Croft: Buy vs Skip (AI-Built Client Apps on a Private Server)
IF your agency ships client apps that were built by chatting with Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor and you need error grouping, response-time profiling, 7-day logs, and email alerts without standing up traditional APM, THEN Croft's $24/month Solo tier (up to 10 people, shared data, automatic backups, zero-downtime deploys) is the entry point and $99/month Team (up to 50 people, roles and permissions, team controls for shared data and connectors) is the resale tier. IF the app does not run on Croft's runtime, or the client needs log retention beyond 7 days, THEN the MCP diagnostic loop and the monitoring stack never apply and you should skip.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
Croft: Buy vs Skip (AI-Built Client Apps on a Private Server)
“IF your agency ships client apps that were built by chatting with Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor and you need error grouping, response-time profiling, 7-day logs, and email alerts without standing up traditional APM, THEN Croft's $24/month Solo tier (up to 10 people, shared data, automatic backups, zero-downtime deploys) is the entry point and $99/month Team (up to 50 people, roles and permissions, team controls for shared data and connectors) is the resale tier. IF the app does not run on Croft's runtime, or the client needs log retention beyond 7 days, THEN the MCP diagnostic loop and the monitoring stack never apply and you should skip.”
- Clients already build internal dashboards, workflow tools, or Stripe and HubSpot integrations by chatting with an AI assistant, so the app can actually be hosted on Croft's runtime rather than a separate stack.
- Your delivery team wants the AI assistant itself to read errors, metrics, and logs over MCP and propose fixes, which removes the manual triage step that usually eats retainer hours.
- The engagement fits inside Solo's 10-person sharing cap or Team's 50-person cap, and the $24/month or $99/month line item can be absorbed into an existing hosting or maintenance retainer.
- You are reselling hosting as a white-label layer and want automatic backups, zero-downtime deploys, and alert emails included rather than assembled from separate vendors.
- Client apps are low-to-mid complexity (workflows, internal dashboards, connector integrations) where 7 days of searchable logs and auto-grouped stack traces cover the realistic incident window.
- The client's application was not built through AI chat and does not run on Croft's runtime, which makes the MCP diagnostic tools and built-in monitoring unreachable.
- Compliance or incident-review requirements demand log retention well past the 7-day searchable window Croft provides.
- The account needs more than 50 people inside a single workspace, since Team tops out there and Solo caps at 10.
- Your agency expects the platform to handle client onboarding and monitoring escalation, because Croft leaves both to you.
- The client stack depends on connectors outside the Stripe, HubSpot, and 45+ supported list, so integration work falls back to custom code you would own anyway.
More on Croft
- StrategyWhy Croft Turns AI-Built Client Apps Into Retainer Infrastructure
- ConceptCroft Client Fit Matrix
- Evaluation RuleWhen to Adopt Croft: Client Apps Built by AI Chat, Not Hand-Coded Stacks
- Failure PatternThe Croft Retainer Trap: Why Agencies Fail When AI-Built Client Apps Outgrow the 7-Day Log Window
- Implementation BlueprintCroft Client App Hosting Sprint (5-7 days)
- Operating ProcedureCroft Client Workspace Setup (Onboarding)