Are you planning to build a website but need clarification about using WordPress vs building from scratch?
There are many options today. But when you look at them, things fall into two categories – content management system (CMS) and writing the website codes yourself.
With CMS, you can build any website function without writing codes, and WordPress is particularly known as a versatile blogging platform. This CMS makes building online presence more accessible and doable for everyone, regardless of technical skills.
On the other hand, writing the codes or building from scratch requires a developer’s knowledge. You must use your programming skills to write custom website codes.
Which option is right for you and why?
Let’s dive in.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage websites without writing code. It offers a user-friendly interface, pre-designed templates, and various plugins and themes.
WordPress provides a quick set up to build your website. You can create any custom post type, publish content with ease, and take control of web design customization.
This popular website builder (WordPress) is ideal for beginners and professionals. It provides a flexible platform tailored to various needs, from simple blogs to complex eCommerce sites.
What is a Custom Website?
A custom website is developed from scratch using programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
It is built to meet a business or individual’s specific needs and requirements, offering complete control over every aspect of the website’s design and functionality.
Custom-built websites are typically developed by developers who specialize in creating unique and tailored online experiences.
This approach allows for a highly customized website that can stand out from the competition, providing a unique user experience and specific functionalities that are not easily achievable with standard CMS platforms.
Comparing WordPress and Custom-Built Website – Which Option Is Right For You?
WordPress vs coding from scratch has advantages and disadvantages; the option you consider depends on several factors.
If you need complete control with extreme customizations and bespoke features, consider building from scratch instead of a website builder like WordPress.
This assumes you have web development skills and extensive knowledge of front-end and server-side programming languages, like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and database technologies like SQL, C++, APIs, etc.
Coding your website from scratch can be time-consuming, expensive, and demand more resources on your part.
Even if you’re a programming Guru, you should consider the time and resources required to do this versus the goals.
WordPress, on the other hand, is the best option if you want to build quickly, without steep learning curve, and avoid dealing with scalability, security patches, fixing bugs, providing updates, code maintenance, etc.
It is the easiest way to build a blog or online store without writing the source codes yourself.
WordPress makes creating any website’s functions, features, and unique web design easier and as quickly as possible. You do not need to know anything about HTML, CSS, PHP, or JavaScript.
WordPress CMS handles many aspects of website building technalities, so you can focus on growing and managing your business.
Plus, you can extend WordPress core features with plugins, themes, and third-party services. This makes it possible to build unique blog designs and functions.
WordPress’s popularity and adoption are confirmed by top businesses and organizations that use it. Fortune 500 enterprises, government sites, and top celebrities use WordPress:
The adoption of WordPress by these brands and organizations further cements it as the leading CMS worldwide.
As of 2023, WordPress powers approximately 43% of internet (both custom and CMS platforms)
WordPress is also the biggest CMS market shareholder, with 64% (only CMS sites), leaving behind competitors like Shopify, Wix, Joomla, and Squarespace in second, third, fourth, and fifth positions, respectively.
Why You Should Build With Website Builders
Building your site with WordPress is better than a custom-built website if you’re a beginner. Also, it has many advantages, outweighing its disadvantages.
It saves you money, time, and resources and significantly reduces the barrier to starting an online business for non-technical people because WordPress does not require coding.
Whatever the type of online presence, custom post type, or business you intend to build, WordPress lets you do it effortlessly.
You can create it, whether it’s an eCommerce business, work portfolios, business websites, creative arts, membership sites, forums, online communities, or anything else.
Here are eight reasons to build your online presence with WordPress CMS.
Built for Everyone.
Regardless of background knowledge in programming language and digital marketing, WordPress is built to make creating websites easy for beginners.
Even if you have never used a CMS, watching WordPress video tutorials should help you become familiar with the software.
Installing the core software is a one-click step. All you need is a hosting account and a domain name.
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or seasoned professional, WordPress is geared towards making creating an online presence as easy as possible.
Manage Content on the Fly
You can manage your website files and content from any device, anywhere, and anytime.
Your site contents do not reside on your personal computer; they live on your hosting provider’s servers in the cloud.
This makes it possible to access your files from any internet-enabled device and any location worldwide.
You can log in to your account to make changes, save draft content, and publish from any device.
No Technical or Design Skills Needed
As mentioned earlier, you don’t need any technical, web design, or coding skills to use WordPress. The software is built to make the entire site development process possible with less effort.
Thousands of freely accessible templates are available. These templates or WordPress themes cater to most industry, business, and needs.
The WordPress themes repository currently contains over 7,000 free themes, making it the largest in the industry.
