The modern tenant trap
If your business runs on Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, or any other SaaS platform, you don't have a website. You rent one.
In practice that means:
You pay every month, for life, or until you close.
If the platform raises the price, you pay.
If the platform changes the rules, you adapt.
If the platform shuts down or gets acquired, you have a problem.
If you want to leave, you start from scratch.
This isn't hypothetical. It happens all the time. We have seen customers discover after five years that their "cheap" SaaS solution has cost them 60,000–100,000 kroner — and they are left with nothing they own.
What ownership actually means
When you have custom software built, you own:
The code — It is yours. You can move it, change it, or sell it with the company.
The data — Your customer data, your orders, your content sit on a server you control.
The control — You decide when to update, what to change, and who does it.
The value — Software is an asset on the balance sheet. SaaS subscriptions are an expense on the income statement.
It is the difference between owning a house and renting one. Both can be the right call. But they are not the same thing.
"But SaaS is cheap!"
On the surface, yes. For two months. But do the math.
A typical SaaS tool costs 200–500 kroner a month. That is 2,400–6,000 kroner a year. That is 12,000–30,000 kroner over five years.
For one solution. Most companies have 5–10 different SaaS subscriptions running. That quickly adds up to 50,000–150,000 kroner a year that just goes out the door — without you building anything of real value.
And on the other end the SaaS company is using that money to make their product better. For the next customers. Not for you.
When SaaS is the right choice
We aren't saying SaaS is always wrong. It isn't.
Use SaaS when:
The function is standard and not a competitive advantage for you (accounting, email, payroll).
You are a very small company where even off-the-shelf solutions give more than you use.
You are testing a concept where it doesn't make sense to invest in custom code yet.
But once part of your business depends on a system — that is where ownership starts to matter.
When you should own your software
If any of these points hit home, you should consider custom software:
Your workflow is different from others in your industry.
You use multiple systems that don't talk to each other, creating duplicate work.
You pay for features you don't use, because you can't get the ones you need.
Your business depends on a SaaS tool, and you have no exit plan.
You have outgrown the system you started with.
The long-term math
Custom software has a higher upfront investment. There is no way around that. But after two-to-three years the math often flips:
A SaaS subscription at 1,000 kr./month = 12,000 kr./year. Over five years: 60,000 kr.
A custom solution at 50,000 kr. + 299 kr./month in operations = 67,940 kr. over five years.
The difference? After five years you are left with nothing on one side and a system you own that can be developed further on the other. That is not a small difference.
Our position
We believe Danish companies deserve to own the software their business runs on. That doesn't mean everything has to be custom — but it does mean you should consciously choose what you rent and what you own.
The worst situation is the one where you never made the choice. Where you just drift from one SaaS subscription to the next, and one day discover that your entire business hangs on systems you don't control.
Ask yourself once a year: what do we own? What do we rent? And is that the balance we want?