Custom Web Development Vs Off the Shelf Solutions
Custom web development offers tailored solutions targeted towards your business goals with no recurring license fees, which could be exorbitant for enterprises. While custom web development is relatively time-consuming, the ability to customize solutions to your company’s requirements outweighs the time and cost restraints. With greater control and flexibility, custom web apps have a higher ROI, better SEO performance tailored to your needs, and a longer lifespan compared to off-the-shelf solutions. When you compare costs, off-the-shelf solutions are often more expensive to customize and come with annual or monthly license fees, while custom solutions come with a one-time cost and require no license fee. In the long run, you will invest a lot more in an off-the-shelf solution compared to custom software.
This article delves into the pros and cons of custom web development and off-the-shelf solutions in detail. The article targets both small/medium companies and enterprises. We also discuss technologies in detail.
Custom Web Development and What Is Involved
Custom web development involves creating a web application tailored to your business needs. Your web application is crafted from scratch using a web programming language like PHP, JavaScript, Python, .NET, etc. Custom web applications have no limitations to what can be created and are only limited by your imagination and the proficiency of the web developer/web development company. While custom web applications are the best solutions for complex problems, they need to be created from scratch. This requires time to develop, and the more complex the problem, the cost increases too. With that said, let’s explore factors that influence the cost of custom web development, its benefits/features, and more.
Tailored to Specific Needs
Custom web applications can be small or big. Enterprise-level web applications can scale across departments of a large organization, providing an extensive range of features, while microservices or small modules of custom web apps can be developed to run independently and provide a very small feature. A microservice could be a gate pass software that notes visitor details and integrates with a web application. An off-the-shelf software for a small module may be hard to find, and if found, it can be difficult to integrate with your existing solutions. With custom web development, you can create a solution tailored to your requirements and integrated with your existing solution. All modules of a custom web app project are easily customizable and can be altered to the user’s/business’s preferences.Features can be integrated into your software. New workflows can be added or modified in your existing web application, and your solution can be crafted specifically to your industry requirements. Generic web development software provides a single solution that is general and requires customization. Customization options on generic software can be limited and could come with flaws if done incorrectly.
Enhanced Scalability in Custom Web Solutions
Custom web solutions are scalable. Unlike generic off-the-shelf solutions that have limitations, custom web solutions are open to enhancements. You can add modules, microservices, or integrate APIs to scale your application. Applications are aligned with your business roles, and they can grow as your business grows. You can ensure your software will adapt to your business requirements and not the other way around.Take, for instance, your e-commerce store needs to integrate an inventory control system that can sync with your brick-and-mortar store. A ready-to-use, off-the-shelf solution will not be available for the task, and when available, the implementation would often be complex. To make things worse, they may not provide the precise solution you are looking for. With a custom-developed solution, you are free to integrate an off-the-shelf inventory control package into your e-commerce store using an API or create a custom-developed solution that is precise to your business requirements, including branding and user interface.
With Custom Web Development, You Can Create Solutions That Scale, and There Are Very Few Limitations
No Recurring License Fees
The license fee for a basic plan of Shopify is $39/month, and an advanced plan could cost you $399/month. Software like Magento, Adobe Commerce Cloud solutions start at $22,000 per year for enterprises. HubSpot CRM solutions could cost $3,200/month for enterprises, while Zoho charges $40/user/month. While off-the-shelf solutions could be a quick fix, the costs could accrue over time and often amount to 3-4 times over the course of a year or two. With custom web development, you pay no license costs; you pay only the cost of development. The cost may seem a bit high depending on the solutions required. An enterprise-level custom solution may cost anywhere between $50,000 to half a million dollars (US), but the one-time cost you invest will last for over two decades. Custom solutions developed by Megh Technologies in 2000 continue to meet the business requirements of Fortune 500 companies after two decades, saving approximately $7,500 in licensing fees per month. The cost of developing the solution was $25,000. The company covered the investment cost in less than four months and has never had to pay anything thereafter—not to developers or for licensing!
Recurring fees for software online could be exorbitant and are directly proportional to the number of users, features, and availability of services. Be careful about hidden costs when it comes to off-the-shelf solutions too. You may find yourself paying more than double what you bargained for without understanding the services!
Better Security Features with Custom Web Development
Off-the-shelf solutions are available to multiple companies and users. Hackers target off-the-shelf solutions and take advantage of bugs and vulnerabilities in the solution with easy access to the technology. With custom solutions, the code is not available, and finding a vulnerability takes time and effort. Hackers will be discouraged from exploiting the solution straight away unless they find access through a user. Security measures like 2FA can be easily implemented in custom web software to deter hackers.
Custom web development allows customized security protocols with tailored defense measures and compliance-focused security. Features like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI-DSS standards can be implemented, ensuring regulated industry compliance is met. The unique codebase with fewer dependencies and third-party plugins ensures fewer security flaws and exploits. Custom web development also provides a wide range of options when it comes to access control and authentication. Biometric verification, multi-factor authentication, and two-factor authentication can be implemented in custom web apps. Permission-based systems provide granular access control, restricting user permissions based on roles and security levels, an option that is hard to find in off-the-shelf solutions.
The security features in a custom web application are limitless.
Better SEO Performance
Most off-the-shelf web application solutions come with good SEO features. They can be optimized to a good extent and further customized with third-party plugins. Unfortunately, they are limited to industry standards, and customization beyond what is provided by the platform is often unavailable. For instance, the feature of adding a schema markup or structured data to a WordPress platform will require a plugin, as it is not inbuilt. Most of these plugins have limitations too. Though you will have a schema markup implemented on your website, the schema markup is often not exactly what you want.
With custom web development, you can incorporate granular changes that can affect your SEO performance with a small change sitewide. You have granular control over your SEO, which is often challenging in an off-the-shelf solution on any platform, be it WordPress, Wix, Shopify, or Magento Cloud.
Greater Control and Flexibility
While custom web apps are scalable, they are also flexible. You can add, modify, and remove features with ease, tweaking features to meet your precise business requirements. Flexibility is one of the biggest drawbacks of off-the-shelf solutions. Customizing a module precisely to your business requirements may require complex changes, sometimes breaking the system and opening up possibilities for bugs and exploits. They are also expensive to customize. Adding a new feature may require time, skills, and even then may not meet your exact requirements on an off-the-shelf solution.
Higher ROI
At first glance, custom web development may seem expensive, but the results are worthwhile. With custom user interfaces tailored to your business needs, better UX, and reduced operational inefficiencies, you can expect higher conversion rates. The cost of running a custom solution is much lower than an off-the-shelf solution, making it more cost-effective.
Longer Lifespan
With off-the-shelf solutions, there is a lifespan associated with them. What’s good today may not be good tomorrow. Often, companies have had to replace their entire system because it no longer met the business purpose. The solutions had limitations and were not scalable. The technology they used off the shelf did not evolve, or there may be a hundred other reasons. With a custom solution, your software adapts to your business needs, ensuring a longer shelf life. You can always improve on your existing system, remove obsolete technology, and incorporate new ones as the need arises. Custom solutions are often known to last 2 to 3 decades, provided they use the right technology and are backed by a company that knows the solution well.