WordPress also has plugins that extend its core function, features, and performance.
Plugins enhance your website’s functions, from SEO plugins to speed, eCommerce, security, design, and automation. For example, to speed up your site, you can install a free cache plugin or premium one like WP Rocket, and in one click, you optimize your site speed.
Built-in Security Features
WordPress is built on top of state-of-the-art security features and measures. It comes with native security measures like spam protection (Akismet), login page protection, 2FA (2 Fatcors Authentication), recovery link, and more.
However, you can enhance the security of your WordPress site with plugins.
For example, plugins protect against unauthorized access to your account, malware protection, brute force and DDoS attacks, and more.
Easy to Scale
WordPress is built to support your business from the humble beginning and see you grow into a large-scale enterprise.
It handles every business needs efficiently, whether you’re selling a handful of groceries, operating a small business, building a community, or selling globally.
As your business grows, ensuring your sites load faster is crucial. WordPress offers tools and best practices to maintain fast loading times, including built-in optimization features like lazy loading, JetPack Site Accelerator, Image CDN, JetPack VaultPress Backup, etc.
Community Support
WordPress developers community is one of the world’s largest, with contributors from over 57 countries, hundreds of tech companies, and thousands of web devs props.
WordPress is fully available in over 65 languages and partially translated into 200+ other languages.
It is the only blogging platform with this level of community support. Thousands of devs from big companies like Google, Yoast, IBM, Microsoft, and more love it.
As open-source software, developers can contribute to its core software, enhancing its capabilities, features, and core functions.
Regular Updates
Regular updates and proactive security patches are another significant reason you should use WordPress instead of building from scratch.
The internet is an ever-changing landscape, making it challenging to keep up with the latest industry and technology changes.
WordPress releases regular updates every year. It has consistently adapted its software to current internet realities and user demands.
These updates are pushed automatically. With a managed web host, no action on your site needed to update your blog.
Developer Friendly with REST API
WordPress is developer-friendly; it allows you to integrate other services and tools with its core function.
Through the WordPress REST API, developers can use WordPress for development purposes. It lets you use headless WordPress for custom mobile and web applications.
You can use the REST API interface for third-party development without logging into your WordPress.
When You Should Consider Building From Scratch
Hand-coding a website from scratch has its advantages. It offers more control over site structures, design, customization, and flexibility.
If you’re sure you want to do this, here are some of the pros of building a custom code website.
Custom Website Design
Most website builders, like WordPress, use premade template designs that are freely accessible. This can make your website look like everyone else’s.
Writing your website codes means creating something unique that adapts to your needs. This is entirely different from a template-based website builder.
You imagine your website design, visualize it, and build the code and the structure. You can create the layouts, URL structures, design patterns, etc.
Going this route allows you to build a website that stands out and looks completely different.
The Code is Yours
The feeling that comes with knowing that the code for your website is entirely yours is fantastic.
You’re the only one who knows and understands how the website is built; you can replace, modify, delete, add, or rewrite the entire code line without breaking into the framework of another product.
Owning your website code allows you to take control of maintenance, security, and customization.
Better Performance
Creating a custom website from scratch can improve performance and user experience.
While custom websites can be optimized for performance, it’s important to note that well-configured WordPress sites can also achieve excellent performance metrics.
This is because only necessary and required code lines are considered when you write the codes.
Unlike website builders or CMS, generating unnecessary files, codes, and requests, writing your code frees you up from all these. You don’t have to reference external resources on the page when they’re not needed.
Content management systems reference third-party services, libraries of frameworks, and resources for all sorts of reasons unimaginable.
You possibly won’t do that in your website development.
Less Vulnerable to Attack
One of the cons of CMS, such as WordPress, is security breaches. As the most popular content management system, WordPress is the target of website attacks.
Since you’re building custom website codes, your website is less of a target for hackers and other known security threats.
Improve Your Dev Skills
Another significant advantage of building a custom website is developing your coding skills.
Building a custom code website helps you test your programming knowledge, advance your career, and help you learn new development technologies.
Why Should Not Build From Scratch
My arguments here assume you’re not a developer. You want to hire someone to code a custom website based on your needs.
So, most views listed here are relevant if you’re hiring an agency to do it for you.
It’s Expensive
Hiring an agency to code a custom website for you costs money.
While there’s no specific rate, if an agency or freelancer charges you $100 or $500, you should ask questions about the value of the work you’re paying for.
On average, agencies that know what they are doing charge between $3,000 and $10,000 for custom website development.
