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Free tool from Momentum

Hire, freelance, or agency?

Find out what your marketing will really cost before you commit to any of them.

Run the numbers
! What this is A free tool from MomentumBuilt for founders deciding how to staff marketing

Most founders compare salary to rates. That comparison is wrong.

A $90,000 hire costs far more than $90,000 once you add payroll, recruiting, tools and the months before they're fully productive. Freelancers look cheap until you count the hours spent briefing and chasing them. This calculator puts all three options on the same footing, so you can see the full year-one bill before you decide.

60 secto your result
3market benchmarks
2026sourced data
! The calculator Fill in the blanksEverything recalculates instantly

Tell us about you

We're a company in that needs at a pace.

Click any highlighted word to change it.

Your first 12 months

Hiring Onboarding and ramp-up Full output, by option

Built on 2026 data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, SHRM and the Australian Taxation Office, plus published agency and freelancer rate surveys.

! Your breakdown Every line behind your numbersFree, takes ten seconds

Get the line-by-line breakdown

Every role, salary, payroll cost, recruiting fee and retainer line behind your numbers. Useful for your next budget conversation.

No newsletter unless you ask. Laiba may reach out once about your result.

! How it works Every assumption, in the openCheck our math

In-house team

  • Your scope decides the team. Light is one marketing generalist plus freelance design. Steady adds a content marketer. Aggressive adds a specialist for each workstream.
  • Salaries are 2026 national medians, scaled for stage (early ×0.9, scaling ×1.2) and industry (fintech ×1.2, healthtech ×1.15, SaaS ×1.1, eCommerce and DTC ×0.95).
  • Payroll load: 30% in the US (BLS puts it nearer 46%, so this is conservative), 15% employer NI plus 3% pension in the UK, 12% superannuation in Australia.
  • Software for each workstream (SEO, scheduling, design and email tools) plus workspace seats per hire. Equity for senior hires isn't counted, but it's often part of the offer.
  • Hiring takes 39 days (SHRM's 2026 median). New hires run at half capacity for three months while you pay full salary.

Freelancers

  • One freelancer per workstream, priced from published 2026 monthly ranges (US): content $700–5,600 (2–8 B2B articles at $350–700), LinkedIn and social $500–3,000, design retainers $1,000–4,000, strategy $375–4,000 (5–20 hours at $75–200), email $450–2,500, analytics $250–1,800. UK and Australian ranges are converted from these.
  • Your output level and industry set where you land in each range, the same way as the agency figure.
  • Includes platform fees, which run 10–20% of what you pay freelancers once client and freelancer charges are counted (we use 15%), plus the software freelancers need access to: SEO, scheduling, design and email tools.
  • About three weeks to find and vet people, then a month at half speed while they learn your brand.
  • Budget about two hours a week per freelancer for briefing, feedback and coordination.

Agency

  • Retainers come straight from published 2026 ranges: $1,000–25,000 a month in the US, £1,000–16,750 in the UK and A$4,500–21,000 in Australia.
  • The US low end reflects what well-known agencies publish as starting retainers, from about $1,000 a month. Enterprise agencies quote custom.
  • Agencies run their own tools and subscriptions inside the retainer. You only add ad spend.
  • Where you land in that range depends on how many workstreams you pick, your output level and your industry.
  • About a month of onboarding before full output.
  • Cost per productive month divides each year-one bill by the months you actually get full output.
  • Ad spend is left out of every option, since you pay it whichever route you choose.

Before you decide.

Can't find your question here? Ask Laiba directly on LinkedIn.

Is hiring in-house cheaper than an agency?

Rarely in year one. A single US content marketer earns about $90,000 at the median. Add payroll load, recruiting and ramp-up and one hire often costs more than an agency retainer covering several workstreams. In-house starts to win once you need four or more specialists working full time on one brand for several years.

What do marketing freelancers cost?

It depends on the work. B2B writers typically charge $350 to $700 per article, freelance social media managers $500 to $3,000 a month, and designers on retainer $1,000 to $4,000 a month. Strategists bill $75 to $200 an hour. Platform fees add another 10–20%, and you supply the software they work in.

What does a B2B marketing agency cost?

Well-known US agencies publish starting retainers of $1,000 to $5,000 a month, and B2B programs covering several channels typically run up to $15,000, with full content operations reaching $25,000 and more. UK full-service retainers sit between £3,500 and £16,750, single channels like SEO between £1,000 and £3,500. In Australia, single-channel retainers start around A$4,500. Ask about setup fees and minimum terms before you sign.

When do freelancers make more sense than an agency?

When you need one or two things done and someone on your team has time to brief, edit and keep the work on strategy. Once you're running three or more workstreams, coordinating people becomes a job of its own, and a single team with one point of contact usually pays for itself.

How accurate are these numbers?

They're planning estimates built on national benchmarks, so they're right on order of magnitude and direction. Your real figures will move with your city, the seniority you hire and how tightly you scope the work. Every assumption is listed in How it works above.

Momentum is an agency. Isn't this biased?

That's exactly why every assumption is published. On price alone, freelancers usually come out lowest, and the calculator says so. The gap shows up in the hours you spend managing them and the months before everyone is up to speed. If your situation calls for freelancers or a hire, we'll tell you that.

Momentum

The agency option, minus the agency feel.

Momentum is a B2B marketing agency for founders and growth-stage teams. You get a senior strategist who owns the plan and a team of writers and designers who ship it every week, with one point of contact instead of four freelancers to manage.

8+years building B2B marketing
90+companies served
ForbesCommunications Council member
Now booking

January 2027 starts

We keep a small roster on purpose. Four spots open for January: three for B2B teams, one for a founder building their personal brand.

Talk to Laiba, founder of Momentum

Send your result and a line about your business. You'll get a straight answer on which option fits your stage, even if it isn't us.

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Benchmarks updated October 2026. Planning estimates, not financial advice.