Agency or freelancer or your own developer or subscription
Hire freelancer for small task wey get clear limit wey you fit check by yourself. Hire agency for project wey get clear scope and clear end. Hire in-house when software na your main business and you fit recruit and manage engineers. Choose development subscription when you need team to continue to build and run live product without hiring one. Di correct choice no too depend on hourly rate; e depend more on who go own di app after launch.
- Median pay for US software developer
- $135,980 every year (BLS, May 2025)
- Wetin most firms for Clutch dey charge
- $24–$49 every hour
- Plutonapps Starter
- $2,999/month if you pay yearly
- Di best single question
- Who go dey on call after launch?
Wetin be di difference between agency, freelancer, in-house staff and subscription?
Dem different for wetin you dey buy. Freelancer dey sell im time. Agency dey sell project. In-house staff na employee wey you dey direct im time and judgment. Development subscription dey sell result wey dey continue, product wey dem dey build and run steady, for flat monthly price. Plutonapps na subscription, so read wetin follow with dat for mind, and note where we talk say another option better pass.
| Freelancer | Agency | In-house staff | Development subscription | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wetin you dey pay for | Hours or one task | Project wey get scope, or time and materials | Salary, benefits and overheads | Flat monthly plan |
| Price signal wey dey common | Each freelancer dey set am; we no find public benchmark wey we fit verify | Most firms for Clutch: $24–$49/hour; US firms: $50–$99/hour | US median pay $135,980 every year, before benefits | Plutonapps Starter: $2,999/month yearly, $3,999/month monthly |
| Time to start | Fast, if dem free | After scoping and contract | As long as recruiting for di role take | After onboarding; then inside two business days for each change on Starter |
| When you change your mind | Extra hours, or new quote for fixed-fee work | Change requests for fixed-price work; extra hours for time and materials | E dey inside | E dey inside, within fair use and plan capacity |
| Security, tests, releases | Wetin you specify | Wetin di scope include | Wetin you build team for | On every change |
| After launch | By arrangement | Usually separate retainer | Your team | Monitoring and emergency support dey inside |
| Main risk | One person na single point of failure | Knowledge dey comot at handover | Hiring cost and time; e hard to reduce | Shared capacity: for Starter, work dey start inside up to two business days, and you depend on di provider team |
When freelancer na di better choice?
When di work small, clear and you fit check am: fix one integration, build one screen, review one set of access rules. Good freelancer na often di fastest and cheapest way to do am, and you go pay only for di task. Di limits dey show when di work no dey end. One person na single point of failure for holiday, sickness and incidents after work hours, and nobody dey review im work unless you arrange am.
When agency na di better choice?
When you need product wey get clear definition built before deadline and you fit write di brief. Agencies dey bring team, process and project management. Clutch report say projects for im platform dey usually cost $10,000 to $49,000. Di trade-off na di fixed scope: if you change your mind e go become change request, and when di project end, di people wey understand di code go move on unless you buy retainer. Our page on development subscriptions vs agencies go deeper.
When you suppose hire in-house instead?
When software na di main part of your business for many years wey dey come, you get di budget, and you, or fractional CTO, fit recruit and lead engineers. In-house team know your product pass anybody and e dey cost di same whether you ship plenty or small. E also be di slowest option to start and di hardest to reduce, and one engineer no be team: somebody still need review im code and cover im holidays. Our in-house cost comparison work through di numbers.
When development subscription dey fit?
When you get product wey dey live or wey wan soon live, e dey change every week, and you want one team wey go dey responsible to build, secure, test, release and run am without you hiring dat team by yourself. E also fit founders wey dey shape their product for AI builder: with Plutonapps, your team go continue to prompt for Lovable, and our engineers go turn each version into production software. E no too fit for one-time work wey get clear end, where freelancer or agency go usually cost less.
Who own di code, security and on-call after launch?
Ask dis question for every option before you sign. Di code suppose be your own for all four cases; check di contract. Security and on-call na where dem different. Freelancer and agency dey own dem only if you pay for am separately. In-house team dey own dem because na wetin you build am for. On Plutonapps plan, incident response dey inside di plan (five emergency events every month on Starter, unlimited on Growth), you own di code, data and infrastructure, and if you stop we go hand over di repositories and documentation.
Questions wey people dey ask well-well
E cheaper to hire freelancer or agency?
For small task wey clear well, freelancer dey usually cheaper. For bigger project wey need design, engineering and project management, agency fit cheaper overall because e dey bring di team and di process. Clutch report say most firms for im platform dey charge $24 to $49 every hour, and US firms $50 to $99.
How much in-house software developer dey cost for US?
Di US Bureau of Labor Statistics put di median pay for software developers for $135,980 every year for May 2025. Na only pay be dat. Employers also dey pay benefits, wey BLS measure as 30 percent of private-industry compensation costs for June 2026, plus recruiting, equipment and management.
Development subscription na di same thing as staff augmentation?
No. Staff augmentation dey add engineers to your team and na you dey direct their hours. Development subscription dey sell result for flat price: di provider dey responsible to build, test and release di work, and with Plutonapps, to run di live product too.
When Plutonapps no be di correct choice?
When di work na one-time job wey get clear end, like single fix or brochure website, freelancer or agency go usually cost less. And when you get engineering team already wey own production, you fit only need extra hands, no be subscription.
I fit switch from agency or freelancer to Plutonapps later?
Yes. Plutonapps dey start with architecture review of wetin dey, build around am, and connect your Lovable workspace so your team go continue to work di same way.
From our work
Terms for dis page
Comparisons and guides wey relate
- Development subscription or agency: which one you go choose? — How each one dey price work and change, wetin dey happen after launch, and when fixed-scope agency project better pass.
- Your own developer or development subscription: di real cost — Wetin US software developer dey cost when you count benefits, from BLS data, against flat monthly subscription, and when hiring still win.
- How to hire Lovable developer (and how much e go cost) — Freelancers, Lovable partner agencies and engineering subscriptions compared on cost, scope and who go run di app after.
- Plans and price
Sources
We check every outside fact for dis page against di linked source on 30 September 2026. Prices and plans dey change; follow di links for di current figures.