Folowise vs marketplaces, agencies and local hiring
Us against local hiring, global marketplaces and agencies, line by line, including the row that says where we are the wrong answer.
| Criterion | Folowise | Freelance marketplaces | A development agency | Local hiring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you actually buy | A seat or a whole team at a visible monthly price | One freelancer at a time; you assemble the team yourself | A closed project or a team behind a custom quote | An employee you fully own |
| Who is the legal employer | We are, on a formal Jordanian contract with social security | Nobody; the freelancer is an independent contractor | Usually the agency; details vary | You, with everything that follows |
| Price visible before any callMost agencies sell quote-only. Marketplaces show an hourly rate per individual, not per team. | Yes | Partly | No | Partly |
| Team composition and price published togetherIn our market survey, no vendor we checked published both together. This is the gap the catalogue is built around. | Yes | No | Partly | No |
| If the person does not work out | Replacement with no invoice for the vacant seat, in any month | You search again and onboard again yourself | Per the contract; read it carefully | A termination and a new hire; months and money |
| Realistic time to start | A shortlist in 5 days, a start in 3 to 6 weeks | Days for whoever is free, at variable quality | Weeks for the quote before any work | Two to four months per seat |
| Who runs the day to day | You, or we do on a managed team. Your choice | You, always | The agency, with limited visibility for you | You |
| Where our model can go wrongEvery model has a place it fails; it is only fair we write ours down too. | Our network is smaller than a global marketplace, and some roles are recruited rather than on the bench | - | - | - |
One comparison at a time
The detailed pages
- 01Folowise vs freelance marketplacesPick the marketplace if you need under 40 hours a month, a two week task that never comes back, or a skill so rare our network does not cover it. We will tell you that on the first call.
- 02Folowise vs a development agencyPick the agency if your scope is genuinely written and closed and you want no relationship with the team after handover. Our project contract covers that case too, but it costs more than monthly seats because we carry the overrun.
- 03Folowise vs hiring locallyHire locally if the role is the technical heart of your company, if your procurement requires SOC 2 today, if full US West Coast overlap is non-negotiable, or if you need seats that count toward a nationalisation quota. Read the timezone page before you decide.
FAQ
The difference, in three questions
01How is this different from ordinary outsourcing?
The practical difference: an outsourcing firm sells you a fixed-scope project and leaves at handover. We sell you ongoing engineering capacity that stays inside your team, assessed by engineers who actually build software at Folowise. The second difference: we tell you when we are not a fit. Read the "do not pick this" box on every engagement model page.
02Who employs the engineer? Who pays them?
Folowise employs them in Jordan on a formal employment contract, and pays salary, social security and applicable taxes. You pay Folowise one monthly invoice. There is no direct contractual relationship between you and the engineer, which is what protects you from worker-classification exposure.
03What happens if the engineer leaves?
We start the replacement search immediately at our cost, and we do not bill you for an empty seat. We commit to a replacement shortlist within 10 working days, and to covering knowledge transfer from the departing engineer during their notice period. What we cannot commit to is that a replacement arrives just as fast for a rare role. We will tell you the truth on day one, not in week four.
Next step
Tell us what you are trying to ship
Not the headcount. Tell us the product, the date, and what team you have today, and we will propose the shape. If we think what you need is not more engineers, we will say so on the first call.
Typical response within one business day · everything you share is treated as confidential