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 Inter-Store Inventory Transfer and Replenishment?
WAITNative Shopify transfers already move stock between stores, and Stocky is gone. Pay for Cin7 Core only when replenishment links to purchasing; build rules otherwise.
Retail & POS
Build or Buy International E-Invoicing and Fiscalization on Shopify?
BUYBuy one specialist app per regime: Sufio, GST Pro, OpenFiskal and Comply cover e-invoicing and POS fiscalization. No single app covers all; none of it is a build.
ERP, Accounting & Integrations
Build or Buy Inventory Shrinkage Write-Off Accounting on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZEShopify's inventory adjustment reasons record shrinkage and post nothing to your books. The reason-code-to-GL mapping is the part nobody sells you.
ERP, Accounting & Integrations
Build or Buy Vendor Concentration Risk on Shopify?
BUILDNo Shopify app maps which vendors can stop your business. This is a governance and architecture problem: a concentration register and a second lane you have tested.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Build or Buy Kitting at the Pick Face on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZENo dedicated kitting app exists on Shopify. Assemble-to-order lives inside a WMS, and Shopify Bundles tracks component stock overall, not by location.
Inventory & Operations
Build or Buy Landed COGS and True Per-SKU Margin on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZEStocky's 2026-08-31 shutdown left landed cost to month-old apps. Buy the free receiving capture; build the allocation method and per-SKU margin model finance signs.
ERP, Accounting & Integrations
Build or Buy Landed Cost and Bill Pay on Shopify After Stocky?
CUSTOMIZEStocky's 2026-08-31 shutdown left no native landed-cost allocation. Settle's free tier fills it with 23 reviews; a built allocator on native POs is the other route.
ERP, Accounting & Integrations
Build or Buy Local Delivery Route Planning on Shopify?
BUYEasyRoutes covers routing, dispatch, tracking and proof of delivery from $39/month (verified Sep 2026). Shopify's native local delivery optimizes nothing.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Build or Buy Loyalty Redemption at the Shopify POS?
BUYTwo well-reviewed apps already redeem points at the Shopify register. This is one of the cleanest buy decisions in retail, and the build case is narrow.
Retail & POS
Build or Buy a Make-an-Offer Pricing Button on Shopify?
BUYTwo Built for Shopify apps put an offer button on the product page with auto-accept and counter rules. Draft orders cannot let a customer start one.
Discounts & Promotions