Hiring an agency vs freelancers

I realize a lot of agencies are going to have representatives in this group, so don’t completely spam my inbox. I am looking for feedback based on members of this group when it comes to hiring an agency vs hiring a freelancer. My business is in a competitive niche, but my site is good, with a domain authority of 58 and 3.3k back links. We got hit by HCU in March and have gained some of our traction back, but not enough. Would it be better to hire a freelancer to handle basic digital PR, outreach and copywriting or would it be more appropriate to hire an agency for 3k per month. When hiring an agency, what should I be expecting for 3-4 thousand per month? Any help is appreciated.