Build vs. Buy on Shopify
Build, buy, customize, or wait — decided with numbers. Capability-by-capability verdicts with honest 3-year cost math.
Custom wins on 3-year cost or fit — with maintenance counted honestly.
The app wins your scenario — we say so plainly.
Buy the app, build the glue: very often the honest mid-market answer.
Shopify is shipping this natively. Don't spend yet; we'll tell you when it flips.
Latest Decisions
Redo vs. Route: Which Package Protection Model Wins?
BUILDSelf-insured protection wins past roughly 5,000 orders a month; Redo earns the app path when returns ride along, Route when insurer backing matters.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Replo vs. Theme Sections: Test-Page Speed or an Owned System?
BUILDBuilding an OS 2.0 section library beats Replo for evergreen pages; Replo earns a fenced lane only at 5–10 experiment pages a month with an owner.
Content & Storefront
Richpanel vs. No Helpdesk: Is the Native Stack Enough?
BUYRichpanel earns its subscription past roughly 500 tickets a month; below that boundary, a shared inbox plus native self-service and Flow covers support.
Support & Self-Service
Rise.ai vs. GV Gift Cards: Do You Even Need an App?
DEPENDSRise.ai wins store-credit retention programs; GV wins gifting-experience revenue; native gift cards and store credit cover the basics free on all plans.
Gift Cards & Store Credit
Route vs. Self-Insured Shipping Protection: Who Keeps the Spread?
BUILDSelf-insured reorders keep the fee-minus-claims spread past roughly 5,000 orders a month; Route earns it for zero claims ops or true insurer backing.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Advanced Shipping Rules vs. Native Rates: App or Included Logic?
CUSTOMIZENative profiles plus a small delivery Function cover most mid-market rate logic; Advanced Shipping Rules earns its fee when blended rate math outgrows profiles.
Checkout & Conversion
Advanced Shipping Rules vs. ShipperHQ: Which Weight Class?
BUYAdvanced Shipping Rules wins per-vendor and product-group rate math; ShipperHQ wins when dimensional, freight, or multi-carrier scope arrives.
Checkout & Conversion
AfterSell vs. Built Checkout UI Extensions: Rent or Own Upsells?
BUYAfterSell wins while post-purchase offers are still in testing; build on checkout UI extensions once one proven offer holds and volume pricing stings.
Upsell, Cross-sell & Personalization
AfterSell vs. Zipify OneClickUpsell: Which Earns the Slot?
BUYAfterSell wins the post-purchase slot at specialist tiers; Zipify OCU wins when multi-step funnel sequencing is the program you'll actually run.
Upsell, Cross-sell & Personalization
AfterShip vs. Native Order Tracking: Buy the App or Stay Native?
DEPENDSAfterShip earns its tiers for multi-carrier stores without a dev bench; native order status answers WISMO free early, and a custom build wins at volume.
Support & Self-Service