How to Choose a Web & Mobile Development Agency

The Real Cost of Choosing the Wrong Agency

Every founder or business owner who has been through a failed development project knows the feeling. Six months in, tens of thousands spent, and you are staring at a product that does not work, code that nobody can maintain, and a timeline that has slipped for the fourth time.

The wrong agency does not just cost money. It costs time — the one resource you cannot get back. It costs momentum — your competitors ship while you wait. And it costs trust — your team, your investors, and your customers lose confidence in your ability to execute.

According to the Standish Group's CHAOS Report, roughly 66% of software projects end in partial or total failure. That is not a technology problem. It is a selection problem. Most failed projects trace back to the same root cause: the business chose the wrong development partner.

This guide gives you a practical framework for evaluating agencies so you do not join that statistic. We cover eight criteria that matter, the red flags that should make you walk away, and when a freelancer, agency, or studio is the right fit.

Key Takeaways

• 66% of software projects end in partial or total failure — most trace back to choosing the wrong partner
• Always ask to see the agency's code, not just screenshots
• Fixed pricing protects you; hourly billing protects the agency
• A smaller studio often outperforms a large agency on speed, cost, and accountability

The 8 Criteria That Actually Matter

1. Portfolio Depth — Shipped Products, Not Just Mockups

The single most important thing you can evaluate is whether an agency has shipped real, working products that are live and used by actual customers.

Anyone can show you a Figma file. A polished case study page with screenshots means nothing if the product behind it was never launched, was abandoned after delivery, or crumbles under real usage.

What to look for:

• Can they show you live URLs or App Store links for products they built?
• Are those products still running and being maintained, or are they broken?
• Do the case studies mention measurable outcomes (user counts, revenue, performance metrics)?
• Have they worked across different industries, or are they pigeonholed into one niche?

What to ask: "Can you show me three products you built in the last two years that are still live and actively used?"

If they cannot answer that question with links, that is your first red flag. For reference, you can browse our live portfolio — every project listed is shipped and in production.

2. Tech Stack Match — Modern, Maintainable, and Appropriate

Technology choices have consequences that last years. An agency that builds your mobile app on an outdated framework or chooses a backend technology because it is what they know — not what your project needs — creates technical debt you will pay for long after the project ends.

What to look for:

• Do they use current, well-supported frameworks with active communities? For web, that means Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit — not jQuery or PHP spaghetti. For mobile, React Native, Flutter, or native Swift/Kotlin — not Cordova or Ionic.
• Can they explain why they recommend a particular stack for your project? The answer should be tied to your requirements (performance, timeline, budget, team), not just "it's what we use."
• Do they write TypeScript (or equivalent typed language)? Typed codebases are dramatically easier to maintain and debug.
• Do they use modern infrastructure — CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, cloud hosting with proper monitoring?

A good agency will push back if you ask for a technology that does not fit your project. If they say yes to everything without questioning your assumptions, they are either desperate for the work or planning to figure it out on your dime.

3. Communication Style — How They Talk to You Before the Contract Tells You Everything

Pay close attention to how an agency communicates during the sales process. The responsiveness, clarity, and transparency you see before you sign is the best version of their communication. It only gets worse after the contract is signed and the novelty wears off.

What to evaluate:

What to ask: "How will we communicate during the project? How often will I see progress? What happens when something goes wrong?"

4. Pricing Model — Fixed Price vs. Hourly, and When Each Makes Sense

There are two dominant pricing models in agency work, and each has legitimate use cases.

Fixed price means you agree on a scope and a total cost upfront. The agency takes on the risk of underestimation.

• Pros: Budget certainty, clear deliverables, easier to compare across agencies.
• Cons: Requires detailed scoping upfront. Changes to scope mean change orders and renegotiation.
• Best for: Projects with well-defined requirements — marketing sites, landing pages, MVPs with clear feature lists.

Time and materials (hourly) means you pay for hours worked. You take on the risk of the project taking longer than expected.

• Pros: Flexibility to change direction, no need to define everything upfront, works well for ongoing development.
• Cons: No budget ceiling, invoices can surprise you, harder to hold the agency accountable for efficiency.
• Best for: Complex products with evolving requirements, long-term development partnerships, R&D projects.

The hybrid approach — a fixed price for an initial MVP or phase, then switching to time and materials for iteration — often works best for startups and growing businesses.

5. Pricing Transparency — Do You Know What You Are Paying For?

Separate from the pricing model is the question of transparency. Can the agency break down what your money is actually buying?

What a transparent proposal looks like:

• Itemized breakdown by feature or phase
• Clear distinction between design, development, testing, and project management hours
• Stated assumptions (e.g., "This estimate assumes a maximum of two revision rounds per design")
• Definition of what is included and what is not
• Payment schedule tied to milestones, not arbitrary dates

What a non-transparent proposal looks like:

• A single lump sum with no breakdown
• "Discovery phase" or "project management" fees that are suspiciously large with no explanation
• Vague deliverable descriptions ("custom web application")
• Payment fully upfront before any work begins

If an agency cannot explain where your money goes, they are either hiding inefficiency or planning to surprise you with add-ons later. For a detailed breakdown of what different project types actually cost, see our website pricing guide.

