Wondering to hire a Freelancer vs. Software Development Company to help you with your website? There’s a reason why you’re bouncing between the idea of choosing an entire team to coordinate your new website or app development over a freelancer. Do you need a larger perspective vs. a narrow one?
A software company can identify exactly the client’s needs, as it has a broader perspective over a project; a team will always come up with more ideas and can deliver a large number of tasks simultaneously.
Now, let’s see the differences between a software development company and a freelancer, besides the most obvious: a team vs one member.
Helping Businesses to Achieve their Goals
The purpose of either a software development company or a freelancer is to help businesses (or individuals) achieve their goals and get the most out of their websites/web solutions. Now, the difference between a freelancer and an entire software development company is quite straightforward. A team vs. a member. Employees that have expertise in several specializations or someone specialized in a particular field.
Software Development Company
A software development team can build from the ground up an entire website, mobile development, app development, web design solutions, or implement whatever you have in mind in tech terms. There are also many companies around the world, each with its own strengths and pain points. The projects handled by such businesses are service-based or item-based.
When a software development company starts working on a project, there’s an entire process. Here’s a quick overview:
- The team analyzes your requirements.
- Technically structure the project and outline the design ideas.
- Recommends solutions and best courses of action to help you reach your goals.
- Establish the project path, document, and timeline of the project.
- Develop the solutions.
- Test and adjust the solutions (including fixing bugs).
- Deploy the solution.
- Project maintenance. The team continues the development of complex solutions.
Departments
Before going in-depth, you should know that in a software company, there is usually more than one department that helps the project transition :
- Web development – a team of backend programmers that connects the coding lines and builds strong algorithms.
- Web design – a team of experienced frontend web designers entitled to create exquisite user interfaces that combine best user experience practices with amazing visuals.
- Project management – designated team to manage a whole project. Usually, there’s a project manager that is in charge of coordinating the flow. Moreover, there can also be a product owner, team lead, technical lead, release manager, and so on.
- QA/Testing
- Legal – department responsible for creating agreements
- Marketing and PR
- HR and administrative
Usually, for a web development project you need a team of developers and a project manager to coordinate the entire process. However, there are times when the web design team needs to step in. Or, perhaps, you need some SEO or marketing valuable advice customized for your site. This means you work closely with highly specialized people with different expertise in the same team.
Benefits
When you hire an entire software development company, you get more benefits. You do not have to outsource your project to another different company or hire ten freelancers to do different things for you. Instead, you have an entire company divided into professional and skilled teams that can make things happen on your site. Agreements, invoices, everything is handled between the companies. Moreover:
- The time frame is more likely to be respected – the company can always bring more software engineers to work on a project.
- Expertise – high level for providing professional services
- Well-organized and predictable project workflow.
- Documentation, support, and maintenance.
- You have skilled and well-trained team members for each of the tasks instead of a one-man show.
- Seamless communication and project management.
You can search for a software development company on Google, and you can also see if it’s listed on the business platforms (Clutch, for example) that inspire trust.
How much does it cost to hire a software development company?
Each software development company has its own pricing, and this depends on how complex the project is and the needed technology. The most often pricing model is per hour. However, some payments can be made per the whole project, trimester, annually, and so on.
Software development companies are of many types. Work with the one that can provide solutions based on your specific demands. However, if you do not have a WordPress development team in-house, you can always outsource your project. This means there’s a win-win situation for both companies and the client.
What’s a Freelancer?
A person that works on his own, without being employed at a company. As described by the Cambridge dictionary and highlighted on Investopedia, “a freelancer is an individual who earns money on a per-job or per-task basis, usually for short-term work. A freelancer is not an employee of a firm and may therefore be at liberty to complete different jobs concurrently by various individuals or firms unless contractually committed to work exclusively until a particular project is completed.”
Necessary skills
A freelancer might be a skilled person who has previously worked in a company and decided to go independently. Or, it could be someone who has never previously worked in a multi-level institution. However, being a freelancer means working on several projects at the same time. In this job, time-planning is the key. If time management is lacking and everything is done on the run, the projects might not be professionally performed or delivered in time.
