You're paying for Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, Slack, Asana, Zoom, and about 12 other SaaS tools.

You just got another price increase email. You're now spending $3,000 per month on software subscriptions.

Someone suggests: "Why don't we just build our own?"

Good question. Let's do the actual math.

What is SaaS anyway?

SaaS = Software as a Service. It's software you rent instead of own. You pay monthly, it lives in the cloud, and someone else maintains it.

Examples: Gmail, Salesforce, Shopify, Netflix, Spotify... basically everything you use online these days.

What is custom software?

It's software built specifically for you. You own it. It does exactly what you need. Nothing more, nothing less.

Example: A system built just for your business that tracks inventory, processes orders, and generates reports the exact way you need them.

When SaaS makes perfect sense

It's a common problem

Need email? Use Gmail ($6/user/month). Don't build your own email system. That would be insane.

Need accounting? Use Xero or QuickBooks ($30-70/month). Accounting software is complicated and regulated. Let the experts handle it.

Need video calls? Use Zoom ($15/user/month). Building video conferencing software costs millions.

Rule: If millions of people have the same problem, use SaaS. Someone's already solved it better and cheaper than you could.

You need it to work NOW

SaaS is instant. Create account, enter credit card, start using it. Takes 10 minutes.

Custom software takes months to build. If you need something working this week, SaaS is your only option.

Your needs are simple and standard

If you're using 80% of a SaaS tool's features and they all work great for you, that's perfect. Keep using it.

The problem is when you're only using 20% of the features and constantly thinking "I wish it did THIS instead..."

The cost is low

Paying $15/month for something that saves you an hour a week? That's a no-brainer. Keep paying it.

Paying $500/month? Now it's worth thinking about alternatives.

Paying $3,000/month? Definitely time to evaluate custom solutions.

When custom software makes sense

You're paying too much for SaaS

Let's say you're paying $50,000 per year for various SaaS tools. Custom software might cost $80,000 to build.

Break-even: Less than 2 years. After that, you're saving $50,000 every year.

Plus, SaaS prices keep going up. That $50k/year becomes $65k/year after a few price increases.

You're using 5+ tools that should talk to each other

Here's a common situation:

Leads come into HubSpot
You manually add them to Salesforce
When they buy, you create an invoice in QuickBooks
You copy their info to your project management tool
You add them to your email list in Mailchimp

That's a lot of copying and pasting. A custom system could do all of this in one place.

The software doesn't quite fit your process

You're constantly working around limitations. "Well, the software doesn't let us do it that way, so we have to do this workaround..."

If you're fighting your software instead of using it, custom might be better.

You're in a unique business

If your business does things that nobody else does, generic software won't fit well.

Example: A logistics company with a very specific routing algorithm. A property manager with unique contract terms. A manufacturer with custom workflows.

Generic SaaS is built for the average user. If you're not average, it won't fit.

You want to own your data completely

With SaaS, your data lives on their servers. If they go out of business, or they decide to 10x your price, or they get hacked, you're stuck.

With custom software, everything is yours. Your servers, your data, your control.

The real cost comparison

Let's look at a real example from a client.

Their old setup (SaaS)

CRM: $150/month Project management: $100/month Invoicing: $50/month Email marketing: $80/month Reporting tool: $120/month Team communication: $80/month

Total: $580/month = $6,960/year

They'd been using these for 3 years. Total spent: $20,880

And they were copying data between all of them constantly. About 5 hours per week of manual work.

New setup (Custom)

We built them a custom system that combined everything they actually used from those 6 tools.

Build cost: $48,000

Maintenance: $6,000/year (updates, bug fixes, hosting)

Year 1 total cost: $54,000

Year 2 total cost: $6,000

Year 3 total cost: $6,000

The math

Breaking even: After 2.5 years, they've paid the same whether they went custom or stayed with SaaS.

After 5 years:

SaaS option: $34,800 (and prices will probably be higher by then)
Custom option: $30,000 (build + 4 years maintenance)

Plus they saved 5 hours per week of manual data entry. That's 260 hours per year. If their time is worth $50/hour, that's another $13,000/year saved.

