Should I build my own LMS or buy one?

Almost everyone should buy. Building an LMS from scratch means re-creating years of work — course delivery, assessments, SCORM support, reporting, mobile, security — and then maintaining it forever. The bill is far higher than a subscription, and the result is usually less capable.

Buy when (nearly always): you want proven features, support, and updates without a development team.

Building is only justified when: your training model is so unusual that no platform fits, and you have the budget and engineers to maintain software indefinitely.

A middle path is a configurable platform you can brand and adapt (white-label, custom roles, your own certificates) without writing code. That gives you a tailored experience at buy-it pricing — which is what most organisations actually need.