# Own it (SI) or have it run for you (SaaS)?

> Criteria for deciding whether to build your business system as an owned asset (SI) or have it run as a managed service (SaaS). Upfront cost, monthly cost, security, operations burden and switching — a practical guide from a company that publishes its prices.

- Published: 2026-08-22 · Category: Choosing a model
- Canonical (HTML): https://maeum.io/en/blog/si-vs-saas-choice/ · Korean original: https://maeum.io/blog/si-vs-saas-choice/
- Author: MAEUM — an AI engineering company that publishes its prices · https://maeum.io

The same system can be had two ways. **SI (ownership)** is built in your environment and done — higher upfront (from ₩2.5M) but no monthly fee. **SaaS (managed)** means the developer keeps responsibility for servers and operations — low upfront (build from ₩700K) plus a monthly fee (from ₩490K). **Neither is better; they differ in who carries the operations responsibility.** This guide lays out how to decide.

## The essence: who is responsible every month?

Where the server lives is just a consequence. The axis that money follows is this: **after delivery, who is responsible for what happens every month — servers, errors, backups, improvements, technology change?**

- With SI, responsibility passes to you at delivery. There's no basis for a monthly fee, so a one-time price is the honest price.
- With SaaS, the developer actually works every month. Server costs, AI costs and improvements keep occurring, so a monthly fee is natural.
Avoid services where the monthly fee is just "rent for sitting there." But if it's **payment for real work every month**, it's far cheaper than one employee's salary.

## Six decision criteria

- **You have security or air-gapped requirements** → SI. Configurations like on-device AI that runs inside your network without internet access (MAEUM Runtime) belong to SI.
- **You have nobody to manage servers and software** → SaaS. The whole operations burden moves to us.
- **Upfront budget is tight** → SaaS. Start from a ₩700K build and spread the rest as a monthly fee.
- **You want to pay once and be done** → SI. Use care passes only when needed afterwards.
- **Your business keeps changing and you keep wanting features** → SaaS. Feature consultation and building are included in the monthly fee.
- **You want the IT asset on your company's books** → SI. The system becomes company property.

## Three common misconceptions

**① "With SaaS, the developer owns our data?"** No. Business data belongs to you, and export at contract end should be guaranteed — that's the normal arrangement. **② "SaaS is hard to cancel?"** Avoid anyone who locks you into long commitments. If the monthly value is less than the cost, you should be able to cancel. **③ "Once you choose, you can't switch?"** No. You can start with SI and move to a SaaS operations contract when you want operations handled, or the reverse. Switching scope and cost are confirmed first.

## Decide during scoping — with the numbers

You don't have to make this choice by gut feel before signing. MAEUM shows you the system you need first with a **free demo**, then during scoping (₩250K for 5 sessions) calculates your current workflow, security requirements, operations staffing, upfront budget and long-term cost together and **proposes whichever is better for you**. You can stop after scoping if you want.

## MAEUM list prices (VAT excluded · starting prices · final price confirmed after scoping)

- Scoping pass (5 sessions): ₩250K (up to 90 min each, working demo included)
- SaaS · managed (recommended): build from ₩700K + ₩490K / ₩990K / ₩1.49M/mo — servers, AI, improvements, new features and a monthly report included; no per-seat pricing
- SI · ownership: build from ₩2.5M (full build from ₩7M+) — no monthly fee afterwards; care passes when needed
- KRW is authoritative (USD ≈ at ~₩1,400/$). SEO and AI-search visibility work included free. The demo is free.
- Machine-readable prices: https://maeum.io/facts.json · Rate card: https://maeum.io/rates.json

## Frequently asked questions

**Q. Which is cheaper in the long run?**
A. If you can handle operations yourself, SI; if you can't staff operations, SaaS. Compare the cost of hiring someone to operate it against a monthly fee of ₩490K–₩990K, and for most small businesses SaaS comes out ahead.

**Q. If we take SI, how does maintenance work?**
A. You use care passes (7 sessions from ₩490K) only when needed. We don't impose a fixed monthly maintenance fee.

**Q. What's included in the SaaS monthly fee?**
A. Server and infrastructure operations, AI and automation execution, data management and backups, error stabilization, continuous improvement, updates as technology advances, feature consultation and building, and a monthly performance report.

**Q. Does the SaaS fee rise as staff grows?**
A. MAEUM doesn't charge per seat. The difference between plans is not user count but the scope of operations, improvements and automation performed each month.

**Q. What if we want to change developers later?**
A. If the data is yours and export is guaranteed, you can switch. Always confirm data ownership and export terms before signing — with any developer.

## Related guides

- [Booking System Development Cost — Published Prices and Build Time by Industry (2026)](https://maeum.io/en/blog/reservation-system-cost/)
- [Web App Development Cost 2026 — From a Company That Publishes Its Prices](https://maeum.io/en/blog/webapp-development-cost/)
- [Hire a Developer or Outsource? — A Monthly Cost Calculation for Early-Stage Businesses](https://maeum.io/en/blog/dev-outsourcing-vs-hiring/)

---
MAEUM · Free demo: https://maeum.io/en/start/ · Pricing: https://maeum.io/en/price/ · Contact: support@maeum.io