The trade-off nobody puts on their sales page
When you hire a freelance website developer, you are trading a safety net for speed and attention. There is no account manager, no bench of replacements, and no office to visit. In return you get a direct line to the person actually building your site, and usually a lower bill because you are not paying for someone's rented floor and sales team.
Whether that trade suits you depends on the project. I'm Arun Tyagi, a freelance developer in Sector 58, Noida, and I would rather help you decide than just sell you something.
Freelancer versus agency, in plain terms
| Question | Freelancer (me) | Typical agency |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes the code? | Me, start to finish | Whoever is free; often a junior |
| Who do you talk to? | The developer | A project manager relaying messages |
| Cost | Lower overhead, usually 30-50% less | Higher, covers sales and management layers |
| Capacity | One project phase at a time | Can run parallel teams |
| Risk if the person disappears | Real; mitigated by documentation and code ownership | Lower, work is passed along |
The last row is the honest weak spot. I handle it by giving you everything: repository access from day one, deployment notes, and credentials in your name. If I vanished tomorrow, another developer could continue without starting over.
What I build as a freelance website developer
- Business websites that load fast, rank sensibly, and are editable by your own team.
- Web applications such as customer portals, booking systems, and dashboards, usually in Laravel.
- Online stores, either on a hosted platform or custom, covered under ecommerce solutions.
- Redesigns and fixes for sites that are slow, broken on mobile, or stuck with a developer who stopped replying.
The CMS question
Most clients need to change text and images without calling me. I set up either WordPress or a Filament admin panel depending on the site. If it is mostly pages and blog posts, WordPress is often fine. If you have structured data, user accounts, or workflows, a custom admin works better. The WordPress page explains where that line sits.
A project, step by step
- Short call, free. Goals, audience, existing site, deadline.
- Written scope and fixed price. Pages, features, and what is not included.
- Design review. You approve layout before I build, so changes are cheap.
- Build on staging. You click through a real site, not screenshots.
- Launch and handover. Redirects, analytics, backups, and a short walkthrough.
- Thirty days of fixes at no extra charge for anything I got wrong.
Typical costs in India
- Small business site (5-8 pages): ?15,000 - ?45,000
- Larger content site with custom features: ?45,000 - ?1,20,000
- Custom web application: ?60,000 - ?2,50,000+
- Yearly care plan: from ?8,000 per month, see maintenance and support
These vary with content, integrations, and how much copy you already have. If you are curious how I arrive at numbers, the web development cost guide lays it out.
Things I will not do
I will not promise first-page Google rankings. I will not clone a competitor's site pixel for pixel. And I will not take on five projects at once and hope you do not notice. I limit my active client list so replies stay quick, usually within a few hours on working days.
If you are weighing options
Ask any freelancer, me included, for two things: a recent live project you can open yourself, and a past client you can message. My portfolio and case studies are public. Then talk to me. WhatsApp +91 8791775933 or book a free call, and bring your questions about risk. They are the right ones to ask.