Comparison
GetFlowing vs a software agency.
An agency gives you people for a period of time. GetFlowing gives you delivery capability that does not end with the statement of work, running in accounts you already own.
Short answer
An agency brings experienced people to a defined scope, for a defined period, usually working in their environment before handing something over. GetFlowing runs the delivery process inside your own GitHub organisation and cloud account from the first day, and keeps running it after launch. Agencies also use GetFlowing themselves to add capacity across client projects.
Common friction
What tends to be difficult with a fixed engagement.
None of this makes agencies the wrong choice. Experienced people are valuable, and some problems need judgement before they need capacity.
- Capability arrives with a contract and usually leaves with it.
- The handover is a separate exercise from the work itself.
- Change requests reopen commercial conversations before technical ones.
- Support after launch is a different agreement from the build.
- Context lives with the people who did the work rather than in your systems.
- Comparing quotes is difficult, because scopes and day rates are not comparable.
Side by side
A fixed engagement, and this.
Both give you delivery capability. They differ in where the work happens, who ends up holding the context, and what is left on the day the engagement ends.
- Where the work happens
- With a fixed engagement
Usually in the agency environment, with the result handed over at the end of the engagement.
- With GetFlowing
In your own GitHub organisation and cloud account from the first day, so there is nothing waiting to be handed over.
- Scope
- With a fixed engagement
Agreed as a statement of work. Changing it reopens a commercial conversation before a technical one.
- With GetFlowing
Work is requested rather than renegotiated, and a planning workspace is there for the pieces big enough to be worth agreeing up front.
- Review
- With a fixed engagement
Progress is reported at a checkpoint, in the format and at the cadence the agency uses.
- With GetFlowing
Changes arrive as pull requests with test results attached, so progress is inspectable on any day you choose to look.
- Release
- With a fixed engagement
Deployment arrangements vary by engagement, and frequently end with it.
- With GetFlowing
Container build, AWS rollout and health checks, with production deployments pausing for a person and recorded.
- Context
- With a fixed engagement
Lives with the people who did the work, and with the documents they wrote about it.
- With GetFlowing
Lives in the deployment history, the logs, the incident context and the audit trail, in accounts you own.
- After launch
- With a fixed engagement
A separate support agreement, negotiated separately, often with different people on it.
- With GetFlowing
The same platform keeps deploying, watches the running software and raises the ticket itself when something breaks, then works through maintenance requests from the dashboard or Slack.
When an agency is the right choice.
When the problem needs experienced human judgement about product, design or a difficult technical decision, people are the answer and no platform substitutes for that. Many agencies then use GetFlowing to deliver what they have decided, which is why we publish our prices: you can compare them against a quote without either of us inventing a saving figure.
Agency comparison questions
People, platforms and what happens after launch
Scope, ownership, life after the build and how to compare the cost honestly.
Is GetFlowing an alternative to a software agency?
It is a different shape of the same capability. An agency brings experienced people to a defined scope for a defined period. GetFlowing provides continuous delivery capability that does not end with a statement of work, running inside your own GitHub organisation and cloud account.
What happens after the initial build is finished?
Nothing has to be handed over, because the software was already being built in your accounts. The same platform that shipped the first release keeps deploying changes, monitoring production and working through maintenance requests raised from the dashboard or from Slack.
Who is watching the software between changes?
The platform is, continuously. An agency support agreement starts when you raise a ticket, which means you have to notice first. Here a failed release or an application that stops serving opens an incident on its own and raises a ticket with the GetFlowing team, so the gap between something breaking and somebody looking at it does not depend on you being awake.
Can an agency use GetFlowing for client work?
Yes, and that is one of the main use cases. An agency can add delivery capacity across client projects while keeping each project visible, deployable and auditable, with the code in the client GitHub organisation where it belongs.
How does the cost compare with an agency engagement?
We publish our prices so you can compare them with your own quotes. Agency day rates and scopes vary too much for us to make that comparison on your behalf, and we will not invent a saving figure. The pricing page lists every plan and the limits that come with it.
Something not covered here? Email hello@getflowing.ai and we will answer directly.
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