API vs Build Analysis
Organizations needing document processing capabilities face important decisions. Should they build custom solutions using in-house development resources or integrate third-party APIs providing ready-made functionality? This choice significantly impacts budgets, timelines, and long-term maintenance.
The build versus buy decision requires careful analysis. Building custom solutions offers complete control but demands substantial investment. Using APIs provides quick implementation but introduces external dependencies. Understanding tradeoffs helps make informed choices aligned with organizational capabilities and needs.
This analysis compares building document processing from scratch versus integrating the Scan Documents API, providing frameworks for your own build-versus-buy decisions.
Building Custom Solutions
Complete control over functionality allows tailoring exactly to requirements. Every feature can be customized without compromise or workarounds.
Intellectual property remains internal. Code you write is yours without licensing restrictions or third-party dependencies.
No recurring API costs after initial development. Built solutions have ongoing hosting and maintenance costs but no per-use charges.
Learning and capability building develops internal expertise. Development efforts build skills your team retains.
Optimization opportunities allow tuning performance precisely for your specific use cases and infrastructure.
Custom Build Challenges
Development time extends significantly. Building production-quality document processing takes months of skilled developer effort.
Expertise requirements span multiple domains. Computer vision for document detection, image processing for perspective correction, machine learning for OCR, and PDF manipulation all require specialized knowledge.
Ongoing maintenance demands continuous investment. As document types evolve, device cameras improve, and requirements change, custom solutions need updates.
Quality assurance across varied documents requires extensive testing. Documents come in countless variations. Ensuring your solution handles diversity takes significant QA effort.
Infrastructure costs include servers, storage, and processing capacity. Self-hosted solutions require managing technical infrastructure.
Opportunity cost from development time diverted from core business features. Every hour building document processing is an hour not spent on capabilities that differentiate your product.
Using APIs
Immediate availability lets you integrate functionality today. No months of development before feature launch.
Proven reliability from battle-tested code handling millions of documents across diverse use cases.
Continuous improvement happens without your effort. API providers enhance capabilities, fix bugs, and add features automatically benefiting all users.
Predictable costs through usage-based pricing. Pay for what you use without large upfront development investment.
Maintenance handled by provider. Updates, scaling, security, and improvements are vendor responsibility not yours.
Focus on core competencies by using APIs for commodity capabilities. Invest development resources in features unique to your product.
API Considerations
External dependencies introduce reliance on third parties. API unavailability affects your systems.
Less customization than fully custom solutions. APIs provide standard capabilities that may not perfectly match unique requirements.
Recurring costs through subscription or usage fees. Unlike one-time build costs, API expenses continue indefinitely.
Integration effort required though typically far less than building from scratch. Implementing API calls, handling responses, and error management still needs development.
Data privacy considerations when documents are processed by external services. Understand data handling policies for sensitive information.
Cost Comparison
Build approach upfront costs include:
- Developer salaries for 3 to 6 months (possibly $50,000 to $150,000)
- Infrastructure setup
- Testing and QA resources
- Project management overhead
Build ongoing costs include:
- Maintenance and updates
- Server hosting
- Monitoring and support
- Enhancement development
API approach costs:
- Integration development (days to weeks versus months)
- Usage fees (often starting free with paid tiers scaling with volume)
- Ongoing subscription if applicable
Break-even analysis compares build costs versus cumulative API fees over time. For most organizations, API costs would need to run for years before matching custom build investment.
Time Comparison
Custom build timeline:
- Requirements and design: 2 to 4 weeks
- Core development: 8 to 12 weeks
- Testing and refinement: 4 to 6 weeks
- Deployment: 1 to 2 weeks
- Total: 3 to 6 months before production use
API integration timeline:
- Requirements and design: 1 week
- Integration development: 1 to 2 weeks
- Testing: 1 week
- Deployment: Days
- Total: 2 to 4 weeks to production
Time-to-market advantage of API approach can be crucial for competitive positioning or seizing market opportunities.
Capability Comparison
Document processing encompasses multiple complex capabilities:
Document detection requires computer vision identifying document boundaries within images. Building this involves understanding perspective geometry, edge detection algorithms, and training machine learning models on diverse documents.
Perspective correction transforms distorted images into rectangular documents. This requires understanding projective geometry and image warping algorithms.
OCR text extraction is extremely complex. Training accurate models demands massive datasets, significant computing resources, and specialized expertise. Even large companies often use third-party OCR rather than building.
PDF manipulation including creation, merging, splitting, and rendering involves understanding PDF specification and implementing complex file format handling.
The Scan Documents API provides all these capabilities through simple API calls. Building equivalents requires expertise across computer vision, machine learning, image processing, and file format handling.
Quality Considerations
Production quality requires handling edge cases. Documents vary enormously in size, condition, lighting, perspective, language, and format. Achieving reliable results across this diversity demands extensive development and testing.
API providers benefit from processing millions of diverse documents. This real-world testing across use cases identifies and fixes issues individual organizations might not encounter until production.
