I do understand where @antony is coming from though, so I make sure I only integrate with sustainable services and I definitely limit the amount and quality of Plugins I use - don’t want to have to depend on a third party developer when a feature breaks
Exactly.
For me, the question really boils down to whether or not I’m adding value for users of my platform.
Some of my business ideas involve leveraging existing services to add additional value; and Bubble is quite appealing as an integration platform.
Other ideas are for services that don’t yet exist (as far as I know), and those are candidates for “build it yourself”.
In reality, it’s often not exclusively one or the other, as most online services integrate with others in some way, shape, or form.
If a “more integrated experience” is a “better” experience for you or your users, then perhaps it’s worth considering. However, a “more integrated experience” doesn’t necessarily mean replicating functionality. For instance, if Zoho Desk has a RESTful API, perhaps you could still use it as the back end while building a “customized” front end in Bubble.
If something saves you time in the long run, that ultimately translates into added value for your end users by enabling you to devote more time to enhancing your product or service.
Focus on your core user case. Your aim should be to reduce the time and effort spent in building on Bubble.
Building things on your own will involve a lot of time, cost and operational overhead.