Why Building HubSpot In-House Isn't Worth It

Noah Kagan

@noahkagan·Mar 4

Turns out HubSpot isn't dead. 💀

I gave Claude Code 30 days of AppSumo software costs ($100,000) total.

Asked it to analyze cost, effort, maintenance of replicating all the software we are using.

It found ~$500 / month in costs but many of the "dead" SaaS products it did not recommend changing.

This includes HubSpot, Snowflake, Tableau, Klaviyo and many other public companies.

Unconvinced, I had it login and analyze all our usage on HubSpot specifically.

Again it said we can reduce some costs to $13,000 a year and but replicating it won't be worth the development and maintenance.

Interesting that the "AI" itself is saying just stick with HubSpot.

Still, I went to the team and asked them if we can build it in-house.

They came back with 2 reasons not to (yet):

1- Workflows. There's tons of API calls from spreadsheets, emails, meetings, etc...

2- Emails. Domain reputation, bounce management and flows.

Found this experience fascinating and also insightful that software itself is cheap and relatively easy to "create" but when you add in employees using it, many workflows (API connections) and your business is dependent on it, ripping it out is easier said than done.

...for now

On paper, rebuilding HubSpot in-house sounds sexy: full control, no license fees, your logo on everything. In reality, it’s like deciding to build your own highway because tolls feel expensive. Noah Kagan ran the numbers with AI on AppSumo’s stack and even the robots said, “Just keep HubSpot.” The software cost isn’t the killer… it’s the hidden complexity wrapped around it.

The Real Cost Of DIY HubSpot

You’re trading a fixed subscription for an endless stream of dev hours, meetings, and maintenance.
Email deliverability, domain reputation, and bounce handling are a full-time science, not a side project.
Every workflow, zap, and API call your team relies on has to be rebuilt, tested, and re-fixed… forever.
While your engineers reinvent CRM basics, your competitors ship features that actually grow revenue.

Real-World Proof It’s Not Worth Rebuilding

AppSumo used AI to audit over $100,000 of software and still kept HubSpot because cloning it in-house failed the cost-benefit test.

HubSpot reports that thousands of teams migrate off spreadsheets and homegrown CRMs every year because internal tools quietly collapse under workflow and maintenance demands.

Basecamp regularly advocates buying boring, proven tools instead of custom-building commodity software so their small team can focus on features customers actually pay for.