Technology decision simulator
Compare The Options
Build, buy or hybrid? Set your context and see how the trade-offs shift. No fake financial precision, just the shape of the decision.
Build
Design and run it yourselves.
- Initial investment
- People, tooling and the time the team isn't spending on something else.
- Operating cost
- Hosting, on-call, patching and the person who understands it.
- Time to market
- Slowest to first value; fastest to the exact thing you need.
- Flexibility
- Changes at your team's speed, in your direction.
- Control
- Full control over data, behaviour and roadmap.
- Vendor dependency
- Low at the product level; you still depend on cloud and libraries.
- Complexity you own
- You own everything, including the parts a product would have hidden.
- Scalability
- As good as the design and the team that operates it.
- Cost to reverse
- Sunk cost is the trap. Reversible if it stays modular; expensive once the organisation depends on it.
- Maximum control and flexibility, worth it only if the capability deserves it.
Buy
Adopt a product or managed service.
- Initial investment
- Licence and setup. Integration is where the hidden initial cost lives.
- Operating cost
- A subscription that scales with usage or seats. Check which, then model the growth.
- Time to market
- Fast to first value, if the product fits.
- Flexibility
- You get what the product does. Customisation has a cost and a shelf life.
- Control
- Behaviour, data handling and roadmap are the vendor's decisions.
- Vendor dependency
- The defining trade-off. Price rises, roadmap changes and acquisitions all happen to you.
- Complexity you own
- The vendor carries most of it. You carry the integration.
- Scalability
- Usually the vendor's problem, and priced accordingly.
- Cost to reverse
- Exit cost: data export, contract terms, and the process that quietly reshaped itself around the product.
- Fast, low upfront cost, and someone else's operational problem.
Hybrid
Buy the commodity, build the differentiator.
- Initial investment
- Less than a full build; more than a licence. The boundary design is the real upfront work.
- Operating cost
- A subscription plus the part you run. Two bills, two on-call stories.
- Time to market
- Buy first, differentiate second. First value can be fast if the boundary is clean.
- Flexibility
- High where you build, low where you buy. Draw the line where change is expected.
- Control
- You control what matters; the vendor controls the rest.
- Vendor dependency
- Real, but contained to the commodity. Keep the differentiator free of vendor-specific contracts.
- Complexity you own
- The integration boundary is where complexity and lock-in accumulate. It needs an owner.
- Scalability
- The bought part scales with the vendor; the built part scales with your design.
- Cost to reverse
- Better than either extreme if the boundary is clean; worse than both if it isn't.
- Balances control and speed, at the cost of owning an integration boundary.
The right answer depends on your context.
This model shows trade-offs, not figures. Real numbers come from your data: volumes, contracts, team and what the problem costs today. Every one of them carries a confidence label.
Free · 30 minutes · one real problem
Bring a problem. Leave with clarity.
Thirty minutes, one real problem, structured thinking. If there's no value, there's no engagement.