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
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 Session Replay & Heatmaps on Shopify?
BUYBuying session replay and heatmaps wins outright for mid-market Shopify stores: free tiers exist and no build case does.
Analytics & Attribution
ShipperHQ vs. Native Shopify Shipping: Do You Need the App?
CUSTOMIZENative rate settings plus one Delivery Customization Function beat ShipperHQ for single-origin, parcel-dominant Shopify stores.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Should You Build or Buy Shoppable Video on Shopify?
BUYBuying shoppable video wins for stores entering the format; watch the speed tax on your PDPs and build custom components only at scale.
Content & Storefront
Signifyd vs. Native Fraud Analysis: Do You Need the Guarantee?
DEPENDSSignifyd beats native Fraud Analysis only once disputes clear roughly 0.3% of orders; below that line, Flow holds plus review ops win the math.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Should You Build or Buy Size Guides & Fit Tools on Shopify?
BUILDSize guides belong in your theme: one metaobject definition plus a PDP section beats a widget app, and ML fit prediction stays a measured add-on.
Product Data, Catalog & Merch Ops
Smile.io vs. a Custom Loyalty Build on Shopify: Which Wins?
BUYSmile.io beats a custom loyalty build for most mid-market Shopify programs; the store-credit build lane wins on fee math at scale and owned member data.
Loyalty, Referrals & Retention
Split Shipments on Shopify: Build Routing Rules or Buy an OMS?
DEPENDSSplit shipments across multiple origins are a genuine it-depends: rules cover deterministic splits, and a full OMS earns its keep at real ops complexity.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Build or Buy Shopify Staging, CI & Theme Workflow?
BUILDStaging, CI, and theme workflow on Shopify is a BUILD: free native rails (CLI + GitHub) plus a small owned pipeline beat renting the discipline.
Platform & Architecture
Should You Build or Buy Your Shopify Subscriber Portal?
BUILDBuilding a custom subscriber portal wins once subscriptions pass roughly 30% of revenue; below that share, the stock app portal covers skip, swap, and saves.
Subscriptions & Memberships