Build vs buy, without the wishful math.
The real cost of building evaluation infrastructure is in the control plane, not the eval runner. This is the framework.
Note: this page does not claim universal cost savings. Your results depend on scope, existing tooling, and deployment constraints.
Make the tradeoffs explicit
Cost, time-to-first-proof, and operational risk are usually hidden until late. Bring them forward.
Evidence is a product requirement.
If you ship in regulated environments, evidence capture is not a side project. It is part of the workflow.
Regressions happen. The question is whether your system learns.
The question is whether the system learns from them. A build plan should include repeatable checks and replay.
Evidence breaks at every seam.
If each step lives in a different tool, evidence breaks at every seam. Consolidation is a real cost driver.
Timeline
Months to build. Day one to deploy.
Every line item below is real engineering work. The question is whether your team should own it.
Timelines based on typical enterprise teams with 4-8 engineers. Your constraints may differ.
Risk
Where risk concentrates
Building is not only an expense. It is an exposure. Every dimension below compounds over time.
If you build
Building means owning all of this.
Building can be the right move. It is rarely “just an eval runner”. The work is in the operating system around it.
- You will build a control plane: auth, roles, audit logs, and configuration.
- You will build workflow primitives: rubrics, routing, sampling, escalation, and approvals.
- You will build evidence packaging: exports, retention, and reproducibility.
- You will operate it: on-call, migrations, performance, and incident response.
What you get
Everything you'd build. Already shipped.
Every capability below is included. No assembly required.
Versioned, reproducible evaluation runs with rubrics and scoring attached.
Known failures become replayable checks that gate releases automatically.
Route edge cases to calibrated reviewers with context and evidence included.
Audit-ready artifacts generated as the workflow runs, not assembled after the fact.
Automated quality, bias, and SLO checks that block releases when thresholds fail.
Multi-tenant access controls, audit logs, and encryption key management.
One operational surface for dashboards, alerts, approvals, and escalations.
Connect to LangChain, Airflow, Terraform, and your existing observability stack.
Security review materials, billing controls, and credits designed for enterprise.
Calculator
Run the numbers.
Adjust assumptions and treat the output as a conversation starter. The goal is better decision-making, not a perfect forecast.
Input your assumptions
See how team size and timelines compound into millions.
Full-time engineers dedicated to the platform.
Salary + equity + benefits + overhead.
Time until feature parity with AuraOne.
Skip the guess. Get a scoped plan.
We will map your current stack and constraints and propose an implementation sequence that keeps risk low.