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Agency, freelancer or in-house writer?

Three ways to get developer content for a devtool company, compared on cost, code quality and how much of your team's time each one takes.

The short answer

Hire freelancers for occasional pieces if an engineer on your team can brief them and check the code. Hire an in-house writer if content and docs are a permanent, full-time job.

Choose an agency like Argot when you want regular, publish-ready developer content without hiring. Argot's writers build with your product and run every line of code, and editing and strategy are included.

Updated October 2026. Argot is an agency, so we have a stake in this comparison. Every figure on this page links to its source.

Side by side

The same seven questions asked of each option.

Freelancers

Typical cost
$20 to $45 an hour, Upwork median
Who learns your product
Each new writer, usually briefed by your engineers
Code checked before you see it
Depends on the writer
Your team's time
Vetting, briefing, technical review and rewrites
Flexibility
Hire per piece; quality varies from writer to writer
What it covers
Whatever you brief
Best for
Occasional articles, with a technical reviewer on your team

In-house writer

Typical cost
$90,390 median salary, about $132,000 a year with benefits
Who learns your product
One person, in depth, over months
Code checked before you see it
Depends on the writer and your review process
Your team's time
Hiring, onboarding and day-to-day management
Flexibility
Fixed capacity at one salary, whatever the volume
What it covers
Marketing content, docs, release notes and internal writing
Best for
A permanent, full-time content and docs workload

Agency (Argot)

Typical cost
Per piece or retainer; Argot scopes work to your budget
Who learns your product
Argot builds with your product before writing
Code checked before you see it
Argot runs every line of code in a draft first
Your team's time
A kickoff conversation, then review
Flexibility
Scale up or pause without hiring
What it covers
Tutorials, guides, explainers, opinion, editing and content strategy
Best for
Regular, publish-ready developer content without hiring

Cost figures are US medians. Sources are listed at the end of the page.

Where each one is strongest

Each option is the right choice for some teams. This is what each does best.

Freelancers

  • The lowest hourly cost. Upwork's median for technical writers is $20 to $45 an hour.
  • One piece at a time, with no ongoing commitment.
  • A large pool, so you can find someone who already knows your niche.

In-house writer

  • The deepest product knowledge, built up over months inside your team.
  • Covers docs, release notes and internal writing as well as marketing content.
  • A fixed cost that gets cheaper per piece as your volume grows.

Agency (Argot)

  • Writers build with your product first, so drafts start from working code.
  • Every line of code in a draft has been run before you see it.
  • Writing, editing and strategy from one team, including edits to drafts your team or a model wrote.
  • Has written for Clerk, Deno, Modal, Neon, Retool and other devtool companies.

How the work differs

Hourly rates are only part of the cost. The rest is how much of your engineers' time a piece needs before it can go live.

Explaining your product
With freelancers, you brief each new writer, and the briefing usually falls to an engineer. An in-house writer needs that context once. Argot learns the product by building with it before writing.
Checking the code
This is the hidden cost of cheap content. If nobody runs the code, a developer reader will, and a broken snippet costs you their trust. Argot runs every snippet and command before the draft reaches you.
Keeping it going
An in-house writer builds context that stays with your team until they leave. Freelancers come and go per piece. An agency keeps the work going without you hiring or replacing anyone.

What each option costs

US figures from Upwork and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Agencies don't publish comparable numbers, so we don't invent one.

Freelancers

$20 to $45 an hour

Upwork's median for technical writers. Top writers on the platform charge from $15 to $125 an hour, most between $30 and $60.

Source: Upwork

In-house writer

About $132,000 a year

The median US technical writer salary was $90,390 in May 2025. Wages are 68.5% of what employers spend on full-time private-sector staff, so benefits bring the total to roughly $132,000.

Sources: BLS salary data, BLS benefits data

Agency (Argot)

Scoped to your budget

Agencies price per piece or as a monthly retainer, and rates vary widely. Argot scopes work to your budget and the content you need. Email us for a quote.

None of these numbers include your engineers' time spent briefing writers and checking their code.

Which one to choose

Freelancers
You need a few pieces a year, and an engineer has time to brief the writer and check the code.
In-house writer
Content and docs are a permanent, full-time workload, and you can hire and manage a writer.
Agency (Argot)
You want regular developer content that is ready to publish, without hiring or reviewing every line of code yourself.

See what Argot writes and how we work, compare the best developer content agencies, or read What is technical content marketing?

Questions

Not always. A freelancer is cheaper for occasional articles if your team can brief them and check the code. An agency like Argot is the better fit when you want publish-ready developer content regularly, with code that has been run, without managing individual writers.

Sources

Talk it through with us

Tell us what you need written and who reads it. If freelancers or a hire would suit you better, we'll say so.

Start a projectwork@argot.dev