Shopify Experts Agency vs Freelancers: Which One to Choose?

When you’re looking to build or improve your Shopify store, you’ll come down to two main options: freelance vs. Shopify agency. It doesn’t matter whether you plan for the development, optimization, or maintenance—the choice is the same. Each option comes with its advantages and drawbacks.

An agency brings a team of experts with diverse skills. A freelancer provides specialized knowledge at a potentially lower cost. A freelancer is more dynamic and flexible. However, an agency with well-established processes seems to be a more reliable option.

So, how do you make the right decision? In this article, we’ll break down the key differences between Shopify agencies and freelancers to help you decide who fits your needs best.

Shopify agency vs Shopify freelancer: overview

So, the question is, “Should I hire a freelancer or an agency?” Let’s start with an overview of the options. There are scenarios when it’s clear that hiring one is better than the other. If we were to simplify things, we’d draw up two brief profiles, which you can see below.

Shopify agency:

• A big team (designers, developers, marketing specialists, project managers) working together on your store.
• Good for complex projects, ongoing growth strategies, and large stores needing a full range of services (design, development, marketing).
• Typical hiring scenarios: large projects, complex needs, ongoing support, and brand consistency.

Shopify freelancers:

• One-on-one cooperation – a single skilled person working on your project.
• Good for specific tasks (theme tweaks, app setup), lower budgets, and smaller projects with a clear scope.
• Typical hiring scenarios: smaller-scale tasks or updates, specific tasks limited in time, budget constraints, and flexible hours.

Think of it like this. Need a kitchen renovation? A freelancer (like a plumber) might be perfect for fixing a leaky faucet. But you’d probably call a contractor (like an agency) with a team of specialists for a complete overhaul.

If your case doesn’t fit into this oversimplified scheme, start by learning more details about the options and their differences.

Expertise and experience

Agencies offer a range of specialized skills within a single team. You’ll have access to designers, developers, marketing specialists, and project managers who can collaborate on your project. This is ideal for complex projects requiring diverse skill sets.

Freelancers may have focused expertise in a specific area, like theme customization or app development. It works well for smaller projects that require a particular skill set. You'll need to find several freelancers if you need diverse expertise or many tasks, which can be time-consuming and complex.

Services

Agencies can cover full store development, from initial setup to complete redesigns. This also includes all kinds of design services, custom development, SEO, and marketing. You can hire Shopify Plus developers to explore and exploit the platform’s full potential. You can also request ongoing support or consulting services.

Shopify freelance developers are great for requirement- or design-based development. They’ll easily adjust the look of your store to match your brand. They also take on quick fixes and troubleshooting, set up Shopify integrations, configure apps, and handle different non-development services, but one at a time.

Availability

Agencies may have set working hours and less immediate availability. They might not always be able to accommodate last-minute changes or urgent requests as quickly. It also takes time to move from the introductory call to actual work.

Freelancers often offer more flexible hours. They are more readily available to accommodate your schedule. However, their availability can also vary. It’s often based on their workload and other commitments. Additionally, freelancers can sometimes become unavailable or disappear, leaving you with unfinished tasks. Therefore, it’s important to carefully choose freelancers and consider their reliability and track record.

Management

When dealing with agencies, you mostly communicate with a dedicated project manager. This person, in turn, handles communication with various team members. They manage the process, distribute tasks, overview their completion, and keep things on track.

With freelancers, the responsibility of project management falls on your team. You are to set tasks, monitor their progress, share feedback, and handle the rest of the management flows. In other words, you need to have enough time for more direct control over the project.

Communication

Agencies generally offer several communication options. Most frequently, you have one contact person—a project manager who overviews the process and relays information between you and the team. This potentially may lead to slower communication but with a reliable project manager by your side, this risk is eliminated.

Hiring a freelance Shopify expert means you’ll have a clear line of communication. You interact directly with the person doing the work, which usually comes with faster feedback and adjustments—yet it makes you dependent on one person.

Tools and resources

An agency has access to many tools, technologies, and resources. They often have experts with diverse backgrounds and portfolios. Thus, you don’t need to pay for a subscription or go through a lengthy expert search.

