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Updated October 28, 2025 — This guide has been updated to include factors to evaluate in the build vs buy decision, common myths about building an SMP, and frequently asked questions.
In 2025, SaaS portfolios continue to grow larger and more dynamic, making it more challenging than ever for organizations to manage them effectively. Companies that are seeing results do so because they’ve invested in a SaaS Management Platform (SMP).
If you’ve recognized this need for your organization, you may be weighing whether to build vs buy a solution. The decision comes down to prioritizing specific needs. While some companies value control and customization, others focus on speed, scalability, and proven functionality.
Which option best aligns with your organization’s goals? In this blog, we’ll discuss the advantages and tradeoffs of each path.
Build or Buy? Factors to Evaluate
The “build vs. buy” decision in 2025 encompasses multiple variables that extend well beyond budget considerations. To make the best call, you need to evaluate:
- Strategic importance
- Uniqueness of requirements
- Time to market
- Total cost of ownership
- Support and maintenance
- Scalability and flexibility
- Customization and fit
Strategic Importance
SaaS Management ties directly to business outcomes such as cost savings, cost avoidance, and risk mitigation. Whether you choose to build or buy depends on your objectives, strategy, and the impact to the business.
Uniqueness of Requirements
Determine what requirements you have of the tool. Organizations with highly specific needs may lean toward building. Meanwhile, those with common requirements usually find a vendor platform covers the majority of what they need out of the box.
Time to Market
How quickly do you need to see results? Custom development can take up to a year or more, depending on the level of complexity. In contrast, vendor implementation typically requires mere weeks. Time to market impacts how soon you begin seeing results.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Initial development is only the starting point. Factor in ongoing expenses for developers, updates, and security. Typically, TCO runs two to three times higher than licensing fees for a purchased solution.
Support and Maintenance
To remain effective, any software solution needs regular support and maintenance. Your build vs buy decision will impact what internal resources are needed to support this. A build requires dedicated teams for troubleshooting and upgrades. Buying includes vendor support, regular updates, and a roadmap, all of which are funded by a larger customer base.
Scalability and Flexibility
Consider the maturity of your organization and future growth plans. Vendor platforms are designed to scale as SaaS portfolios expand, while custom solutions often require costly redevelopment to keep up.
Customization and Fit
Based on your requirements, determine if or what customization is needed. Building provides maximum control over features, but can stretch timelines and budgets. Buying balances speed with configuration options that meet most enterprise needs.
Build vs. Buy: Top Considerations for SaaS Management
When choosing whether to build or buy a SaaS Management Platform in 2025, ask yourself these eight questions:
- What’s the purpose of my organization?
- Who needs to be involved in the decision?
- What capabilities do we need?
- What data sources do we have?
- How much will it cost?
- How much time will it take?
- What’s your risk tolerance?
- If we build, what kind of resources do we need?
What’s the purpose of my organization?
Tie your decision to mission outcomes. If SaaS governance and spend control are core to your strategy, evaluate how each path supports those goals—not just how it aligns with an IT roadmap.
Who needs to be involved in the decision?
Determine the key stakeholders who need to be involved in the decision-making. It often depends on the size of your company, but typically includes IT, procurement, finance, and in some instances, senior executives.
What capabilities do we need?
Think about why you’re investing in SaaS Management tools in the first place. Is it lack visibility into shadow IT? Paying for redundant tools? Spending too much on SaaS? Knowing the answers will help narrow your focus and pinpoint the unique features to look for.
Then, list essential capabilities like discovery, license optimization, renewal management, compliance, and integrations. Then, ask if your team can sustain those features long term.
What data sources do we have?
Data proves key to effective SaaS governance. SaaS Management platforms use multiple software integrations to continuously pull in and scrape data. If you build vs buy, you’ll need to know what data to look for and figure out how to connect it to your system. Is it an API? Will you manually upload data sets?
How much will it cost?
Total cost of ownership includes engineers, product managers, QA, security, support, and infrastructure. Reviews on Gartner Peer Insights and G2 show that hidden costs often outpace initial estimates.
“Most companies can’t afford to wait for a tool to be built internally. You’d have to wait years to get even part of the ROI of building it internally… You need data to help inform decision making like yesterday.”
— Lindsay Stokes, IT Asset Program Manager at Netflix
How much time will it take?
Development can run 9–12 months before deployment, while purchased platforms deliver insights in weeks. Consider the timeline to value and the implications of a delay such as missed savings and increased renewal risk.
What’s your risk tolerance?
Talk to your risk management team to understand what risks your organization is willing to take on. Custom builds concentrate security and compliance risk in-house, while vendor platforms spread risk across dedicated teams and audited systems
If we build, what kind of resources do we need?
