1
Replace first
The product primarily supports workflows, data, and automation that can often be brought into a custom platform designed around your business. Typical recommendation: Strong candidate for replacement.
How We Map The Move From SaaS To Ownership
Replacing your SaaS stack should start with understanding what you use, what it costs, and what actually makes sense to rebuild. We evaluate your current software stack and score replacement opportunities to identify where custom functionality makes the most sense. Then, we prove the strongest idea, build and roll out your platform, and add features in a sensible order.
<Our Process>
From a growing SaaS stack to an owned platform
We determine which subscriptions are worth replacing, which should stay, and how to make the transition without disrupting your business. We can also plan how to bring AI into the new system: from Generative AI features to AI agents that automate tasks, support decisions, and connect workflows across your business
Strategy session and analysis3 DAYS
We review your current SaaS tools, subscription costs, workflows, integrations, data, and business requirements. Then we identify:
- What to keep, replace, or leave behind
- Where your team is stuck working around the software
- Which tools can be brought together
- Where custom software could actually pay off
- What to build first, and what can wait
Result: A clear replacement strategy and priorities before making a major development commitment.
Proof of concept1 WEEK
On-going development1 MONTH+
<Point Explanation>
Replacement complexity score
Some SaaS tools are worth rebuilding as custom features. Others are already doing their job well, or too tangled in compliance and integrations to be worth touching yet. So we score every tool you’re paying for on a simple 5-point scale:
2
Strong candidate
Much of the functionality can often be recreated around your specific workflows without rebuilding unnecessary features. Typical recommendation: Consider replacing or consolidating.
3
Worth considering
Replacement can make sense depending on how much of the platform you actually use, your subscription costs, and how specialized your workflows are. Typical recommendation: Analyze before deciding.
4
Limited replacement potential
Some functionality may be worth rebuilding, but replacing the entire product would usually create unnecessary complexity. Typical recommendation: Replace selected workflows or integrate.
5
Keep it
The product is highly specialized, difficult to replicate economically, or provides significant value through its ecosystem. Typical recommendation: Keep and integrate.
Important
The score is a starting point, not a universal recommendation. Your integrations, configuration, compliance needs, data, and workflows can significantly change the answer.
<What goes into the score>
We look beyond the feature list
A product may appear easy to replace until you consider the systems, people, and processes connected to it. Our scores consider the factors that actually affect replacement.
<Replacement Potential>
Put your subscriptions to the replacement test
We evaluate popular SaaS products and score how practical they are to replace with custom functionality. Each replacement complexity score considers workflow complexity, data portability, integration dependencies, compliance requirements, and the likely business value of replacement.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
440h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$66,000 -$82,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, contacts & organizations; deals & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; calendar sync; product catalog; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; data import.
Excluded functionality
Multiple configurable sales pipelines; contact synchronization; Smart Bcc email logging; AI-generated reports; duplicate merging; mobile applications; marketplace integrations.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
440h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$66,000 -$82,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; products, price books & orders; sales reports & dashboard; Outlook, calendar & inbox sync; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; Excel export.
Excluded functionality
Quotes & invoices; product bundles; mobile application; customization beyond custom fields; Microsoft 365 integrations beyond calendar & inbox sync.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
580–760h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$87,000 -$105,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; Google Calendar, Outlook & inbox sync; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; workflow automation; data import; email templates & mass emails.
Excluded functionality
Multiple configurable sales pipelines; follow-up reminders; built-in calling; lead capture forms; sales forecasting; custom modules; data enrichment; data export; mobile applications; Slack, Zoom & Teams integrations.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
580–760h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$87,000 -$105,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; sales workflow automation & lead routing; email templates & mass emails; lead scoring.
