Freelancer or full time hire, which is cheaper overall?
By: Illia Belichenko What Marketing Actually Costs in Germany. The Full Comparison Across Three Models
"What does it cost per hour" is the wrong question. The three models do not price in the same units at all. A full time hire is salary plus 21 to 25 percent employer contributions plus one off recruiting and workplace costs. A freelancer is an hourly rate with no obligation beyond the hours actually billed. An agency is a fixed monthly tariff that already prices in cover for someone's holiday. What follows is the numbers for each model on its own, then the calculator for your own task list.
The full cost of a hire, not just the salary
3,000 euro of salary in the contract turns into roughly 3,700 euro of cost for the company. That is employer contributions, 21 to 25 percent of gross pay, and they apply whether or not they made it into the first calculation. A typical gross salary for a marketer in Germany runs 45,000 to 60,000 euro a year, 40,000 to 45,000 for someone starting out, from 75,000 upward for an experienced lead, and including employer contributions the real monthly cost of such a role usually lands between 4,500 and 6,500 euro.
That is not the full list. Recruiting in house eats 30 to 40 hours of a team's time, and through a recruiter it becomes a one off payment of 20 to 30 percent of annual salary. Workplace setup, hardware and software licences typically add 1,500 to 3,000 euro in the first year. And for a month or two or three the new hire is mostly learning, while the salary runs at full rate regardless.
The freelancer, where the rate is higher and the commitment is lower
A freelancer costs more per hour. That is the one part of this comparison almost everyone already has right, and the one part where the higher number does not mean overpaying, because it already covers what a freelancer simply does not get, employer contributions and paid leave on the company's account.
76 to 99 euro an hour on average for marketing freelancers in the German speaking region, closer to the lower end for those just starting out, closer to the upper end for specialists with ten or more years behind them. A day rate is usually the hourly rate times eight, often with a 5 to 10 percent discount for a longer engagement.
After that, simple volume math takes over. At 20 hours of work a month a freelancer is almost always cheaper, because nobody is paying for the remaining 140 hours a full time hire would somehow need to fill. At a steady 120 hours or more the picture flips. The freelancer's accumulated cost closes in on the cost of a hire, and continuity plus day to day familiarity with the business start to outweigh it. Managing the work and reviewing what comes back is never part of a freelancer's fee, that time stays with the company.
The three models side by side
| Full time hire | Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priced on | Salary + 21-25% employer contributions | Hourly rate, 76-99 €/h | Fixed monthly tariff |
| Typical cost | 4,500-6,500 €/month (for the role) | 76-99 €/h, day rate ≈ rate × 8 | 1,000-5,000 € small business, 2,500-7,000 € larger |
| One off costs | 4-7k € recruiting (20-30% of annual salary via a recruiter) plus 1.5-3k € setup | None | None |
| When task volume drops | Salary stays the same | Cost drops in proportion to hours | Tariff does not split itself, but is easier to pause than a hire is to let go |
| Holiday or illness of the person | Work stalls without a second person on the team with the same skills | Similar risk, shorter commitment | Usually covered inside the team |
| Where it genuinely wins | Frequent on the spot decisions, deep knowledge of the business | One clear, one off task | Several skill sets at once, no wish to coordinate it yourself |
The agency, what the tariff is actually paying for
1,000 to 5,000 euro a month for a small business, 2,500 to 7,000 for a larger one needing full marketing coverage. The agency tariff covers more than one person's work. It includes cover during holidays or illness, coordination across several skill sets, and regular reporting on top.
There is a less obvious detail here too. When task volume drops, an agency tariff does not split itself, but it is almost always easier to pause or downgrade than a full time contract is to end, and that rarely shows up in comparisons built on a single hourly figure.
Broken down by area
Most comparisons look for the one right answer. A business usually has several tasks, and they are different in nature.
A website is a project. It gets built, handed over, and then it just runs. A full time developer sits idle during that stretch, while a freelancer or an agency only start billing when there is actually something to do.
Content and social media work the other way round. What is needed is a steady stream, not a burst of activity once a quarter, and here a freelancer at a clear volume or an agency package almost always wins, a full time role rarely earns its keep unless it is that person's only responsibility.
Advertising runs on its own logic. Expertise goes stale faster than a full time role pays for itself, because algorithms and platform rules shift every few months. An agency running many ad accounts at once simply sees more data and notices what has stopped working sooner.
Leads and CRM need a one off setup project at the start, which a freelancer or an agency can both handle. After that it is a small ongoing volume of upkeep, for which a dedicated hire almost never pays off.
Holiday, illness, resignation
With a full time hire, holiday and sick leave stall the work with no cover unless a second person on the team has the same skills. A freelancer carries a similar risk, but a shorter one. The arrangement can end at any point, with no resignation process. An agency usually offers more cover, since another person on the same team can pick up the work, and nothing stops.
From general ranges to one specific number
Mark the tasks that actually need doing every month, and the calculator shows what that means as a hire, as a freelancer, and as a team on a fixed tariff, using the same logic as above.
Combining models instead of picking one
The three models rarely rule each other out. Common practice for a growing business in Germany looks like this. A contractor handles one off work like a website, while a steady team on a tariff carries the ongoing stream of content, social media and advertising, with no dedicated role in the structure. The decision comes down to which volume of work stays stable month to month and which shows up once.
What to work out before deciding
There is one question that matters more than any single number. Does the business need someone permanently on hand for internal coordination, or a predictable monthly volume of work without having to manage that person directly? That answer decides more than comparing hourly rates ever will.
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Choosing between a full time hire, a freelancer and an agency rarely comes out the same for a website, content and advertising at once, which is why Illia BizTech works it out per task list. The team works remotely with businesses across Germany, so a client's location never limits which option makes sense.
Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for small and medium businesses in Russian, German and English, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and SEO work. The team works remotely and supports clients across Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden and Hanover and their surrounding regions. A team carries the project from idea to launch without long internal approval chains, so the client speaks directly with the people writing the code and managing the content. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.