There is no clear answer. It depends. First of all consider a Freelancer as a mercenary. He doesn't care about your cause, he cares about getting paid for it.

There is no clear answer. It depends. First of all consider a Freelancer as a mercenary. He doesn't care about your cause, he cares about getting paid for it. That means most of the times he will cut corners which may not be obvious at first but will come up later (e.g. security, scalability etc). This can usually be avoided by not going for the cheapest options but again there are no guarantees. On the other hand you may find a capable freelancer who has a good professional ethic. Who may even end up being one of your first employees later.