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
Should You Rely on Plus's Uptime SLA for a Big Drop?
CUSTOMIZEPlus's 99.99% SLA is a contract clause about Shopify's platform, not your theme, apps or bots. Spend drop-day money there; buy a waiting room only for huge drops.
Commerce Models
Shopify Plus vs. Advanced: What Do You Really Gain?
WAITCheckout market overrides and carrier-calculated shipping already work on Advanced. What Plus adds is control over checkout itself, not access to those two.
Checkout & Conversion
Build or Buy Multi-Location Retail Ops on Shopify Plus?
WAITPlus includes 20 POS Pro locations and waives the fee up to 200 with Shopify Payments. Outside Plus, POS Pro is $89/month per location (verified Sep 2026).
Retail & POS
One Shared Codebase or a Forked Theme per Store?
BUILDNo Shopify app syncs theme code between stores; the multi-store sync category moves data only. One repository deployed per store is the honest answer.
Platform & Architecture
Shopify Audiences vs. a CDP: Which Builds Better Ad Lists?
WAITShopify Audiences is included with Plus but gated to US and Canada stores on Shopify Payments. Switch it on first; a CDP answers a different question.
Email, SMS & Push
Hitting Shopify's 25-Function Cap: Consolidate or Buy an App?
BUILDWhen one Function type nears its per-store activation cap, consolidate rules into fewer data-driven functions; no app raises the 25 discount function ceiling.
Email, SMS & Push
Should You Build or Buy Automated Staff Provisioning on Plus?
WAITPlus already ships SCIM provisioning through Okta, OneLogin or Entra. The Plus-only User REST API only reads staff, so build nothing but a reconciliation report.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Should You Suppress Native Emails for a Custom ESP Flow?
CUSTOMIZEOn Plus, Support can turn off specific notifications so your ESP flow sends alone. Suppress one email at a time after 30 clean days; below Plus, brand the templates.
Email, SMS & Push
Should You Build or Buy Past Shopify's 3-Catalog B2B Cap?
BUYA pricing-rules app lifts Shopify's 3-catalog B2B cap from $24.99/month (verified Sep 2026); Plus's unlimited catalogs pay off once a second Plus-only need appears.
B2B & Wholesale
Should You Consolidate Checkout Rules into Validation Functions?
BUILDReplacing three or four single-purpose checkout-gating apps with one or two validation functions is a Plus-only consolidation; storefront presentation apps stay.
Checkout & Conversion