Marketplace vs direct is not either-or. It is first date vs marriage. Use each for what it is good at. - Marketplaces win on discovery and speed: vetted profiles, transparent pricing, real reviews, no three-week email tag. For a first consultation or a shortlist sanity-check, genuinely better than the referral lottery. - Direct wins on depth. A retained advisor learns your structure, your timeline, your mess. Cross-border tax is full of edge cases that only surface in an ongoing relationship. - Never treat a marketplace like a vending machine for certainty. Check credentials and jurisdiction experience. - Total confidence in fifteen minutes is the tell. Complex questions do not have fast, certain answers. Start from current numbers either way: a comparison run before the call makes it ten times more useful. Our table is free, and IncorpTrack's UK and Singapore registration service runs $49 plus the government fee with banking help.