The workflow matters more than the feature list.
A useful replacement is smaller than the product it replaces. We define the work, test the reasonable options, and count the cost of owning the answer.
The four-way comparison
“Alternative” can mean four different things. Keep the current tool because migration costs more than the problem. Move to another hosted product. Self-host mature open-source software. Or build a smaller system around the workflow the business actually uses.
Agent-built software is one option in that comparison. It doesn't get a favorable verdict by default.
What replacement reports disclose
- The workflow, current product, and reason for looking.
- The feature boundary and everything left out.
- Actual users, record growth, peak load, and capacity margin.
- The model, coding agent, prompts, tools, and human decisions.
- Build time, cash cost, hosting, maintenance, and migration work.
- Authentication, data sensitivity, backups, monitoring, export, and rollback.
- Source code, tagged release, tests, known failures, and follow-up results.
- A verdict: keep, switch, self-host, build, or skip.
Corrections and commercial ties
Material corrections change the article and its verified date. Vendor access, free credits, sponsorships, and affiliate links are disclosed on the page they affect. Base76 is written by Tim Ariyeh.
Base76 also makes a product: bases, a database service for tools that AI agents build. A replacement report that recommends building doesn't require using it, and a verdict can still be keep, switch, self-host, or skip.