Every director’s job is a balancing act between the risks and the benefits. Having in mind the welfare of the company and its employees, the interests of the shareholders and the satisfaction of the clients, directors have to choose the most optimal solution.

When it comes to getting software developed, it can come down to choosing between a sole freelancer and a software development company; a tough choice which requires a thorough understanding of the risks, costs and benefits of both alternatives and the honest evaluation of the company’s goals.

What are the pros and cons of choosing between software development companies and freelance developers?

Don’t expect a freelancer to be a jack of all trades.

Criteria of choice

Reliability
A good Software development company has all the guarantees of the quality of their work and that it will be finished and delivered on time – all set in stone. Or more precisely, in a written service agreement. It defines what confidential information will come into possession of the software development company. It also contains the list of deliverables that describes what exactly this company will deliver to a customer. With freelancers, there’s always a risk that they will disappear before finishing the job and rarely a platform or an agreement can protect from such an outcome.

Experience and skills
When you hire a software development company, you hire an experienced and tested team of seasoned professionals that have a diverse skill set in all the necessary fields. At the same time, you can rarely find a freelance developer that has all the skills. It would be unreasonable to expect one person to do the jobs of an entire company.

Self-sufficiency
This one naturally grows from the previous point. Since you shouldn’t expect a freelancer to be a jack of all trades you will probably need to hire another one to cover certain aspects of your project. The whole project management is on you with all the interviews, planning, division of labour and the rest. With a professional software development company like Tentacle Solutions you just have to clearly communicate your vision for the finished project – they will handle the rest.

Standards and quality assurance
Except for their trust and a portfolio, there are no guarantees of the end product’s quality when it is developed by a freelancer. Some would argue that their personal reputation and brand are at stake, but your company and the freelance developer may have vastly different understanding of the reputation and the quality at stake. At an established development house there are implemented standards of quality and security (often with external auditing of those standards) and full testing covers all main stages of project lifecycle to ensure quality control of the final product. The end results can be incomparable in quality.

Be honest about your needs

In the end, the choice between a freelance developer and a company is down to understanding the needs of the project. Not every app needs a hundred coders, designers and developers and not every database can be handled by one man. Establish your goals, research the options and choose what would be the most suitable solution for your company. Tentacle Solutions will handle the rest.