The difference in one sentence
A freelancer sells you delivered work — scoped, built, handed over. A dedicated developer sells you reserved capacity — a block of their week that is yours, for as long as the term runs. The first is a transaction; the second is a relationship with a calendar.
What each model actually buys
| Freelance (per project) | Dedicated (reserved blocks) | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Outcomes — the site, the migration, the fix | Capacity — hours per week, applied to your priorities |
| Best when | The work can be described and accepted | The work is continuous or cannot be fully predicted |
| Pricing shape | Fixed price or banded quote | Monthly, derived from hourly bands |
| Continuity | Per engagement | The same senior, month over month |
| Exit | Project ends, you own everything | Fair-notice cancellation |
Choose freelance when
The work has edges you can point at: a WordPress build, a Shopify store, a migration with a URL list, a performance pass with a target number. Defined work deserves defined pricing — and freelance-per-project is the only model where the price attaches to the deliverable instead of the clock.
Choose dedicated when
The backlog is real and continuous: a product shipping weekly, a WooCommerce estate that generates tickets the way forests generate leaves, a codebase that keeps punishing every new contractor's first month. The dedicated model's superpower is accumulated context — the developer who learned your system in week two is still there in month six, and the diff quality shows it.
The cost question, answered honestly
Per delivered hour, dedicated blocks usually price below project rates — you are buying predictability, which is worth money to both sides. Per useful hour, the comparison inverts if your backlog is thin: reserved capacity with nothing to feed it is the most expensive way to buy a safety blanket. The rates themselves are published by region and stack; both models reconcile to the same bands.
The model nobody advertises: switch
Healthy engagements change shape: start freelance (scoping plus first build), move to monthly retainer or dedicated blocks when the work proves continuous, back to per-project when it settles. The engagement model should follow the work, not the contract's anniversary.
Both models are available here — freelance and dedicated — and the brief reply recommends the one your scope justifies, with the reasoning shown.