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    Build vs buy software ROI calculator

    Buying software is usually cheaper when an existing product fits your process and your team is small. Custom software tends to pay back when per-seat fees grow with headcount or staff lose hours every week to workarounds. Enter your own numbers to see the 3 and 5 year cost of each path and the payback month.

    No sign-up. Results update as you type. All figures in Canadian dollars.

    What you pay for software today

    Add up every tool the custom build would replace, per user.

    Time lost to manual work and workarounds

    Re-keying data, exporting to spreadsheets, chasing approvals, fixing mismatches.

    Wage plus benefits, payroll costs and overhead, per hour.

    Custom build cost

    The $15,000 to $30,000 default is a typical Four Cents range for a custom business system. Pick a project type below to load its typical range, or replace the figures with a quote. Scope, integrations and compliance work move the final number.

    Typical Four Cents ranges (CAD)

    Hosting, security updates, monitoring and small changes.

    What the build changes after launch

    These are judgement calls. Be conservative: few builds remove every workaround.

    Your result

    Verdict

    Borderline: depends on how much of the lost time a custom build really gives back

    Payback lands at 20 to 42 months. That is a long time to bet on, so the answer depends on how much of the lost time a custom build really gives back, since most of the saving comes from staff hours rather than subscription fees. Pin that number down before deciding.

    3-year cost, keep buying
    $76,889
    3-year cost, custom
    $70,758
    5-year cost, keep buying
    $130,504
    5-year cost, custom
    $101,101
    Payback period (low / midpoint / high build cost)
    20 months / 30 months / 42 months

    Custom figures use the midpoint of your build estimate ($22,500). Estimates only, not a quote and not a promise of savings.

    Keep buyingCustom build, midpointLow to high build estimate
    Running total cost over five yearsAfter five years, keeping the subscription costs $130,504 and a custom build costs $101,101 at the midpoint estimate. Payback: 30 months.$0$38k$75k$113k$150kStartYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5Payback, month 30
    Show the numbers as a table
    Running totalKeep buyingCustom, lowCustom, midCustom, high
    Year 1$25,200$32,400$40,800$49,200
    Year 2$50,820$45,984$55,734$65,484
    Year 3$76,889$59,658$70,758$81,858
    Year 4$103,440$73,428$85,878$98,328
    Year 5$130,504$87,301$101,101$114,901

    The assumptions behind this result

    • Subscription today: $6,000 a year ($50 x 10 seats x 12), rising 7% each year.
    • Time lost: $19,200 a year (1 h x 10 people x $40 x 48 working weeks).
    • The build is paid up front. For the first 4 months you still pay the subscription and still lose the hours.
    • After launch: maintenance of 18% of the build cost a year ($4,050 at the midpoint), 20% of the subscription still paid, and 50% of the lost time still lost.
    • Not included: data migration, training, your own staff time during the build, financing, tax treatment and switching costs.

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    How to read the result

    The chart shows what each path has cost you in total by any month. Where the solid line drops below the dashed one, the custom build has paid for itself. The shaded band is the spread between the low and high ends of your build estimate: a wide band that straddles the dashed line means the decision rests on the real quote, not on the idea.

    Most of the saving in a build case usually comes from one of two places: per-seat fees that grow with every hire, or hours lost to copying data between tools. If neither is large for you, an off-the-shelf product configured well is very likely the better answer, and we will tell you so.

    Build vs buy questions

    Is it cheaper to build custom software or buy SaaS?

    For most small teams, buying is cheaper when a product fits how you work, because its build cost is shared by every customer. Building starts to win when you pay for many seats, prices keep rising, or staff spend hours each week on workarounds the product cannot remove. The deciding numbers are your seat count, the hours lost and the real build quote.

    How long should custom software take to pay back?

    There is no universal figure, but a useful rule is that a payback beyond about three years is a weak case, because staff, vendors and requirements change on that horizon. Payback here is the month when the running cost of building, including maintenance, drops below the running cost of keeping the subscription and the lost hours.

    How much does it cost to maintain custom software each year?

    A common planning figure is 15 to 20 percent of the original build cost per year. That covers hosting, security updates, dependency upgrades, monitoring and small changes. The calculator lets you choose a value in that range and adds it every month after launch.

    What does this calculator leave out?

    It leaves out data migration, training, the time your own staff spend on the project during the build, the cost of switching later, financing and tax treatment, which your accountant should look at. It also assumes the build replaces the share of the subscription you enter, so if you will keep some tools, lower that figure.

    Should I replace all of my SaaS tools with custom software?

    Usually not. Commodity tools such as email, accounting and payroll are cheaper to buy and keep. Custom software makes sense for the part of the business that is specific to how you work, and it often sits alongside your existing tools and connects to them rather than replacing all of them.

    How accurate is the result?

    It is directional, not a quote. The default build cost of $15,000 to $30,000 is a typical Four Cents range for a custom business system, not a quote for your project, and the hours recovered are an estimate you should test against a real process. Use it to decide whether a fixed-scope quote is worth getting, then replace the build cost with the quoted figure and run it again.

    How much does a custom business system cost to build?

    At Four Cents, a typical custom business system such as a CRM, inventory tool, POS or client portal costs $10,000 to $40,000 CAD, and most land between $15,000 and $30,000. A web app or portal MVP is usually $8,000 to $15,000. Complex systems above $40,000 are quoted after discovery. Maintenance is about 15 to 20 percent of the build cost per year.

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