Excluded functionality
Lead capture forms; advanced campaign functionality; support case management; knowledge articles; AI-assisted email drafting & record summaries; ecommerce storefront & checkout; Slack integration.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
800–900 h
Duration
20-34 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$120,000 -$124,000
Included functionality
Employee records; standard reports and dashboards; basic recruiting; onboarding; time-off; benefits tracking; employee surveys; live payroll processing; automatic salary and time-off accruals; e-signature integration
Excluded functionality
Custom report builder; configurable employee-data workflows; job-board integrations; email and offer-letter templates; advanced time-off policies and calendar; HR benchmarking; compliance intelligence; on-demand pay; AI functionality; compliance training; benefits carrier integrations; compensation benchmarking; advanced benefits administration; advanced time tracking; performance management
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
900–1,100 h
Duration
20-34 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$135,000 -$152,000
Included functionality
Employee records and lifecycle; onboarding/offboarding; compensation records and changes; benefits plans and elections; time-off requests, approvals and balances; payroll records; live payroll processing; automatic salary and time-off accruals
Excluded functionality
Benefits eligibility automation; organizational restructuring and bulk changes; job architecture; asset tracking; configurable HR workflows; third-party integrations; AI agents; workforce planning; learning management; advanced talent and career planning; benefits carrier integrations; compensation benchmarking
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
900–1,100 h
Duration
20-34 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$135,000 -$152,000
Included functionality
Employee records and self-service; employee and department management; offboarding; benefits plans and elections; time-off; HR reports and dashboards; live payroll processing; automatic salary and time-off accruals
Excluded functionality
Interactive organizational chart; position management; advanced transfer and promotion workflows; localized benefits rules; work schedules and calendars; audit trails; additional localization; mobile application; AI capabilities; workforce planning; learning management; advanced talent and career planning; benefits carrier integrations; compensation benchmarking; recruiting; full performance management
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
940–1,220 h
Duration
20-34 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$141,000 -$168,000
Included functionality
Employee records, roles and self-service; onboarding/offboarding; HR documents; payroll records; live payroll processing; automatic salary and time-off accruals; standard reports; employee surveys; e-signature integration
Excluded functionality
Policy acknowledgements and audit history; payroll preview and error detection; general ledger integration; batch imports; custom report builder; survey triggers and broadcasts; portal customization; advanced retroactive calculations; I-9/E-Verify integration; AI assistant; compensation benchmarking; benefits administration; advanced time tracking; recruiting; performance/compensation add-ons; learning management
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
600–720 h
Duration
8-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$90,000 -$99,000
Included functionality
Incident management; knowledge base; service catalog and request fulfillment; change request management; CMDB; asset lifecycle management; assignment groups; access control and user/role management; automatic SLA reminders and deadline-based escalations.
Excluded functionality
Employee self-service portal; full SLA configuration and measurement; multilingual interface; MFA beyond the base authentication scope.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
600–720 h
Duration
8-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$90,000 -$99,000
Included functionality
Incident management; service catalog and request fulfillment; CMDB and configuration-item relationships; asset lifecycle management; assignment groups; work notes/timeline; access control and user/role management; external IT-system integrations; automatic incident creation from monitoring systems.
Excluded functionality
Employee self-service portal; virtual agent; AI summaries, suggested solutions, and response generation; broader data integration platform capabilities.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
700–820 h
Duration
8-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$105,000 -$113,000
Included functionality
Incident and request management; knowledge base; assignment groups; work notes/timeline; CMDB; asset lifecycle management; configurable workflows and queues; search, filter, sort; reports and dashboard; access control and user/role management; monitoring integrations; automatic incident creation; SLA reminders and deadline-based escalations.
Excluded functionality
Email/chat ticket intake; configurable forms; on-call scheduling; branded customer portal; administrative audit logs; Rovo AI; general-purpose automation builder beyond the included workflows.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
400 h
Duration
10-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$60,000 -$76,000
Included functionality
Basic case lifecycle; assignment groups; work notes/timeline; knowledge base; search, filter, sort; reports and dashboard; access control and user/role management.
