Buy or build? I buy my snares from Rally Hess great snares and customer service! I was going to buy again this year however he didn't make it to the NTA. I hope to call him today but I'm afraid he is most likely trapping so I may have to build a few myself.

I make my own, parts and wire I get from ogormans, I prefer to make them the way I want

I build mine because you can customize them and it is fun and rewarding like loading your own ammo. There is something about making a catch with something you made yourself. It is also nice to mix and match components to suit you or your target/application.

Dakotaline and snareone and snareshop all make great snares IME and shipping is always 9.95 at Dakota whether it’s 12 snares or a pallet o traps.
You’re sposd to have their catalogs on your desk already. Didn’t you get the memo?

Building "a few" snares is not economical. Building several dozen can be. Building a few to learn is OK. I built my own for years to get them exactly the way I wanted them, and to re-use locks, swivels, whammy's, (and scrap cable for extensions). Of course I carried a cable cutter when checking snares.

4 dpzen snares is the break even point for building new snares if you buy the cutters at the same time. If you have to buy a swager, its few dozen more.

It costs about $100 to build 100 -5 foot snares including buying the cable cutters. Averages out to about 1.00 each.
Bench mount swaggers start at $99 and can go to $300 or more. Which add more to your cost.

You can cut snare cable with a pair of fence pliers and a BFH works for stops and ferrels.
Reuse your locks. Except for Ogormans.
just

I buy mine from Rally-no complaints here!!

If using only only a couple dozen buy them, using 100's or more build them. You don't need expensive tools, just cable cutters, a hammer and a block of steel with a ^ ridge welded to it or a standard screw driver.

No swagger needed, just hammer your ferrules and cross punch for extra safety in holding power:

Agree with BC Tomcat 100%.
Even if you start out buying,you are gonna need to make some too to use up leftover camlocks,killsprings etc after catches..