A freelancer often has access to and knowledge of a limited set of tools. If they don’t use something regularly and need it for your project only, you’ll be the one in charge of access and paying for a subscription.

Turnaround time

It’s much easier for Shopify agencies to handle tight deadlines. They can just assign tasks to more team members – of course, based on their expertise and for additional fees. This can speed up the project completion time.

The turnaround time for freelance Shopify specialists varies based on their workload. It might take longer to complete larger projects if they are working alone. Obviously, there’s always a limit to how much a single person can handle. Besides, freelancers tend to have more flexible schedule, meaning they may sometimes prioritize other projects or commitments, potentially affecting the speed of your project.

Cost

Agencies typically have higher fees compared to freelancers due to the overhead costs of a team structure.

Freelancers, as a rule, charge less compared to agencies. There are no extra costs for management and ensuring company’s income.

Dependability

Agencies have set processes and tried-and-true collaboration methods. They take document signing more seriously and mark all the changes in the corresponding agreements. There’s more bureaucracy and, hence, more trustworthiness.

Freelancers are considered less reliable in terms if this aspect. But that’s rather a prejudice. Their reliability always depends on the person’s attitude. Freelancers can start the work quickly and require less sophisticated contracts. Yet, that can leave both sides unprotected.

Pros and cons of hiring an agency

Discussing freelance vs. Shopify agency would be incomplete without considering the pros and cons of each. Agencies are ideal for complex projects and situations where you need a team of experts. However, be prepared for potentially higher costs.

Pros of working with a Shopify agency

The good news is that working with a Shopify agency has more advantages than disadvantages. To be more specific:

• You get access to a vast talent pool. An agency can offer a team to handle any request – designers, developers, marketing specialists, etc., ready to provide strategic guidance and practical solutions.
• You spend minimum effort on management. You can have a single point of contact or communicate with the team directly. In any case, an agency handles all the internal management issues.
• An agency easily adapts to your needs. If you need extra skills and expertise, they find someone to add to the team. If the deadlines are tight, they will get more people working on your tasks.
• An agency has a broader portfolio and domain knowledge. It’s easier to find a specialist who has experience with solving the exact same problem or very similar to yours.
• A Shopify agency has access to more tools and resources and works on multiple projects nonstop. This requires a subscription to and proficiency with specific tools your team might lack or not know how to exploit.

On top of that, agencies have established quality assurance processes. They need to ensure that all work meets high standards. It’s not just a risk of negative feedback. When you have diverse specialists working on tech projects, clear and effective internal processes are necessary.

Cons of working with a Shopify agency

What are the downsides? Shopify agencies do offer a full range of services. Yet, this very opportunity to get everything you need under one roof still has some disadvantages. For example:

• The rates are higher compared to freelancers. Management costs, access to vast expertise, and easy scalability are among the reasons for this. As always, convenience requires you to pay more.
• There may be less flexibility. The well-established processes are essential. They ensure discipline and reliability. However, this entails less flexibility when it comes to changes and updates in the requirements.
• You might lack direct control. To be fair, agencies have different approaches to communication. So, that’s not always the case. Still, you don’t always get to overview the day-to-day execution of the project. Keep this in mind if having direct control is critical for you.

Working with an agency means you don’t have to coordinate multiple experts or vendors. But you are working with a company, not an individual. Getting started with an agency can take longer due to their setup procedures. But the results pays off in the long run.

Pros and cons of hiring a freelancer

Freelancers are a frequent choice for small budgets. And it’s rightly so. They can offer the right mix of flexibility and expertise young and growing businesses require. Meanwhile, you should expect to demonstrate the same flexibility towards freelancers. Let’s look at the pros and cons to better understand what we mean.

Pros of working with a freelancer

There are various concerns around the “Freelancers Vs. Shopify Experts Agency” discussion. Some people are afraid that freelancers are unreliable. Others believe they are even more motivated than agencies. The skills and reputation guarantee good feedback and stable client flow. This fact alone can guarantee reliability, not to mention personal attitudes of each specialist.

