Your Business Vitals
Enter your current or projected figures to generate a personalized analysis.
Model 1: Vendor Outsourcing
This represents the typical SaaS model (e.g., Toast, Shopify, Airbnb) where you pay recurring fees for software and hardware access.
Annual Platform Fees
Est. Annual Processing Fees (2.9% + 30¢)
Total Annual Operating Cost
Strategic Implications:
- No Equity: Payments build zero long-term value.
- Data Siloed: Customer data is owned and controlled by the vendor.
- Vendor Lock-In: High switching costs due to proprietary systems.
- Unpredictable Costs: Subject to price increases and feature up-charges.
Model 2: Strategic Ownership
This represents building your own system on utility-grade infrastructure like Cloudflare and Stripe.
Annual Platform Fees (Cloudflare)
$60
Est. Annual Processing Fees (2.7% + 5¢)
Total Annual Operating Cost
Strategic Implications:
- Builds Equity: Creates a tangible, valuable asset on your balance sheet.
- Data Ownership: You own and control 100% of your customer data.
- Full Flexibility: Adapt and evolve the system to your exact needs.
- Drastically Lower TCO: Minimal operating costs post-development.
5-Year TCO Projection
This chart visualizes the long-term financial impact. We've included a one-time development investment for the Ownership model. Notice how the initial outlay is quickly offset by massive operational savings, leading to a significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership.