For a scaling tech company, especially one fresh off a funding round, every decision carries significant weight.

You’re hiring developers, shipping features, and trying to capture market share. One of the most critical decisions you’ll face is how to approach your security tooling. The classic “build vs. buy” debate is particularly intense when it comes to DevSecOps, where the right tools can either accelerate your growth or bog you down in costly maintenance.

The temptation to build a custom solution is strong for any engineering-led organization. After all, you have a team of talented developers, and who knows your needs better than you? However, the true cost of building and maintaining a security tool often extends far beyond initial development. On the other hand, buying an off-the-shelf solution can feel like sacrificing control.

Making the right choice requires a clear-eyed assessment of your organization’s resources, priorities, and long-term goals. Let’s break down the factors you need to consider.

The Case for Building: The Allure of Full Control

The primary driver for building your own DevSecOps solution is the promise of a perfect fit. You can tailor every feature to your specific workflows, technology stack, and risk appetite.

Pros of Building:

• Customization: A homegrown tool can be designed to integrate perfectly with your existing systems, from your specific Git workflow to your internal communication platforms. There are no compromises on features you don’t need or workflows that don’t match your process.
• No Licensing Fees: You avoid the recurring subscription costs associated with commercial tools, which can be a compelling argument for a budget-conscious CFO.
• Intellectual Property: You own the code. This can be seen as a long-term asset, and the knowledge gained by your team during development is invaluable.

For further reading on secure development and best practices, review the OWASP Secure Software Development Lifecycle Project.

However, the path of building is fraught with hidden complexities and costs.

Cons of Building:

• High Opportunity Cost: Every hour your developers spend building and maintaining an internal security tool is an hour they are not spending on your core, revenue-generating product. For a scaling company, this is a massive trade-off.
• The Maintenance Burden: Building is just the beginning. Security is not a “set it and forget it” problem. You will need a dedicated team to continuously update the tool to support new languages, patch its own vulnerabilities, and keep up with the ever-evolving threat landscape. This becomes a permanent operational expense.
• Slower Time-to-Market: Developing a robust, reliable security tool from scratch takes months, if not years. In that time, your applications remain exposed. A commercial solution can be implemented in days, providing immediate protection.
• Niche Expertise Required: Building an effective security tool requires deep, specialized knowledge. Your team might be great at building your product, but are they experts in vulnerability databases, parsing different manifest files, and minimizing false positives? Technical depth in areas such as NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework is often essential for success.

The Case for Buying: The Power of Focus and Expertise

Opting for commercial devsecops tools allows you to leverage the expertise of a dedicated security company, freeing up your team to focus on what they do best: building your product.

Pros of Buying:

• Faster Implementation: You can have a sophisticated security solution up and running in a matter of days or weeks, not months. This immediately reduces your risk profile and helps you meet compliance requirements like SOC 2 or HIPAA much faster.
• Leveraged Expertise: You are buying the collective knowledge of a team that lives and breathes security. They handle the research, stay on top of new threats, and manage the complex task of integrating with various vulnerability databases. For more on DevSecOps principles and benefits, refer to OWASP’s DevSecOps Guidelines.
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): While there is an upfront subscription cost, it is often significantly lower than the fully-loaded cost of an internal team dedicated to building and maintaining a tool. Commercial tools also come with support, training, and a predictable cost structure. Insights on the economic impact of security tools are explored in Microsoft Security Blog: The Economic Benefits of Security.
• Focus on Core Business: By outsourcing your security tooling, you allow your engineering team to remain focused on innovation and product development—the activities that drive business growth.

Of course, buying isn’t without its potential downsides.

Cons of Buying:

• Potential for Poor Fit: A one-size-fits-all tool may not perfectly align with your unique workflows, potentially causing friction for your developers.
• Recurring Costs: Subscription fees are an ongoing operational expense that needs to be budgeted for.
• Dependency on a Vendor: You are reliant on the vendor’s roadmap for new features and their timeline for support and updates.

Making the Right Decision for Your Company

So, how do you choose? The decision should be based on a strategic evaluation of your company’s current state and future goals.

