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What growth actually costs you

This compares the true monthly cost of three ways to run growth: hiring in house, retaining an agency, or assembling freelancers. It loads salary with employer costs, which most comparisons omit, and prices the founder hours that usually go uncounted. Change any input to match your situation.

Last reviewed 27 August 2026

$/yr
$/mo
$/mo
$/mo
/wk
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Use what you would pay someone to replace an hour of your product work.

Result

Loaded cost of the hire

$14,300/mo

Base salary loaded at 1.43x for employer costs

Your own time, costed

$6,495/mo

10 hours a week at $150 an hour

Monthly cost including your time

Monthly cost including your time
OptionDirectYour timeTotal
In-house hire$14,300$1,949$16,249
Agency retainer$8,000$3,248$11,248
Freelance stack$5,000$6,495$11,495

On these numbers an agency is cheapest at $11,248 a month. Cost is only half the question: an option that is cheap and ships nothing costs the most of all.

How this works

What the numbers mean.

  • 01Salary is loaded at 1.43x. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data puts wages at 69.9 percent of total employer compensation for private-industry workers, so base pay understates the real cost by roughly 43 percent before equipment or recruiting.
  • 02Each option carries a different amount of your time. A hire still needs managing, an agency needs briefing and reviewing, and a freelance stack needs you to coordinate between people who do not talk to each other.
  • 03Your hourly rate is the part founders resist filling in honestly. Use what you would pay to replace an hour of your product work, not your salary divided by hours.

Assumptions and limits

  • Loading covers wages and benefits only. Laptop, software seats, workspace, and recruiting cost are additional.
  • The founder-time multipliers are our operating estimates, not measured figures.
  • This tool prices inputs. It cannot price whether anything actually ships, which is usually the deciding factor.

Questions about this tool

Why load salary by 1.43x?
Because base salary is not what an employee costs. US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data puts wages and salaries at 69.9 percent of total compensation for private-industry workers, with benefits making up the other 30.1 percent. That ratio gives a 1.43x multiplier, and it still excludes equipment and recruiting.
Is founder time really a cost?
It is the largest hidden cost in most early-stage growth budgets. If ten hours a week goes into marketing, that is a quarter of a working week not spent on the product, and it is the reason so many founders conclude that growth work is not worth it. Putting a number on it makes the trade visible.
Why does the agency row still cost me time?
Because agencies need briefing, reviewing, and chasing. The work does not arrive correct without context, and supplying that context is your job. Companies that budget zero hours against an agency retainer are usually the ones that end up disappointed by it.
What is not included here?
Paid media budget, tooling subscriptions, recruiting fees, and severance risk. It also does not model time to first output, which differs enormously between the options and often matters more than the monthly number.

Related

This tool is free and there is nothing to sign up for. If you would rather have the work done than calculate it, that is what Zway does.

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