Agency, freelancer, or studio? An honest comparison.
We are one of the three options on this page, so read it with that in mind. It is still the comparison we would want if we were buying — including the section explaining when we are the wrong choice, which is the part most pages like this leave out.
Side by side
The four things that actually differ.
| What matters | Markora | Agency | Freelancer | DIY builder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical price | ✓ $299 fixed | $3,000–$10,000+ | $1,000–$5,000 | $16–$50/mo forever |
| Price published | ✓ Yes | ✕ After a call | ✕ On request | ✓ Yes |
| Timeline | ✓ 7 days, fixed | 4–8 weeks | Highly variable | Your evenings |
| Range of skills | ✓ Brand, web, packaging, ads | ✓ Broad | One person's strengths | ✕ Yours |
| Copywriting | ✓ Included | Usually extra | Rarely included | ✕ You write it |
| Meetings | ✓ Zero | Weekly | Ad hoc | None |
| If it goes wrong | ✓ 100% money-back | Contract dispute | Often nothing | Your time gone |
| Key person risk | ✓ A team | ✓ A team | ✕ One person | n/a |
| You own the files | ✓ Outright | ✓ On payment | Usually | ✕ Rented |
What each is genuinely best at
Nobody wins every row.
An agency is right when…
The build is genuinely complex — a large e-commerce platform, integrations with systems that were not designed to talk to each other, a multi-market rollout with legal review in each.
Or when your organisation needs someone accountable in a room, with a contract and an insurance policy behind them. That is a real requirement and it is worth paying for.
A freelancer is right when…
You already know exactly what you want, you can specify it clearly, and you have found someone whose portfolio matches it closely.
Or when the job is small, ongoing and specific — a monthly set of graphics, a recurring email template — where continuity with one person is the actual value.
A fixed-price studio is right when…
You want the range of an agency without the process tax, you know roughly what you need, and you would rather have a number and a date than a discovery phase.
The trade is real: you give up the bespoke consulting relationship, and you get speed, a published price and a written scope in exchange.
Where we are the wrong choice
Three situations where you should not hire us.
You need a custom web application. A booking engine with its own logic, a member portal, an internal tool — those are software projects, not website projects, and they should be priced and staffed as software. We will say so and quote only the parts we should be doing.
You need someone in the room. If your business, board or regulator requires face-to-face accountability and a local supplier, an async studio is the wrong shape, however good the work is.
You need one person, permanently. If the real need is a designer embedded in your team every day, hire one. Our retainer is close, but it is not the same thing and we will not pretend otherwise.
The four questions
Ask all three the same things.
1. What is the total price, in writing? Not a range, not an estimate, not an hourly rate. If the answer requires a call, the call is the product.
2. What is the delivery date, and what happens if it slips? A date with no consequence attached is a hope.
3. What happens if I do not like it? Revisions included, and then what? This is the question that separates confident suppliers from the rest.
4. Who owns the files, and when? Source files, design files and the domain. If the answer is anything other than “you, on final payment”, understand exactly what you are renting.
FAQ
Choosing, answered.
Is a freelancer cheaper than an agency?
What do agencies actually charge for?
What is the risk with a freelancer?
Where does Markora sit?
How do I choose?
Compare us properly. The price list is public.
Get quotes from all three. Ours takes one email and comes back with a number and a date, so it costs you nothing to have it on the table.
Get a fixed price → See the price list