Ongoing quality improvement continues with APIs as providers enhance models and algorithms. Custom solutions only improve with continued investment.
Scalability Analysis
Custom solutions must be architected for scale from start. Building systems that gracefully handle growth requires planning and infrastructure investment.
API providers handle scaling as core responsibility. As your volume grows, API infrastructure scales without your operational effort.
Cost scaling differs between approaches. Custom solutions have step function costs as you add servers. APIs typically have linear or tiered pricing growing with usage.
Maintenance and Updates
Document processing technology evolves continuously. Better algorithms, support for new document types, and enhanced accuracy require ongoing development.
Custom solutions become technical debt without maintenance. Code ages, dependencies need updates, and capabilities fall behind state-of-art without investment.
API providers maintain code as business necessity. Your integration receives improvements automatically without additional development.
Mobile device cameras improve regularly. Supporting new camera capabilities and image characteristics requires updating processing algorithms. API providers handle this continuously.
Risk Assessment
Build approach risks:
- Development overruns delaying launch
- Quality issues discovered late in production
- Key developer departure losing expertise
- Scope creep expanding project beyond original estimates
- Technology obsolescence requiring rebuilds
API approach risks:
- Provider service outages affecting availability
- Pricing changes impacting economics
- Provider business failure requiring migration
- Insufficient customization for specific needs
- Vendor lock-in concerns
Risk mitigation strategies for APIs include backup providers, careful contract negotiation, and architectural isolation of API dependencies.
Decision Framework
Use APIs when:
- Document processing is not your core differentiator
- Speed to market matters significantly
- Development resources are limited
- Document processing expertise is unavailable
- Volumes justify API costs
- Standard capabilities meet requirements
Build custom solutions when:
- Document processing is core business differentiator
- Unique requirements cannot be met by existing APIs
- Internal expertise exists
- Very high volumes make API costs prohibitive
- Absolute control is required
- Long-term costs favor build over cumulative API fees
Hybrid Approaches
Use APIs for commodity capabilities while building unique features. Let APIs handle standard document detection, OCR, and PDF work while custom code implements business-specific workflows.
Start with API for fast initial launch then build custom solutions if volumes or needs justify. Prove market fit quickly with APIs, then invest in custom development if warranted.
Competitive vendor approach uses multiple APIs preventing single-vendor dependence. Abstract integration layer allows switching providers if needed.
Scan Documents API Specifics
Free tier provides 25 operations monthly for testing and light use. Evaluate capabilities at no cost.
Straightforward pricing scales with usage. No hidden fees or complex tier structures.
Comprehensive capabilities including document detection, perspective correction, OCR, format conversion, and PDF operations cover most document processing needs.
Simple integration through REST API and JavaScript SDK. Developers can integrate in days rather than months.
Reliable infrastructure handles production workloads. Proven at scale across diverse users.
Continuous improvement adds features and enhancements regularly without customer effort.
Real-World Examples
Startup company needed document scanning in mobile app. Building custom solution would take 6 months delaying market entry. API integration took 2 weeks enabling faster launch. API costs were minimal compared to avoided development expense and earlier revenue.
Enterprise with massive document volumes initially used API then built custom solution. API enabled quick market entry. After proving demand and achieving scale, they invested in custom development. API served as bridge to custom solution.
Mid-sized business evaluated building versus buying. Cost analysis showed break-even at 10 years of API use. Given uncertain future needs, API flexibility was preferred over large upfront build investment.
Making the Decision
Assess your specific situation honestly. Consider resources, expertise, timeline, and strategic importance.
Calculate total cost of ownership for both approaches across realistic timeframes. Include all costs, not just obvious ones.
Evaluate risks you can accept. Different organizations have different risk tolerances around external dependencies, development overruns, or ongoing fees.
Consider strategic alignment. Where should development resources focus for maximum competitive advantage?
Getting Started with APIs
The Scan Documents API offers free tier for testing. Try integration before committing.
Proof of concept in days proves feasibility and identifies integration requirements.
Gradual adoption starts with non-critical use cases building confidence before expanding.
Conclusion
The build versus buy decision for document processing capabilities depends on organizational context. APIs offer faster time-to-market, proven reliability, and lower upfront costs. Custom development provides complete control and avoids ongoing fees.
For most organizations, APIs provide better value. Document processing is complex commodity functionality. Unless it differentiates your product competitively, using APIs makes sense.
The Scan Documents API delivers production-quality document processing through simple integration. Development teams can add sophisticated capabilities in weeks rather than months of custom development.
Evaluate your situation carefully. Consider costs, timelines, risks, and strategic fit. Make informed decisions based on realistic assessment not assumptions.
Start with API approach unless clear compelling reasons favor building. You can always build later if volumes or needs truly justify investment. Proving value quickly with APIs reduces risk while maintaining future options.
Begin your evaluation today. Test the Scan Documents API and compare against build estimates. Make data-driven decisions about the best approach for your organization's document processing needs.