PHP Outsourcing Company vs. In-House Team: Which Is Right for Your Business?

A Quick Sneak Peak into the PHP Development Industry

At the threshold of the upcoming year, PHP will continue to evolve with multiple transformations related to PHP deployment, development approaches, and overall challenges faced in the industry.

Notably, the release of PHP 8.3 signified a new era of PHP security and performance. Over and above that, most PHP developers now focus on migrating from End-of-Life (EOL) PHP versions to supported long-term support (LTS) versions, which, in turn, emphasizes the significance of maintaining updated and secure PHP environments in response to growing cybersecurity hazards. Even though the modern development landscape offers a multitude of programming languages, PHP remains a popular option praised for its outstanding versatility, scalability, and large developer community.

Speaking of the current PHP development trends, recent surveys report that the top 3 PHP application categories include:

1. Approximately 80% for Services/APIs.
2. Approximately 65% for Internal Business Applications.
3. Approximately 50% for Content Management Systems.

By the way, eCommerce Solutions and CRM/ERM Systems secured the fourth and fifth positions in the top 5 ranking.

Needless to say, the mind-blowing popularity of PHP in 2025 is caused by one of its most remarkable features, also known as horizontal scaling. It allows PHP engineers to spin up more application instances whenever required to scale the application up. Hence, there is no need to take down the app in order to provide a larger, more efficient server. Significantly reducing the total cost of ownership, horizontal scaling perfectly handles traffic drops, enabling developers to scale the solution back quickly and efficiently.

First Things First: Identifying PHP Development Needs

Before jumping right into the battle between a PHP outsourcing company and an in-house development team, let us consider the preparation phase.

There is no doubt that it is always better to start by clearly defining your needs. In this way, you can better evaluate whether an in-house team or an outsourcing company is the right fit. The devabit team recommends creating a specific PHP checklist. Below, we have gathered several questions to help you navigate through the preparation phase:

• What type of project do you want to develop? Whether it is an eCommerce platform, CMS solution, or custom web application, the team choice may vary accordingly.
• What about the complexity of your project?
• Do you have any tech stack preferences?
• What are your budget and timeline expectations?
• Do you need ongoing support and maintenance?

Please note that this is just the illustrative list of questions. You can add or delete specific questions according to your unique requirements.

Tips for choosing between a PHP outsourcing company and an in-house team:

• Value for Money Analysis (Compare the total costs and potential ROI to meet your budget and objectives.)
• Talent Pool Comparison (While working with in-house PHP development teams, evaluate the availability of skilled developers in your area. When it comes to a PHP outsourcing company, analyze the vendor's portfolio.)
• Communication and Collaboration Preferences(If you prefer to work with a PHP outsourcing company, look for a provider with a strong communication strategy and tools to ensure seamless collaboration.)
• Hybrid Cooperation Model (Consider a hybrid approach, e.g., hiring a small in-house team for core tasks while delegating large projects to a PHP outsourcing company.)

Advantages of In-House PHP Teams

After all, it is time to reap the benefits associated with hiring in-house PHP engineers. Ready to dive in?

1 / The Power in Your Hands

With an in-house PHP development team by your side, you can easily manage and control every aspect of the development journey. Therefore, hiring an in-house team is a perfect option for businesses seeking a high level of customization or frequent iterations.

2 / Language of Success

In-house teams are always accessible under the same roof, ensuring real-time collaboration and problem-solving. Thus, the risk of communication delays is lower while team synergy grows.

3 / Mindset Match

Over time, in-house developers gain an in-depth understanding of your company's goals, culture, and processes, resulting in better alignment with your long-term business vision.

4 / Always Here to Help

Unlike external PHP outsourcing vendors, in-house PHP development teams can quickly address urgent issues or implement changes without delays.

Disadvantages of In-House PHP Teams

There are always two sides to each coin, so it is essential to consider the disadvantages associated with in-house PHP developers.

1 / Large Investment

Recruiting, training, and retaining skilled PHP developers can be expensive. Additionally, you will need to invest in salaries, benefits, office space, equipment, and software licenses.

2 / Limited Expertise

An in-house team may lack the diverse skill set and experience that outsourcing companies offer, particularly for niche projects or advanced technologies.

3 / Scalability Difficulties

Scaling an in-house team for larger or more complex projects can be time-consuming and costly. Hiring additional developers may not always be feasible.

4 / Employee Turnover Risk

Losing key team members can disrupt projects and lead to delays, especially if their expertise is difficult to replace.

Advantages of Partnering with a PHP Outsourcing Company

No worries concerning costly equipment or recruitment processes... Is that all? Let us find out.

