The quick comparison
| Freelancer (marketplace) | Placement agency | Managed service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who finds candidates | You | The agency | The agency |
| Who tests skills and checks background | You | The agency | The agency |
| Who manages day to day | You | You | The agency |
| If they leave or don’t fit | You start over | The agency helps replace | The agency covers and replaces |
| Typical cost | Lowest per hour | Higher | Highest |
| Best for | One-off projects, tight budgets | Ongoing roles with a manager on your side | Ongoing roles without management time |
When a freelancer makes sense
- A defined, one-off project. A logo, a website build, a data cleanup. You know what done looks like, and the relationship ends when it’s done.
- You enjoy hiring and managing. You’ll screen applicants, run trials and give regular feedback.
- The work isn’t critical. If the freelancer disappears, the business keeps running.
Freelancers can be excellent. The risk isn’t their quality but the time you spend finding a good one, and what happens when they move on.
When an agency makes sense
- The role is ongoing and your business relies on it. Customer support, scheduling, bookkeeping, lead follow-up.
- Your time is the scarce resource. Screening dozens of applicants costs you days you don’t have.
- You need continuity. Someone covers when your VA is sick, and a replacement comes fast if the fit is wrong.
The cost people forget: your time
Freelancers look cheaper on the invoice. But finding one means posting a job, reading applications, interviewing, testing and onboarding, often more than once. If your hour is worth $150 and a hire takes you 20 hours, that’s $3,000 before any work gets done. Do it twice because the first hire didn’t work, and the math changes fast.
An agency charges more per hour but spends that hiring time for you, and a good one screens more thoroughly than most owners can.
How Snova fits
Snova is an agency that does both: we scout and vet through eight checks, then you choose Managed or Placement for each role. Because we only place people who have already done the job, the hours you save go beyond hiring into the training you won’t need to do.