Buy vs Build: Why You Should Pay For Redirect Software Instead of Building It Yourself

Redirecting is an essential part of modern website maintenance. Changing your website's URL structure or moving to a new domain can cause loss of traffic and security problems if your redirects aren't set up properly. You want to make sure this is done right, so is it better to build redirect software yourself or pay for it?

The short answer is: paying for redirect software will save you time and money. Most people think it will be cheaper to build redirect software themselves, but just like building anything, it takes time, materials, and knowledge. If you don’t already know how to build redirect software it’s better to just pay for already built software. Let’s take a look at what it takes to build redirect software.

How to Build Redirect Software

You can build redirect software yourself. It’s completely possible! While possible, it may not be the smartest decision. 

Building redirect software begins with having a clear idea of your needs and your capabilities. If you're going to build your own redirect software, you're going to have to do a lot of research into what kind of redirect software you need for your business.

To do it yourself, you’d likely spend a few hours at first... But then you’d realize you’re having trouble with HTTPS and wish to track the analytics, and you keep needing to manually add new redirects in the database as you're missing a GUI. The additional hours and money you burn on all of this will end up making you rethink building it yourself.

Redirects, like many “basic” features, seem simple on the surface, but there is a whole iceberg of hidden needs and requirements underneath. 

For example, there are two main types of redirects: temporary and permanent. A temporary redirect is used when you want your link to go to a new location, but that new location won't be permanent. If you're moving your website from one domain to another domain, you'll need to do a temporary redirect so that users can access the new website and you don't lose any traffic.

A permanent redirect is a bit different. If you want someone to access your website at another URL permanently (a common practice for site owners), then this is the type of redirect for you.

You also have the choice between server-side and client-side redirects. Server-side redirects are done when you want your link to go directly to the page it was meant for and clients are redirected internally or by using JavaScript or meta refresh tags. Client-side redirects are when the user's browser fetches the new page directly and displays it on their screen without any server intervention (i.e., they see an error message).

If you want to be sure you maintain security, keep up site traffic, and maintain SEO, paying for a redirect software will be the best choice. 

The Numbers 

Let’s take a look at this Build vs Buy calculator! 

We did the math and this is what it comes down to if you built redirect software instead of using redirect.pizza. If you just need the Basic tier, it’s only $110/yr. To build this yourself, expect to spend a minimum of 1 week building this software and then 1 day/month maintaining it. If you paid a developer $60,000/year, this is what the numbers add up to. 

Even if you went with the Pro-tier plan ($481/yr) and only paid a developer a salary of $50,000/year (which is on the very low-end), you would still save money! This is what the numbers add up to in this case!

Play with the calculator yourself to see exactly what it would take to build this software yourself.

Pros of Paying for Redirect Software

We totally get it—it's tempting to think you can save a few bucks by building your own redirect software, but trust us: we've seen a lot of people try and regret it.

What else do you get when you pay for it, instead of building it yourself?

• It's already built and ready to go
• It's easy-to-use and maintain
• You get access to regular updates and patches
• You don't have to spend time building or maintaining anything
• Wildcard subdomains
• Automatic HTTPS
• Email forwarding
• An API to programmatically add new redirects

redirect.pizza

Make redirects easy by choosing redirect.pizza as your redirect software of choice. We want you to stay focused on building your core product functionality and leave the rest to us!

With four different types of pizzas (plans) to choose from, one of them is bound to meet all your redirecting needs. Let us show you exactly how easy it is to make all your redirecting dreams come true.