Should you hire a freelance software developer or a software development company?

When implementing new software in your business, you will be presented with many options. The software development market is vast and there is a wide range of options to go with.

You might consider hiring and growing your own internal development team, you might think about outsourcing the development you need to a nearshore company, maybe an offshore option, you could hire one singular freelance developer, or you could work with a more established software development company.

While all options have their own merit and value, it doesn’t mean that just any option will work for you and the project you have in mind. Each will suit a particular avenue more appropriately than another.

In this article, we are going to talk more about how you can decide specifically between hiring a freelance software developer or a software development company.

First up, let’s answer this critical question…

What is a freelance software developer?

A freelance software developer is someone who is trained and skilled in software development and works alone as an independent worker. They aren’t part of any particular company and they are out on their own as a sole trader. Freelance workers often find contracts and business online using platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, and more. They can work with anyone across the world as they tend to work online only.

Freelance work is on the rise across the world. More and more people are deciding to quit their everyday jobs and become freelancers, for a variety of reasons. This is something we have seen particularly so after the Covid-19 pandemic when working from home saw a boom in popularity and promise.

You can find a freelancer for pretty much any job you want to do. Within software development, there are lots of ways in which people conduct freelance business. They can offer a wide range of services, including small bug fixes, prototype building, and full app or site creation.

There will be different areas of expertise too, so you might find freelancers focused entirely on cyber security or others streamlined for automating processes. A lot is covered in the freelance world of software development.

What are the pros and cons of hiring a freelance software developer?

With everything, there are two sides to the story here. There are both pros and cons associated with hiring a freelance software developer to do the work you need.

Pros can include:

• Lower fees
• Quick turnaround times for small issues and fixes
• Friendly and informal approach
• All digital communication
• No need for long-term contracts and no hiring costs

Cons can include:

• Less reliability
• Wide variation in skill and expertise levels
• Higher chance for projects to be left unfinished or delivered to a lower standard
• As one person, larger projects can suffer slow progress and long turnaround times
• More limited set of experience and knowledge, less variety of skill

Overall, hiring a freelance software developer is something that can be very handy for small bug fixes and startup projects. It can be a helpful resource in times of need, but, for bigger projects, anything with more complex security needs, and for overall trust and reliability, the freelance approach can fall short.

What are the pros and cons of hiring a software development company?

To compare, let’s move to look at the pros and cons of hiring a software development company.

Pros:

• A wide range of skills, expertise, and areas of interest come together to provide more comprehensive knowledge
• Higher levels of trust and security
• Legal contracts and appropriate processes followed for all projects
• Years of industry experience
• Access to higher-quality tools and platforms
• Varied range of team members that handle all tasks involved with software development projects and client relations

Cons:

• Higher cost involved
• More time and effort needed from client’s side with input and communication

To sum up, there are very few disadvantages involved with working with a software development company if you are prepared and committed to working with a high-quality project on your side too. Rather than a quick fix, working with a software development company to develop bespoke software for your business or company is a transformative process. It is something that can change your business overnight and take it to a new level of efficiency, modernity, and profit.

A software development company has a range of uniquely skilled and highly valued members of staff and this structure has much more to offer a software development project than one person. As skilled as that one person may be, they can never take up the place of a team that includes members such as cyber security analysts, testers, marketing experts, copywriters, project managers, tech leads, automation engineers, business analysts, and many more all in one place.

Working with an established software company offers a trustworthy and reliable package to clients, something that is backed by years of industry experience and nuanced knowledge. You can put your faith in a software development company that knows its stuff and you can trust in your own financial investment too. While the cost may be higher now, its investment will return tenfold.