6. Code Ownership — Full IP Transfer vs. Vendor Lock-In

This is the criterion most non-technical founders overlook, and it can be the most expensive mistake.

You must own 100% of the code when the project is delivered. This should be explicit in the contract. Anything less means you are renting, not buying.

What to verify:

• The contract includes a clause transferring all intellectual property to you upon final payment.
• The code is delivered in a Git repository that you control (your GitHub or GitLab account).
• There are no proprietary frameworks, libraries, or tools in the codebase that tie you to the agency.
• You can hire any other developer to maintain the code after delivery.

Warning: Some agencies build on top of their own proprietary CMS or framework. This means you can never leave them without rewriting the entire project from scratch. This is intentional lock-in, and it is one of the most predatory practices in the industry.

7. Post-Delivery Support — What Happens After Launch

Launching is not the end. It is the beginning. Bugs will surface. Users will request features. Servers will need monitoring. Security patches will need applying.

What to ask:

• Do they offer a maintenance retainer after delivery? What does it include?
• Is there a warranty period where bugs are fixed at no cost?
• Do they provide monitoring and alerting for production issues?
• Can they scale the team up if you need rapid iteration after launch?
• What is their response time for critical production issues?

An agency that disappears after delivery was never invested in your success. They were invested in closing the project and moving on. The best agencies build long-term relationships because they know a successful launch leads to ongoing work.

8. References and Case Studies — Talk to Real Clients

Every agency will show you their best work. The real signal comes from talking to their clients directly.

What to ask references:

• Did the project deliver on time and on budget?
• How did the agency handle problems or scope changes?
• Would you hire them again for a new project?
• What was the biggest challenge, and how did the agency handle it?
• Is the product still running on the code they delivered?

If an agency refuses to provide references, or can only provide references from projects that are more than two years old, that tells you something.

Red Flags That Should Make You Walk Away

Not every warning sign is subtle. Here are the ones that should end the conversation immediately:

• They cannot show you live products. If nothing they have built is still running, either their work does not hold up or their clients did not succeed. Neither is a good sign.
• No fixed pricing option at all. An agency that refuses to quote fixed prices for well-defined projects is either unable to estimate accurately or unwilling to commit to their own estimates.
• Vague timelines with no milestones. "We'll have something in a few months" is not a timeline. A professional agency breaks projects into phases with clear deliverables and dates.
• They outsource without telling you. There is nothing inherently wrong with distributed teams. But if the agency pitching you in London is secretly outsourcing to a team you have never met, that is deception — and it usually comes with communication problems, quality issues, and zero accountability.
• The proposal is a one-page PDF. A serious proposal for a serious project is detailed. It covers scope, timeline, assumptions, risks, payment terms, and deliverables. If the proposal is thin, the thinking behind it is thin.
• They agree to everything. A good agency says no. They push back on bad ideas, challenge unrealistic timelines, and tell you when your budget does not match your ambition. If they nod along to everything, they are selling, not advising.
• No contract or a contract without IP transfer. Walk away.

Freelancer vs. Agency vs. Studio — When Each Makes Sense

The right choice depends on your project's complexity, budget, and timeline.

A small studio or boutique agency — typically 3 to 8 people — often hits the sweet spot for startups and SMBs. You get the multi-disciplinary team and process of an agency without the overhead and bureaucracy of a large studio. You work directly with the people building your product, not account managers who relay messages.

How to Run the Selection Process

Once you have a shortlist of 3-5 agencies, here is a practical process:

1. Send a brief. Write a one-page document describing your project, goals, target users, and rough budget range. The same brief to every agency.
2. Evaluate the responses. Who asks the best questions? Who challenges your assumptions? Who just sends a price?
3. Review portfolios. Visit live products. Download apps. Click through the sites. Look at the details.
4. Have a technical call. Talk to the people who will actually build your product, not just the sales team. Ask about architecture, testing, deployment.
5. Check references. Call at least two past clients per agency.
6. Compare proposals. Not just on price — on clarity, detail, and alignment with your goals.

The cheapest proposal is rarely the best value. The most expensive is not always the best quality. Look for the one that demonstrates the deepest understanding of your problem and the clearest path to solving it.

What a Good Partnership Looks Like

When you find the right agency, the relationship feels collaborative, not transactional. They tell you things you do not want to hear because they care about the outcome. They suggest cutting features to hit your timeline because they understand trade-offs. They document their code because they know someone else might maintain it. They deliver working software on a predictable schedule, not just status updates.

At ELM Labs, we build production-grade web and mobile applications on modern stacks — Next.js, React Native, Swift, Python — with fixed pricing, full IP transfer, clean code handoff via Git, and optional maintenance retainers. Every product in our portfolio is live, shipped, and in use.

But do not take our word for it. Apply the criteria in this guide to us, and to every other agency on your list. The right partner will stand up to scrutiny. Learn more about our team and process.