A SaaS platform takes many of the decisions off your hands—which can be ideal for some. It’s quick to set up, comes with support, and offers polished templates that work out of the box. For early-stage projects, it’s often the most straightforward way to get started.
But fast forward a year or two — your needs shift, your team grows, and you start to feel boxed in. The platform that once made things easy now starts to slow you down.
That’s vendor lock-in.
It’s not always obvious at first. You’re still shipping content, updating pages, doing your job. But behind the scenes, you’re running into the same friction over and over again — and you can’t fix it without raising a ticket or paying more.
It Starts Small, Then Gets Expensive
At first, the pricing looks fine — maybe even great. But dig a little deeper and things stack up:
- Want more control? Upgrade to Pro.
- Need API access? Extra fee.
- Support? Depends on your tier.
- Plugins? Not all are included.
- Basic analytics? Only with the next plan up.
- Need single sign on? That’s the enterprise plan and your price trebles!
Before long, your “simple” solution becomes anything but. You’re not just paying for features — you’re paying to work around limitations.
And your product direction is determined by them, you are essentially tied to their ecosystem.
Innovation Slows to a Crawl
You’ve got a new idea. You want to restructure how content is presented. Maybe rethink how your site guides users. But to make any meaningful change, you’re blocked by what the platform allows.
You check the forums. You email your rep. You ask if a feature’s on the roadmap.
The usual reply? “We’ll consider it for a future update.”
When your ambitions are bigger than your platform’s release schedule, you’re no longer in control.
High Cost, Low Control
A vendor platform is someone else’s product. You just use it. And while that can work for a while, it also means you’re tied to their decisions.
They remove a feature you rely on? Not much you can do.
They raise prices? You pay more — or plan a costly migration.
Everything — your workflows, your site structure, your data — is shaped by their priorities, not yours.
So What’s the Alternative?
Open source. Not free software you download and hope for the best — we’re talking about serious, community-driven platforms like Drupal. Systems that can be built and shaped around your actual needs, not the limitations of a vendor roadmap —which can be crippling.
You have the flexibility & ability to adapt, you define the structure, and you work with teams who understand how to make it fit your goals.
No one’s waiting for a product roadmap update in the next quarter, you choose your direction and new features.
It’s Not for Everyone — But It’s Worth Considering
To be clear, productised platforms still have a place. If your needs are basic and unlikely to shift, they’ll do the job. But if your team is running into platform limits more often than not, or if you’re constantly compromising on how things should work, then it’s time to ask: What are we building towards?
Open source is a commitment. You need the skills to build or the budget to outsource. But it gives you product agility and more control, there are no hidden costs. And in the long run, that freedom is worth far more than the monthly fees you’re currently paying to stay stuck.