It's one of the most common questions we get from clients who are planning a new website: should I go WordPress or something custom?
The honest answer is: it depends on your business. Anyone telling you one is universally better than the other is either uninformed or selling you a subscription.
Here's how we think about it.
The case for WordPress
WordPress powers around 43% of the web — including major news sites, e-commerce stores, and everything in between. It's mature, well-understood, and has an enormous ecosystem of plugins and themes.
WordPress makes sense when:
- You need a content-heavy site with a blog, news section, or regular editorial updates that non-technical staff will manage
- Budget is a primary constraint and a quality theme with minimal customisation will serve your needs
- You need e-commerce with complex product catalogues — WooCommerce is hard to beat for flexibility at cost
- You want the ability to manage content yourself without touching code
The real cost of WordPress: A lot of clients underestimate what proper WordPress maintenance involves. Plugins need updating. Core needs updating. Hosting needs to be managed. Security needs monitoring. If you're not doing this, you're accumulating risk. A WordPress site that hasn't been touched in 18 months is a liability.
The case for a custom site
"Custom" is a broad term. For smaller businesses, it often means a lean static site built with modern tooling — fast by default, no database, minimal attack surface. For more complex requirements, it means a purpose-built application.
A custom build makes sense when:
- Performance is non-negotiable — a static site can achieve near-perfect PageSpeed scores without effort
- Security matters — no plugin vulnerabilities, no WordPress exploits, nothing to update
- The design requirements are specific — you want something that actually reflects your brand, not a theme with your logo swapped in
- Long-term cost is a consideration — a well-built static site has essentially zero ongoing maintenance cost
The trade-off: A custom site typically costs more upfront and requires a developer to make significant content changes. If you need to publish three blog posts a week yourself, a headless CMS or WordPress is probably a better fit.
How we make the recommendation
When a new client comes to us, we ask a few questions:
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Who will update the site, and how often? If it's a non-technical person making weekly updates, that changes the recommendation significantly.
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What's the primary goal? Lead generation, e-commerce, brand credibility, and content publishing all have different ideal solutions.
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What's the realistic 3-year cost? A $2,000 WordPress site with $200/month in hosting, plugins, and maintenance adds up to $9,200 over three years. A $4,500 static site with $20/month hosting totals $5,220. The "cheaper" option depends entirely on your time horizon.
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What are the performance requirements? For businesses where Google ranking is critical, a slow CMS can be a real handicap.
Our honest position
We build both. We choose based on what's right for the client, not what's easier for us to sell.
For most local service businesses — tradies, professional services, allied health, hospitality — a lean, fast, custom-built site will outperform a WordPress install on every metric that matters: speed, security, and Google rankings.
For businesses with substantial content operations, WooCommerce stores, or teams that need content independence, WordPress is the right call.
If you're not sure which path is right for your specific situation, get in touch. We'll give you a straight answer without an agenda.