Buying existing software is often the right answer, and building custom is sometimes the right one. Most businesses land somewhere in between. This guide asks about your situation and explains which approach your answers point to, and which answers drove the result.
It is meant to help you decide when to build custom software, not to steer you toward building. If the honest answer is that existing software is enough, that is what it will say.
Who it is for: Founders, operations leaders and IT managers deciding whether to buy software, extend it or build something bespoke.
Free tool · about 3 minutes
You will get:
No sign-up needed to see your result. This is an indicative estimate based on the information provided. Final pricing depends on features, integrations, design complexity and project requirements.
Each answer nudges the result toward existing software, a hybrid approach or custom development, and comes with the reason behind it. The result with the most support wins; when signals are evenly split, the guide suggests a hybrid approach.
The result screen lists the answers that drove the outcome so you can judge whether you agree with the reasoning.
If your processes are standard, your budget is tight or your timeline is short, existing software almost always wins. Custom development earns its cost when workflows, integrations or functionality are genuinely specific to your business. Devglim custom software projects start from $1,500, so a focused custom build is often within reach.
When core workflows are unique, integrations are deep or numerous, or the functionality is part of your competitive edge and worth owning. Otherwise existing software is usually faster and cheaper.
Using an existing platform and adding custom integrations, extensions or a small purpose-built component for the gaps, instead of replacing everything.
No. It scores your answers and reports what they point to, including that existing software may be sufficient.