Cost a custom build against buying one
Put in your team size, day rate and months to first release. It costs three years of both sides, names the headcount above which building wins, and prints a source under every figure.
Build vs buy
What would it cost to build this yourself?
Building the first version is the cheap part. The cost of a custom platform shows up in years two through five. Set your own numbers — the arithmetic is below them, in words.
The number of people who would use it. The employee minimum on a company subscription is 200.
An employee platform needs, at minimum, a product owner, several engineers, QA, a designer, and someone responsible for security and infrastructure. That team does not go away after launch. MangoApps build-vs-buy brief, 27 Oct 2026
A custom platform typically takes 12 to 18 months to build, and longer before employees use it in a meaningful way. MangoApps build-vs-buy brief, 27 Oct 2026
Use your own fully-loaded figure — salary, benefits and overhead. We publish no benchmark for this one; your finance team has the number.
6 people × 15 months × $900/day × 21 days = $1.7M to build 2 of 13 systems
Build it
$4.1M
over 3 years — $1.7M to build, then $1.4M a year to keep it running
Communications & Intranet
$972K
over 3 years — $324K a year at list, all 13 apps included
Over 3 years the build costs 4.2× the subscription.
Over 3 years the build comes in under the subscription — at this size, on these numbers.
To match the subscription you would have to build and run all of it with 1.4 people for 3 years. Building is the cheaper of the two above about 12,600 employees.
Employees feel it after about 21 months on a build, or 15 weeks on MangoApps.
What the team keeps doing after launch
- Mobile OS updates, twice a year, on two native apps
- Browser changes and security patches
- Accessibility requirements
- Identity provider changes
- An integration update every time a connected system changes its API
And re-earned every year
- ISO 27001:2022
- SOC 2 Type II
- HIPAA and GDPR support
- Third-party penetration testing
MangoApps build-vs-buy brief, 27 Oct 2026
What this arithmetic ignores
- The build figure is people only. It excludes hosting, security tooling, audit fees, app store accounts and the cost of the systems you would still be integrating.
- It assumes the team ships on the month you set. Most do not.
- The subscription figure is list price for the suite named above, before the volume, term and non-profit discounts a proposal applies, and before any professional services.
- Neither figure prices the delay. A build that lands 18 months later is 18 months of value not collected, which this calculator does not count.
- This is arithmetic, not a quote.
What does another year of deciding cost? What does one platform return in a year?
Want to pressure-test these numbers?
A solutions consultant will work through your own figures, and say where the case for buying is thin.
Why Choose Us?
- Frontline AI: Governed AI for every employee and workflow.
- Top Security: HITRUST, ISO & SOC 2 certified.
- Exceptional UX: Delightful on mobile and desktop.
- Proven Results: 98% customer retention rate.
Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