Excluded functionality
Customer accounts and contacts; interaction history across channels; email-to-case; mailbox and Slack integrations; standalone task/activity management; sales, marketing, and commerce functionality.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
400 h
Duration
10-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$60,000 -$76,000
Included functionality
Basic ticket management; work notes/timeline; knowledge content management; search, filter, sort; reports and dashboard; access control and user/role management.
Excluded functionality
Website/in-app messenger; live chat; support email; shared conversation inbox; public help-center interface; in-app banners and tooltips; Fin AI Agent.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
400 h
Duration
10-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$60,000 -$76,000
Included functionality
Ticket lifecycle; assignment groups; internal work notes/timeline; knowledge base; search, filter, sort; reports and dashboard; access control and user/role management.
Excluded functionality
Shared email inbox and email ticket processing; customer self-service portal; separate conversation threads; ticket-linked tasks; Freddy AI Agent.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
480–600 h
Duration
10-12 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$72,000 -$83,000
Included functionality
Ticket lifecycle; assignment groups; work notes/timeline; search, filter, sort; reports and dashboard; access control and user/role management; automatic reminders and deadline-based escalations.
Excluded functionality
Email ticket intake and replies; customer profiles and interaction history; predefined responses/macros; configurable routing rules; general-purpose triggers and automation builder.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
350–450 h
Duration
4-16 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$52,500 -$62,000
Included functionality
Base Marketing functionality; Landing pages & Forms; Workflow automation, lead nurturing, and engagement programs; Lead scoring and grading; User-configurable custom fields; environment setup; deployment and stabilization
Excluded functionality
Extended prospect activity tracking; Salesforce CRM integration and API access; AI-assisted campaign creation and additional Marketing Cloud Next capabilities
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
420–520 h
Duration
4-16 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$63,000 -$72,000
Included functionality
Base Marketing functionality; Landing pages & Forms; Workflow automation; Ad management and retargeting; environment setup; deployment and stabilization
Excluded functionality
Live chat and basic chatbots
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
400-500 h
Duration
4-16 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$60,000 -$69,000
Included functionality
Base Marketing functionality; Signup forms; Email workflow automation; User-configurable custom fields; Active Intelligence AI tools; environment setup; deployment and stabilization
Excluded functionality
Email A/B testing; tags; CRM and ecommerce integrations
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
460–560 h
Duration
4-16 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$69,000 -$77,000
Included functionality
Base Marketing functionality, including custom roles and permissions; Landing pages & Forms; Workflow automation, lead nurturing, routing, and alerts; Social marketing and paid media targeting; Lead scoring; environment setup; deployment and stabilization
Excluded functionality
Advanced dynamic content and personalization; SEO tools; native CRM integrations and API access
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
380 h
Duration
16-20 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$57,000 -$73,000
Included functionality
Base project, task, board, access control, comments, and search functionality; user-configurable custom fields / board columns; file attachments
Excluded functionality
Project and board templates; shared documents and collaborative editing; mobile applications; AI features
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
620–780 h
Duration
16-20 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$93,000 -$108,000
Included functionality
Base board, card, transition, label, comment, access control, and search functionality; workflow automation; selected external integrations; user-configurable custom fields; file attachments; calendar and Planner
Excluded functionality
Advanced checklists; card mirroring; list colors and collapsible lists; saved searches; single-board guest collaboration; general Power-Up framework; AI features
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
680–840 h
Duration
16-20 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$102,000 -$116,000
Included functionality
Base functionality; automation rules; third-party integrations; user-configurable custom fields; file attachments; calendar view; timeline view
Excluded functionality
Intake forms; external collaboration and anonymous access; AI features
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
680–840 h
Duration
16-20 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$102,000 -$116,000
Included functionality
Base project, task, board, collaboration, search, and reporting functionality; workflow automation and recurring-task rules; third-party integrations; user-configurable custom fields; file attachments; calendar view; timeline view
Excluded functionality
Gantt view; scheduling dependencies and milestones; intake forms; custom project templates; project status updates and task activity history; guest collaboration; AI features
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
440h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$66,000 -$82,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, contacts & organizations; deals & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; calendar sync; product catalog; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; data import.
