Free Interactive Tool

Build vs. Buy Calculator

Compare the real annual cost of a commercial cyber range against building your own open-source stack in the cloud — staff time included, because that's where the truth hides.

Plug in your numbers and you'll see three figures side by side: the cost to buy a commercial platform, the first-year cost to build your own, and the ongoing cost once it's running. The build side includes staff hours on purpose — a "free" open-source range still costs you time, and time is payroll.

If you BUY a platform

Commercial SaaS cyber range, priced per person, per year.

Estimates drawn from real 2026 market pricing. Vendors quote ranges — treat this as a planning figure.

If you BUILD it

Open-source stack on AWS/Azure that you stand up and run.

Hours the cloud range is actually powered on and running.
$
Per hour, while running (a small multi-VM lab).
$
Per hour, for the person building & maintaining it.

The Bottom Line

 

 

Buy — Per Year
$0
 
Build — Year 1
$0
Includes one-time setup
Build — Ongoing
$0
Year 2 and beyond

How the build cost breaks down

Cloud compute (per year)$0
Ongoing upkeep labor (per year)$0
Ongoing annual total$0
One-time setup labor (year 1 only)$0
Year 1 total$0
The honest part: The biggest hidden cost of building isn't the cloud bill — it's people. A self-built range can eat 20–40 hours just to stand up, plus steady upkeep. If that time pulls your team off real defensive work, "free and open source" can quietly cost more than a license. There's no universally right answer — only the right answer for your team's time and skills.

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Drop your email and Todd will look over your build-vs-buy math and send back a straight, practical take on which path fits your team — no pitch, no spam.

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