Plan for a sustained commitment of engineering, design, DevOps, and support. Weigh the opportunity cost of diverting talent away from revenue-driving initiatives.
Build vs Buy: Pros and Cons
As 2025 winds down, organizations must weigh both the advantages and drawbacks of building versus buying a SaaS Management Platform.
On average, companies underestimate the size of their SaaS portfolio by 1.7X and their SaaS spend by 3X. This means that overlooking the risks and trade-offs of each option can quickly derail your strategy.
Pros and Cons of Building a SaaS Management Platform
Building an in-house platform gives you control and flexibility, but it requires ongoing investment and exposes your team to significant risk. Use these points to evaluate whether a custom approach is realistic for your organization.
Pros of Building
- Gain full control over features and design.
- Tailor the platform to unique requirements.
- Enable AI models to work on proprietary data, enabling more in-house automation.
- Build internal expertise that aligns with strategic priorities.
Cons of Building
- Limited visibility; can only uncover point-in-time data for the apps you already know about (no discovery).
- Commitment to high ongoing costs for development, security, and upgrades.
- Extended time to market in what’s often a year-long process to realize value.
- Increased operational risk, from compliance failures to downtime.
- Depend on internal AI models that are only as good as the quality of your data.
Pros and Cons of Buying a SaaS Management Platform
Buying a platform accelerates results and reduces risk, but it may involve trade-offs on customization. For fast-growing and enterprise organizations, the speed and scalability often outweigh the drawbacks.
Pros of Buying
- Achieve value in weeks or months instead of quarters or years.
- Access vendor-backed support, updates, and SLAs.
- Gain visibility across all SaaS spend and usage.
- Ensure comprehensive, always-on SaaS discovery of unknown software and spending.
- Take advantage of AI-enabled features, such as license optimization and renewal forecasting.
- Scale efficiently as your organization grows and support your enterprise needs.
Cons of Buying
- Accept some limits on customization.
- Depend on the vendor’s roadmap for future features.
- Pay recurring fees instead of one-time build costs.
How to Ensure You’re Making the Right Decision
To make the right build vs buy choice in 2025 savvy organizations define what they truly need, test those requirements against available platforms, and model long-term costs before committing. To guide your evaluation, focus on these areas:
- Clarify your organization’s needs
- Compare available platforms
- Model Total Costs Realistically
- Conduct a structured build vs buy analysis
- Explore a hybrid approach when necessary
- Plan for long-term growth and change
Clarify Your Organization’s Needs
Begin with a clear requirements document that prioritizes essential features over optional ones. Define what success looks like in measurable terms, such as faster onboarding, improved license optimization, or stronger compliance reporting.
Compare Available Platforms
Evaluate off-the-shelf solutions against your requirements. Use Gartner Peer Insights and G2 to see how existing tools perform in real-world environments, and request demos to validate how they handle your specific use cases.
Model Total Costs Realistically
Build a cost model that includes more than the sticker price. Account for developer salaries, infrastructure, security, upgrades, and support if you’re considering a custom build. Compare this against licensing fees, vendor support, and time-to-value if you’re buying.
Conduct a Structured Build vs Buy Analysis
Conduct a formal analysis that evaluates both options against weighted criteria, including cost, time, risk, and alignment with strategic priorities. Document assumptions so stakeholders can challenge and refine them.
Explore a Hybrid Approach When Necessary
Consider whether a hybrid model—buying a platform while building extensions or integrations—could provide the best balance of speed and customization. This approach reduces risk while letting you address unique requirements.
Plan for Long-Term Growth and Change
Think beyond the first year. SaaS portfolios expand at a rapid pace, so your management strategy must adapt. Choose the path that will scale with growth, handle new compliance requirements, and support evolving business models.
Myths and Misconceptions About Building an SMP
Many organizations continue to approach the “build vs. buy” decision with outdated assumptions about custom software. Believing these myths can lead to wasted budget, delayed results, and a lack of visibility into SaaS spend. To avoid missteps, challenge these common misconceptions:
- Building a custom platform is cheaper
- A custom platform is a one-time project
- The decision is purely financial
- Your team will automatically support the project
- Custom builds outperform market platforms
Building a Custom Platform Is Cheaper
Don’t assume building an SMP will save money. Zylo data shows organizations drastically underestimate their SaaS portfolio size, which means homegrown tools often miss the scale of the problem. Once you factor in developer salaries, infrastructure, and ongoing security, buying is usually more cost effective.
A Custom Platform Is a One-Time Project
Treating a build as a one-off project sets you up for failure. SaaS portfolios expand rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 33%. A custom tool will require constant updates and redesigns to keep pace. Purchased platforms spread this ongoing investment across all customers.
