How often do you do the organized thing?
Never
What do you pay compared to when you go indie?
Since I never go on organized trips (unless I'm the organizer), I can't actually do a comparison. But the on-the-ground cost depends mainly on what country I'm touring in, and secondarily, on the type of accommodations and food options. In SE Asia, you can travel like cycling royalty for US$30/day or less. That's with a room with a private hot shower each night and eating every meal out. It can be remarkably inexpensive biking on the coast of Oregon & California and staying in hiker/biker campgrounds in state parks. On the other side of the equation, on a trip to SW France with a friend, staying in a 2 star family-run hotel each night, eating every dinner in a restaurant, stopping in a bakery for breakfast each morning, and eating mostly picnic lunches but sometimes in restaurants, I think we averaged about US$85/day at a time when the US$ was stronger than today. Our dinners per person actually cost a bit more than our lodging per person, which isn't unusual in France, especially when you're sharing a room. The food and drink was fabulous, however. But some of those $1 dinners in night markets in SE Asia were fabulous, too.