Search & Discovery — Build vs. Buy
14 capability decisions in Search & Discovery, each scored across the 12-dimension TCC framework for a mid-market Shopify reference scenario.
Algolia vs. Athos Commerce: Which Search Vendor Wins?
BUYAlgolia wins most mid-market catalogs past 10K SKUs as the consolidation-free vendor; Athos earns merchandising-led picks with merger risk priced in.
Search & Discovery
Algolia vs. Boost AI Search & Filter: Which Search Upgrade?
BUYAlgolia wins past roughly 10K SKUs where payback runs 6–9 months; Boost wins the middle band on predictable app tiers; native covers under 1K SKUs free.
Search & Discovery
Algolia vs. Shopify's Native Search & Discovery: Upgrade or Wait?
BUYAlgolia beats free native Search & Discovery past roughly 1,000 SKUs, pays back in 6–9 months above ~10K, and loses to a self-hosted build past ~100K SKUs.
Search & Discovery
Athos Commerce vs. Boost AI Search & Filter: Which Engine?
BUYBoost wins the self-serve mid-market zone; Athos Commerce wins for quote-led merchandising depth. The metafield facet schema comes first either way.
Search & Discovery
Athos Commerce vs. Native Search & Discovery: Upgrade or Wait?
BUYAthos Commerce beats free native search past roughly 1,000 SKUs and pays back in 6–9 months above ~10K; the January 2025 merger adds vendor risk worth pricing.
Search & Discovery
Boost AI Search & Filter vs. Native Filters: Worth the Fee?
CUSTOMIZEA metafield-first customize play beats defaulting to Boost: native renders clean facets free to ~1,000 SKUs, and Boost pays back above ~10K or for filter-led UX.
Search & Discovery
Build or Buy Automated Collection Sorting on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding automated collection sorting wins for mid-market Shopify stores with a dev bench: a scheduled Admin API job replaces a sort-app subscription for good.
Search & Discovery
Build or Buy Search Analytics & Zero-Results Tracking on Shopify?
BUILDSearch analytics and zero-results tracking earns a lightweight build: an owned pipeline prices the gaps that Shopify's thin native reports only count.
Search & Discovery
Should You Build or Buy Filters & Faceted Navigation on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZEFilters and faceted navigation reward a CUSTOMIZE play: own the metafield schema, rent or use native rendering.
Search & Discovery
Should You Build or Buy Merchandising Rules on Shopify?
BUYMerchandising rules are a BUY once a merch team trades collections weekly.
Search & Discovery