Freelancing or outsourcing are two concepts often used to express a similar meaning. Several people use these two terms as a synonym for each other, because they don’t know exactly what they actually mean.

To succeed in business nowadays, you need to be flexible and have good planning and organizational skills. And certainly, working with a freelancer or an outsourcing team can help you to achieve success. Why is that? Because, while it can be stressful to hire new workers, recruiting a freelancer or outsourcing work will give you far less to worry about.

Let’s check out the differences between the two concepts.

It’s simple:  freelancing is a lifestyle, is gaining without commitment by working independently, while outsourcing means getting the work done by a freelancer, a third party, by paying him without employment.

Important differences

A freelancer operates as an autonomous individual. He has no obligation, so, if he doesn’t like the job, he can change it anytime. Usually, if he submits a complete task within the deadline, he will get paid, and if he doesn’t, he won’t get the payment.

On the other hand, the outsource contractor strives to improve the efficiency of the assets he has by just letting someone do the job, without an employment contract. Basically, outsourcing is the business practice which involves hiring a third party outside the company to perform various services.  Lately, outsourcing has become a window of opportunity for many companies to acquire and retain talent. It is the best way for the company to control costs, improve the business while increasing in the same time the profit margins.  

Freelancing vs Outsourcing – Advantages & Disadvantages

Main Advantages

Freelancing:

• the freelancer has no obligation to do the job.

• there is no time barrier, and the job can be performed anytime, not just between fixed hours – 9 to 5.

• the freelancer is his own boss, he is not subordinated to anyone. Also, from here comes the freedom to decide about anything.

Outsourcing:

The main advantage of outsourcing is that you, as a company, can get the work done, by spending a minimum amount of money and resources. Also, you need no extra space for those who work for you, considering the fact that the job can be done from anywhere, especially from other countries.

Main Disadvantages

Everywhere there are advantages and disadvantages.

Freelancing:

With freelancing, the main disadvantage is the fact that you have no guarantee that you will be paid for your work. And if you get paid, you must know that you shouldn’t expect a fixed income, because if in a month you earn 100k, in another you might earn 10k. Also, freelancing jobs are not always available and sometimes you need to persevere in order to find your dream project. Patience is the key!

Outsourcing:

With outsourcing, it’s the quality of work that counts. The main disadvantage appears when you’re dealing with poor performance. That’s why you must choose the best team for your company, because quality is just as important as cost. Providing poor quality in outsourcing – as in any other business – can have disastrous effects. From paying penalties to rework and opportunity costs, quality-related expenses can affect you incredibly much!

Another disadvantage is that sometimes it may take more time than the usual for getting the work done. But this also can be avoided if you choose a great outsourcing team for your project!

To sum up

Now, to make it more clear: Outsourcing is slightly different because it’s usually a large company that handles all of the workers. Let’s say you run an IT company and you need an extra employee or a whole team for a while to help you with an important project. The best way is to contact an outsourcing company and request a PHP developer or whatever you need. Chances are, they’ll have the perfect employee or team to suit your needs.

It’s a bit more formal than hiring a freelancer. With a freelancer, you communicate directly to the person who’s going to work for you, and with outsourcing your discussions will bounce between the worker and the employer.

Our opinion is that you are more likely to encounter entire teams of workers with outsourcing, especially if you request a big job, whereas a freelancer is usually just a single person.