Should You Hire a Freelancer or a Design Agency?

As per the report by Statista, the Global Freelance market is around 1.5 trillion dollars, which is growing at the rate of 15% CAGR every year. In the USA alone, there are 70.4 million freelancers, and this number is going to reach 90.1 million by 2028. You might be amazed but around 54% of Google's entire workforce are freelancers and only 46% are daily working employees.

These stats are clearly indicating the significance of freelancers in the company. The freelance market is growing rapidly and companies are considering freelancers to work for them, despite hiring a full-time employee.

So if you also want to hire somebody to make your work done, but are confused between hiring a freelancer or a design agency, then this article is for you. Here you will get a quick comparison between a freelancer and a design agency based on the parameters of Cost, efficiency, project size, and time.

After reading the whole article, you can easily make the decision to choose the best option based on your requirements.

Difference Between a Freelancer and a Design Agency
Key Factors to Consider Before Choosing Between a Freelancer or a Design Agency

• Cost of Project
• Size of Project
• Time Taken for a Project
• Work Efficiency

Difference Between a Freelancer and a Design Agency

Freelancers are like a one-man army, they are individuals with certain skills and capabilities that they provide to another person. There are several niches in which a person can be skilled. Some of them are Video editing, Photography, Copywriting, Web designing, Graphic designing, and the list goes on.

While on the other hand, a Design Agency is a group of individuals having skills that they render to other people. They are professionals in their niches and offer varieties of services under one roof. If I want to design a logo, I can hire a freelancer which will do that for me, but if I hire a design agency, then it will handle all my design-related stuff including designing a logo, graphics, or even web designing.

Since both options are great to consider, it totally depends on your requirement and some other factors. I've elaborated on these two, to help you decide which one is better for you.

Key Factors to Consider Before Choosing Between a Freelancer or a Design Agency

Cost of Project

Cost is the most important factor that significantly influences the decision. As a client, you have your budget and most likely you want to make your work done within the limit of budget. So if your budget is low then which one you should consider and if the budget is high then which one? Let's figure it out.

Both freelancers and Design Agencies provide you with the best result if you choose them correctly. Since a freelancer is just one person who works for you, the cost is cheaper, whereas a Design Agency is a team of individuals, due to which they need to pay the salaries to each team member. Hence the cost of the design agency is higher.

Freelancer is cost-efficient when compared to a design agency. You most likely save a handsome amount of money when you choose freelancers, and this turns out to be the best option if your budget is low. On the other hand, Design Agency is a little bit costlier than hiring a freelancer.

Size of Project

The size of the project is also a considerable parameter. If the size of the project is large, then it becomes hectic for an individual freelancer to complete it within the specified time with efficiency. Also, if there are so many other components present in the project, like designing a logo to designing a full-fledged website, then you might struggle to find a freelancer who will do all these for you.

In that case, either you need to go for more than one freelancer or choose a design agency. Hiring more than one freelancer is a cumbersome and time-consuming process because you need to schedule a meeting with each one separately to tell your requirements. In that case, it's better to go for a design agency because they can handle all your requirements in one place and you don't need to go here and there.

But if the size of your project is small then a freelancer is sufficient enough for you. If you only need a logo or a website and not more than that, then go for a freelancer.

Time Taken for a Project

Time to complete the project or simply we can say "deadline" is the most common word in the corporate world. As a business owner, you want your work to be done within the specified time period. "Time is money" is the phrase that holds the true meaning in this fast-paced world where technology is evolving rapidly.

So how many days you want your work to be done, plays a vital role when selecting between a freelancer and a design agency. If you want your work to be done as soon as possible then go for the Design Agency. Since they have a team, they can easily distribute your work among them to meet the deadline very easily. On the other hand, freelancers are solo workers, hence they need time to complete the project without compromising with the quality of work.

In case, the deadline is not a big issue for you and you are ready to give some time to the project, then go for a freelancer. If you choose a skilled freelancer having great experience in the field, then he will give you the best result within the deadline.

Work Efficiency

Now last and the most important parameter in our list is efficiency. The efficiency and quality of work are what we expect. No matter how much money and time you've put into the project, if it doesn't stand out on your expectation then everything is wasted.‌‌

The efficiency and quality of the work depend on the skills and experience. If you want to choose between a freelancer and a design agency, then both of them have the ability to deliver quality work for you. A freelancer can also deliver the best result for you and meet your expectations if he/she is experienced and well-skilled. And you might find something missing in your project even after hiring a Design agency if the workers lack skills.

So don't judge a freelancer and Design agency based on their size, but choose the one who has quality skills in the domain.

Conclusion

Finally! You are now empowered enough to make your own decision and choose the best one to hire for your project. If you keep these parameters in mind you will get quality work within your budget. So what are you waiting for? go and hire the one which suits your needs and get your work done.

FAQ

Should I hire a freelancer or a design agency?

Hiring an individual freelancer will be cheaper than hiring an agency. If your budget is low then Freelancer is a better option otherwise go for a Design Agency.

What would be some disadvantages of hiring freelancers?

One of the biggest disadvantages is the lack of supervision and the quality of work differs from time to time.

Why do companies hire freelancers?

• Cost-effectiveness
• quality work
• Faster deliverables
• risk reduction
• Ease of finding, hiring, and onboarding
• Short-term deadlines