The first thing to check is whether the software is genuinely production-ready or just a demo wrapped in a nice UI. A lot of vendors show a polished front end but the backend, the matching engine, the wallet security, the liquidity handling, is thin or untested. Ask to see a live working exchange built on their script, not just screenshots.

Security is the next filter. You want cold and hot wallet separation, multi-signature support, and a track record of no major breaches on past deployments. This is not the place to cut corners, since a single wallet exploit can end a business before it even gets off the ground.

Customization flexibility matters just as much. A good crypto exchange clone software provider should let you adjust trading pairs, fee structures, KYC flows, and UI branding without needing to touch the core matching engine code. If a vendor tells you customization means picking a color scheme, that's a red flag.

Last thing worth checking is post-launch support. Bugs show up after go-live, not before, so ask how fast they turn around fixes and whether ongoing maintenance is part of the package or a separate cost.

Anyone here gone through vendor selection recently? What ended up being the dealbreaker for you?