Comparison · Agency or freelancer
SEO agency or freelancer: the honest comparison
You’re looking for an SEO agency – and wondering whether a freelancer might be the better fit. After this page you’ll know which setup suits your project. I’ll also tell you when the agency wins. I can do that because I work in one myself.
You’ll probably recognize yourself in one of these situations
- You have agency offers on the table, and the minimum budgets blow your frame.
- You’ve been with an agency before and never spoke to the person actually working on your website.
- Besides SEO you also need ads, design or social media and want to know whether that rules out a freelancer.
- Your shop or your B2B website is stagnating, and you want one fixed contact instead of changing teams.
- You don’t want to commit for twelve months before you’ve seen any results.
Four commitments an agency can’t make like this
Always the same person
No rotating account manager. The person you talk to is the person working on your website – analysis, implementation and reporting from one pair of hands.
Reply within 24 hours
On weekdays you get a reply within 24 hours – not dependent on internal processes or a team’s workload.
Cancellable monthly
No minimum term, no six-to-twelve-month commitment. Everything created in the collaboration stays with you – including a clean handover.
An honest recommendation
In the initial consultation you get a clear assessment – even if it’s “agency” or “SEO isn’t your most pressing problem right now”.
SEO agency and SEO freelancer compared
| Criterion | SEO agency | SEO freelancer – my offer |
|---|---|---|
| Contact person | project or account manager, may change | always me |
| Who actually does the work | a team, senior or junior depending on the task | the person you’re talking to |
| Capacity | scalable, even for very large projects | limited – deliberately few projects in parallel |
| Cover in case of absence | colleagues take over | none – I announce absences in advance |
| Breadth of disciplines | SEO, ads, content and design under one roof | SEO – for anything else I recommend specialists |
| Response time | depends on processes and workload | reply within 24 hours on weekdays |
| Contract term | often 6 to 12 months | cancellable monthly, no minimum term |
| Costs | avg. €1,257 per month (Schild Roth, 2022) | €100 per hour, support from €1,000 per month |
To put agency costs in context: the SEO price study by Schild Roth (2022, 521 German agencies contacted, 243 usable responses) found an average monthly price of €1,257. The minimum budgets of €500 to €3,000 per month cited there are thresholds above which agencies take on work at all – not what most clients pay. The figures are from 2022 and may have shifted since.
→ Not sure which column applies to your project? In a free initial consultation you’ll get a clear recommendation – even if it’s “agency”.
When an SEO agency is the better choice
I’m not selling you anything against agencies here. I’ve been working as an SEO project manager in an SEO agency since March 2024 – alongside my freelance work.
“At the agency I manage around 15 client projects in parallel, mostly e-commerce and B2B. That’s why I know pretty precisely when the agency model is superior – and when you’re paying for structure your project doesn’t need.”
— Viktor Pásztor, freelance SEO consultant
Three cases for the agency – four for the freelancer
You need several disciplines at once
SEO, Google Ads, content and design coordinated from one house – no individual can deliver that. Here the agency wins.
Your implementation volume is large
Hundreds of product texts, several countries, ongoing link building: that takes more hands than a freelancer has.
Failover cover is a contractual requirement
If your procurement requires a substitution arrangement, an agency can promise that. I can’t.
Your budget is between €1,000 and €3,000 per month
With me it goes into analysis and implementation, not coordination rounds.
You want to talk to the person doing the work
Analysis, implementation and reporting come from one pair of hands – with no loss in translation between account and execution.
Your project is clearly defined
An audit or a relaunch supervision doesn’t need an agency apparatus.
You want to stay flexible
Cancellable monthly – the collaboration sustains itself through results, not contract terms.
One hourly rate, no packages
Hourly rate
100 € per hour
The OMT guide “What does SEO cost?” cites €75 to €150 per hour for reputable agencies. I sit right in the middle of that range, without an agency’s overhead.
- Ongoing support from €1,000 per month – strategy, implementation and reporting from one pair of hands.
- SEO audit from €1,200 – the one-off analysis for taking stock.
- Relaunch supervision from €2,500 – so no rankings get lost in the move.
- The full breakdown with market ranges is under SEO costs.
→ Do the math yourself – or let’s do it together. The initial consultation costs nothing. And if SEO isn’t the right answer to your problem, I’ll tell you.
What’s on the neighbouring pages
This page helps you decide between agency and freelancer. What the ongoing collaboration concretely includes is under Ongoing SEO support. The one-off analysis is described on the SEO audit page. And who you’d be hiring is shown on about me.
Frequently asked questions about agency vs. freelancer
Does a freelancer deliver the same quality as an SEO agency?
Quality depends on the person doing the work, not the company sign. Agencies mix senior and junior levels; with me you know beforehand who does the work. The difference lies in capacity and breadth – not automatically in quality.
What happens if you’re unavailable?
Then the work pauses. That’s the honest disadvantage compared to an agency with cover. I keep the risk small: content and access credentials belong to you, my work is documented, and you can cancel monthly.
Can I switch from you to an agency later?
Anytime. There’s no minimum term, and everything created in the collaboration stays with you. For me, a clean handover is part of wrapping up.
Do you give a ranking guarantee?
No – and a reputable agency won’t either. Instead, you get a quarterly report showing what was implemented and what it achieved.
Send me your website and your goal
You’ll get an honest assessment of which setup pays off for you – agency or freelancer. Your domain and two sentences about the situation are enough.
Write to me
Reply within 24 hours on weekdays – from me personally.
Or book an appointment directly
Open Calendly and pick a time →
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Agency or freelancer – let’s settle it in 30 minutes
In the free initial consultation you’ll get a clear recommendation for your project. Even if it goes against me.
→ Request an initial consultation now