The advantages of hiring a freelancer feature the following:

• Freelancers charge less compared to agencies. Agency rates include, besides the compensation for ecommerce specialists, management expenses and income percentage. Freelancers only charge for their work.
• You communicate with a specialist directly. The risk of potential miscommunications or delays is down to a minimum. This also enables more control, faster feedback, and easier adjustments.
• Freelancers are often flexible with timelines and project scope adjustments. They have less strict contracts. Discussing alterations typically doesn’t take much time.
• Freelancers can start the work quickly. There is no bureaucracy on their side. The only reason for a slight delay might be completing a current project. Given that freelancers mainly engage in part-time work, it’s not a common problem.

Many freelancers focus on specific areas within the ecommerce domain. Finding someone with specific skills needed for your project won't be too complicated. Working directly with a specialist means getting more personalized attention and a closer working relationship.

Cons of working with a freelancer

What balances the cost-effectiveness and direct communication? The potential drawbacks are usually related to project management, limited expertise, and potential inconsistency. To explain this in more detail:

• Freelancers don’t have the same breadth of experience as an agency team. And that’s natural: we’re speaking about a single person vs a group of specialists. Thus, you’ll need to hire several people if your project requires diverse skill sets.
• The complete responsibility of project management falls on you. You are the one to handle scheduling, communication, and ensuring deadlines are met. That’s some extra work.
• Freelancers can have fluctuating availability. Some are juggling multiple projects. Increasing the work scope, requesting extra hours, or expecting immediate changes isn’t always a working scenario.
• Maintaining consistent quality or style across various projects might be challenging if you work with different freelancers over time.
• Freelancers might not have the same project management and quality assurance processes in place as agencies do. It may impact the consistency and reliability of their work in some cases.

If your business needs to grow significantly, a freelancer might fail to scale their services to meet your demands. But that’s fine. The same would eventually happen if you had one in-house specialist.

Freelance vs agency: what to consider when choosing

So, we are back to square one: it’s not always apparent whom to choose. What to do if either option isn’t a 100% match? How to avoid making a mistake? To make it as troubleless for you as possible, here’s a list of criteria to consider and questions to answer when choosing Shopify developers for hire.

• Project complexity. Do you have a basic Shopify store or a large project with complex features, custom integrations, or a massive product catalog?
• Budget. Consider the value proposition – will the broader expertise of an agency justify the extra cost for your project?
• Deadlines. How much time do you have to complete the project? Can one person handle all the tasks within the given timeframe? Do you have the time to manage a freelancer, track deadlines, and answer questions?
• Flexibility. Do you have a clearly defined work scope to match a well-structured process? Or do you expect changes in the requirements and workflows?
• Scalability. Do you expect ongoing adjustments after the initial build or a long-term partner for growth and strategic development?
• Expertise. Who has a proven track record in your industry or with similar store functionalities? Does the shared project comply with your ideas about the lack of expertise?
• Communication. Do you prefer a direct line to your developer or a more structured and layered approach?
• Risk management. What is your risk tolerance rate? Do proven experience and reliability have the highest importance? Are you ready to work with a skilled self-employed specialist? Or do you require more established procedures and backup solutions?

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to choosing between freelancers vs agencies. Carefully consider the factors above and your project’s needs to be well-equipped to select the right partner.

To sum up

Agencies are great for larger, more complex projects requiring a team of experts. Freelancers are perfect for smaller, more specific tasks and offer a flexible, cost-effective option. However, that’s not a simple formula that is going to work for all cases. The “freelance vs. agency for Shopify” dilemma is more convoluted.

Choosing between an agency and a freelancer depends on the complexity of your project and several other factors. Those include the tech stack and required expertise, budget, timelines, scalability plans, short-term and long-term goals, and more. So, how do you avoid getting lost in all of this? Be attentive and objective when researching and exploring the options.

Freelance platforms and personal recommendations are a good start for a freelancer search. Meanwhile, you can discuss Shopify store development services with the DigitalSuits team. Our experts will be glad to share some solutions for your request and help you make an informed decision.