Suddenly custom software doesn't seem so expensive.

Hidden costs of SaaS people forget

Price increases every year

That $100/month tool becomes $120/month, then $150/month. You don't notice because it's gradual, but over 5 years you're paying way more.

Per-user pricing that adds up

When you have 5 employees, $20/user/month is fine. When you grow to 30 employees, that's $600/month just for that one tool.

Custom software usually costs the same whether you have 5 users or 500.

Features you don't need

You're paying for 100 features but using 15 of them. With custom, you only build what you actually need.

Integration costs

Want your SaaS tools to talk to each other? That's extra. Zapier costs $20-600/month depending on how many automations you need.

With custom software, everything talks to everything because it's all built together.

Hidden costs of custom software people forget

Let's be fair. Custom isn't all sunshine either.

Building takes time

You won't have your software tomorrow. Or next week. Plan for 2-6 months of development.

If you need something NOW, you'll have to use SaaS in the meantime anyway.

You need to know what you want

SaaS comes with all the features already. Custom means you need to decide what to build.

If you don't know what you need yet, start with SaaS. Learn what actually matters. Then build custom later.

Maintenance isn't free

Software needs updates. Bugs need fixing. Hosting needs managing.

Budget 10-20% of the build cost every year for maintenance. That $50k custom app will cost about $5-10k/year to maintain.

You're locked into your developer

If the person who built your custom software disappears, you need to find someone else who can understand and update their code. That can be expensive.

Solution: Make sure you own all the code and documentation. Don't let developers hold your source code hostage.

The hybrid approach (what most businesses should do)

Don't think it's all-or-nothing. Most smart businesses use both:

Use SaaS for:

Email (Gmail, Outlook)
Accounting (Xero, QuickBooks)
Video calls (Zoom, Google Meet)
File storage (Google Drive, Dropbox)
Team chat (Slack, Teams)

Build custom for:

Your core business process
Customer-facing systems
Anything that gives you competitive advantage
Tools you use 10+ hours per week
Systems that need to combine data from multiple sources

Questions to ask yourself

Are we spending more than $20k/year on SaaS? If yes, custom might save money long-term.

Do we have unique needs that SaaS doesn't handle well? If yes, custom will fit better.

Are we constantly copying data between systems? If yes, custom integration or a custom all-in-one system makes sense.

Can we wait 3-6 months to get it built? If no, stick with SaaS for now.

Will we use this for 5+ years? If yes, custom pays off. If it's temporary, use SaaS.

What we tell clients who ask

When someone asks "should I build custom or use SaaS?", here's what we say:

Start with SaaS unless you have a really good reason not to.

Use it for 6-12 months. Learn what you actually need. Figure out what's annoying about it.

Then, if you're still frustrated or spending too much, talk to us about building custom.

You'll build better custom software because you'll know exactly what matters. And maybe you'll realize SaaS is fine and save yourself $50k.

Real example: When we said "don't build custom"

A startup came to us wanting a custom CRM. They had 3 employees and were just getting started.

We asked: "Have you tried HubSpot's free tier?"

They hadn't. We told them to use that first. It's free, it works great for small teams, and they could start immediately instead of waiting 3 months for custom development.

We could have taken their $40k to build a custom CRM. But that would have been wrong. They didn't need it yet.

A year later, they came back. Now they had 15 employees, outgrown HubSpot, and had very specific needs. THEN we built them custom software.

It was the right call both times.

The bottom line

SaaS is better when you're starting out, have common needs, or don't have much budget.

Custom is better when you've got unique needs, you're spending a lot on SaaS, or you want complete control.

Most businesses should use mostly SaaS with a little bit of custom where it really matters.

Want to figure out which approach makes sense for your situation? Let's talk. We'll do the math with your actual numbers and tell you honestly which way to go.

About &7: We build custom software for Singapore businesses, but we're also honest when SaaS makes more sense. We care more about solving your problem than making a sale.