The Hidden Costs of Building Your Own Product Data Pipeline

The appeal of building custom product data pipelines is seductive for engineering teams. Complete control over data collection, processing, and storage seems to offer unlimited customization and potential cost savings compared to third-party solutions.

However, the true cost of custom data infrastructure extends far beyond initial development estimates, involving hidden expenses, ongoing maintenance burdens, and opportunity costs that often make Catalog AI a more economical and strategic choice for serious e-commerce operations.