Why Faintech vs. other options — honest comparison
Before choosing who builds your digital product, you have four real options: large agency with 50+ people, single freelancer, in-house team, or small agency-style team like Faintech. Each has real advantages and specific traps. Here's the honest comparison, no sales pitch.
Comparison table on 12 dimensions
When to choose each option
Choose a large agency (50+ people) when...
- Project budget > €200,000 with large organizational complexity
- You need 5-10 different specializations simultaneously
- Compliance requirements are extreme (banking, defense, government)
- You want a brand-name agency for investors or audit
- Your internal processes are rigid corporate
Choose a single freelancer when...
- Total budget under €5,000
- Project is simple, isolated, no complex integrations
- You have time to manage coordination, code review, deploy yourself
- «Freelancer disappeared» risk is acceptable
- You know the freelancer personally with demonstrated trust
Choose in-house team when...
- Software is core to your business model (not support function)
- You need 3+ full-time people for 12+ months
- Workload is constant and predictable
- You have HR capacity to recruit and retain seniors
- Compliance strictly requires all people on employment contracts
Choose Faintech (small agency-style) when...
- Budget between €5,000 and €100,000 per project
- You want agency quality without agency overhead
- You need a team with mixed specializations without hiring 3 people
- Time-to-start matters — kick-off in 1-2 weeks, not 2 months
- Your team isn't technical and needs an honest technical partner
- You want flexibility to change direction without heavy renegotiation
Our verdict, unfiltered
If you have a budget over €300,000 and the product is crucial to the company, large agency or in-house make sense. If you have under €5,000 and clear scope, a freelancer solves your problem. The rest — meaning most B2B projects in Romania and EU between €5k and €100k — benefit maximally from the small agency-style model. That's our positioning, that's what we deliver. If you fit, write us. If not, we sincerely recommend the right alternative.
How to verify if the right team is what you're looking for
- Request portfolio with similar projects — not just logos, but problem solved description, tech stack, measured results.
- Request direct conversation with the technical lead who'll work on your project, not just sales.
- Request explicit IP transfer clause in contract and repository access from day 1.
- Request direct references from 2-3 recent clients who launched recently.
- Request written discovery phase before any firm quote, deductible from the project.
- Verify they respond in <24h before signing — if they're slow now, they'll be slower after contract.