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
Affirm vs. Shop Pay Installments: Do You Need Affirm Directly?
WAITAffirm is a WAIT for US, Canada and UK stores: Shop Pay Installments already runs on Affirm. A direct deal only earns a place above the cap or outside those markets.
Checkout & Conversion
AfterShip vs. Narvar: Which Order Tracking Wins on Shopify?
BUYAfterShip beats Narvar for mid-market Shopify tracking: free plan plus $11–$70/mo tiers (verified Sep 2026). Narvar's full post-purchase platform is quote-only.
Support & Self-Service
AfterShip vs. parcelLab on Shopify: Which Tracking App Wins?
BUYAfterShip wins for mid-market stores at ~1,500–5,000 orders/mo; parcelLab is an enterprise contract with 0 Shopify reviews; native covers early, build past 5,000.
Support & Self-Service
AfterShip vs. Shippo on Shopify: Which App Do You Need?
BUYAfterShip wins where-is-my-order tracking from ~1,500 to 5,000 orders/mo; Shippo buys labels, a job native Shopify Shipping mostly covers; native handles the basics.
Support & Self-Service
Akeneo vs. Salsify for Shopify: Do You Need a PIM at All?
WAITAkeneo vs. Salsify is a WAIT for one Shopify storefront under ~10K SKUs: metafields and metaobjects cover it. Akeneo wins the head-to-head on structure.
Product Data, Catalog & Merch Ops
Algolia vs. Coveo for Shopify Search: Which Engine Wins?
BUYAlgolia wins Shopify search from ~1K to 100K SKUs; Coveo is a quote-only enterprise license behind a 0-review connector; native covers under ~1K SKUs.
Search & Discovery
Gorgias vs. Help Scout on Shopify: Which Helpdesk Wins?
BUYGorgias wins for Shopify stores past ~500 tickets/mo; Help Scout wins for lean, content-first teams; neither covers the self-service deflection lane.
Support & Self-Service
Gorgias vs. Intercom: Which Helpdesk Fits a Shopify Store?
BUYGorgias wins Shopify-first support; Intercom fits a business already run on Intercom; past roughly 5,000 tickets a month, build self-service deflection instead.
Support & Self-Service
Gorgias vs. Re:amaze on Shopify: Which Helpdesk Wins?
BUYGorgias wins past ~500 tickets/mo on Shopify-native depth ($10–$900/mo tiers, verified Sep 2026); Re:amaze wins for small teams on flat $29–$69/month plans.
Support & Self-Service
GRIN vs. Aspire on Shopify: Do You Need a Creator CRM Yet?
WAITGRIN vs. Aspire is a WAIT under about 40 creators a month, because Shopify Collabs is free; above that, GRIN is the default creator CRM and Aspire earns a demo.
Loyalty, Referrals & Retention