Comparison
Nuttifox compared to the alternatives
Most teams choose between five routes: a digital studio, a freelancer, a traditional agency, an in-house hire, or an AI builder. Nuttifox sits between freelancer and agency, delivering design and engineering in one team, live in two to six weeks.
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cost · speed · who does the workHow the five routes compare
| Nuttifox | Freelancer | Traditional agency | In-house hire | AI builder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $2,000/week full-time, or $600/day · $1,280/week flexible | $3k–$8k for a small site | $25k–$60k+ per project | $120k+ a year loaded for a designer plus a developer | $0–$500, plus your own time |
| Time to live | 2–6 weeks for most builds, 8–12 for a full SaaS product | 3–10 weeks, depending on their other clients | 12–16 weeks | 2–3 months to hire before work starts | A weekend to a first draft, then it stalls |
| End of week one | Concept designs or a working prototype you can click through | A kickoff call and a moodboard | A discovery workshop and a schedule | A job spec | A homepage that looks close |
| Who does the work | The four senior people you met — design, engineering, GTM | The one person you hired | Often a junior team after the pitch | Your hire, once they land | You, between everything else |
| Design and build | Both, one team, no hand-off | Usually one or the other well | Both, through a hand-off | Depends entirely on the two hires | Whatever the tool allows |
| When something breaks | Same-day response, fixes shipped within 48 hours | When they're free | A ticket in a queue | Your hire, if they're still there | You are the support team |
| After launch | Your team edits it; we stay on call for what they'd rather not touch | Back to the queue for every change | Change requests, quoted | You own it, if the hire stays | You own it, and every edit risks the layout |
| Where it goes wrong | We're pricier than a freelancer and slower than a prompt | One person leaves and the project is orphaned | It reflects the agency's taste, and needs them to change | Two hires, two notice periods, one dependency | Easy to start, hard to make production-safe |
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five honest casesChoose each route when
01
Choose a freelancer when
- The scope is a page or two and you can art-direct it yourself.
- You already have a design system and you need hands.
- Nothing revenue-carrying depends on it shipping on time.
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said on call one, not week threeWhen we’re the wrong choice
- You want the cheapest option. A freelancer will beat us on price, and we'll say so on the first call.
- You need someone on-site. We're a remote studio and we work in a shared channel, not in your office.
- You want a big-agency committee process — steering groups, stage gates, a deck per milestone. We move faster than that format allows.
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What the first weeks look like
One shared channel from day one. Something you can click through at the end of week one. Live in two to six weeks — no discovery theatre in between.
- 01
Day one
One shared channel, and you meet the four people doing the work — no account manager in between.
- 02
Every day
Written updates as work lands. Same-day response on anything you raise.
- 03
End of week one
Concept designs or a clickable prototype on your own content — something you can forward to anyone.
- 04
From there
The system behind it, so page nine takes an hour instead of a day. Live in two to six weeks.
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eight of themQuestions buyers actually ask
faq.mdx
01
How much does Nuttifox cost compared to a freelancer?
A freelancer is cheaper — roughly $3k–$8k for a small site against our $2,000/week. You're paying for four senior people instead of one, design and engineering under one roof, and a fixed weekly rate you can stop at any time. If the scope is a page or two and you can art-direct it, hire the freelancer.02
Is a studio worth it if I can build it myself in Lovable or Framer?
If nobody important is about to look at it, build it yourself — it costs almost nothing and you'll learn what you actually need. The case for us starts when the thing has to survive scrutiny, carry revenue, or be edited by a team without breaking.03
How long does a project take?
Two to six weeks for most builds, depending on page count and how quickly content and feedback come back. A full custom SaaS product is longer — eight to twelve weeks to first paying customer. You see concept designs or a working prototype at the end of week one, so you're never waiting a month to find out what it looks like.04
What happens if we stop working together?
You keep everything — the project, the CMS, the content. Your team can already edit it, because that's how we build. There's no proprietary layer to unpick and no retainer required to change a line of text.05
Who actually does the work?
The same four people from kickoff to launch: Khalid and Kanishak on design and engineering, Mo on design and web, Chris on design and GTM. No hand-off to a junior pod after the contract is signed.06
What's your response time when something breaks?
Same-day response, and fixes shipped within 48 hours. That's the commitment we'll put in writing.07
What if I already have a designer?
Then use them. If you have a designer whose work you like, we build to their designs rather than duplicate the role — plenty of our best projects start with someone else's design system.08
Do you only build in Framer?
No. Framer, React, Lovable, Replit, n8n and Claude — we pick the platform for the job rather than fitting every project into one. We're a Framer Enterprise Agency, an n8n Expert Partner and a Lovable Gold Partner./06
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