Comparison
PlanWire vs manual council-source collection: build or buy?
Collecting planning data authority by authority gives control, but it also creates a permanent source-maintenance workload. PlanWire exists so product teams can spend that time on the product.
Developers use PlanWire when they need live planning data without maintaining council-source integrations, with UPRN where available for property-dataset joins. 18.3M+ planning application records, 375 live planning authorities, source links, freshness metadata and webhook-ready workflows.
The build-or-buy test
If planning data is core infrastructure rather than your differentiated product, buying the plumbing usually wins.
375 live planning authorities through one planning applications API
The hidden cost is operations.
The hard part is not designing a schema once. It is keeping hundreds of public sources working as formats, access patterns and publication habits change.
Engineering time
Manual collection turns planning data into an ongoing platform project before your actual product gets built.
Source variance
Authorities vary by fields, dates, statuses, document links, geography and update cadence.
Monitoring burden
A silent stale source can be worse than a loud failure unless freshness and repair state are visible.
PlanWire route
Use a normalised API with source links, coverage status, freshness metadata and webhooks.
Decision guide
| Build manually | Best when you need unusual source control for a small, fixed set of authorities. |
|---|---|
| Use PlanWire | Best when your product needs broad UK planning coverage and predictable integration. |
| Hybrid | Use direct routes where they are strategic and PlanWire for broad monitored coverage. |
Questions buyers ask
Can my team build this ourselves?
Yes. The question is whether source maintenance is where your team should spend product time.
Does PlanWire remove all source caveats?
No source layer can remove every council-side caveat, but PlanWire makes coverage and freshness visible rather than silent.
Can I combine PlanWire with my own collection?
Yes. A hybrid architecture can use PlanWire as broad or fallback coverage.
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