The Decision Is Purely Financial
This decision is not just about the balance sheet. It impacts speed to insight and action, compliance posture, and operational risk. Organizations that focus solely on dollars often overlook the significant value they lose due to delayed time-to-market or missed license optimization opportunities.
Your Team Will Automatically Support the Project
Don’t assume internal teams will rally behind a custom build. Developers, product managers, and security leaders may resist diverting their focus from revenue-driving initiatives. Buy decisions often win support because they reduce internal workload while delivering fast results.
Custom Builds Outperform Market Platforms
Vendors continuously enhance their platforms with AI, benchmarks, and new integrations. Believing a custom build will outperform the market underestimates the collective R&D power behind leading providers. In most cases, purchased tools already deliver advanced features that would take years for internal teams to replicate.
Why Zylo Provides a Superior Alternative to Building
In 2025, teams that choose a proven SaaS Management Platform like Zylo can unlock faster savings, stronger governance, and lower risk compared to custom builds that can take years to mature. Use the advantages below to determine if this path aligns with your goals.
- Industry-leadership and expertise
- Comprehensive, always-on discovery
- Centralized system of record
- Quick time to value
Industry-Leadership and Expertise
Tap into Zylo’s category-leading expertise shaped by thousands of real SaaS environments. Apply tested playbooks for license optimization, renewal management, and stakeholder alignment so you accelerate results without reinventing core capabilities.
The Definitive Guide to SaaS Management
Learn MoreComprehensive, Always-On Discovery
Maintain continuous visibility across spend, usage, owners, and renewals by connecting finance systems, SSO, and expense data. Zylo’s AI-powered SaaS discovery model uncovers all of your cloud-based software—even shadow IT.
Centralized System of Record
Consolidate every application, contract, license, entitlement, cost center, and renewal date into one source of truth. With Zylo, IT, finance, procurement, and security have access to the same data so you can standardize processes, forecast accurately, and negotiate from a stronger position.
Quick Time to Value
Launch with Zylo in weeks and start rightsizing licenses, consolidating vendors, and blocking shadow IT immediately following implementation. Closing your visibility gaps quickly turns into measurable savings and tighter controls, while your developers stay focused on revenue-driving work.
Make a Smart Build vs Buy Decision
Managing SaaS in 2025 requires a platform that leverages visibility and prevents waste. Building may feel appealing for control and customization, but it often leads to delays, higher costs, and blind spots. Buying with Zylo gives you faster time to value, always-on discovery, and the expertise of the SaaS Management Leader.
Request a demo today to see how Zylo can help you cut waste, centralize control, and unlock immediate savings across your SaaS portfolio.
Frequently Asked Questions About Build vs Buy
What is the 'build vs. buy' dilemma?
It’s the decision between creating a custom platform in-house or purchasing a proven SaaS Management Platform from a vendor. Building can give you control and customization, but it requires significant resources and ongoing maintenance. Buying accelerates results and transfers risk, but offers less flexibility in tailoring every feature.
Is building a SaaS Management Platform cheaper?
Don’t assume building an SMP is cheaper. Organizations routinely underestimate their SaaS portfolio size and spend, so internal tools often fail to meet expectations. When you add developer salaries, infrastructure, upgrades, and security, buying is usually the more cost-effective option.
What are the hidden costs of building?
Hidden costs of building an SMP include continuous development, integrations, compliance monitoring, and staff time for support and upgrades. These costs grow year after year and often exceed the licensing fees of vendor platforms.
How do I choose the right vendor?
Focus on vendors with strong peer reviews on Gartner Peer Insights and G2. Look for platforms that deliver complete discovery, robust integrations, and proven customer outcomes. Request case studies that demonstrate measurable savings and enhanced compliance.
What is a key advantage of purchasing a SaaS Management Platform compared to developing in-house?
The biggest advantage is speed to value. Vendor platforms can be deployed in weeks, allowing for quick identification of waste and risks. An in-house build often takes 9–12 months before delivering even basic insights.
What is a disadvantage of building your own in-house software solution?
A significant drawback of building a software solution in-house is the operational risk your team must carry. Custom builds require ongoing support, patching, and monitoring. Without continuous investment, the tool quickly lags behind market needs and becomes unreliable.
How hard is it to build your own software?
It’s far harder than most teams expect. A successful build requires the collaboration of engineers, product managers, data specialists, QA specialists, and ongoing support. Without dedicated investment, scope creep and delays are common, stretching timelines and budgets to their limits.
Is it smarter to buy or build a SaaS Management Platform?
For most enterprises, buying is the smarter choice in 2025. SaaS portfolios are expanding by about seven new apps per month or 33% annually, which means only vendor platforms are equipped to handle the pace of change. Building may work for highly specialized needs, but the trade-offs in cost, time, and risk are significant.