Independent build-versus-buy analysis for data and martech decisions: total cost modeling at your real volumes, vendor evaluation, and lock-in risk assessment.
Both sides quote the number that suits them
The buy case counts the licence and ignores implementation, integration, and the engineer who ends up maintaining it anyway. The build case counts the initial sprint and ignores that maintenance runs forever and the person who built it will eventually leave. Neither models the volume growth that changes the answer entirely, and neither prices the switching cost if the decision proves wrong. So a decision worth hundreds of thousands over three years gets made on two incomparable numbers.
What the analysis covers
- Three-year total cost of ownership for each option, including implementation, maintenance, and internal time
- Sensitivity analysis on volume growth, since per-row and per-profile pricing often breaks at scale
- Vendor evaluation against your actual requirements, separating must-haves from demo features
- Capability assessment: whether your team can realistically own a build, honestly stated
- Lock-in and exit analysis, including what leaving costs and whether your data comes with you
- A clear recommendation with the reasoning and the assumptions exposed for challenge
How we work
Define requirements precisely, separating what you need from what a demo made appealing
Model total cost for each option at current and projected volumes
Assess your team's capacity and appetite to maintain a build, which is usually the deciding factor
Present the comparison with assumptions visible, so your team can test the conclusion
Typical stack
Frequently asked questions
It is a fair question given what we sell, so the analysis exposes every assumption for you to challenge. In practice we recommend buying more often than not: for standard problems with mature products, buying wins clearly. Building wins where the capability is genuinely differentiating, where per-unit vendor pricing breaks at your scale, or where no product fits without heavy customization.
Two things, consistently. On the build side, treating maintenance as near-zero when it is typically a meaningful ongoing fraction of the initial cost, every year, forever. On the buy side, ignoring how usage-based pricing scales, which is how a comfortable contract becomes the largest line item in the data budget within two years.
Yes. We assess them against your written requirements, dig into pricing mechanics at your projected volumes, and identify contract terms worth negotiating. We take no vendor commissions or referral fees, which is what makes the assessment worth having.
It frequently is, and that is a legitimate recommendation. Buy the commodity layer, build the differentiating part. What matters is drawing that line deliberately rather than ending up with a hybrid nobody designed.
Go deeper
Model the decision properly
Tell us what you are choosing between and we will model total cost and risk at your real volumes.
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