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Fixed-price MVP vs hiring a freelancer
Short answer
A freelancer is usually cheaper per hour and more flexible, but you carry the project-management risk: scope, timeline, quality and the chance they disappear halfway through are all yours to manage. A fixed-price MVP build costs $3,500 AUD with the scope, the date and the outcome agreed in writing before anything starts. Choose a freelancer if you can specify the work precisely and manage it yourself. Choose fixed-price if you want a working product on a known date without becoming a project manager.
Side by side
| Factor | hiring a freelancer | Launch My MVP |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $40–$150+/hour, total unknown until finished | $3,500 AUD fixed, agreed upfront |
| Timeline | Negotiated, often slips with competing clients | 48 hours, date locked at booking |
| Who manages scope | You | Agreed in writing before the build starts |
| Risk if it runs over | Yours — you pay for the extra hours | Ours — the price does not change |
| Code ownership | Usually yours, worth confirming in the contract | 100% yours, repository transferred at handover |
| Ongoing changes | Easy if they stay available | 7 days of bug fixes, then quoted separately or take it to anyone |
The case for hiring a freelancer
Hourly rates on the open market start low, and for a well-specified small job that is genuinely the cheapest route.
You can hire for exactly the skill you need, and keep the same person on retainer afterwards for changes.
There is no minimum engagement, so a two-day job costs two days.
Where hiring a freelancer tends to go wrong
- You are the project manager. Writing the spec, reviewing the work and deciding when it is finished all land on you, and that is a real job.
- Hourly billing means scope creep costs you money rather than costing the developer time — the incentives point the wrong way.
- Quality is genuinely hard to assess before you hire if you are not technical. Portfolios show the good outcomes.
- Abandonment mid-project is common enough on freelance platforms that it belongs on any honest list of risks, and you are left with a half-built codebase nobody else wants to inherit.
The case for a fixed-price build
The scope, the price and the delivery date are agreed in writing before any code is written, so there is no negotiation while the clock runs.
Fixed price means the incentive is to finish, not to bill. A build that takes longer than planned costs us, not you.
You deal directly with the person writing the code, so there is no translation layer between what you asked for and what gets built.
The code, the repository and the deployment transfer to you at handover, so there is no dependency on us continuing to exist.
Choose hiring a freelancer if
- You already have a detailed specification, or you are technical enough to write one and review the result.
- The job is a specific piece of work rather than a whole product — a page, an integration, a fix.
- You want ongoing part-time development capacity rather than a one-off delivery.
- Your budget is genuinely under a couple of thousand dollars, in which case fixed-price is out of reach and a freelancer is the right call.
Choose a fixed-price build if
- You are not technical and do not want to manage a developer.
- You need a working product by a specific date, for a fundraise, a pilot or a customer commitment.
- You want the total cost known before you commit.