Freelance developer or a website subscription team: which should you hire?
If you're looking to get a website built, you've already moved past the "I need a website" stage. The question left is who builds it. There are two real routes today, a freelance developer who builds the site one-off, or a subscription team that builds it and keeps looking after it, and the choice changes your cost, your timeline and, above all, what happens once the site is live.
This article separates the two honestly, without pretending a freelancer is always the worse option. You'll see what a website needs regardless of who builds it, how much each route costs, who handles maintenance and SEO, and when it makes sense to swap the one-off for a team that owns the site every month.
What does a website need, regardless of who builds it?
Every professional website needs reliable hosting, an SSL certificate, mobile speed and a clear page structure. Without these, the site loads slowly, loses trust and doesn't show up on Google.
Before you decide who to hire, it's worth knowing what you're hiring for. A website that holds up rests on four simple things, and the difference between the routes is often in who stays responsible for them:
- Reliable hosting: it's where the site lives. Weak hosting means a slow site or downtime at peak hours, and that costs customers.
- SSL certificate: the padlock in the address bar. Without it, the browser warns that the site is "not secure" and most people leave right there.
- Mobile speed: most visits come from a phone. A site that's slow to open loses the person before the first sentence, and Google penalises slowness in ranking.
- Page structure: header, footer, clear navigation and pages built so the visitor finds what they're after and knows the next step.
A freelance developer delivers all of this, built. The question rarely asked upfront is who handles these four things from then on, when the SSL expires, when hosting needs renewing, when the site slows down. That's where the two routes start to diverge.
What's the difference in cost, timeline and maintenance between a freelancer and a subscription team?
A freelancer is usually cheaper upfront and works on a fixed project fee; a subscription team has a fixed monthly cost and includes whoever looks after the site afterwards. What changes most is the "after", not the "during".
The table below breaks it down by criterion. The point isn't that one is good and the other bad, it's understanding what you're buying in each column.
| Criterion | Freelance developer | Subscription team (Ankor) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | Fixed project fee, lower upfront | No project cost, from 229 €/month |
| After delivery | The site is yours, so is the upkeep | The team keeps looking after the site every month |
| Maintenance and updates | You, or an extra cost to arrange | Included in the subscription |
| SEO (being found on Google) | Rarely included | Included from day one |
| Hosting, SSL and security | On you or arranged separately | Included (hosting, SSL, 24/7 monitoring) |
| Availability for the unexpected | Depends on the freelancer having time | Dedicated team, ongoing support |
How long does it take to build a website?
It depends on who builds it and, above all, on when the content arrives. With Ankor, a site goes live in around 10 days when the copy, photos and decisions come in right at the start.
What almost always delays a website isn't the technical part, it's the material: copy, photography, logo and the owner's decisions. When that all arrives together at the start, the process moves fast, whether it's a freelancer or a team. A real example of ours: the HandsMusic site went live in under a week precisely because we received all the material at once, and the tweaks came later, over the months, with the site already working. If the content trickles in, any route drags. We cover this in full in how long it takes to build a website.
Is hiring a freelance developer worth it?
It's worth it for a small, one-off project on a tight budget. The real trade-off isn't the quality of the delivery, it's availability: what happens when you need a change and the freelancer no longer replies.
There's nothing wrong with hiring a good freelancer. There's plenty of talent around, and many projects are well served this way, especially a simple page that won't change much. The problem shows up months later: the site needs an urgent update, a security fix or one more page, and the person who built it is on another project, out of time, or simply stopped replying. The site is orphaned, and recovering the access and history of a site nobody maintains often takes more work than building it from scratch. It's the same logic I explain in website maintenance in Portugal: the site doesn't end the day it goes live, that's where it begins.
When is it worth swapping the one-off freelancer for a subscription team?
It's worth it when the site stops being a one-off project and becomes part of the business: it needs ongoing maintenance, SEO and someone who answers when something breaks, without you depending on one person's schedule.
The underlying difference is this: a freelancer hands you a website, and a subscription team takes the site on as an ongoing responsibility. At Ankor, the three plans are monthly and with no lock-in: Launch at 229 €, Growth at 419 € (the most popular) and Digital Team at 1,149 €. On the Growth and Digital Team plans we include the Visibility Guarantee: if your site doesn't rank for at least 5 relevant terms within 90 days, we keep working for free the following month until it does. You can see what each plan covers on the Ankor plans page, and if you want to talk through your case, get in touch here.
We work with businesses remotely, with the whole team and support included in the subscription. If you want the reasoning by route rather than by city, it's the same in website design in Lisbon, with the split between a DIY builder and a subscription team.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a website cost with a freelancer versus a subscription team?
It depends on who builds it. A freelance developer charges a fixed project fee, usually lower upfront. With Ankor it's a fixed monthly subscription from 229 €/month, with building, hosting, maintenance and SEO included.
Is it better to hire a freelancer or a subscription team?
A freelancer is worth it for a small one-off project on a tight budget. A subscription team is worth it when you want ongoing maintenance, SEO and someone who answers when something breaks, without depending on one person's schedule.
What happens to the site after it goes live?
With a one-off freelancer, the management becomes yours, or an extra cost. With a subscription like Ankor's, hosting, security, updates and SEO are included and the site keeps being looked after every month.
Do I need to handle hosting and SSL myself?
With a freelancer, often yes, or you arrange it separately. With Ankor's subscription, hosting, SSL and monitoring are included, so they're not your concern.
Does Ankor work remotely?
Yes. We work with businesses remotely, with the team and support included in the subscription.
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