SaaS seats look cheap until headcount and add-ons compound. Custom software costs more up front and less over time: you own the code, not a renewing license stack.
Most growing teams start on SaaS because it is fast. Then seats multiply, features hide behind higher tiers, and integrations that should be simple become another subscription. The spreadsheet says “affordable” while cash quietly leaves every month.
Custom software flips the curve. Year one often includes a higher build investment. Years two and three flatten: you pay for hosting, maintenance, and deliberate improvements, not another round of per-user renewals for workflows you already depend on. The relative cost shape we show clients matches our public boutique ROI chart: SaaS held at a 100 baseline while custom lands near 65, 45, and 30 across years one through three.
Ownership matters as much as price. With Codoop you receive the repositories, environments, and IP. When your process changes, you change the product. You are not waiting on a vendor roadmap or negotiating exit fees to export your own data.
Custom is not always the answer on day one. If a commodity tool fits and headcount is tiny, rent. When the workflow is your moat, booking, inventory, B2B pricing, internal ops, building once and owning forever usually wins the three-year math.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Year 1–3 numbers absolute dollars?
No. They are relative indices with SaaS seat spend normalized to 100 each year, the same shape used in our boutique ROI chart. Your actual dollars depend on seat count, tiers, and scope; we model that in discovery.
Does custom software have ongoing costs?
Yes: hosting, monitoring, security updates, and product iteration. Those costs typically grow with value you choose to add, not with every new teammate needing another seat.
When should we stay on SaaS?
When the tool is commodity, switching costs are low, and customization would fight the platform daily. We help you choose honestly, including hybrid setups where SaaS remains for commoditized pieces.