If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that you need a WordPress theme to create a new WordPress site.
The only thing that’s not always so clear-cut, is whether that should be:
A: A pre-built theme such as Neve, Astra, or even the default WordPress theme,
or;
B. Bespoke solution created by a custom WordPress development specialist.
If you’re currently at a crossroads in determining which path to take, this guide is for you.
Below, you’ll discover the pros and cons of both custom and pre-built themes. You also learn our recommended strategies to help you decide between the two options.
Custom WordPress Development vs. Pre-built Themes: What Does it All Mean?
Before we dive in, let’s clear up some of the terminology we’ll be using so that we all understand exactly what we mean when we talk about custom development and pre-built themes.
What is a Pre-Built WordPress Theme?
A pre-built WordPress theme is a ready-made website templatelike an off-the-rack outfit. It offers professional designs, mobile responsiveness, and quick setup with basic customization. It’s affordable and ideal for general needs, but less unique since many users share the same design. Available on WordPress.org and ThemeForest.
You can think of pre-built themes as ready-to-go website designs that you can install directly onto WordPress and customize to reflect your branding.
They’re the kind of themes most WordPress users will be familiar with, either through the free theme directory accessed via the WordPress dashboard or bought from a third-party marketplace such as Envato.
When you install WordPress, the default design you first see is powered by a pre-built theme.
When you install Astra, Divi, or any of the countless other options, you install a pre-built theme.
What is Custom WordPress Development?
Custom WordPress development is a process whereby a new and unique theme is built exclusively for your agency.
Unless you’re a seasoned developer yourself, you’ll typically outsource this custom development to an experienced professional.
For example, if you’re a growing business and you find that no premade theme quite matches your needs, you’d probably look for an agency to build one for you. If you’re an agency yourself and you don’t have the resources to do the work in-house, you might use a white-label WordPress development agency to create custom themes for your clients.
The fact that custom themes normally require more time, money, and technology to create explains why they’re far less common than pre-made themes, often -though not always- reserved for big-name brands with ample resources.
Meta, for example, uses a custom WordPress theme for their newsroom site
Likewise, Disney uses a custom-developed WordPress theme to help them manage a huge inventory of titles across multiple categories on their Disney Books website.
| KEY TAKEAWAY: If it’s built from scratch exclusively for your business, it’s custom WordPress development. If it’s downloaded from a directory where other people can also download and use it, it’s a pre-built WordPress theme. |
Custom WordPress Development vs. Pre-built WordPress Themes: At a Glance
| Criteria | Custom WordPress Development | Pre-built WordPress Themes |
|---|---|---|
| Design Flexibility | Full design control | Limited to theme options |
| Performance | Typically faster, optimized for needs | Depends on theme, often slower |
| Security | Enhanced security practices | May require additional plugins |
| Setup Time | Longer development cycle | Quick setup and launch |
| Cost | Higher initial investment | Lower upfront costs |
| Scalability | Easily scalable for growth | Limited scalability |
| Technical Expertise | Requires experienced developers | Beginner-friendly |
Pros and Cons of Custom WordPress Themes
Whether you build that data-driven WordPress website it yourself or commission a developer, the end result is a website that is 100% unique and specific to your brand.
Still, that’s not to say they don’t have their own downsides to consider.
Here’s a run-down of both the benefits and pitfalls.
Advantages of Custom WordPress Themes
Complete Control Over Design and Functionality
Every little detail, right down to the last pixel, is decided by you.
You don’t have to waste hours scrolling through theme directories looking for something that offers the right kind of templates to showcase your content the way you want it showcased.
You don’t need to go on a major research and testing spree just to find the one plugin that will add the exact functionality you need.
Nor do you need to worry about common WordPress theme problems like incompatibility.
Instead, you decide the style, layout, features, functionality, and everything else in advance. Then, when it’s all said and done, you get a brand new theme perfectly tailored to your exact specifications.
Enhanced Performance and Speed
Since your theme is built with no other reason than to meet your needs, you’re not left with a bunch of things you don’t need clogging up your server space.
Pre-built themes, even ones catering to a specific niche, are generally designed to appeal to as many users as possible. This means some theme packages are often crammed with multiple features and options.
It makes sense, doesn’t it?
The more features and layout options, the more possible use cases. The more use cases, the more users, and, in the world of paid-for themes, the more users, the more money a developer generates.
So far, so fair.
The big problem with this, however, is that this often means you’re left with elements like page templates, database entries, and even those stock photos from the demo import you forgot to delete, all taking up valuable resources on your server.
The more server resources you’re using to power your site, the bigger the impact on your site performance, and the slower your pages are likely to load.
With custom theme development, that’s not even remotely an issue.
