Freelancer, agency or subscription team? How to choose for your next build
Three ways to get software built, what each one is good at, and the questions that tell you which fits your project.
If you need a website, an app or an automation built and you do not have a team, you have three realistic options. Hire a freelancer, sign with an agency, or subscribe to a team that works on your product every week.
None of them is always right. Each one fits a particular kind of project, and most of the horror stories we hear from founders come from choosing the right option for the wrong job.
Freelancers: great for a clear, small task
A good freelancer is fast and affordable when the work is well defined. Fix this bug. Build this landing page from this design. Connect these two tools.
The trouble starts when the project needs more than one skill. Most products need someone to decide what to build, someone to design it, someone to build it and someone to check the architecture will hold up. A single freelancer is rarely strong at all four, so you end up doing the product management yourself or hiring several people and coordinating them.
Freelancers also carry concentration risk. If your developer takes a full time job or goes quiet, the knowledge of your codebase leaves with them.
Choose a freelancer when the task is small, the scope is fixed and you are comfortable managing the work.
Agencies: great for a fixed project with a fixed brief
Agencies bring a full team and a process. For a well scoped project with a clear end date, that works.
The friction comes from the contract model. Agencies usually price per project, which means scope is locked early. Every change after that becomes a variation, and every variation becomes a conversation about money. That is reasonable from the agency’s side, but it pushes you to decide everything up front, before you have learned anything from real users.
Agencies also tend to hand over and move on. The team that knew your product is on someone else’s project by the time you want the next round of improvements.
Choose an agency when the brief is fixed, the budget is fixed and you do not expect to change direction.
Subscription teams: built for products that keep changing
A subscription team works on your product continuously for a fixed monthly price. Instead of a scope document you have a board of prioritised tasks. Each week the team ships the top of the list, you review it, and the list changes based on what you learned.
This is how Kingdom works. You get a product manager, a tech lead, a developer and a designer, and you can add tasks or change priorities at any time without renegotiating anything.
The trade off is commitment of a different kind. A subscription only makes sense if you have a steady stream of work, whether that is an MVP followed by improvements or a website that you keep optimising. If you need one small change a year, a freelancer is cheaper.
Choose a subscription team when the product will evolve, you want several skill sets working together, and you would rather change direction weekly than renegotiate a contract.
Five questions that decide it
- Do I know exactly what needs to be built? If yes, a freelancer or agency can quote it. If not, you need someone to help work it out.
- How many skills does it need? One skill suggests a freelancer. Design, development and product thinking together suggests a team.
- Will the scope change once users see it? For most new products the honest answer is yes.
- Who will manage the work day to day? If the answer is you and you do not have the time, factor that in.
- What happens after launch? A product that needs ongoing improvement needs a team that stays.
If you are still unsure, book a call with us. If a freelancer would serve you better, we will say so. We would rather send you in the right direction than sign a client who is not a fit.