The question comes up at every growth stage, and the honest answer is a spreadsheet, not a preference. Add up what in-house costs you per order: rent and utilities per square metre, labour including sickness and peaks, packaging, software, management time. Then ask two or three 3PLs for an all-in price per order at your volume and profile, and compare like with like.
In our audits the crossover usually sits between 8,000 and 15,000 orders a month: below it a good 3PL wins on flexibility, above it in-house starts to pay back if you can manage it well. Two things tip the balance more than volume: the share of bulky or fragile items, which 3PLs price hard, and how seasonal you are, because a 3PL absorbs your peaks and you pay for that all year.
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