Build or Buy? The Real Cost of Custom Development
Building an AI support system in-house sounds appealing — full control, no vendor lock-in. But teams consistently underestimate the true cost of custom development. Between hiring, infrastructure, model integration, and ongoing maintenance, the total cost of ownership often exceeds expectations by 3–5x.
The Hidden Costs
Plan 6–12 months for an MVP with 3 developers at €80K/year each — that's €120K–240K in initial salary costs alone. Then add LLM API costs, cloud infrastructure, security compliance, and the permanent team needed for maintenance and updates. The meter never stops running.
What You Get with Reaktly
Go live in 2–5 days with a fully configured AI support platform. The IQ engine provides automated knowledge scoring, suggestions, and verification out of the box. Multi-channel support (web, WhatsApp, email, Slack, Teams) is built in. Continuous updates, security patches, and new features are included — no dedicated team required.
Head-to-Head: Reaktly vs Custom Build
| Category | Reaktly | Custom Build |
|---|---|---|
| Development Time | ||
| Initial Cost | ||
| Monthly Cost | ||
| AI Model Integration | ||
| Knowledge Engine | ||
| Multi-Channel | ||
| Audit Trails & Compliance | ||
| Maintenance & Updates | ||
| Scaling | ||
| Time-to-Value |
Reaktly
- 2–5 days to go-live
- €0 (Free) – €99 (Professional)
- €49–99/month, predictable
- Integrated, continuously optimized
- IQ Engine: scoring, suggestions, verification
- Web, WhatsApp, Email, Slack, Teams
- Native, SOC 2 ready
- Automatic, included
- Elastic, no DevOps needed
- Days, not months
Custom Build
- 6–12 months (MVP)
- €50K–150K (3-person team, 6 months)
- €5K–15K (hosting + APIs + team)
- Self-implemented and maintained
- Must be built entirely from scratch
- Every channel means extra development
- Must be self-implemented
- Dedicated team permanently needed
- DevOps team required
- 6–12 months to first real use
Cost estimate based on 3-person dev team (€80K/year each) over 6 months. LLM API costs, hosting, and ongoing maintenance not included.
Save 6–12 Months of Development
Launch with Reaktly in days instead of months. Focus your team on your core product.