Decide whether to build your own data connector or buy one

A new source system needs syncing, and half the team wants to write a custom script while the other half wants to buy a connector platform.

IntermediateRead 3 minDoing: an afternoon7 steps

▶ Start

What you'll have at the end

A short memo comparing build and buy total cost of ownership, with one clear recommendation

Before you start

You need

A specific new source system that needs syncing, a rough sense of how many rows it holds and how many change in a normal day, and your team's own real loaded hourly rate for engineering time.

Not covered

Negotiating a vendor's contract terms or migrating a connector already running in production; this covers making the initial call for one new source.

Leans on

7 steps

Where to go next

Turn a hard-to-reverse platform choice into a written ADR

once the memo names a recommendation, write it up as a permanent decision record so nobody re-litigates it from scratch in eight months.

Checked 26 Aug 2026

Part of the Data Engineering Core cookbook