Custom vs SaaS: When to Own the System
SaaS tools accelerate speed-to-market. Custom systems provide control and flexibility. Choosing between them shapes how your business operates and scales.
The Tradeoff in One Sentence
SaaS trades control for speed. Custom trades speed for control. The right choice depends on whether the system is supporting your business or defining it.
Where SaaS Fits
- Standard workflows. If your process matches industry norms, SaaS tools designed for that process will work well.
- Speed to market. When validating a concept, SaaS gets you running in days instead of months.
- Specialized domains. Compliance, payments, email—specialized vendors invest more in these problems than you can.
- Resource constraints. Small teams benefit from not maintaining infrastructure.
Where Custom Fits
- Unique workflows. When your process is genuinely different and forcing it into generic software creates friction.
- Data as competitive advantage. When insights from your data drive business decisions, owning the data layer matters.
- Integration complexity. When you need deep connections across multiple systems that SaaS tools can't provide.
- Long-term economics. At scale, subscription costs often exceed the total cost of ownership for custom systems.
Integration and Data Reality
| Factor | SaaS | Custom |
|---|---|---|
| Data ownership | Vendor-controlled, export limitations | Full ownership and access |
| API flexibility | Limited to vendor's API design | Designed for your needs |
| Integration depth | Surface-level connections | Native data flow |
| Workflow matching | Adapt to vendor's model | Built around your process |
| Reporting | Predefined dashboards | Any metric you need |
Scalability and Ownership
SaaS Scaling Reality
- Pricing scales with usage—predictable but compounding
- Feature limits may require tier upgrades
- Multi-tenant architecture may constrain performance
- Vendor roadmap may not align with your needs
Custom Scaling Reality
- Infrastructure costs scale with actual usage
- No artificial feature limits
- Optimized for your specific load patterns
- Roadmap controlled by your priorities
Archer Key Recommendation Pattern
We ask one core question: is this system supporting your business or is it defining how your business operates? Support systems—email, payments, basic analytics—are usually best served by SaaS. Defining systems—your product, your operational core, your data platform—often warrant custom development.
Our platform development practice helps Tampa Bay businesses build custom systems when ownership matters, while our infrastructure practice integrates SaaS tools when they're the right fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we migrate from SaaS to custom later?
Yes, but plan for it. The cleaner your data exports and the less you rely on vendor-specific features, the easier migration becomes. We often help clients design SaaS integrations with future migration in mind.
What's the real cost of custom development?
Initial build plus ongoing maintenance—typically 15-20% of build cost annually. Compare against SaaS subscription over 3-5 years, including the cost of workarounds for missing features.
When does SaaS lock-in become a problem?
When switching costs exceed the pain of staying. This usually happens when deep integrations make migration expensive or when vendor pricing changes significantly.
Evaluating custom vs SaaS?
We help teams understand the tradeoffs and make technology decisions that serve long-term goals.