"Should we buy Salesforce or build our own CRM?" is the question we hear every quarter. The honest answer: it depends on three things — and none of them is "what's cheaper upfront".
The real comparison
| Factor | Off-the-shelf SaaS | Custom build |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Low (₹0–5L) | High (₹15–50L) |
| Time to first value | 2 weeks | 4–9 months |
| Long-term cost | Compounds (per-seat) | Stable after launch |
| Fit to process | You bend to the software | Software bends to you |
| Competitive advantage | None — competitors use it too | Yes — if your process is unique |
| Vendor lock-in | High | Zero |
The decision rule
- If your process follows industry standard → buy SaaS. Don't reinvent CRM for a 10-person sales team.
- If your process is your competitive moat → build custom. A logistics company whose routing algorithm is unique should not run on a generic TMS.
- If you're at scale (500+ users) → the math usually tips toward custom. At ₹2,000/seat/month, a 500-user SaaS license is ₹1.2Cr/year forever. A ₹40L custom build pays back in 4 months.
Hybrid approach we often recommend
Buy the boring parts (accounting, HR, email), build the strategic parts (the workflow that makes you unique), and glue them with APIs. It's usually the right answer — and it's what we specialize in.