On the other hand, there are expert developers who work as freelancers and know how to handle their time and the project. So, depending on the type of business you have and the job complexity, you should hire a software development company or a freelancer.
How much does it cost to hire a freelance developer?
Sometimes, the fees of a freelancer are much lower than a company. However, you should bear in mind that there are also income taxes that need to be paid as a freelancer, as well. A freelancer is self-employed so he needs to invest in an office, equipment, certifications, and others. Also, if he’s listed on a freelancing platform, for example, Upwork charges 20% off from the first $500 project. On Upwork, you can find Java developers starting from $40 an hour to over $100/hour.
Benefits
- Work from home or from everywhere
- Flexible work schedule
- Low cost
- Time flexibility – they might work more than 8 hours per day to deliver a project
- Best for small and granular projects (or tasks)
Freelancing Disadvantages
- Income uncertainty – this can destabilize the collaboration between you two.
- Job stability – sometimes there’s an ongoing project and two in standby, or none.
- Unreliability – there are freelancers that leave without delivering the final project. Motives are usually circled around the desire to take on too many projects at once.
- A freelancer is specialized either in development, design, marketing, or other. Development also means JavaScript, Python, and other coding languages. One developer that knows JavaScript might not be an expert in another programming platform.
Please note that there are also experienced and appreciated freelancers that work hard and deliver amazing projects. However, it might be difficult to find them and build a trusting business relationship. If you still want to hire a freelancer, you should definitely consider checking out the best freelance websites. These can help you make a decision.
Freelancer vs. Software Development Company: Developers
Software development company PROS:
- Guarantee – you will always receive the work you’ve been paying for
- Long-term collaboration
- Continuous maintenance and support
- Real project estimation – for the given requirements, you receive a project estimation
- Confidentiality
- Suited for all types of projects
- Dedicated team
Freelance developers PROS:
- Lower costs – could be more affordable if you have a lower budget
- Small-projects, granular tasks
- Flexible working hours
- Faster development when projects are clear and there’s no unknown to meet.
Software development company CONS:
- Higher pricing – this is directly proportional to the quality of work
- Flexibility – is less flexible, as usually, developers work on a fixed 8 business hours schedule.
- Starting the project – could be a bit overwhelming, as there are several things to perfect and assemble before starting the project.
Freelance developers CONS:
- Might not be able to provide continuous maintenance and support
- Could appear expenses that are not predicted.
- Short-term collaboration.
- Lack of project-focus – they could switch between jobs.
- Suited for a specific type of project.
Hiring someone for short term or long-term?
Depending. What kind of job do you need? It’s a one-time project, or do you need maintenance and support after its completion? Make a list with all the specifications and your budget. Research similar projects and ask both freelancers and software companies for a budget, workflow, and timeframe estimation. So, its between freelancer vs. software development agency.
Finding the right person or team could be challenging, but since you’re investing in getting the most out of your business, you deserve the best solutions and providers. Whether it’s a freelancer, a software development company, or a digital marketing agency, each has its own strengths.
While easy tasks will take less time, complex projects need longer time. For example, if you have a website and want to redesign 5 pages, this will be completed quickly. Bur, on the other hand, if you need to redesign the whole website (various pages, thousands of posts, images, and so on) – this requires more time, creative effort, and hard work.
Still in Dilemma?
If anything sounds risky to you, you shouldn’t proceed with it, even if it’s cheaper. It will definitely get expensive if someone else has to work again on the same project. Choosing a freelancer vs. software company development might be overwhelming.
Understand the benefits, the pain points, the expertise, and finally – work with those that connect with you best. Creating a seamless business relationship built on transparency and trust are the utmost important things. You can have this with both software development companies and freelance developers. It’s basically a triangle of worth: project, time, and money. Start with yourself and the project needs before making a decision.
With more than 150,000 international customers and thousands of completed solutions, tagDiv is one of the worldwide trusted software development companies. Do you have a plan to grow your business by crafting your website or app solutions? Request a quote and let’s talk! It’s time to take your web to the next level!
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