Custom software vs off-the-shelf: when is custom worth it?
Off the shelf wins on price on day one. Custom is worth it when you are scaling, when it would save hours a day, and when you want control of where things go. Andrei on the signs you have outgrown your subscriptions.
The beautiful thing about custom software is that you really do get to look at all the variables, one solution at a time. There are times when the value proposition isn't there. If your business falls into one of those small categories where something off the shelf is perfect for you, then I do recommend going with that.
The major issue is that most businesses don't fall into that category. And even if they do, it's rarely just one application. A lot of these applications are locked down. They don't have API endpoints, they don't have connectors, and they have no interest in making the other applications you use part of their ecosystem. Usually that's because it comes at a cost, and they make their money through bulk sales at a lower price. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
At certain stages of a business, that's not a big deal. But as the business scales and grows, so do the upkeep costs of managing all those applications and the communication between them. Usually there's one person in admin whose whole job is to get details out of an email, pump them into a spreadsheet, build a report from that spreadsheet, or pull details out of one app and key them into another for payroll. Basic, repetitive stuff.
I have a pretty strong stance that admin is potentially the biggest drain on a business, because of how repetitive it is. So the question I'd ask is: how much time do you want to save? A custom solution is worth it when you're scaling and growing, when you could save a couple of hours a day, potentially even a whole day if your business is big enough (it can cut down one staff member), and when you have a vision of where you want things to be in the future, as long as you have complete control over it.
Some signs you've outgrown off-the-shelf products: you have more subscriptions than you know what to do with, and you spend a lot of time juggling between them, getting them to work with each other.
How do monthly per-user fees compare with a one-off build plus running costs? It depends on how long the business is going to be around. One-off builds used to be prohibitively expensive. Getting an app designed could easily cost over $100,000 for something not that complicated. Those costs have come down, mainly because of AI. AI coding agents help with building the application and, more importantly, with testing it. In general, off-the-shelf will always beat custom on price, but if you average it out over a couple of years, that might not be the case. And that doesn't count the time you save, or the fact that the application can add to the value of the business if you ever want to buy or sell one.
What about the risks of custom, like depending on one developer to maintain it? The application is a living thing. Dependencies need updating, the code needs updating, there are new security guidelines, and new laws you have to follow. That's why it matters to choose a developer with solid documentation and a solid track record. If you ever want to move away, take your data, go to another developer and build something bigger, you're not locked in. Everything is there, neat and tidy and easy for the next person to understand. That's how we work. If you pay for the development upfront, we don't lock you in, and we will always assist with your migration. If you're month to month, we still assist with a migration, because it's the human thing to do.
And if your business is in a niche, stay away from off-the-shelf products. The chances are there's no product built for what you do, so a custom build, even a simple one, is the better choice.
