What’s the difference between a white label and a custom-built app?
The difference between a white-label app and a custom-built app comes down to who develops it and how much you can tailor it. A white-label app is a pre-made solution that you brand as your own, whereas a custom-built app is made from scratch (or heavily customised) specifically for you.
It’s a bit like buying a standard car model and wrapping it with your brand vs. building a car in your garage with custom parts. Both will drive, but the journey to get them (and the maintenance) differ quite a lot.
White-Label App: Key Points
Development: Already done by a provider. You’re essentially “licensing” their app technology.
Customization: Focuses on branding and content. You usually cannot change the fundamental features or how they function beyond what the platform allows. For instance, if the platform’s video player has a certain layout, you use that layout (perhaps with your colors). You can request new features, and the provider might add them if they see broad value, but you’re one of many using the core.
Timeline: Very quick to launch (weeks). All the heavy coding and design framework is complete. It’s plug-and-play.
Cost: Much lower upfront. Typically a setup fee and ongoing subscription or revenue share. You’re sharing the development cost with all the other clients of the platform, effectively.
Maintenance: Handled by the provider. They fix bugs, roll out updates for new OS versions, improve features over time. You benefit from these improvements without additional cost.
Ownership: As discussed, you own your branded version (in terms of brand and content), but not the underlying code. If you leave the platform, you can’t take the codebase with you, only your content and community info.
Examples: Sudor’s platform for fitness creators, or other industries have analogues (like white-label food delivery apps where a restaurant chain can get their own app based on a core platform).
Custom-Built App: Key Points
Development: Done specifically for you, either by an in-house team or hired developers/agency. This can be from scratch or using some generic frameworks but heavily tailored.
Customization: Nearly limitless (depending on budget and technical feasibility). You decide exactly what features you want, how the screens look, and the developers build it to spec. Want a unique interactive game in your fitness app? With custom dev, you could add that. You are not confined by a platform’s existing feature set. If you can dream it and pay for it, you can have it.
Timeline: Much longer. It involves requirements gathering, design (UX/UI), multiple development phases, testing, and iteration. Typically several months to a year to launch a polished app.
Cost: High upfront cost. As we noted earlier, tens of thousands of dollars at least. Also ongoing costs for servers and maintenance. This is like commissioning a bespoke house; you pay for the architects, builders, materials, and then upkeep.
Maintenance: All on you (or your hired tech team). If a new iPhone screen size comes out and your app looks weird on it, it’s your responsibility to update. Fixing bugs, improving features is all separate development work you have to manage and budget for. Some people hire a dev team on a contract for launch and then realize they need someone continuously to keep things running smoothly.
Ownership: You own the code and the app outright (unless you used some proprietary libraries). This means you’re free to move it to any server, hire any developer to work on it, etc. You have full control. That’s empowering but also a lot of responsibility. If your developer disappears, you need to find another who can understand your codebase.
How to Decide: White-Label vs Custom
Budget and Time: If you don’t have a six-figure budget or a year to spend building, white-label is likely the practical choice. It allows startups and solo entrepreneurs to get moving without massive capital. Custom might make sense if you have funding or if the app is the core product of a tech startup that needs to be unique.
Uniqueness of Features: Evaluate your concept – is it mostly standard features (content library, subscriptions, community forum, etc.) which many apps have? If yes, white-label covers those well. If you need something very novel, say an AI-driven nutrition planner that no one else has, or a very specific integration with hardware (like connecting to a custom heart rate monitor equipment) then custom might be necessary. Even then, some white-label providers can integrate custom things for you at additional cost, but it depends on the complexity and their flexibility.
Brand Importance: If having complete uniqueness in user experience is crucial to you, custom allows that. For example, the layout of every screen can be exactly as you envision, whereas in a white-label, you might have some layout options but not infinite flexibility. That said, most white-label fitness apps actually allow a good deal of personalization (we know each creator wants their own vibe). It’s usually not cookie-cutter beyond the general structure.
Scalability and Growth: Consider where you’ll be in 2-3 years. If you explode to millions of users and you have a custom app, you’ll need to scale your tech (which might mean significant additional dev work on backend). A white-label provider usually handles scaling up the infrastructure for you. On the flip side, if you want to potentially sell your app or company, owning the custom code can add value to a buyer (they’re buying tech IP). With a white-label, a buyer might view it as you not owning tech, although they are really buying your user base and content, which are still valuable.
Hybrid Approach: Some do a mix: start with white-label to validate the idea and get revenue flowing, then later consider building custom once they have funds and know exactly what features are worth investing in. This way you don’t sink cost upfront on assumptions. Keep in mind if you ever switch from white-label to custom, migrating users over to a new app can be a project, but it’s feasible (you’d basically tell everyone to download a new app and discontinue the old; or possibly the provider can handover some data to integrate depending on agreements). But this phased approach reduces initial risk.
Quick Scenario Example
Imagine two trainers:
Trainer A goes custom-built. She spends $80k and 8 months developing “UltimateFit Pro” app with a local dev agency. It’s unique and has some fancy UI elements she wanted. She launches, but the first version has some bugs and missing features because her budget ran low, so she compromises. It takes another 3 months of patching to stabilize. After a year, she has a decent product. She has to charge higher subs to recoup costs, and she’s always a bit stressed when iOS updates roll out in case something breaks.
Trainer B goes white-label with Sudor. She spends maybe $2k upfront and is live in 6 weeks with “Trainer B Fitness” app. It has all the key features and looks like her brand. She starts earning right away. As she grows, she requests a new feature (say a new kind of challenge tracker). Sudor eventually rolls out a challenge feature that all creators can use, addressing her need (and she didn’t pay extra for that dev). Her cost was minimal, but she doesn’t have a totally unique feature beyond what the platform offers. She doesn’t mind because her competitive edge is her content and personality, not an app gimmick.
Neither is wrong. It depends on priorities. But you can see how Trainer B had a smoother start, whereas Trainer A invested heavily for more control.
When Custom Might Be Warranted
If you’re, say, a large fitness brand or gym chain and you want an app that integrates with in-gym equipment, or you have a highly specialized concept (like a gamefied fitness adventure app), you might go custom to get exactly what you need. Many major players started custom because white-label solutions perhaps didn’t exist or meet their complexity needs at the time. But for an individual creator or small business, white-label is often a godsend, providing 90% of what you want at 10% of the hassle.
Conclusion
White-label = quick, cost-effective, uses proven tech, but with some limits on customization. Custom-built = fully tailored, you own everything, but high cost and effort.
Our advice: If your requirements largely match what existing platforms provide, go white-label and get to market. If you truly need something unprecedented and have the resources, consider custom. And remember, we’re here to talk through it. At Sudor, we’ve had some clients ask “What if I need X in the future?” We’re pretty frank about when our platform is a good fit and when maybe a custom approach is better. Feel free to book a free demo call and to bounce your ideas off us. We’ll help you weigh it out so you make the best decision for your business.