Build vs Buy Software: What It Really Costs

Close-up of hands counting cash, representing monthly software spend

Most businesses don't think about what they're actually spending on software until they add it up. Here's the math, and why more operators are choosing to build instead.

Add up your subscriptions

Say you pay for four to six separate tools at $100 to $500 each per month. That's $400 to $3,000 every month, or $4,800 to $36,000 a year, for software you'll never own.

The lock-in nobody talks about

When your business data lives in someone else's platform, you're not just renting software. You're renting access to your own information. Cancel the subscription and you lose everything. That's not a partnership. That's leverage.

What custom actually costs

A custom-built platform starts at $2,500 and scales with how complex your operation is and the size of your company. There are no per-seat fees. Once the build is paid in full, you own it. No monthly fees, no price increases as you grow. Here's how pricing works at Shadow Projects.

To work out payback for your own business, add up what you pay each year in subscriptions and per-seat fees. Divide the build price by that yearly total. The answer is roughly how many years it takes before owning costs less than renting. If that's longer than you'd keep the software, renting is the better deal.