Independent Contractor Vs. Freelancer: Know The Difference

Freelancers are persons who work for themselves and are not employed by a corporation or organization. They mostly work on their own, developing, marketing, and providing clients with specialized skills and services.

A contractor, on the other hand, is an independent contractor. A contractor is genuinely hired by a vendor or an agency in the classic sense of the word. These agencies have managers who they report, and they pay them on a regular basis.

Difference:

1. Clientele

Because most freelance contracts are part-time or have a limited scope, freelancers frequently work with multiple clients at the same time.
As a freelancer, you can take up as many clients as you like.

Independent contractors can take on as many clients as they like.
You can take on larger projects as an independent contractor, which means you have fewer clients at any given moment.

2. Contract periods

The contract period for freelancer agreements is often substantially shorter. Many businesses use freelancers for a specific project or even a single day. The agreement does not require the freelancer to devote all of his or her working hours to a single client; the freelancer may just need to devote a few hours per week to a single client.

Contract workers and independent contractors are often recruited for long periods of time, such as three months to a year, and possibly longer. Contractors typically devote all of their work hours to a single client for the life of the contract, which makes for a more intensive engagement.

3. Choosing rates

Freelancers have complete control over their charges. They determine whether to charge by the hour or by the project depending on the assignment. In any case, they are in charge of determining how much to charge and negotiating rates with each client.

An independent contractor is paid on an hourly or project-based basis, which varies from client to client and job to job. If you hire a contractor through an agency, you rely on the agency to set and maintain fair pricing for each project.

4. Choosing projects

Freelancers have nearly total control over which jobs they accept and which projects they reject. A freelancer can choose to work on one or two large projects that consume the most of their time.

Contractors, unlike freelancers, are more likely to take on projects with larger scopes but smaller numbers. Rather than executing a single product, a contractor manages a whole multi-faceted project.

Also Read: Tips to invest right when you are freelancing