Custom Website Design vs Template Design: Pros & Cons
Both custom website design and readymade template design have their pros and cons. What is going to benefit you the most depends on your requirements, budget and other considerations. This blog takes a look into which design makes the most sense and when, for whom and how.
What is custom website design?
Custom website design, as the name implies, is a design term that means designing a website keeping your custom requirements in mind. Custom requirements are specific to you (something native to you and not necessarily available elsewhere) and hence the website needs to be designed from scratch. Every part of the website – from its design, features, interface and overall experience – is built keeping your requirements in the centre.
What is template design?
Template design refers to prebuilt templates that you can use to design your website. Available on and to use across a variety of platforms such as WordPress, their features and functionalities are limited compared to a custom website.
Pros of custom website and cons of template designs:
| Parameters | Custom website design | Templated design |
| Uniqueness | Your site’s design is unique. It belongs to only you, and no one else’s. | The template might have already been used across several other websites, so it is not native to your site. |
| Brand fit | Every aspect of your brand and its identity is matched to your custom created website. | Your brand has to adapt to the template used meaning you can’t control all of it. |
| Flexibility | Build what you want, change whenever you want to without restrictions. | Flexibilities are limited based on what the template offers. Oftentimes, heavy customizations are restricted. |
| UX | User experience is designed based on what your audience wants | User experience is generic and there’s no guarantee that it will match your audience. |
| Scalability | As your business grows, you can scale it adding new features and functionalities. | May not match your growing needs and restrictions may hinder your expected growth. |
Pros of template designs and cons of custom website:
| Parameters | Templated design | Custom website design |
| Cost | Affordable and budget friendly compared to a custom designed website. | Involves high upfront cost because of research, design and development. |
| Time to Launch | Since everything is built from scratch, takes more time | Fast to launch: From hours to days. |
| Maintenance | Requires ongoing support or a developer for updates and changes | Easy for non-technical users to manage the website. |
Use cases:
See, if you are serious about your business, looking to drive its growth in future, and want to generate leads by creating a professional image in the competitive market, you without a doubt need a custom designed website.
Companies with specific user journeys and businesses that are planning to scale and add new features over time with a professionally designed website, need a custom designed website.
On the other hand, if your need is a website that can be deployed fast at an affordable cost and you are not bothered about creating a unique identity at present, you need a template. Early stage companies testing ideas or MVP, a small business that just wants to show up online, personal brands, companies with limited content and no plans to scale up rapidly in near future, and projects that need to be completed quickly at tight budgets may find more value in template designs.
Concluding remarks
So, what is the best design in your case? The answer is it depends. When you want to go live quickly and your budget is restricted, go with a templated design.
But if you’ve read the blog attentively, you know there’s a catch. While affordable and easy to set up, they may already be in use by several others, so your business identity is compromised. Next, templates have limited customization features. And, they often require third party plugins to work well, which means if not managed properly, they are exposed to security vulnerabilities.
Let expert web designers create your custom website at an unbelievable price.
Resources:
● Visit our custom website design services page
● Visit our custom website design portfolio
● Contact us