1. Assess Your Core Competency: Is building security tooling a core part of your business strategy? For the vast majority of companies, the answer is no. Your business is FinTech, MedTech, or SaaS—not security tooling.
2. Calculate the True TCO of Building: Don’t just estimate the initial development time. Factor in the long-term costs of maintenance, updates, and the salaries of the developers who will be pulled away from your main product. Compare this number to the subscription cost of a commercial tool.
3. Evaluate Your Time-to-Value: How quickly do you need to improve your security posture? If you have an upcoming audit or are handling sensitive customer data, you likely don’t have the luxury of waiting a year for a homegrown solution to mature.
4. Look for Flexibility in Commercial Tools: The modern security tool market has evolved. Many leading tools are now built with an API-first approach, offering deep integration capabilities that provide much of the flexibility of a custom build without the overhead. Look for solutions that offer a “single pane of glass” and integrate seamlessly with your Git and project management systems.

For most scaling tech companies, buying a specialized DevSecOps solution is the more strategic choice. It allows you to implement a robust security program quickly, leverage outside expertise, and keep your most valuable resource—your developers—focused on building the product that will win your market.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DevSecOps tooling, and why is this decision so vital for my tech company?

DevSecOps is a practice that integrates security into every part of the software development process. The tooling helps your team find and fix security issues early. This decision is vital because the right tools protect your customer data and prevent costly delays, allowing your company to grow quickly and securely after a funding round.

What is the biggest hidden cost of building our own DevSecOps solution?

The biggest hidden cost is the opportunity cost. Every hour your skilled developers spend building and maintaining an internal security tool is time they are not spending on creating new, revenue-generating product features. This can slow down your market capture and growth.

Does buying a commercial security tool mean we lose all control and customization?

No, that is a common misconception. Modern commercial security tools are often built with an “API-first” approach. This means they offer deep integration points which allow you to tailor the tool to your specific codebase, existing systems, and unique workflows, giving you more flexibility than older off-the-shelf tools.

How can I calculate the True Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) when deciding whether to build a tool?

To calculate the true TCO of building, you must factor in more than just initial development time. Include the annual salaries for developers needed for continuous maintenance and updates, managing vulnerability databases, and the cost of missed revenue from slowing down your core product roadmap.

Why does a security tool vendor have more expertise than my in-house development team?

Security vendors like dedicated DevSecOps companies live and breathe security threats and focus only on that complex area. Their teams manage research, monitor new threats 24/7, and are experts in details like minimizing false positives. They use collective knowledge to offer immediate, specialized protection.

We just received funding. Should we still consider buying rather than using that money to hire builders?

Yes, for fastest time-to-market and compliance, buying is usually the better strategic move. A commercial tool can be fully implemented in a week, immediately lowering your risk profile and helping you meet immediate compliance needs like SOC 2. Building a full-scale solution takes many months or years.

What specific flexibility should we look for in a commercial DevSecOps solution?

Look for tools that offer a “single pane of glass” interface and use an API-first design. These features ensure seamless integration with your existing tools like your Git repository and project management systems. This integration minimizes friction for your engineering team.

Is it true that building a custom tool will keep us completely independent from outside vendors?

While you own the code, you are not truly independent. Your team will become dependent on constant updates to external vulnerability databases, new language support, and information from security frameworks like NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework. This burden of constant maintenance is a new dependency you must budget for.

What is the most immediate, actionable piece of advice for a company facing this decision today?

Compare the subscription cost of a commercial tool to the fully loaded, annual salary of just one or two dedicated long-term developers you would need for tool maintenance. If your company’s core business is not a security tool itself, this comparison will often show that buying is the more cost-effective and strategic choice.

If our company works in FinTech or MedTech, why is buying security tooling often non-negotiable?

Companies in specialized sectors like FinTech or MedTech handle highly sensitive customer data and face strict regulatory standards like HIPAA. Buying a commercial tool provides immediate, proven expertise and a quicker path to passing necessary compliance audits, protecting both your customers and your business reputation.