PPC consultant vs agency: which should you hire?
by Harry Watts · · updated · 6 min read
Declaration of interest first: I'm an independent consultant, so I sell one side of this argument. I've also spent years inside agencies and hired both from in-house seats. Read with the bias priced in.
The comparison most articles run ("agencies have teams, freelancers are cheap") misses what actually decides it. Here's the version I'd want if I were choosing.
The question that settles most cases: who does the work
At an agency, the person who impressed you in the pitch is rarely the person in your account by month two. Senior time flows to the biggest retainers (that's economics, not villainy), so smaller accounts are frequently run by the newest hire, learning on your budget while a layer of account management translates between you.
With an independent, the person you met is the person with the login. Every conversation is with someone who was inside the account that morning. Nothing survives a handoff, because there isn't one.
The corollary cuts both ways: you get one person's judgement, and one person's blind spots. A good agency team reviews each other's work. A consultant has to build that discipline alone; worth asking either how they catch their own mistakes.
What each costs
From the UK fee data: independents typically £200–£800 a month, agencies £500–£5,000+, published median around £470. Those bands track account size more than provider quality: small local accounts cluster at the bottom and pull the median down, while complex or multi-market accounts sit in the upper half of either column. The gap is mostly overhead (offices, account managers, new-business teams), not capability. A senior independent at £700 often gives you more experienced hours than an agency at £1,200, because none of the £700 funds anyone who doesn't touch your account. The same arithmetic holds further up the market: a senior independent at £1,500 is buying the hours that sit inside a £3,000 agency retainer.
Watch the model as much as the number. Percentage-of-spend billing (5–15%) exists in both camps and carries the same conflict wherever it lives: the manager earns more when you spend more.
The differences that hold up
| Independent consultant | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the account | The person you hired | Whoever has capacity (ask) |
| Typical UK fee | £200–£800/month | £500–£5,000+/month |
| Breadth | One discipline, deep | Search, social, creative under one roof |
| Cover & capacity | Limited: holidays are real | A bench absorbs absence |
| Communication | Direct to the practitioner | Via account management |
| Contracts | Usually monthly rolling | 3–12 month terms common |
| Key risk | One person's limits | Your priority inside their portfolio |
When the agency is the right answer
Straight answers, because pretending there's no case for the other side would tell you everything about this article:
- You need more than search. Paid social, display, creative production, a coordinated multi-channel plan: that's a department's job. One person managing five channels is shallow in all of them.
- You need guaranteed cover. Always-on trading accounts, contractual SLAs, procurement that requires bench depth. A sole practitioner's holiday is your cover gap.
- You want a team's error-correction. Structured QA and peer review are real advantages when the account is complex enough to need them.
When the independent is the right answer
- Paid search is the job. You need depth in one channel, not coverage of six.
- Your account is the size agencies staff last. The retainers that get an agency's newest hire are exactly where a senior independent's attention changes outcomes.
- The account is bigger, but search is still the job. At four-figure retainers the question isn't who is cheapest, it's whether the fee buys senior hours or a layer of handover.
- You want the incentives clean. Flat fee, monthly rolling, your own account, no percentage of spend. Independents don't have a monopoly on this — but it's easier to find there.
The label matters less than the checks
Quality varies more within each model than between them. There are brilliant agencies and negligent ones, exceptional independents and cowboys. So whichever way you lean, apply the same tests: campaigns built in your account, a change history that shows real work, reporting in conversions and cost per customer rather than clicks, and plain answers to plain questions. Anyone failing those checks is the wrong choice in either category.
And ask the capacity question of independents specifically: "how many accounts do you run?" An honest number with a ceiling is reassurance. "As many as come" is a warning.
Quick answers
Freelancer or agency: short version?
Consultant when search is the job and senior attention matters. Agency when you need breadth across channels or guaranteed cover. Then judge the individual, not the label.
How much does a freelance PPC consultant charge?
Typically £200–£800 a month in the UK, against £500–£5,000+ agency-side. Bands track account size, and complex accounts sit well above the median. The gap is overhead, not skill: none of an independent's fee funds people who don't touch your account.
What's the risk of a one-person consultancy?
Capacity and continuity: holidays, illness, no bench. Mitigate it: your own account, documented setup, and a consultant honest about client limits. The one who never says no is the risky one.
Do agencies really put juniors on small accounts?
Commonly: senior time flows to the largest retainers. Ask who has the login, how senior they are, and how many accounts they carry. That answer is what you're buying.
Can I switch without losing my campaigns?
Only if the campaigns live in your own Google Ads account; then access changes hands and history survives. If they're in the agency's account, a switch means rebuilding from zero. Check before you give notice.
Deciding between the two right now
A free intro call is thirty minutes. If what you need is genuinely a department (several channels, cover, creative), I'll say so and point you at the agency conversation instead. If it's paid search done properly by a senior pair of hands, that's what this is.