WordPress or a Custom Build: Which Website Fits Your Business?

When a clinic, a church, a trades company or a local shop decides it needs a new website, one of the first questions is what it should be built on. The two options we recommend are WordPress and a custom build. Each suits somebody, and each has trade-offs that are easy to miss until you have lived with the site for a while.

This is a plain comparison, written for the person who has to pay for the site and keep it current. We build both, so we are not trying to sell you on either.

WordPress: open source and endlessly extendable

WordPress is free, open-source software that powers a large share of the websites you visit. You install it on hosting you choose, pick or commission a theme for the design, and add features with plugins. There are plugins for almost anything: event calendars, donation forms, online stores, bookings and membership areas.

Who it suits: businesses and organisations that want to edit their own pages and posts, may want a blog or news section, and expect to add features over time. It is a sensible default for a lot of local business sites, and because it is not tied to one company, you can change hosts or developers later.

The trade-offs:

• It needs regular updates. WordPress core, the theme and every plugin all receive updates, many of them security fixes. Outdated plugins are one of the most common ways WordPress sites get compromised, so someone has to apply those updates, check that nothing broke, and keep backups.
• Plugins add moving parts. Each plugin is written by a different developer, on a different schedule. A site with a long list of them can become slower, harder to update, and more exposed if one is abandoned.
• Hosting choice matters. Cheap shared hosting can make a WordPress site slow and leave it sitting beside neglected sites on the same server. Good hosting, with backups and sensible security settings, is part of the real cost.

None of this makes WordPress a poor choice. It means a WordPress site is something you look after, not something you set up once and forget.

A custom build with React and Next.js

A custom build is written for your business specifically, rather than assembled from a template. We use React and Next.js, which are widely used tools for building fast, modern websites and web applications.

Who it suits: businesses whose website has to do real work, not just describe the business. Online bookings tied to your own schedule, customer logins, quote calculators, client portals, marketplaces, or connections to your accounting, inventory or scheduling systems are all good reasons to go custom.

The trade-offs and advantages:

• Full control. The site does exactly what you need, looks exactly how you want, and is not limited by what a template or plugin happens to support.
• Fast by design. A custom Next.js site only ships what it needs, which tends to make pages load quickly, especially on phones.
• Fewer moving parts to patch. There is no public plugin marketplace behind the site and far less third-party code, which reduces the number of things that need regular security updates.
• It costs more up front. Designing and building something specific takes more time than setting up a theme, so the first invoice is larger.
• Editing works differently. Content is usually edited through a connected content editor set up for the pages you change most, or by the developer for larger changes. If you want to rebuild page layouts yourself often, WordPress may suit better.

Some projects go well past a website. For client portals, back-office tools and internal systems, we built BadgerAdmin, our own platform for business software of that kind. You can try the live BadgerAdmin demo to get a feel for what that level of build looks like.

How to choose

Rather than starting with the platform, start with a few questions about how your business will actually use the site.

• Do you want to edit it yourself? If you want to change text, photos and pages without calling anyone, WordPress makes that easy. A custom build can too, but usually for a defined set of content.
• What must it do beyond pages? If the answer is a contact form and a map, either will work. If it involves bookings, logins, payments tied to your own systems, or calculations, that points toward WordPress with the right plugins, or a custom build.
• Do you prefer to spend up front or over time? WordPress costs less to start, with ongoing hosting and maintenance. A custom build costs more at the start, with hosting and care after.
• Who will keep it updated? Every site needs someone responsible for it. On WordPress especially, decide before launch who applies updates and checks backups, whether that is a staff member or a provider.

Answer those honestly and the right platform usually becomes clear.

What we do

We build both and recommend one per project, based on what you need. You can see examples on our web design page. We have built sites for clinics, churches, a furniture studio and a B2B marketplace, and because we are an IT and cybersecurity company first, we can also host the site and look after the updates so it stays secure.

For a rough sense of cost, our Starter websites begin at $2,000 and business websites at $3,500 (CAD, plus HST). Web applications and portals are quoted after we understand the scope. Our post on how much a website costs in Hamilton walks through what drives those numbers.

If you are weighing up a new site, have a look at our web design and development page and tell us what the site needs to do. We will recommend a platform, explain why, and send a written quote so you know the cost before any work starts.