1 / Save on Investment

If you need to significantly reduce investment, a PHP outsourcing company is a perfect choice. Pay for what you need without any upcoming recruitment, training, or infrastructure expenses.

2 / Enjoy Top Quality

Partnering with a PHP outsourcing company enables you to access a wide pool of experienced engineers with knowledge of various PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter. Thus, you can easily find the right fit for your project's unique requirements.

3 / Scale without Risks

Struggling with constantly evolving project requirements? Thanks to a PHP outsourcing company, you can scale up and down without worrying about investment or team issues. Such a high level of flexibility is ideal for enterprises with inconsistent workloads.

4 / Focus on Business Essentials

While a PHP outsourcing company handles the technical side of your market-leading web solution, you can focus on core business activities like marketing, sales, or customer service.

Disadvantages of Partnering with a PHP Outsourcing Company

Think twice before you leap. However, you can easily overcome the drawbacks of working with a PHP outsourcing company if you choose the right risk management approach.

1 / Risk of Misunderstanding

Sometimes, differences in time zones, languages, and communication styles can cause delays and misunderstandings. To mitigate this risk, prioritize involving dedicated project managers and using efficient collaboration tools like Trello.

2 / Trust Issues

Working with a PHP development company often means relying on the vendor's expertise and processes without the ability to control each development step, which can be a problem for businesses that prefer hands-on involvement.

3 / Quality Concerns

It is clear that not all PHP outsourcing companies deliver the same level of quality. Selecting the wrong PHP outsourcing company can result in poor outcomes, missed deadlines, or unexpected expenses.

4 / Data Breaches

Sharing sensitive business data with an external PHP outsourcing company can pose security risks. Therefore, ensuring the PHP outsourcing company follows robust security protocols and complies with relevant regulations is of paramount importance.

PHP Outsourcing Company vs. In-House Team: Key Considerations to Decide

Since we have already sorted out all the advantages and disadvantages of each development approach, it is time to consider some essential aspects.

An in-house PHP development team fits simple and small-scale projects well. Contrarily, comprehensive solutions with vast functionality require advanced expertise that a PHP outsourcing company can provide. If budget is your primary concern, working with a PHP outsourcing company will help you save money on payments related to hiring, training, and maintaining in-house employees. On the flip side, an in-house team can be beneficial in terms of ongoing development needs or continuous product improvement. For short-term requirements, in turn, the PHP outsourcing company wins. Working under strict deadlines? The PHP outsourcing company can significantly speed up the development process thanks to well-established workflows and vast expertise. Finally, consider how much control you want. If you prioritize micromanagement, an in-house team is preferable.

Real Cases Instead of Boring Phrases

Review some remarkable achievements of our PHP outsourcing company.

Content Creation & Distribution Platform

The PHP-empowered solution provides one major place for all content requirements. Users can start from scratch or pick from a professional template and publish their creative to the most popular networks. This SaaS-powered web platform equips real estate companies with multipurpose, ready-to-use social graphics. The creation of marketing material/ads for the largest social network either requires real estate enterprises to hire external marketing agencies, which is quite expensive, or bring that experience in-house, which also involves budget investments. Fortunately, the platform solves this issue by providing an intuitive solution to build media assets, publish them to social networks, and track their performance — all in one place.

E-Learning & Marketing Platform

Probably the best beer in the world. This is how Carlsberg, one of the largest world-renowned beer manufacturers, describes its brand. Still, it is also clear that such a powerful company requires multiple online tools to handle its operational and performance-based aspects efficiently. Hence, devabit managed to empower Carlsberd with one such tool — a complex web platform based on SaaS technology. The exclusive mesh of learning and marketing capabilities provided in this one-of-a-kind solution enables our client to adopt the full suite of robust tools, ranging from interactive quizzes to various beer courses.

Final Verdict: PHP Outsourcing Company vs. In-House Development Team

To be or not to be... To choose a PHP outsourcing company or hire an in-house team. This eternal controversy can easily be resolved if you have a deep understanding of your business needs. Our research proves that both options have their advantages and disadvantages, and the right choice will vary from one business to another.

To make an informed decision and avoid potential risks, our team recommends thoroughly evaluating your needs and conducting proper research at the onset of your PHP development journey. Whether you decide to hire an in-house team or work with a PHP outsourcing company, the secret of success lies in prioritizing quality, collaboration, and alignment with your long-term business goals.

Looking for a trustworthy PHP outsourcing company? At devabit, you can hire a dedicated team of best-in-class PHP developers. Backed by years of experience in the web development domain, we deliver cutting-edge solutions tailored to success. Ready to start your web development journey right here? Contact our team to get a free quote for your project.