SaaS vs Dedicated Software – when does a ready-made solution cease to be cost-effective?

Five years ago, the decision was straightforward. Choosing SaaS—renting ready-made software on a monthly subscription—meant a low entry barrier, fast implementation, and predictable costs. Custom software, on the other hand, was associated with large budgets, long delivery times, and significant risk.

Not because SaaS has gotten worse—it is still an excellent choice for many companies. What has changed is the cost and time required to build custom software. AI-assisted development has increased developer productivity by 30–60%. Projects that required 800 hours three years ago can now often be delivered in 300–600 hours.

This shifts the point at which custom software becomes economically viable.

In this article, we will cover:

Let’s start with situations where SaaS makes sense. Contrary to popular belief, in many cases it is still the most reasonable option.

Accounting, CRM, HR, project management—these are areas where most companies operate in a similar way. If your sales process does not differ significantly from others in your industry, a ready-made CRM will likely be sufficient.

SaaS works best when you can adapt your processes to the system, not the other way around. There is nothing wrong with that—standardization can be an advantage.

For teams of 5–15 people, the benefits of a custom solution are often limited. Implementation costs are spread across fewer users. A SaaS tool costing PLN 50–100 per user per month may be more cost-effective than a system priced at PLN 100,000–200,000.

Implementing SaaS often takes days, while custom software usually requires at least 2–3 months. If time is critical—launching a new product, entering a market, or delivering something “yesterday”—a ready-made solution allows you to move almost immediately.

Realistically, even a basic custom project starts at around PLN 30,000–50,000. If you do not have that kind of IT budget upfront, SaaS lets you move forward without a large initial investment.

This is an important signal. If you use a SaaS product and see that its development direction matches your needs—features you actually use are being added regularly and feedback is taken seriously—that is a strong argument to stay. You pay less, and product development is effectively included in the price.

The problem with SaaS is that limitations tend to build up gradually. At first, everything works. Then small workarounds appear. Then more. At some point, half of the work happens outside the system.

Here are the warning signs worth paying attention to.

Many SaaS platforms are large, all-in-one systems. You buy an Enterprise plan because you need one specific feature. The remaining 90 modules go unused, but you still pay for them.

That alone is not the issue. The real problem starts when the one feature you need still does not work the way you actually want it to.

When a system cannot be adapted to how people really work, “workarounds” appear. Most often, this means Excel living next to the system. Someone fills in missing information in a spreadsheet, someone else copies data back and forth, and chaos follows quickly.

After a while, no one is sure what the source of truth is—the system or the file. If Excel becomes a rescue mechanism, it is a clear sign the system is not delivering what your team needs day to day.

You report a need for a specific feature to the SaaS vendor. The response is: “Thanks for the feedback, it’s on our roadmap.”

A year passes. The feature is still not there.

This is normal—SaaS vendors must balance the needs of thousands of customers. Your specific requirement may never become a priority. The key question is: how long can you afford to wait?

The SaaS model is built on predictable recurring revenue for the vendor. This often means annual price increases—10%, 20%, sometimes more.

The increase itself is not necessarily a problem. The issue starts when:

At that point, you accept the increases because replacing the system is costly. This is a natural consequence of the SaaS model—not inherently bad, but something to be aware of.

Your business evolves—you enter new markets, adjust pricing, or add new services. Meanwhile, the system enforces rigid rules: you need five customer categories, but the software supports only three.

As a result, you bend your processes to fit the tool. You pay for software and still lose time searching for alternatives because the system does not allow you to implement your own ideas.

For years, cost was the main argument in favor of SaaS. Not long ago, custom software often required budgets of PLN 300,000–500,000 and many months of work. For most companies, that level of investment was out of reach.

In 2026, the numbers look different.

Developers now use tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor. These tools do not replace developers—but they significantly accelerate their work.

In practice, this means:

A project that required 800 hours in 2021 may now require 300–600 hours in 2026.

At a rate of PLN 200/hour:

That is a difference of roughly PLN 70,000.

Not everything becomes cheaper. AI speeds up coding, but:

In practice, this means the entry barrier for custom solutions is lower, but the final price still depends on requirements, quality expectations, and integration complexity.

This is the key takeaway. If custom software used to make sense only when SaaS costs reached PLN 5,000–10,000 per month, today that threshold may be closer to PLN 3,000–5,000.

Companies for which custom software used to be “too expensive” can now re-evaluate the numbers.

Below is a practical way to compare both approaches. It is not perfect—every company is different—but it provides a solid basis for decision-making.

Not just the monthly fee. Include:

Direct costs:

Hidden costs:

Example:

10 people × 2h × PLN 100/hour × 150 weeks = PLN 300,000

Total: ~PLN 390,000 over 3 years

Initial costs:

Ongoing costs (annually):

Example:

Total: ~PLN 250,000 over 3 years

In the example above, custom software is cheaper—but this is a simplification. Your numbers may differ.

Additional factors to consider:

Based on what we see with clients:

You do not have to choose just one path. You can:

Example: a manufacturing company uses SaaS to manage the business, but runs quality control in a custom system because SaaS functionality was insufficient for audits.

SaaS and custom software are two different approaches. Neither is objectively better—they fit different situations.

What has changed is the break-even point. AI-assisted development has reduced the cost of building systems by 30–60%. Projects that were out of reach for mid-sized companies three years ago are now often feasible.

It is worth recalculating, especially if:

We can help you compare both options for your specific situation. No obligations—if SaaS is the better choice in your case, we will say so clearly.