WordPress or a custom website: which to choose?

WordPress or a custom website: the short answer

WordPress or a custom website? Choose WordPress if you want to tinker with your site a lot, need a specific plugin or already have a regular WordPress partner. Choose a custom site if you want something fast and secure that needs little maintenance.

First, two terms. WordPress is a CMS (content management system): software with an admin area where you edit pages and text yourself. A large share of all websites run on it. A custom website is built in code, specifically for you. I do that with Next.js, a widely used framework: a toolkit developers use to build modern websites.

In full honesty: I build custom sites, not WordPress sites. So I have a stake in this comparison. That's why I also cover when WordPress is the better choice.

Speed

With WordPress, a page is usually put together at the moment someone asks for it. The server pulls the content from a database and assembles the page, adding the code from your theme and plugins. With good hosting and caching (keeping a ready-made copy of the page), that can be fast. But every extra plugin can slow the site down again.

A Next.js site can largely be prepared in advance. The pages sit as ready-made files on servers close to the visitor and don't have to be rebuilt on every visit.

Speed matters to your visitors, especially on a phone, and it's one of the things Google looks at. To be fair: a fast WordPress site is possible, and so is a slow custom site. The difference is what happens by default and how much effort it takes.

Security and plugin updates

A WordPress site has three layers that each get updates: WordPress itself, your theme and your plugins. Plugins are add-ons from other developers, for all sorts of things: forms, SEO, security, a calendar. Most known security holes in WordPress are in plugins, not in WordPress itself.

Leave updates for too long and your site becomes vulnerable. Install them blindly and something occasionally breaks. That's why WordPress maintenance plans are so common. What that costs per month is covered in website maintenance costs.

A custom site has no plugins from dozens of developers and, without a CMS, no login page for bots to try passwords on. It isn't invulnerable: my code also uses third-party components that need updating. I take care of that under Hosting. But there are far fewer moving parts.

Editing your own content

This is where WordPress shines. The admin area is familiar, lots of people have used it before, and with a page builder you can drag whole pages together yourself. That freedom has a downside: it's also easy to break your layout by accident.

With a custom site there are two options. Without a CMS, I make changes for you: Hosting includes one small text edit a month, Care includes 3 hours of work. With a CMS you get your own custom content editor, with only the fields you need: text, articles and pages. That's how Bart Brouwer of Crossing Futures writes his own articles, in two languages. I call this a website with a CMS.

What does it cost over three years?

Don't just look at the build price. Work out what a site costs you over three years: the build, plus 36 months of hosting and maintenance, plus the odd jobs that come up along the way.

For WordPress, add up the build, hosting, a maintenance plan and any paid plugins or themes. Many good plugins come with a licence you renew every year. The build itself can be cheaper, especially if your builder uses a ready-made theme. And WordPress itself is free: it's open source, so anyone can use it.

With me, the sum looks like this. A business website of up to 8 pages costs €1,495. With Hosting at €39 a month, you pay €2,899 in total over three years, excluding VAT. That includes updates, security and one small change a month. You don't need any plugin licences.

Do the same sum for both options, with real quotes in hand. Then you'll see which is cheaper for your situation.

Lock-in and ownership

Lock-in means it's hard to leave a supplier or a system. WordPress does well here: it's open source and plenty of builders work with it. Unhappy with your builder? You'll easily find another. Watch out for page builders, though: pages made with them are tied to that plugin. Stop using it and you often have to rebuild those pages.

With a custom site, it depends on the agreements and the technology. Ask whether you get the code and whether it's built with mainstream technology other developers know. Next.js is that kind of technology. With me, the site is yours once it's paid for. If you want to carry on without me, you get the complete code for a one-off €195 and I move the site to your own hosting. That's how The Diversity Company moved from WordPress to a custom site, and their own IT partner now hosts it.

To be fair: fewer people can edit a Next.js site than a WordPress site. For a change outside your CMS, you need a developer.

Moving away from WordPress? Make sure your old addresses redirect to the new pages. How that works is explained in moving your website without losing SEO.

When WordPress is the better choice

In these situations, WordPress is often the sensible choice:

• You have a WordPress site that's fast, well maintained and does what it should. Switching would cost money without gaining much.
• You want to control the layout of your pages yourself, not just the text, and you have the time and appetite for it.
• You need a feature that a proven plugin already offers, which would otherwise be expensive to build from scratch.
• You have a regular WordPress partner, or someone in-house who keeps up with the updates.
• You publish a lot, with several writers who already work in WordPress.