Lotics vs custom software

Custom software is a system an outsourcing firm writes to your spec, usually over several months. Lotics is where your AI builds the system around how the company works, then enters the data, checks it and drafts the invoices in it.

Updated October 2026. Each fact about custom software cites its source.

Choose custom software when

  • The software is itself a product you sell to your customers.
  • You need to own the source code, to change it yourselves or hire someone else to.
  • You would rather pay for the build once than pay a monthly fee.

Choose Lotics when

  • Your rates, document templates and the way you work change often, and a change cannot wait for the firm's quote.
  • You need a system built the way you work without a months-long project.
  • You want ChatGPT, Claude or the built-in AI entering data, checking it and drafting documents on the company's records.

At a glance

custom softwareLotics
What it isSoftware an outsourcing firm writes to one company's own spec, then hands over.AI business management software: the data, an app for each desk and automations, where AI does everything the company needs and gets better at its work the longer it is used.
Built forCompanies that need software nothing off the shelf covers, with a budget for a project and a wish to own the code.SMBs that still enter data and prepare documents and invoices by hand, starting with logistics and supply chain.
AIOnly if ordered: a chatbot or AI agent is an item in the package or quote.ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or the built-in AI, able to do anything a person can.
SetupThe firm surveys, builds, tests and hands over, typically in 1–6 months depending on scope.Your AI builds it from the files the company already uses in about 10 minutes, or the Lotics team does it for you.
E-invoicesConnects to MISA or an e-invoicing platform if the spec and quote include it.AI drafts e-invoices in MISA, BKAV or WinInvoice for the accountant to review and sign.
PriceQuoted on the project's scope after a survey. After handover, an optional yearly maintenance fee, typically 10–20% of the system's value. Source: CIT SoftwareFrom $60 a month, with unlimited users.

Where they differ

Each change

Once the software is in use, the company keeps changing: new customers, new fees, new document templates. When each change waits for a quote and an update, staff go back to Excel, and the software drifts away from how the company works.

custom software
A change outside the contract needs an appendix with its own quote and delivery date. The firm's developers make it and ship an update. Source: MONA Software
Lotics
You tell your AI what changes: a fee, an approval step, a document template. It changes the tables, apps and templates, with no fee per change.

The AI you choose

Most of your team already uses ChatGPT or Claude. When that same AI works on the company's records, nobody copies its answers from a chat window into the system, and putting AI to work takes no second project.

custom software
No AI works in it unless the firm builds a chatbot or AI agent too, as an item in the package or quote. Source: CIT Software
Lotics
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini connect with your own account and can do anything you can, including changing the system.

History and knowledge the AI works from

How a job is done, what each customer was quoted, each customer's own terms: often they live only in the head of whoever did the work, and leave when that person does. If the AI cannot read the company's history and documents, it starts every job from zero.

custom software
An action log if the spec orders one. An AI reads that log or the company's documents only if the firm builds that too. Source: EDC Tech
Lotics
Every change to every field of every record is logged with who made it and when, beside knowledge docs with the company's prices, procedures and terms. The AI you choose reads both while it works, within the asker's own access.

Maintenance

Software needs someone to monitor, fix and upgrade it for every year the company uses it. When the maintenance contract ends or the developer who knows the code leaves, every fix starts with finding someone who can read that code.

custom software
After the warranty, monitoring, fixes and upgrades are a separate paid maintenance plan, or your own team's job on the code you received. Source: Golden Bee
Lotics
Lotics keeps the platform running and updated as part of the monthly fee. The company has no code to host, patch or upgrade.

Moving from custom software to Lotics

  1. Export the data from the software to Excel or CSV, or have the firm export it from the database.
  2. Hand those files to your AI (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) with the setup prompt.
  3. It builds the tables, apps and document templates in Lotics from the columns in each file, then imports the data.
  4. Keep the old software for whatever it still does well. The work done in Excel and Zalo, such as documents, cross-checks and invoices, moves to Lotics.

Rather not do it yourself? The Lotics team does it all, from $60 a month. See pricing

What customers say about Lotics

Read Conta's story

Frequently asked questions

Don't see your question? Message the Lotics team.

Software an outsourcing firm writes to one company's own spec: it surveys the process, builds, tests and hands over. The source code belongs to the company when the contract states the handover and the bill is paid in full.

Yes, when the software is a product you sell, when you need to own the source code, or when the process is settled and rarely changes. At handover it matches the spec. What to budget for is the months of waiting, the cost of each change after that, and the yearly maintenance fee.

It depends on scope. One outsourcing firm, for example, publishes packages of 80–300 million VND for a small system over 1–2 months and 300 million to 1 billion VND for a company-wide system over 3–6 months, plus maintenance of about 10–20% of the system's value a year.

For internal management software, such as orders, stock, documents, receivables and invoices, yes: your AI builds that part in Lotics from the files the company already uses. For a product you sell to customers, or when you need to own the source code, no.

Yes. The old software keeps the work it does well. What is still done in Excel and Zalo moves to Lotics, and AI enters the data from files exported from the old software.

A firm builds a chatbot or AI agent to a quote, for the tasks ordered in advance. In Lotics, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or the built-in AI can do anything a person can in the system, and gets better as the models do.

The AI is already capable; what it lacks is how your company does things. In Lotics it reads the history of changes on each record and the knowledge docs with your prices, procedures and terms, so the next job starts from how the last one was done. The longer the company works in Lotics, the more the AI has to work from, and it stays when people leave.

No. Lotics hands over no source code. The data is yours, and you can export all of it to Excel, CSV or the original files at any time. If you need to own the source code, custom software is the right choice.

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, hosted in Singapore. Each person sees only what they are given access to, and every change records who made it and when.

By plan, from $60 a month, with unlimited users. Your own ChatGPT or Claude uses no AI Credits.

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