WordPress or a custom website: which to choose

The real question

Who will update the site, and how often? Everything else comes after that.

If someone in your office writes articles every week, changes products and adds pages alone, you need a panel that already knows all this. If the site changes twice a year, a panel with fifty updates a month is a burden that gives you nothing.

When WordPress pays off

• A blog or news updated often by people who don't program.
• An online shop, with WooCommerce.
• Features that already exist in a serious plugin: bookings, courses, several languages.
• You want to be able to change provider: WordPress developers are everywhere.

The hidden price is updates. WordPress, themes and plugins release them all the time, and now and then one breaks the site. Someone has to apply them and test the site afterwards. I do it every week with maintenance, but it is a cost to plan for.

When a custom site pays off

• The site changes little: company, services, contacts.
• It must open in a moment on phones too. A static page has no database and no plugins to load.
• You want to reduce attacks. A static site has no admin panel or database to break into: only the server and the contact form remain.
• The site has to do something particular, which on WordPress would take plugins forced together.

This site is built that way: generated with Astro, static files, and a small script for the form. The price is that changing a text takes someone who knows how, or a panel added on purpose.

The Carugati school site also replaced an old WordPress one: the canteen menu, the forms and the events each have their own feature, written for parents.

How I decide

If you are unsure:

• active blog, shop or many authors: WordPress;
• a few pages that rarely change: custom and light;
• features closer to a program: neither, a web app with a site in front of it.

I will tell you in the analysis, which is free. If your site is built with a visual editor, read from Wix to WordPress too. The rest is on the Websites page.

Frequently asked questions

Is WordPress less secure?

The core is well looked after. The risk is in plugins: nearly all published WordPress vulnerabilities are there. A WordPress site with few plugins, updated every week, is reasonably secure. Left alone for years, it isn't.

Can I edit text myself on a custom site?

It depends how it is built. A panel can be added for the parts that change, such as news or menus. If you want to edit every page freely, WordPress suits you better.

Which one does better on Google?

Google doesn't care what it's made with. Text, speed and structure count. A light site is fast by nature; on WordPress you can get the same result, with more care over plugins.

Can I change my mind later?

Yes. Text and images move from one to the other. With redirects from the old addresses, your Google positions stay.

Read more

• The service: Business websites
• Work of this kind: G. Carugati preschool
• More pages like this: Before you decide