Free tool
Build it or buy it?
You can now describe a tool to Claude and get a working app in days. That makes building tempting, but the build is only the first bill. Compare a subscription with your own app over the years you will actually use it.
Reasons to build that are not about money
- Your data has to stay in a specific place, or under your own control.
- You need an integration with your ERP, accounting or warehouse system that no SaaS offers.
- Your process is the advantage, and a generic tool would force you to work like everyone else.
- You want to own the code and not depend on a vendor’s pricing or roadmap.
Hidden costs on both sides
- Your own app: someone has to know it, update dependencies, keep backups and answer when it breaks. That is the maintenance slider.
- An app built in a weekend with an AI builder usually needs a pass before real people depend on it: logins, data, deploys.
- SaaS: per-user pricing grows with the team, exporting your data can be hard, and the feature you need may never come.
Where building usually wins
- A CRM for incoming quote requests, shaped around how your sales team actually works.
- A planning tool for a small fleet, on top of data you already have.
- An internal tool on top of your ERP data, where a SaaS would need a costly integration anyway.
Method and limits
- Buying: price per user × users × months. No price increases, no discounts.
- Building: the build is paid in month 0, then maintenance (a percent of the build per year) and hosting every month.
- Rates are the middle of each range: Clutch Poland $50–99/h, Accelerance Europe senior $64–76/h, Atomic Object on Clutch $150–199/h, my rate 150–200 PLN/h ($45–55).
- The build hours are at the pace of whoever builds it. A team without coding agents needs more hours for the same app than I do; take its hours from the market rows of the estimator.
- Currency at the NBP rate of 2026-10-16 (1 USD = 3.8827 PLN).
Questions
Should I build my own CRM with Claude?
If a standard CRM fits your process, buy it. Build when your process is the advantage or when you need an integration nobody sells, and budget for maintenance from day one.
How much does it cost to maintain a custom app?
It depends on how often it changes. This calculator uses 20% of the build per year as a starting point; that is my rule of thumb, so move the slider to what fits your case.
Is a SaaS always cheaper for a small team?
Usually yes for a few users. Per-user pricing changes the picture as the team grows, which is what the chart shows.
Sources
Thinking about building it?
Bring this comparison to a free 30-minute call. I will tell you what a first version would take and whether buying is the better deal.
