SaaS or DIY? Which one and how?

Question

When it comes to deciding between an open source tool or SaaS product which of the following options does sound more appealing to you? Comment what factors influence your decision.

Andew Slobodianiuk · Accepted Answer

Depends on what effect do you expect to get. Saas - take and use, OS has much more option for customizations but longer to develop.

Sam Kamrani · Answer

@bernadette_cau I totally agree. It really depends on how much you rely on something.

I give you an example. Once we were developing a product that was using Magento as its core and basically the core logic was handled by Magento so we invested heavily in adding features to it, but if we just wanted to use Magento I'd rather even give up on some features and go for a SaaS product with close to zero maintenance.

Bernadette Cau · Answer

it really depends:
- if you can avoid "reinventing the bicycle", go the easy way and take a SaaS.
- if you need some particular features and customisation, it might be safer to develop in-house

Sam Kamrani · Answer

@andew_slobodianiuk That's very true, and that's what the 4th option actually is all about. You have the simplicity of SaaS and extensibility of the underlying open source tool.

Benedicta Bonsu · Answer

Spending weeks or months to master the tool.

SaaS or DIY? Which one and how?

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