Build vs Buy: Should You Develop Your Own Attribution Stack or Use an MMP?

As your app scales, so does the complexity of your marketing. You’re spending across multiple channels, campaigns, and regions. Installs are rising—but you’re flying blind when it comes to understanding which channel actually works.

At this stage, many product or growth teams hit a fork in the road:
Should you build your own attribution system—or use a third-party Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)?

On the surface, building in-house seems cheaper and more “ownable.” But is it really worth the cost, time, and long-term maintenance? This article breaks down the pros and cons of both paths—so you can make the right call for your growth goals and tech bandwidth.

Option 1: Build Your Own Attribution System

When Building Might Make Sense:

• You have a strong in-house engineering & data team

• You need fully customized logic for attribution across non-standard flows

• You’re concerned about data ownership and privacy

• You operate in highly regulated verticals (e.g., finance, healthcare) where off-the-shelf vendors don’t meet compliance needs

But Consider the True Cost:

1. Time to Build

Designing and launching even a basic attribution system can take 3–6 months with a dedicated team. That includes:

• Creating a data model that handles install → session → event linkage

• Implementing click & impression tracking

• Handling re-engagement, deeplink routing, and multi-touch attribution logic

• Building dashboards, reporting, and error monitoring

And that’s just v1.

2. Time to Maintain

MMPs don’t just track clicks—they constantly adapt to:

• SKAdNetwork changes (now SKAN 4.0+)

• Web-to-app measurement rules (GA4, consent banners, iOS restrictions)

• Fraud detection patterns

• Integration APIs from ad networks (Meta, Google, TikTok)

Maintaining compatibility with these changes requires full-time headcount. Your internal team may get stuck fixing SDK bugs when they should be shipping growth features.

3. Data Gaps

You might not realize what you’re not tracking. Without robust cross-channel deduplication and privacy-compliant methods (like Apple’s Private Relay), your self-built stack may miss critical data or double-count conversions.

Option 2: Use a Third-Party MMP

A Mobile Measurement Partner offers ready-to-use infrastructure that helps you:

• Attribute installs and in-app events across channels

• Deduplicate conversions between overlapping campaigns

• Align iOS and Android tracking, including SKAN and GAID restrictions

• Standardize data pipelines to ad networks, BI tools, and dashboards

• Ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy frameworks

And most importantly—free up your engineers and marketers to focus on growth, not system debugging.

What About Cost?

This is where many teams hesitate. Traditional MMPs like Adjust or AppsFlyer charge high minimum fees, add-ons per SDK seat or platform, and extra for web-to-app, data export, or SKAN post-processing.

But newer MMPs—like SolarEngine—offer transparent, flexible pricing designed for small to mid-sized teams who still want full-stack attribution without enterprise overhead.

Build vs Buy: Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Why More Growth Teams Choose SolarEngine

If you’re weighing build vs buy, SolarEngine gives you the best of both worlds:

• Developer-Friendly: Lightweight SDK, robust APIs, customizable attribution rules

• Cost-Effective: No platform fee, no minimum volume required—pay only for what you use

• Built for Global Scaling: Region-specific hosting, multi-currency support, SKAN-ready

• Optimized for Gaming & Utility Apps: Track user activation, in-app monetization, and ad revenue

• Transparent Attribution: No black-box logic—get full visibility into how conversions are counted

Whether you’re tracking five campaigns or fifty, SolarEngine helps you scale confidently without rebuilding the wheel.

Final Thought: Focus on What Drives Growth—Not Infrastructure

Attribution isn’t your product. But getting it right is essential to growing your product.

Unless your team has the time and budget to build, test, maintain, and scale a full attribution pipeline—you’ll move faster and learn more with the right MMP partner.

Want to try SolarEngine? Set up in under an hour and start seeing real campaign ROI—without the heavy lift.