knows the systems inside and out will be more efficient than any external party.
      - **Your core business IS technology.** If you are a tech company, development is not a cost center — it is your core competency. Keep it in-house.

    An agency makes sense when:


      - **The work is project-based.** You need a website, a web application, an automation system, or a mobile app. The project has a defined scope, a start date, and an end date. You do not need someone on payroll after it ships.
      - **You need multiple skill sets.** A typical web project requires design, frontend development, backend development, database work, DevOps, and sometimes SEO. Hiring all of those roles is impractical. An agency gives you the whole team.
      - **You do not have 40 hours per week of work.** If you need 10-20 hours of development per month — feature updates, bug fixes, small projects — a retainer with an agency is far more cost-effective than a full-time hire sitting idle half the time.
      - **Speed matters.** Agencies can staff up a project immediately. Hiring takes 2-4 months for recruiting plus 3-6 months for ramp-up. If you need something built in 4-8 weeks, an agency is the only realistic option.

      - **Your budget is under $10,000.** Most agencies will not take projects under $5K because the overhead of project management, communication, and quality assurance does not scale down well. A freelancer can do a $2K-$8K project efficiently.
      - **You have a single, well-defined task.** "Build me a landing page." "Set up a Zapier automation." "Fix this bug in my WordPress site." These are freelancer tasks, not agency projects.
      - **You can manage the project yourself.** Freelancers do not come with project managers. If you can write clear requirements, give timely feedback, and manage the delivery timeline, you will get good results at a lower cost.

    The sticker price is never the full cost. Here is what people miss.

          Hidden Cost
          Estimated Impact




          Recruiting (job boards, recruiter fees, interview time)
          $15,000 - $30,000


          Ramp-up time (3-6 months to full productivity)
          $25,000 - $80,000 in reduced output


          Management overhead (your time managing them)
          5-10 hrs/week of your time


          Turnover risk (avg developer tenure: 2-3 years)
          Repeat recruiting + ramp-up costs

      - **Communication overhead.** You are not the agency's only client. Response times can be slower than an in-house team. Status meetings, email chains, and approval cycles add up.
      - **Less institutional knowledge.** The agency does not live in your business every day. They may not understand your customers, your internal processes, or your competitive landscape as deeply as an in-house person would.
      - **Scope creep costs.** If the project scope expands beyond the original agreement, you are paying change-order rates. In-house developers absorb scope changes more naturally.

      - **Availability risk.** Freelancers juggle multiple clients. When you need an urgent fix, they may be unavailable. There is no backup team.
      - **No support after delivery.** Many freelancers move on after project completion. If something breaks three months later, you may not be able to get them back.
      - **Quality variance.** The freelancer market ranges from world-class to terrible, and it is hard to tell the difference from a portfolio alone. Reference checks are essential.

    We are an agency. We benefit when you choose the agency route. And we are telling you: it is not always the right choice.

    Here is our honest decision framework:


      - **You have consistent, full-time development needs?** Hire a developer. You will get better value and deeper institutional knowledge over time.
      - **You have projects with defined scopes and deadlines?** Use an agency. You get a full team, managed delivery, and no long-term payroll commitment.
      - **You have a one-off task under $10K?** Use a freelancer. It is the most cost-effective option for small, well-defined work.
      - **You have ongoing needs but not 40 hours per week?** An agency retainer is likely your best bet. You get priority access to multiple skill sets without the overhead of a full-time hire.


    The worst decision is making the wrong choice and sticking with it because of sunk cost. If you hired a developer and they are sitting idle, that is a signal. If you are on your third freelancer for the same project, that is a signal. If your agency bills are climbing and you have full-time work, that is a signal too.