This figure might be higher; it depends on the quality of the work, the developer’s years of experience, and the website’s uniqueness and requirements.
You’re not Fully in Control.
The agencies you hire are experts, but they must include your vision or unique business needs in the design; otherwise, the result will be different from expected.
For example, you might have a specific design layout, features, or functions to incorporate into your website; your developer may not realize your vision. Leaving you with a dissatisfied result and not precisely the design or functions you want.
3rd Party Dependency For Updates
This is common when you hire a web developer; you may need to depend on their expertise to maintain or update your website.
For basic things like updating files, plugins, and writing content, you may need to contact the developer before you can accomplish the task.
This will slow down progress and cause delays in executing essential tasks, especially if you need to learn basic HTML knowledge.
You can be Scammed.
You should be careful who you hire for your website projects; many people who claim they know a thing or two about web development are con artists.
Ask relevant questions, ask for their past work, and check out what type of projects they’ve worked on. You can even ask past customers or seek recommendations from relevant people or communities in the industry.
Ensure you engage the developer in discussion before working together on the project. Make your expectations known and clear, and ensure you have a solid contract agreement before the commencement of the design project.
Optimizing for Search Engines
Both WordPress sites and custom websites have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to optimizing for search engines.
WordPress sites users can use SEO plugins such as Rank Math to implement basic on-page SEO practises like titles, seed keywords, Schema markup, meta, descriptions, image ALT, etc.
WordPress’s built-in permalink structure and clean code also make it easy for search engines to crawl and index content.
Conversely, custom websites can be optimized from the ground up, allowing complete control over every aspect of the website’s structure and content.
This can result in faster load times and improved search engine rankings. However, custom websites require more technical expertise and can be more time-consuming to develop and maintain.
Choosing between a WordPress website and a custom one depends on your needs and goals.
Choose WordPress if you’re looking for a quick setup and solution with a wide range of integration and customization options.
However, custom websites may be the better choice if you want a unique and tailored online experience with complete control over your website’s design and functionality. Still, if a problem occurs requiring developers knowledge, it may require more time to resolve it.
Where to Find a Developer
If you lack coding knowledge but want a custom-built website for your project, hiring someone who can is best.
Thankfully, there are many reliable platform to find web development agencies at affordable price, Fiverr is such a site
Fiverr is the world’s largest freelance marketplace for hiring digital marketing professionals for all online services. There, you can hire freelancers to write codes for your custom website with unique features and custom design and even help with the management.
Prices can range from $500 to $5,000.
Professional and Brands Using WordPress Website
If these businesses use WordPress site, then it’s obvious you can do incredible things with the WordPress content management system.
From Government officials, celebrities, and Fortune 500 companies to large enterprise businesses, WordPress powers every category of an online presence.
NASA
Imagine that the official NASA (United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration) websites are powered by WordPress.
The NASA and NASA science websites are built with enterprise WordPress versions.
This site has a gigantic archive of published content and millions of media files, and it connects businesses and people from all kinds of works of life together on its website.
WhiteHouse
Another notable government website powered by WordPress is the WhiteHouse of America.
The official website of WhiteHouse has been built with WordPress enterprise solutions since 2018.
Considering the level of advanced security and website features required for this government house, one would question whether WordPress is vulnerable to hackers.
Hilary Clinton
If you think only government websites are built with WordPress, you must consider Hilary Clinton’s website.
Her website is built using the WordPress open-source content management system. The homepage is designed with simplicity in mind with a responsive theme that it immediately create an impact on her visitors.
This is one of the most popular politician websites using WordPress.
Rafael Nadal
The blog of Rafael Nadal is a good example of professional athletes and celebrities using WordPress to share their legacy and achievements with the world.
Rafael Nadal is a professional tennis player with a long history as a legend and one of Roger Federer’s fierce opponents.
His website is built with WordPress, the open-source CMS that powers over 43% of the web.
Fans can engage with the sportsman here and visit the shop section to purchase some branded items, including clothes, bottles, and sports accessories.
You can review thousands of other notable websites using WordPress on this page. This can inspire your design creativity and help you clear the confusion of whether to build with WordPress or code from scratch.
Conclusion
Unless you’re convinced your project requires a custom website, creating websites with WordPress content management systems is ideal.
WordPress automatically handles all the coding stuff, including software updates, file maintenance, features, and functions.
Due to its vast number of plugins and themes, WordPress makes it easy to customize your website. Adding more features and functions to your website with plugins to create unique functions is more than possible.
Still, there are situations where building custom sites is ideal over CMS website. For example, if you need to deploy highly customized website projects.
