Every growing business hits the same crossroads. You need software to solve a problem, and you have two options: buy something off the shelf, or build something custom. Both have their place. The trick is knowing which one fits your situation.
Get it right and you save time, money, and frustration. Get it wrong and you either pay too much for something you don't need, or shoehorn your business into a tool that was built for someone else.
SaaS products are brilliant when your problem is generic. Email, accounting, project management, CRM basics — these are well-understood problems with mature solutions. Tools like Xero, Slack, and Trello exist because millions of businesses need roughly the same thing.
If your workflow matches what the tool was designed for, SaaS is almost always the right call. You get a polished product, regular updates, support, and a price that's spread across thousands of customers. You'd be mad to build your own accounting software.
The rule of thumb: if the problem is common and your process is standard, buy.
The cracks appear when your business does something the software wasn't designed for. You start building workarounds. You create spreadsheets to track what the tool can't. You pay for features you'll never use while the one thing you actually need doesn't exist.
Here are the warning signs that off-the-shelf isn't cutting it:
SaaS looks affordable on the surface. Ten pounds a month per user, what's the problem? But costs add up in ways that aren't on the pricing page.
There's the time your team spends on workarounds. There's the data you can't access without exporting to CSV. There's the integration that breaks every time the vendor pushes an update. There's the feature request you submitted two years ago that's still "on the roadmap."
When you add up the subscription costs, the workaround time, and the limitations you live with, "cheap" SaaS can end up costing more than building something purpose-built. See our pricing page for what a custom build actually costs.
Custom software is worth the investment when your problem is specific to your business. Not unique in the sense that nobody has ever had it before, but specific in the sense that no off-the-shelf tool solves it well.
Good candidates for custom builds include:
One of the biggest misconceptions about custom software is that it means a massive, expensive, months-long project. It doesn't have to be.
The best custom tools are focused. They solve one problem well. They replace the most painful spreadsheet, automate the most tedious process, or give your clients the one thing they keep asking for. You can start small, prove the value, and expand from there.
That's the approach we take at JMS Dev Lab. We build focused tools for businesses that are too unique for off-the-shelf and too small for enterprise. Fixed-price projects with clear scope, so you know exactly what you're getting and what it costs.
Ask yourself three questions:
Wondering whether to build or buy?
Talk to us about it — we'll give you an honest answer, even if that answer is "just use Trello." Or see the kind of tools we build.
We will give you an honest assessment — even if the answer is that a SaaS product is the better fit.
Get a Free AssessmentRelated reading: How to Replace a Business Spreadsheet with a Custom App · 5 Signs Your Business Has Outgrown Spreadsheets · Outgrown Airtable? Here's What to Do Next · Buy vs Build: When Should a Small Business Build Custom Software? · Free Software Review.
We build focused software for businesses that off-the-shelf tools don't fit. Get a free, no-pitch review — if buying an app or doing nothing is the right call, we'll say so.