Build vs Buy: Should You Build Your Own Content Moderation System or Use an API?
A complete cost analysis and decision framework for indie developers and studios deciding between building custom moderation or using a service like Paxmod. Real numbers, real trade-offs.
TL;DR: The Short Answer
Use an API (like Paxmod) if: You're an indie developer, you want to launch fast, your budget is under $200K, or you have fewer than 1M monthly active users.
Build custom if: You're a large studio with $500K+ budget, 10M+ MAU, unique moderation needs that no API solves, or you have specialized ML engineers on staff.
For 95% of game developers, buying is the right answer. Here's why.
The Real Cost of Building Your Own Moderation System
Most developers dramatically underestimate what it takes to build effective content moderation. Let's break down the actual costs:
Initial Development Costs
Core Components Needed:
- • Word list management system
- • Pattern matching algorithms
- • Context-aware AI model
- • API infrastructure
- • Dashboard for rule management
- • Analytics and reporting
- • Rate limiting & caching
- • Multi-language support
Estimated Time & Cost:
Senior Backend Engineer: 4-6 months @ $150K/year = $50-75K
ML Engineer: 3-4 months @ $180K/year = $45-60K
Frontend Developer: 2 months @ $130K/year = $22K
DevOps: 1 month @ $140K/year = $12K
Total Development: $129-169K
Training Data & Model Development
A good moderation AI needs to be trained on millions of labeled examples. You have three options:
Option 1: Manual Labeling
Hire contractors to label 100K+ messages at $0.10-0.50 per label = $10-50K
Option 2: Use Generic Models
Use OpenAI/Perspective API as a starting point, but expect high false positives (12-16%) on gaming content
Option 3: Collect Your Own Data
Wait 6-12 months to collect enough data from your players = Delayed launch + ongoing costs
Realistic Cost: $15-70K
Plus 3-6 months of additional time
Monthly Infrastructure Costs
| Service | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| API hosting (high availability) | $500-2K |
| ML model inference (GPU) | $1-5K |
| Database (caching, logs) | $200-1K |
| CDN & load balancing | $100-500 |
| Monitoring & logging | $100-300 |
| TOTAL per month | $1.9-8.8K |
*Costs scale with usage. This is for ~1M requests/month
Ongoing Maintenance & Updates
A moderation system isn't "set it and forget it." You need continuous improvement:
- False positive fixes: Players will report issues weekly. 5-10 hours/week engineer time
- New gaming slang: Language evolves. Models need retraining quarterly
- Bypass detection: Toxic players find creative workarounds. Constant cat-and-mouse
- Multi-language support: Each new language needs its own training
- Security patches: Regular updates to prevent abuse
Estimated: 0.5-1 FTE ($65-130K/year)
That's $5.4-10.8K per month in ongoing costs
Total Cost to Build Your Own Moderation System
Initial Development
$144-239K
One-time cost
First Year Operating
$87-150K
Infrastructure + maintenance
YEAR 1 TOTAL
$231-389K
Before any revenue
The Cost of Using a Moderation API
Now let's compare that to using a service like Paxmod, OpenAI, or Azure:
| Usage Level | MAU | Requests/Month | Paxmod Cost | Azure Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indie | 1-10K | 10-100K | $0-49/mo | $0-100/mo |
| Small Game | 10-50K | 100K-500K | $49-199/mo | $100-500/mo |
| Mid-Size | 50-500K | 500K-5M | $199-1.5K/mo | $500-5K/mo |
| Large | 500K-5M | 5-50M | $1.5-10K/mo | $5-50K/mo |
| AAA | 5M+ | 50M+ | Custom | $50K+/mo |
Total Cost Using Paxmod API (Year 1)
Setup Cost
$0
5 minutes to integrate
Typical Mid-Size Game
$2.4-18K
Annual cost (50-500K MAU)
SAVINGS vs BUILD
$213-386K
In first year alone
When Does Building Make Financial Sense?
Let's calculate the break-even point where building becomes cheaper than buying:
Build Costs:
- • Initial development: $150K (average)
- • Infrastructure: $5K/month ($60K/year)
- • Maintenance: $100K/year (1 engineer)
- • Total Year 1: $310K
- • Ongoing per year: $160K
Break-Even Calculation:
If Paxmod costs $0.001 per request on enterprise pricing:
- • Year 1: $310K ÷ $0.001 = 310 million requests to break even
- • That's roughly 5-10 million MAU
- • Or about the size of games like Rocket League, Dead by Daylight
Rule of Thumb:
If you have fewer than 5 million MAU, using an API is almost always cheaper than building.
Beyond Cost: Other Factors to Consider
Advantages of Using an API
- Ship faster: Integrate in hours, not months
- Better AI out of the box: Trained on millions of gaming messages
- Continuous improvement: Models get better over time automatically
- No infrastructure headaches: API provider handles scaling, uptime, security
- Focus on your game: Let experts handle moderation
- Predictable costs: Pay-as-you-grow pricing
- Support: Get help from moderation experts
Advantages of Building Your Own
- Full control: Customize every aspect of moderation
- Data ownership: All training data stays in-house
- No vendor lock-in: Not dependent on third party
- Potential cost savings at AAA scale: Cheaper if you have 10M+ MAU
- Unique requirements: If you need something no API offers
- Competitive advantage: Proprietary moderation tech
Decision Framework: Which Option is Right for You?
✅ You Should Use an API if:
- • You're an indie developer or small studio
- • You have fewer than 5M monthly active users
- • You want to launch in the next 3-6 months
- • Your budget is under $200K for moderation
- • You don't have ML engineers on staff
- • You want to focus on building your game, not infrastructure
- • You need multi-language support out of the box
- • You want both text AND image moderation
This describes 95% of game developers. Start with an API.
⚙️ You Should Build Custom if:
- • You have 10M+ monthly active users
- • Your annual revenue is $10M+
- • You have dedicated ML engineers and infrastructure team
- • You have unique moderation requirements no API solves
- • You can invest $500K+ in Year 1
- • You're willing to wait 12+ months for ROI
- • Data sovereignty is critical (government, military)
- • You want moderation as a competitive differentiator
This describes AAA studios and large live-service games only.
🔄 Hybrid Approach:
Many successful games use a hybrid approach:
- • Start with an API to launch quickly
- • Collect data about what your players actually say
- • Use API analytics to understand your moderation needs
- • After 1-2 years, evaluate if building custom makes sense
- • If you do build, use the API as fallback/second layer
This is the smartest approach for mid-sized studios growing into AAA territory.
What Successful Games Actually Do
Indie Games (Most use APIs)
Games like Among Us, Fall Guys (at launch), and Phasmophobia use third-party moderation or minimal custom systems. They focused on gameplay first, moderation second.
Mid-Size Studios (Mixed)
Games like Rust, Dead by Daylight started with APIs and player reporting, then added custom systems as they grew. Hybrid approach over time.
AAA Titles (Custom Systems)
League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch, Fortnite all built custom moderation systems, but only after reaching massive scale (10M+ MAU) and having the resources to invest $1M+ per year.
The Bottom Line
For 95% of game developers, using a moderation API like Paxmod is the right choice. The math is simple:
- Building costs $231-389K in Year 1
- An API costs $0-18K in Year 1 for most games
- That's a savings of $213-389K you can invest in game development
Unless you're running a AAA live-service game with millions of players, building your own moderation system is a waste of resources that could be better spent making your game great.
Start with an API. If you outgrow it, that's a great problem to have—it means your game is successful enough to afford custom solutions.
Start Protecting Your Players Today
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