Hiring cost comparison: in-house, freelancer or agency
Enter your own figures for an in-house hire, a freelancer and an agency and see monthly and first-year totals, with the equations shown and a list of what each option covers.
Short answer
Enter your own salary, fees, software, one-off costs and ad spend for each option and the tool shows monthly and first-year totals, with and without ad spend, plus a list of jobs each option does or does not cover. It adds up your numbers and does not recommend an option.
How to use it
Enter your own figures in dirhams for each option, and enter 0 for anything that does not apply. Use quotes and offers you have received, not averages. For the in-house option, include the employer costs around the salary, such as the end of service gratuity the UAE Government portal describes for private sector workers[2]; the checklist of cost lines lists them. Then mark what each option covers. I have not put typical figures in any field, and the worked example is arbitrary round numbers to show the arithmetic.
The comparison
Totals
Fill in every field to see totals. Enter 0 where something does not apply.
This adds up the numbers you enter. It does not say which option is better, and it is not a forecast. A total only covers what you typed in, so read it next to the list of what each option leaves out.
What each option covers
For each job below, mark whether the figure you entered for that option includes it. Anything marked not included or not sure is work someone still has to do, and you may have to pay for it on top.
| Job | In-house hire | Freelancer | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning and day-to-day management of the campaignsBudgets, bids, keywords, audiences, changes. | |||
| Writing the ads and producing images or videoAd copy is one job, design and video are another. | |||
| Building or improving the pages the ads send people toOften priced separately or left to a web developer. | |||
| Setting up and checking conversion trackingWhat is counted decides what every report shows. | |||
| Reporting you can check against your own accountsWho writes it, how often, and in what form. | |||
| Cover when the person is on leave, ill or leaves the jobA single person is a single point of failure. | |||
| A second pair of eyes on the accountPeer review of changes, or someone to challenge the plan. | |||
| Other ad platforms you use (for example Meta or Microsoft)Skills are platform specific. | |||
| Software and tool licencesReporting, call tracking, creative tools. | |||
| Your business owns the ad accounts and the dataCheck this whichever option you choose. |
- In-house hire
- 0 of 10 included0 not included, 0 not sure, 10 not answered
- Freelancer
- 0 of 10 included0 not included, 0 not sure, 10 not answered
- Agency
- 0 of 10 included0 not included, 0 not sure, 10 not answered
The count is a prompt for questions, not a score. Ten jobs are not equally important to your business, and an option can cover fewer of them and still suit you.
How it works
The tool uses these inputs for each option, all entered by you, in AED:
- People cost: monthly salary and allowances (in-house), or the monthly fee (freelancer, agency).
- Other monthly costs: for an employee, your own monthly figure for employer costs. For the others, anything else you pay each month.
- Software and tools, paid monthly under that option.
- One-off cost in the first year: recruitment, set-up or onboarding.
- Shared by all options: monthly advertising spend, and the percentage of VAT on fees that you cannot reclaim.
The equations, for each option:
- VAT cost = people cost x VAT percentage / 100, for the freelancer and agency only. A salary carries none.
- Monthly running cost = people cost + other monthly costs + software + VAT cost.
- Monthly total = monthly running cost + advertising spend.
- First-year total without ad spend = 12 x monthly running cost + one-off cost.
- First-year total with ad spend = first-year total without ad spend + 12 x advertising spend.
Worked example, with arbitrary round numbers that are not benchmarks. An option has a people cost of 400, software of 100, nothing else monthly, a one-off cost of 0 and VAT of 5 percent. The VAT cost is 400 x 5 / 100 = 20, so the monthly running cost is 400 + 0 + 100 + 20 = 520 and the first-year total without ad spend is 12 x 520 + 0 = 6,240.
The limits are worth knowing before you rely on a total:
- It adds up what you enter. A cost you forget is not in the total.
- It assumes the same ad spend for every option and twelve identical months. A vacancy before an employee starts is not modelled, so put it in the one-off box if it costs you something.
- It does not value time, quality or results, and it does not say which option is better. A conversion is only whatever behaviour you agree is valuable[1], and no total here measures that.
- The cover list is a prompt. Its count is not a score.
- It is not tax, employment or legal advice. Take professional advice on VAT and on employer obligations.
The tool runs in your browser and stores nothing you type.
What to do next
Look first at the jobs marked not included or not sure, and put a figure on each one. Then read the common mistakes before you trust any total, and use the cornerstone guide to decide. To discuss any option with me, my consultancy is described on my own site. I sell it, which is why the tool never recommends an option.
Sources
- Google Ads Help, Conversion tracking: Definition. Accessed 4 November 2026.
- UAE Government portal (u.ae), End of service benefits for workers in the private sector. Accessed 4 November 2026.