Us versus the marketplaces
Marketplaces are cheaper per hour and that is a real advantage, not one we will pretend away. What they charge you instead is time, and the exchange rate is bad if you do not already know how to judge design.
Reviewed
Where marketplaces win
Small, well-specified, low-risk jobs. A file conversion, a resize, a simple social set. If you can describe the outcome precisely and would notice immediately if it were wrong, the price difference is worth it and we would say so.
Where they cost more than they save
Anything requiring judgement. You become the filter, reading profiles and running trials, and a bad hire on a launch costs a fortnight you cannot recover. We charge more and absorb that filtering ourselves.
A reasonable hybrid
Many clients use both, and sensibly. Marketplace freelancers handle resizing, formatting and simple production, while direction and anything brand-critical stays with one accountable designer. The mistake is using a marketplace for work where you cannot tell good from adequate.
- Marketplaces cheaper per hour, genuinely
- Better for small, precisely specified jobs
- Vetting cost moves to you, not away
- We absorb the filtering and the bad matches
Questions about us versus the marketplaces
When is a marketplace the better choice?
Small, precisely specified, low-risk jobs where you would notice immediately if the result were wrong. A file conversion or a simple social set. The price difference is real and worth it.
What am I paying extra for here?
The filtering. You stop reading profiles and running trials, and a bad match on a launch costs a fortnight you cannot recover. We absorb that cost instead of passing it to you.
Where to go next
Related pages people usually read alongside this one.
Get the honest comparison
One call, no pitch. If an in-house hire or a marketplace suits you better, that is what we will tell you.