Start with something off the shelf
We write this as people who make a living from development: if you fit into an off-the-shelf system, take it. For a simple booking, an off-the-shelf service can be much cheaper and faster than custom development, and somebody else maintains it. The actual price has to be weighed against the range of features and what running it involves. Custom makes sense from the moment you no longer fit, not before.
Where off-the-shelf systems break
When a booking is not just a slot in a calendar
The basic logic of most booking systems is built on time slots. More advanced ones handle staff, resources, capacity or time buffers. The limit shows when you need a specific combination of these or processes of your own that follow on: say half an hour of preparation between jobs, work only one particular person may do, and on top of that capacity by the number of tables rather than staff. At Screeno we started by describing how the studio actually runs, and only then did it become clear why the paid system did not suit them.
When a booking has to follow on from a sale
Without a link, bookings, vouchers and product sales often end up in three different systems. The bookkeeper then assembles a picture from three exports and nobody knows what was really earned. When bookings go through the existing basket, orders and tax documents stay in one place.
When payment is taken up front
This is the most underrated point. A paid booking means the last place must not be sold twice, not even when two people click in the same second. At Layered bookings run inside a database transaction and an unfinished payment holds the place for fifteen minutes. Better that a customer sees “sold out” than that two people turn up for one place.
When the look is part of the product
Many off-the-shelf systems let you adjust the look to a degree, but an embedded frame from someone else’s system in the middle of a site tends to show. For a hairdresser it does not matter. For a product sold on impression it can cost orders.
| Off the shelf | Add-on to your site | Custom system | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Low, often just a sign-up | One-off, hundreds to thousands of euros | One-off, thousands to tens of thousands of euros |
| Monthly fee | Usually yes, often per user | Usually no subscription, depends on the agreement | Mainly hosting and maintenance |
| Time to launch | Immediate | Weeks | Weeks to months |
| Your own operating rules | What the system offers; advanced ones include resources and capacity | Whatever fits the platform | As specified |
| Look and feel | The system’s theme, often adjustable | Your theme | Yours |
| Sales and documents | Often separate from your shop | Your existing basket | As you decide |
| Who maintains it | The vendor | You or a supplier | A supplier, billed separately |
| What can go wrong | Price rises, a retired plan | Conflicts on platform updates | Dependence on one supplier |
How to work out the payback yourself
Nobody can honestly give you a general number of years, because it depends on the fee and on the size of the custom build. You can work it out, though: on one side put the annual fee plus the cost of the work you do by hand because the system cannot. On the other, development, hosting and maintenance. Your crossover point will differ from the next company’s.
Two things are routinely left out of that sum. Maintenance of a custom system is not free just because no subscription invoices it; you pay the supplier for it in another form. And risk sits on both sides: an off-the-shelf vendor can raise prices or retire your plan, while a custom system ties you to one supplier.
The middle road people forget
Between a subscription and a system built from scratch sits an add-on to what you already have. The WordPress site stays, a booking part is added that uses the existing look and basket. It is cheaper than a custom system and solves exactly the one thing that does not fit.
- Off the shelf, when its settings for staff, resources and capacity cover your rules and the look is not part of the product.
- An add-on, when you have a site and one specific thing is missing.
- A custom system, when you need a specific combination of rules or follow-on processes of your own that neither an off-the-shelf system nor an add-on covers.
