Contacting creators directly looks free until you count the hours. A marketplace looks expensive until you count what it removes. The honest comparison is about volume and about what happens when something goes wrong.

What direct actually costs

Finding people, checking the work is theirs, agreeing terms, chasing replies, shipping products, handling an invoice from each one and following up when a delivery slips. For one video that is manageable. For eight videos a month it is a part time job nobody budgeted.

What a marketplace removes

The search, the contracting, the payment handling and the recourse when a delivery does not arrive. You are paying for coordination and for somebody other than you carrying the administrative load.

Where direct stops being cheaper

Roughly at the point where you are managing more than two or three creators at once, or where you need consistent turnaround rather than best effort. Before that, direct is genuinely fine and often better because the relationship is closer.

The Mexican invoicing complication

Every creator has to issue a valid CFDI and every one of those invoices has to be checked, matched and filed. At volume that administrative load is real, and it arrives sooner than most brands expect.

The reasonable answer

Start direct with one or two creators you like. Move to a marketplace when the administration starts eating the time you were supposed to spend on the campaign itself. Neither choice is permanent, and most brands end up doing both.

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Frequently asked questions

Is going direct really free?

No, it costs hours nobody budgeted.

What does a marketplace remove?

Search, contracting, payment and recourse.

When does direct stop being cheaper?

Past two or three creators at once.

What is the Mexican complication?

Checking and filing a CFDI from each one.

Sources

Checked on 26 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.