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
Shopify Theme Sections: Buy Premium or Build a Section Library?
BUILDA custom theme section library wins at mid-market campaign tempo; below the floor, a premium theme is the right call.
Content & Storefront
Should You Build or Buy B2B Tiered & Volume Pricing on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding B2B tiered pricing as a Function over native catalogs wins for mid-market wholesale; wait if three catalogs cover you.
Discounts & Promotions
Should You Build or Buy Translation on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZETranslation on Shopify is a CUSTOMIZE call: free native Translate & Adapt as the floor, an owned AI pipeline on the translation APIs past three locales.
International & Localization
Should You Build or Buy US Sales Tax Compliance on Shopify?
BUYUS sales tax compliance on Shopify is a two-layer buy: native Shopify Tax for calculation, a filing service for returns. Nobody should build tax calculation.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Should You Build or Buy Volume & Tiered Bundle Pricing on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding volume-tiered bundle pricing on Shopify Functions wins for mid-market stores with any dev capacity; buy only for speed.
Bundles & Kits
Should You Build or Buy a Wishlist on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding a wishlist wins for mid-market Shopify stores with any dev capacity.
Wishlist & Registry
Should You Build or Buy Back-in-Stock Alerts on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding back-in-stock alerts wins when an email platform is in place: a webhook plus a flow retires the app fee.
Email, SMS & Push
Build or Buy a Blended DTC + B2B Storefront on Shopify?
CUSTOMIZENative B2B made the blended storefront the default architecture; the build is theme conditionality, and the real fork is one store or two.
B2B & Wholesale
Should You Build or Buy BOGO Automation on Shopify?
BUILDBuilding BOGO logic on Shopify Functions wins once your offers outgrow native Buy X Get Y discounts.
Discounts & Promotions
Should You Build or Buy a Branded Tracking Page on Shopify?
BUILDBranded order-tracking pages are a build once orders clear roughly 5,000 a month.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment