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Devinity Solutions

What we have learned building this.

Written by the people doing the work, about decisions we have had to make on real engagements.

Devinity publishes practical engineering writing on evaluating AI systems before production, choosing between automation platforms, deciding whether to build or buy software, and reducing cloud cost without reducing resilience.

Engineering6 min

Why we would not build your site on WordPress

The economics flipped: a custom-coded site now costs less over three years than a professional WordPress build — and it is faster, safer and able to become an app.

August 9, 2026

Engineering5 min

A custom QMS costs less than your QMS subscription

The arithmetic on QMS software changed: a system built to your process costs about one to two years of a mid-market subscription — then the paying stops.

August 9, 2026

Engineering3 min

Weekly demos: the cheapest quality control in software

Why every Devinity engagement includes a weekly demo of working software, what a good one looks like, and the failure pattern it exists to prevent.

August 7, 2026

Applied AI4 min

AI feature or AI gimmick: how to tell before you pay

A working test for whether an AI capability belongs in your software, from a team that ships both kinds of systems and gets asked to add the wrong one weekly.

August 6, 2026

Engineering6 min

Next.js vs WordPress for a business website

Why we build on Next.js rather than WordPress: speed without a caching stack, a security surface that is mostly absent, and a site that can grow into an application.

August 5, 2026

Engineering4 min

How we scope a custom software project

What happens on a Devinity discovery call, what we write down before quoting, and why we sometimes tell you not to build the thing you asked for.

August 4, 2026

Engineering3 min

What custom software actually costs

Where the money goes in a custom software project, which variables move the number most, and how to get an estimate you can rely on.

July 28, 2026

Engineering3 min

How long does it take to build custom software?

Realistic timelines for a first production release, what actually causes overruns, and why the answer depends on decisions made before any code.

July 21, 2026

Engineering3 min

Staff augmentation vs dedicated teams

The practical difference between placing individuals into your team and buying a team that owns a workstream, and how to tell which your situation calls for.

July 15, 2026

Applied AI4 min

How to evaluate an AI system before you ship it

Most AI pilots stall because nobody defined what a correct answer looks like. Here is the evaluation process we run before any AI system goes into production.

July 14, 2026

Engineering3 min

Red flags when hiring an offshore development team

The warning signs that reliably predict a bad engagement, written by a firm that gets hired to clean up after them.

July 7, 2026

Applied AI3 min

Questions to ask before hiring an AI agency

Nine questions that separate firms who ship measured AI systems from firms who ship demos, with the answers you should expect.

June 30, 2026

Automation3 min

n8n vs Zapier vs Make: choosing an automation platform

A practical comparison of n8n, Zapier and Make across pricing model, complexity ceiling, self-hosting and where each one stops being the right answer.

June 23, 2026

Automation3 min

How to calculate the return on an automation

A method for working out whether automating a process is worth it, using your own numbers rather than an industry average.

June 16, 2026

Applied AI3 min

How to hire AI engineers who can ship to production

What separates an engineer who can put an AI system into production from one who can build a convincing demo, and how to test for it in an interview.

June 9, 2026

Engineering3 min

Custom software vs off-the-shelf: how to decide

A decision framework for choosing between building custom software and buying a product, including the cost most comparisons leave out.

June 2, 2026

Engineering3 min

Choosing an offshore development company

How to evaluate an offshore engineering partner on what predicts outcomes: technical accountability, code ownership, and how they handle disagreement.

May 26, 2026

Applied AI2 min

Why AI pilots stall before production

The five reasons AI projects reach a promising demo and stop there, and what to change before starting rather than after.

May 19, 2026

Engineering3 min

From MVP to scale: what breaks and when

The decisions that hold at a hundred users and fail at ten thousand, and which of them are worth making early.

May 12, 2026

Cloud & Data3 min

Reducing an AWS bill without reducing capability

Where cloud spend actually goes, in the order we check it, and which reductions are safe versus which trade away resilience.

April 28, 2026

Engineering3 min

Writing a software RFP that gets useful answers

Most RFPs produce proposals that cannot be compared. Here is what to include so the responses tell you something.

April 21, 2026

Applied AI3 min

Running AI document extraction in production

Document extraction is the most reliable business use of AI today. Here is what production requires beyond the extraction itself.

March 31, 2026

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We write about the decisions we actually have to make. If one of them resembles yours, tell us about it.

Or reach us directly: [email protected] · +1 321 335 0265