Custom software guide
Who publishes Build vs Buy Software, and how are the lists ranked?
Who publishes Build vs Buy Software
Build vs Buy Software is published by Black Badger Software Solutions, a software company based in Clearwater, Florida. Black Badger builds custom software for companies that have outgrown the products they rent.
That matters for how you read this site. Black Badger is the build side of the question, and a custom build by Black Badger is one of the ranked options on every list. Its entry says so each time. We take no commission from any vendor named here and have no reseller arrangement with any of them.
How the Build vs Buy Software lists are ranked
Each list takes one kind of system and ranks the best products to buy together with a custom build. The ranking depends on the build or buy question and not on which product has the most features.
Three things carry the most weight. The first is the cost over five years at the plan a company of 50 or more employees would need. The others are how far the option can be fitted to a specific process and who has to maintain it afterward.
The custom route is ranked like any other option. It is in the top three on every list, first on the two lists where building most often wins, and second or third where buying usually does.
Where the facts on Build vs Buy Software come from
How each option charges, its plan names and its limits are read from each vendor's own website, and every entry shows the date they were read and links to the page. No prices are printed on this guide. Each entry says how the option charges and lists its pros and cons. When a vendor does not publish a price, the entry says so and does not estimate one.
Vendors change their plans and limits often. If you find a fact here that no longer matches the vendor's page, the vendor's page is right.
How often Build vs Buy Software is updated
Every page shows the date it was last updated. We recheck the facts against the vendors' sites on a regular cycle and revisit rankings when a product, a price or a limit changes enough to matter.
Update log
- Prices removed from every list. Each option now shows its pros and cons and how it charges.
- Site published. All lists and the build versus buy framework written, with every vendor fact read from the vendor's own pages.