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
Contentful vs. WordPress for Shopify Content: Which Wins?
WAITWAIT on native metaobjects and blogs for one storefront; WordPress wins the head-to-head for blog-first teams on a budget; Contentful wins for multi-site content.
Content & Storefront
DSers vs. CJdropshipping on Shopify: Which Dropship App Wins?
BUYCJdropshipping wins the head-to-head for product testing without inventory risk; DSers wins for self-managed AliExpress sourcing; Collective is the hidden lane.
Commerce Models
EasyPost vs. Shopify Shipping: Do You Need a Shipping API?
WAITWAIT on native Shopify Shipping for Shopify-only stores; EasyPost is a per-label shipping API with no Shopify app, for dev benches building their own label workflow.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Easyship vs. Shippo on Shopify: Do You Need Either Label App?
WAITEasyship or Shippo is a WAIT for domestic-first stores: Shopify Shipping is included with 19 carriers. Shippo wins pay-as-you-go labels; Easyship wins cross-border.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Easyship vs. ShipStation on Shopify: Which Shipping App Wins?
BUYShipStation wins for in-house floors of ~500–25,000 orders/mo ($14.99–$349.99/mo tiers, verified Sep 2026); Easyship wins once cross-border passes 10% of orders.
Shipping, Delivery & Fulfillment
Elasticsearch vs. Shopify Search & Discovery: Is Native Enough?
WAITElasticsearch is a WAIT under 10,000 SKUs: Search & Discovery is free with semantic search, synonyms and boosts. Elasticsearch earns its place for headless builds.
Search & Discovery
Mailchimp to Klaviyo on Shopify: Build or Buy the Migration?
CUSTOMIZEEmail platform migration is a CUSTOMIZE above 50,000 profiles: buy the destination, build the consent and re-sync glue; below that, a self-serve import is enough.
Email, SMS & Push
Adobe Commerce vs. Shopify Plus: Do You Need an Enterprise Platform?
WAITEnterprise platform evaluation is a WAIT on Shopify Plus for $20M–$500M merchants: Plus starts at $2,300 USD/mo (verified Sep 2026); rivals publish no prices.
Platform & Architecture
Gelato vs. Printful on Shopify: Which Print-on-Demand App Wins?
BUYPrintful wins for single-market Shopify print-on-demand stores (Growth turns free past $12K yearly sales, verified Sep 2026); Gelato wins for cross-border orders.
Commerce Models
GemPages vs. Shogun: Which Shopify Page Builder Should You Buy?
BUYGemPages beats Shogun on price at every tier and publishes a live page on its free plan; customize a theme section library when brand templates and page speed rule.
Content & Storefront