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
If You Build in Hydrogen, Do You Own Checkout Too?
CUSTOMIZEA Hydrogen rebuild does not include checkout: Shopify routes it to a checkout subdomain, and extensions plus branding are the whole customization surface.
Platform & Architecture
Hydrogen and Oxygen vs. Other Headless Commerce Vendors?
BUILDOxygen hosting is free on every paid Shopify plan, so the real case for Hydrogen over a competing headless vendor sits somewhere other than hosting cost.
Checkout & Conversion
Should You Plan Around Plus's 25-Hydrogen-Storefront Cap?
BUILDPlus documents up to 25 Hydrogen storefronts, and no app can lift that entitlement. The ceiling that arrives first is the number of codebases you can maintain.
International & Localization
Should You Rely on Plus's Inherited PCI-DSS and SOC2?
WAITShopify's Level 1 PCI DSS covers every store and your Functions never see a card. Audit only what you host yourself, or when a buyer demands a SOC 2 in your name.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Should You Build or Buy Flash-Sale Scheduling on Shopify Plus?
WAITLaunchpad, free on Plus, schedules publishing, prices, theme and inventory for a drop. Move Scripts-era rules to Discount Functions; buy a queue only for huge drops.
Email, SMS & Push
Do You Have to Migrate Off Legacy Accounts to Go Headless?
BUILDLegacy customer accounts closed to new stores on February 26, 2026, with the sunset date unannounced. Sequence the migration before the headless storefront work.
Platform & Architecture
Will Shopify's Login History Still Show a Login From Weeks Ago?
BUILDShopify's user-management activity log keeps only the five most recent login sessions, which leaves a three-week-old security investigation short on history.
Trust, Legal & Compliance
Should You Build or Buy a Master Catalog Across Storefronts?
BUYProducts and collections aren't synced between Shopify stores. A PIM or sync app carries the master catalog until per-store content genuinely diverges.
Product Data, Catalog & Merch Ops
Merchant-Editable Function Settings or Hardcode and Redeploy?
CUSTOMIZEShopify's function settings component holds a Function's configuration in metafields, so merchants adjust thresholds in the admin instead of waiting on a redeploy.
Platform & Architecture
ERP vs. Shopify: Who Owns Pricing Across Your Stores?
DEPENDSShopify documents three ERP integration paths but names no owner for pricing. Channel mix decides it: offline sales point to the ERP, pure storefronts to Shopify.
Platform & Architecture