Excluded functionality
Multiple configurable sales pipelines; contact synchronization; Smart Bcc email logging; AI-generated reports; duplicate merging; mobile applications; marketplace integrations.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
440h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$66,000 -$82,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; products, price books & orders; sales reports & dashboard; Outlook, calendar & inbox sync; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; Excel export.
Excluded functionality
Quotes & invoices; product bundles; mobile application; customization beyond custom fields; Microsoft 365 integrations beyond calendar & inbox sync.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
580–760h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$87,000 -$105,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; Google Calendar, Outlook & inbox sync; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; workflow automation; data import; email templates & mass emails.
Excluded functionality
Multiple configurable sales pipelines; follow-up reminders; built-in calling; lead capture forms; sales forecasting; custom modules; data enrichment; data export; mobile applications; Slack, Zoom & Teams integrations.
Replacementсomplexity
Total estimate
580–760h
Duration
8-14 weeks
Est. replacement cost
$87,000 -$105,000
Included functionality
Auth, access control & user/role management; leads, accounts & contacts; lead qualification/conversion; opportunities & sales pipeline; activities, tasks & calendar events; sales reports & dashboard; search, filter & sort; My Profile; custom fields; sales workflow automation & lead routing; email templates & mass emails; lead scoring.
Excluded functionality
Lead capture forms; advanced campaign functionality; support case management; knowledge articles; AI-assisted email drafting & record summaries; ecommerce storefront & checkout; Slack integration.
<AI-Coding and Human-in-the-Loop>
AI accelerates development. Experienced engineers stay in control
AI-assisted development can reduce the time spent on repetitive development tasks such as code generation, documentation, testing, analysis, and refactoring. That can make custom software practical for more businesses than before. But faster does not mean automatic.
AI accelerates the work. Humans own the result.
Our engineers remain responsible for the decisions that matter: architecture, security, integrations, data, performance, maintainability, and quality.
AI helps us move faster.
We use AI where it can improve productivity and accelerate delivery.
Your business drives the platform
We build around your workflows and requirements and not around what an AI tool happens to generate.
Humans make the decisions
Experienced engineers review, test, validate, and take responsibility for the software we deliver.
<the result?>
A streamlined, purpose-built system that gives your team greater control and flexibility
<SaaS vs. Custom>
When owning makes more sense than renting
SaaS is useful when it fits. But when your stack is growing out of control instead of growing your business, it might be time to switch. Tired of renting multiple tools, paying for features you don’t use, and relying on IT workarounds? A custom platform can be well worth the investment in the long term.
SaaS
Custom
Pricing & total cost of ownership
Subscription cost is based on users, features, storage, or usage
Upfront development plus planned hosting and maintenance, without paying per-seat
Workflows
Your team adapts to predefined processes
A platform built around how your team actually works
Data
Information is scattered across different systems
Data is connected, controlled, and secure, all in one place
System integrations
Your team juggles multiple logins, IT systems, and applications
Systems, data, and workflows work seamlessly, finally
Control
Features, pricing, and updates depend on the vendor
You control the product; you own the code
Growth
Costs often rise as users and requirements increase
Functionality and capacity grow around your needs
Launch
Quick to adopt
Developed in stages
Best for
Standard processes that do not differentiate your business
Connected, specialized, or evolving business operations
<Contact us>
Unsubscribe from SaaS. See what’s worth replacing
Even if you don’t know the first thing about custom software, we’ll help you figure out which tools overlap, where you’re overspending, and how a custom-built solution could create the most value.
What happens next:
- We review your request. A member of our team looks at your current software needs and business context.
- We talk through your SaaS stack. We discuss your subscriptions, workflows, integrations, legacy systems, and opportunities for AI.
- You get a clearer path forward. If there’s a strong case for custom software, we’ll explain what we recommend exploring next.
No commitment to rebuild everything. No predetermined solution.
<FAQ>