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What to choose: Open Source vs Custom Software
If you’re planning to implement an application for your business (like CRM, e-commerce, e-learning or any other solutions), you may have already encountered a question of what to choose: open source or custom made software (called bespoke software or tailor made software).
The truth is, there are advantages and benefits associated with both of them – depending on your requirements according to the needed solution. So there’s no categorical answer to which option is the best one.
…but😊
we can make your decision easier by comparing the advantages of both options.
Open Source Software
Open Source software is usually built by an organized community or by a single enthusiast who, as part of an interest or business idea, makes his code available for the wider community to use and modify. The software is released under one of the open source licenses (e.g. MIT, BSD, GPL), so it’s a good idea to check the license before using the system, but this is a topic for a separate article.
Pros of using Open Source Applications:
- Open source solution keeps costs down
When you choose an open source application you can save a large amount of money. You are able to access an open source code without having to pay anything. Running business operations without licenses costs is something that mosstart ups organizations prefer.
- Software is constantly evolving
With easy access to its source code, developers are able to improve the software by fixing appearing bugs, making iterations, adding new features, plugins and so on at any time they want.
- Flexible
Users can take a piece of open source software and tailor it to suit their needs. Since the code is open, it’s simply a matter of modifying it to add the functionalities they want.
- Support and bug fixes!
Since the platform is contributed by many developers, security becomes imperative, so security updates are frequently released to ensure the platform is stable, durable and secure. This is of course dependent on the team that runs the Open Source project, not every team takes the stability of solutions seriously, but in general it can be considered that bugs are being repaired.
It’s stable
Having been tested under heavy load and deployed by a large population of developers across the globe, an open source software ensures stability and reliability. It’s less risky compared to a custom-built software if it’s not tested by any external party.
Custom made Software
It’s a software created and designed for a specific client, fulfilling his wish list. It comes with private modification and unlike open source software, the source code of custom software is not accessible to public view.
A very important issue here is to know your needs carefully and to design the application so that it is both lightweight at first, but then open for updates. Another very important thing and risk here is the maturity of the engineers/developers who work on the application. You will need More experienced developers, than with modifying or developing plugins for existing open source solutions.
Pros of using custom made applications:
- It’s tailored to your needs
System will explicitly work to support your business needs and processes of your company. This is a major advantage. Sometimes the specific handling of a certain process can be a market advantage that will make your company grow as a market leader! On the other hand, when you doing your own solution, you don’t “drag” with you a whole stack of modules or functionalities that you don’t need because they don’t exist in your business model. (e.g. if you are selling axes you will not need an ecommerce store with a subscription)
- Clean and private code
Developers have full control of the code, so no one from ‘external world’ can access the system and analyze code without permission. The important thing here is security. As long as the code is yours, others can’t access it and can’t search the „back-doors” for the application. This is also a drawback, because when the wider public has access to the code, the community can report any security issues/vulnerabilities it finds, but what if it doesn’t ?
To secure your custom software application you can perform a security audit which will be carried out by 3rd party company. The most popular is the OWASP Top Ten – ten most popular vulnerabilities of an application: (https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/).
- What about support
When you buy a custom-built software from a vendor, you get dedicated support from a company who has a good understanding of your business needs. You can easily stay in touch with the vendor with whom you have already built a relationship in the software purchasing process.
- Documentation
Finding up-to-date, well-written and easy to use documentation can be a problem with any software. However, vendor provided software often comes with better documentation because it is someone’s job to write it and keep it up to date for each release or version of the product.
You should think about
an Open Source
application if :
- There is a suitable script on the market that covers at least 80% of your functionality requirements
- Your business model and requirements are typical
- You don’t have a big budget
- You don’t have much time
- You have no experienced team or partner or design experience
a dedicated
application if:
- You can’t find an existing script that fits your needs well, or only makes part of them (less than 80%).
- Your business model and requirements are not typical, you need to stand out to grow in the market
- You have a budget and time
- You have no experienced team or partner or design experience
After considering these points, you will realize that no matter which way you go: custom or open source solution, it is never without bumps along the way. Decisions should be purely based on the individual project requirements. Remember to keep in mind factors such as cost, time, future needs, technology drift, security, maintainability and usability when choosing the appropriate option.
If you have any questions in which we can help you, just contact us 🙂
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Best of luck!
