Agency vs. Freelancer vs. In-house: The honest math for Indian SMBs
Most founders hire based on cost. The smart ones hire based on the cost of coordination and the risk of knowledge walking out the door.
Ampex Founders
Ampex Web
In Bengaluru, you can find a freelancer for ₹15,000 and a giant agency for ₹15L. We sit in the middle. Here is why that middle ground exists and when you should avoid us to hire someone else.
The Freelancer Trap
Freelancers are great for isolated tasks (a logo, a single page). They are high-risk for systems. If your website is wired to your CRM and your CRM is wired to your WhatsApp, a freelancer leaving the project is a technical debt emergency.
The Big Agency Bloat
Giant agencies sell you on the senior partner and hand you off to a junior account manager. You pay for their Indiranagar rent and their award-show entries, not just your code.
- Hire a freelancer when the budget is sub-₹50k and the project is standalone.
- Hire a big agency when you need a brand strategy for a national TV campaign.
- Hire a studio like Ampex when you need a connected system shipped by the people you actually talk to on the kickoff call.
"Don't pay for an agency's overhead. Pay for an engineer's attention."