It's one of the questions we get most, and the short answer is that it depends. It isn't complicated once you know what to weigh, though. Here's how to tell which is right for your business.
WordPress is like a well-fitted suit off the rack: quick to set up, easy to manage, and far cheaper. Custom development is made-to-measure: it fits exactly what you need, with no template limits, but it's a bigger investment. Neither is 'better'; they suit different jobs.
For the large majority of small and medium businesses, WordPress is the sensible choice. You get a professional website you can update yourself, without a developer on speed dial. Built well, with a clean theme and minimal plugins, it's fast, secure and flexible enough for almost anything a typical business needs.
Custom development is worth the extra investment when you need top performance, unusual functionality, or something closer to software than a website: a booking platform, a customer portal, an internal tool, tight integrations between the tools you already use. A template would fight you here; custom fits the workflow exactly. It's what we built our own product, Grafta, with.
Because we build both, we've no stake in which you pick. We'll look at what you're trying to achieve and your budget, then tell you which fits. Sometimes the answer is WordPress now, with custom pieces added later. Want the answer for your situation? Get a free quote and we'll tell you which way we'd go.
Describe what you're working on and we'll come back with a free quote and a recommendation that fits.
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