Spine
Comparisons that name who should pick the other one
This is the index of the comparison cluster. Marketing comparisons have an obvious structural problem when the agency writes them, and the only useful response is to state the problem and then publish the rule that contains it.
A comparison written by one of the options is usually an advertisement with a table in it. The rows get chosen so one column wins. We cannot stop being one of the options, so the rule here is narrower and checkable instead: every comparison on this site names the buyer who should choose the other side, specifically enough that you can tell whether it is you.
Three shapes, indexed separately
Lumping these together is how a comparison cluster turns into noise. They answer different questions and they carry different obligations.
- Us against another way of buying. Agency against freelancer, agency against an in house hire, retainer against project, flat fee against performance based, boutique against large. We are one of the columns, so these carry the heaviest disclosure and the most explicit "pick the other one if" paragraph.
- Two options, neither of which is us. Platform choices, framework choices, one paid channel against another. We have a preference and we say what it is, but we are not for sale inside the comparison, so the claims in these are technical and checkable.
- Decision pages. Not a head to head at all. How to choose an agency, how to switch one, what to ask before you sign. These are the pages a buyer forwards to the person who has to approve the spend.
The rule we hold ourselves to
Name the loser honestly, including when it is us. A freelancer is the right answer for a business that needs one channel run competently and does not need a system around it. An in house hire is the right answer when the volume justifies a salary and the work is permanent. A project is the right answer when there is one thing to build and nothing to maintain afterwards.
None of those are concessions. They are the three reasons most of the people reading this should not hire an agency at all, and a comparison cluster that cannot say them out loud is worth nothing to a reader.
Where our own model is the constraint, the comparison says so rather than reframing it. 90 day initial term, then month to month at the same price. The industry asks for 6 to 12 months.
One SEO client per industry, per city. Ads and websites are not exclusive, and we say so. If the search seat in your industry and your city is already taken, every comparison on this site is academic for you, and that is the first thing we will tell you.
How to use these comparisons
If you are deciding how to buy, begin with agency against freelancer, agency against an in house team, retainer against project, or how to choose an agency. Each asks a different question about who should own the work and for how long. Read the "pick the other one if" section before looking at the table.
If you have already decided to hire help, use the platform, framework, AI search and paid channel comparisons for the specific decision in the proposal. Check the assumptions against your own site, budget and staffing. A technically correct comparison can still be the wrong recommendation when those inputs change.
Use the published price and term pages when a comparison turns on our own commercial model. The table on a comparison page is a summary; the underlying terms control the decision.
What a comparison here will never do
No scoring matrix with weights we invented. No named competitor characterised from the outside, because we cannot see their pricing, their staffing or their results and neither can you. No table where our column is the only one with every row filled in.
The failure mode in this format is not dishonesty, it is selection. Pick the ten criteria you win on and every statement in the table can be true while the page as a whole is a lie. The defence is to publish the criteria you lose on in the same place, which is what the "pick the other one if" paragraph is for.
What is in here
- Agency or freelancer: who is actually at the keyboard
- Agency or in house: what each one really costs
- Boutique or large agency: capacity decides it
- How to choose a digital marketing agency
- Performance based or flat fee: who carries the risk
- Retainer or project: does the work have an end
- AEO vs GEO: What Each One Actually Optimizes For
- AEO vs SEO: Two Layers, One Foundation
- AI SEO Agency vs SEO Agency: What Actually Differs
- AI visibility tool vs agency: what each one actually does
- Astro vs Next.js: pick the framework that fits the site
- Astro vs WordPress: One Question Decides It
- Custom Website vs WordPress: Which One You Actually Need
- DIY SEO vs Hiring an Agency: Which Is Right for You?
- Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
- Headless or Traditional CMS: Pick the One That Fits Your Team
- In-House Content Team vs Production Agency
- Google Ads or Facebook Ads: which should come first?
- Organic vs Paid Social: What Actually Decides It
- SEO vs GEO: Ranked Links or AI Answers?
- Shopify vs Squarespace: Which Platform Should You Build On?
- Shopify vs WooCommerce: The Honest Comparison
- Webflow vs WordPress: Which Should You Build On?
- Migrating From WordPress to Shopify Without Losing Traffic
Questions
Why compare yourself to a freelancer at all?
Because it is the comparison most of our buyers are actually making, and pretending otherwise just means they make it without us. A freelancer is cheaper and frequently the right call. The page says exactly when.
Do you compare yourself to named agencies?
No. We cannot verify another agency’s pricing, staffing or results, so a page characterising one would be a page we could defend with nothing. We compare models of buying, which are observable, instead of companies, which are not.
Which one should I read first?
If you are still deciding whether to hire anybody, read agency against in house and agency against freelancer. If you have already decided to hire an agency, read how to choose one, then read our published terms and see whether they survive the checklist.
Are the platform comparisons biased toward what you build?
We build on one stack and we name it, so read them knowing that. The technical claims in them are checkable, which is the useful kind of bias: you can verify a statement about how a platform renders a page without trusting the person who wrote it.
What if the comparison concludes I should not hire you?
Then it worked and you saved a quarter. We publish who we are not a fit for as its own page for the same reason, and the two are meant to be read together.
