Creating great digital products is not for the weak of heart. It requires commitment, energy, time, and most of all, knowledge. Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned veteran, there are a number of things to consider before putting a product into production. In this article, we’ll be discussing freelancers versus digital product agency teams. More specifically, should you hire a digital product agency like Scalio, or a team of freelancers? What are the pros and cons of each?

What is a freelancer?

A freelancer is a self-employed professional who works for different companies, sometimes on multiple projects at once. Freelancers are abundant these days, even I do freelance work from time to time. Popular sites like UpWork and Fiverr have hundreds of freelancers with different levels of experience and skillsets.

Digital product agencies are the natural evolution of software development. I won’t split hairs, they are almost always the better option. Basically, digital product agencies have optimized their organizational processes, which reduces risk and speeds up production. Here are some of the benefits of a digital product agency that I’ll be going over in more detail:

• Established workflow
• Stable team members
• Support after product release
• Faster Production
• Predictability and Ease

These are all great reasons to prefer a DPA, but it’s not a complete picture. So, I’ll be examining both DPAs and freelancers through the lenses of branding, language, cost, communication/teamwork, time, payment, and support.

Brand

Let’s kick things off with brand. Your company’s brand is immensely important in the modern world. Investors seem to know it, as 82% of investors say name recognition is an important factor in guiding their investment decisions. So it's no surprise that 69% of employers are working on branding strategies with their marketing teams. Basically, everyone wants to see that your brand is developed.

Brand essence goes deep, so it’s always better when your products are developed by professionals who not only care about your branding but also understand it. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to ensure proper branding with freelancers. So for branding, DPAs are the way to go.

DPAs have their own brand and often their own branding and marketing teams. They must consider your brand as well as their own when creating digital products. The success of your digital products is directly tied to the brand image of the DPA itself, so it’s in their best interest to create the best product possible.

Freelancers are more unpredictable. It’s possible that a freelancer will value your branding of course. However, the nature of freelance work is that freelancers move from project to project, company to company. So, it’s always possible that a freelancer won’t be focused only on your project and only on your brand. Even if they are working only with you, they don’t have their own brand to protect.

So all in all, DPAs are better for branding simply by nature. The fact that they have their own brand to develop means they are interested in developing your brand too, not just understanding it.

Language

Again, the unpredictable nature of freelancers can be problematic. It’s common for development teams to be from different cultures and have different languages. Varying levels of English, often the lingua franca among developers, can lead to communication issues. Even when interviewing freelancers, it’s difficult to tell if their language abilities are good enough. Maybe someone can speak well in an interview, but do they have the same vocabulary for code? What about branding, etc.?

DPAs have teams that have already created projects successfully. This is one of the main benefits of a DPA - you already know that the team works, language and all.

Cost

Cost is likely the first thing on your mind when comparing freelancers and agencies, so let’s define cost before moving forward. Cost includes anything that causes the product to be less profitable in both the short or long-term.

You’re probably thinking this is where freelancers are the best option. The price tag for freelance work can look more attractive at first. For a small project that needs only 1-2 freelancers, a freelancer can be an attractive option. The problem is, the bigger the team, the higher the cost.

Cost doesn’t only refer to upfront costs. Time, which we’ll discuss in more detail below, is also a factor. If you need to find 6 freelancers, interview each of them, check their language skills and personal skills, and communicate your branding, it’ll take time to get the project off the ground. Every day that your product isn’t on the market is a day you’re not making money.

Once you’ve hired the freelancers, they will need to establish a workflow. This takes additional time and is always subject to change with a team of freelancers. One of the main benefits of a DPA is that they have a pre-established workflow leading to more predictability and faster production.

DPAs often come with a higher price tag, as professionals usually do. But, what you get for this price are quality and stability. DPAs aren’t just selling their product, they’re selling assurance that their clients can sleep well at night knowing that their project is in good hands.

Overall, it’s definitely possible that freelancers will be cheaper in upfront costs. In fact, this is what makes freelancers as popular as they are - they look cheaper. They definitely can be, but every time something doesn't go according to plan, costs go up. Agencies are organized in a way that allows them to quickly adapt to changing circumstances, often making them cheaper in the long run.

Communication and Teamwork

Digital product development is a partnership between client and developer. The stronger this relationship, the better the project. If you can ensure good teamwork and communication, then nine out of ten times, the product will be better as well. Be sure to consider which type of team is easier to communicate with as well as which team communicates best internally.

Communication and teamwork are organizational issues so DPAs offer clear advantages here. You don’t have to worry if your team works well together and it’s much easier to address inter-team issues. In fact, the agency will likely take care of this for you.

Long-term projects rarely go without hiccups. Sometimes a team member will get sick or need to move to a different project. With DPAs, it’s easy to replace team members and get them up to speed. If a freelancer has to drop out of your development team, it can take quite some time to get them up to speed.

It’s essential to properly vet and interview freelancers, especially if you’re working with specialists from other countries. This is often the case, as working with freelancers from, for example, the USA or England, isn’t cheap. Sometimes after hiring a senior developer, they will outsource your project to lower-level developers which causes a myriad of problems.

Time

Time should always be a high priority in digital product development. You shouldn’t consider just how long it takes to complete a project, but also how many delays you’re likely to face along the way. Digital product development is no stranger to delays, but you should minimize them as much as possible.

DPAs are designed to minimize delays. They have pre-made teams with tested workflows. Team members already know each other and don’t need time to get acquainted. You also won’t need to interview team members individually.

Freelancers, especially for mid and large-scale projects are slower. It’s a question of organization more than anything. Put simply, it takes time for a freelancer team to get to know one another and put together a workflow. If a freelancer drops out of the project, they’ll have to be replaced and a new workflow may be necessary.

For small projects requiring one or two people, freelancers are a great choice. Some examples might be reworking text on a website or creating infographics. UpWork is a great place to find freelancers for these jobs.

Payment

Distributing payments may be an afterthought, but it can slow down development. For example, it can be difficult to transfer funds to some nations. Different countries require specific documents for overseas transactions As a basic rule of thumb, countries that have poor relations with yours are more difficult to make transfers to. Of course, if you work through a third party this can be avoided. Nonetheless, it’s something to consider when hiring a team or agency.

Support

Digital product agencies offer full-cycle development. At stage four, called “scaling,” the product is essentially finished, but could be more profitable. Products are then “scaled” to appeal to different market segments, geographic locations, and so on. Some products have long life cycles and require frequent updates, bug fixes, and other maintenance over time. The fact is, the most successful products are updated frequently.

With freelancers, it depends on the freelancer. Generally, post-production benefits aren’t offered and once a product is released, the freelancer moves on to the next project. Again, for smaller projects, this isn’t a problem, but for mid to large, it’s not ideal.

Conclusion

Digital product agencies are the best option for mid to large-scale projects. They provide expertise and quality, fast production, and support after production. Not only that, but they’re inherently interested in developing your brand and making your project as successful as possible.

A lot of it just comes down to organization. Is it really surprising that the well-organized development machine works better than the patchwork one?

That being said, freelancers are great for smaller-scale projects that require only a few people. The issue is that the more freelancers a project requires, the more unpredictable it becomes. Releasing projects on time, inter-team communication and other issues may come up, and DPAs are more suited to resolving these issues quickly.