As generative AI evolves into agentic AI, the build-or-buy decision becomes more complex and depends on numerous factors, including business size, use cases, and strategic priorities.
August 6, 2026
With generative AI, and now agentic AI, enterprises and small and mid-sized businesses have long faced an important question that correlates with how they move forward with technology and also how cost-effective they aim to be: building in-house or buying from a vendor.
Four years ago, when OpenAI first introduced ChatGPT and companies began experimenting with generative AI, the answer appeared easy. For those who did not want to be left behind, buying large language models from OpenAI or Anthropic or trying to use open source models from Meta looked like a safe bet.
However, with the maturity of generative AI and the wide acceptance of agentic AI, the build versus buy dilemma is more nuanced, depending mainly on multiple factors such as the business size, application and also what an enterprise or SMB considers to be its “moat,” or defining value proposition that separates and protects it from the competition.