The only elements within your site are those that are 100% necessary for it to function, meaning your site is automatically streamlined for optimum performance.
What’s more, you don’t have to take the word of an unknown developer that their theme loads quickly. After all, just because it says so in their sales pitch, that’s not a hard guarantee.
Instead, you develop a working relationship with a developer who is being paid to meet the needs of your business. That means you can bake performance optimization right into the heart of your contract.
By doing so, you encourage that developer to keep their code minimalist and lightweight from the start.
Built-in Scalability and Future-proofing
Nobody knows your long-term goals like you do, and working with a developer on a custom theme gives you a unique chance to communicate those goals from the very beginning.
This presents a golden opportunity to build your site with those long-term goals in mind, developing code or infrastructure that will support new features or content.
For example, say your immediate needs are for a content website capable of streaming various types of media content.
You might find a premade theme that does that perfectly well for now.
But what happens down the line when it comes to implanting the second part of your business plan – an online store selling branded merchandise- and that theme just doesn’t jibe with WooCommerce?
It’s back to the drawing board to find another theme, right? Not only another theme, but another entire site-wide redesign to accommodate the nuances of that theme.
Now, let’s say you commission a bespoke theme instead. You can talk to your developer about your future eCommerce plans and have them ensure that your theme is fully set up to support those plans when the time is right.
Improved Security for Websites
The made-for-the-mass-market nature of pre-made themes also presents another problem:
They can be prime targets for cyber attacks.
Think about it:
A theme with thousands of active installs allows a bad actor to cast a much wider net, infecting more websites and increasing the fruits of their malicious labor.
A custom theme, on the other hand, flies under the radar, meaning fewer exploits.
That’s just for starters.
Consider this:
Since you have total control over every line of code, control over the code, you’re in a better position to protect your site against the kind of exploits that often hit mainstream themes.
Finally, let’s think about those all-important WordPress updates.
There’s a much smaller concern that your theme developer will suddenly abandon the project, leaving you with an out-of-date theme with vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited.
If you’re in a long-term relationship with a developer to manage your WordPress maintenance checklist for you, the risk that they’ll suddenly disappear without a trace is minimal at best.
In a worst-case scenario, any reputable provider of WordPress development services for agencies will at least give you a heads-up with enough notice to find a replacement they can hand the reins over to.
As a result, you’re well covered when it comes to keeping your site up-to-date no matter what happens.
Disadvantages of Custom WordPress Themes
Higher Initial Cost
There’s no getting away from the fact that the initial outlay for a custom WordPress theme can be significantly higher than what you’d pay for a pre-built option.
Seriously, look around at even the highest-priced theme packages designed for agencies like yours.
You’re looking somewhere in the region of $150 – $300 per year at the outset. Add a few premium plugins and you may be talking $500 – $1,000 at the very most.
And that’s a worst-case scenario in which you pick all the most expensive options.
Now, compare that to the best-case scenario in which you find a WordPress developer who charges a fair and affordable rate for their work.
For the amount of time it would take to develop a truly custom theme from scratch, the overall cost is more likely to be $3,000+ depending on the size and complexity of your site.
Longer Development Time
Think about what really goes into developing a custom theme.
Even if you already have your developer picked out and, thus, don’t have to spend time looking for one, you do still need to spend time creating a detailed brief and relaying it to that developer.
From there, it will typically take your developer two or three weeks to create your theme, possibly much longer if there’s a lot of custom functionality that needs to be coded.
Throw in testing and development to finish, and even the smoothest project is realistically going to take at least a month, if not longer.
In other words, if you’re up against a deadline and need to get a new theme activated ASAP, custom development is not the way to go about it.
Requires More Technical Expertise
It goes without saying that if you don’t know how to code, then you’ll have to find someone to do it for you, and that creates challenges of its own.
However, unless the same agency that develops your theme also handles 100% of everything relating to your website, then there may be a steep learning curve for someone in your team.
Anyone responsible for logging into your site, whether it’s to update content, process orders, or anything else, will find that they won’t be able to rely on the usual documentation and support forums that exist for pre-built themes.
Even the slightest of changes -like adjusting a layout, for example- might require bringing the pros on board, and they’re not going to make those changes for free.
What’s more, when things go wrong (as they inevitably do even to the best of us), you may find the level of technical knowledge required to fix them is beyond the scope of anyone in your team, prompting another support request to your developer.
| KEY TAKEAWAY: Custom WordPress development gives you a theme built for your needs only, meaning not only on-point design but tighter security and better performance. On the downside, they also take significantly more time, money, and expertise to create than a premade theme. |
Pros and Cons of Pre-built WordPress Themes
Now that we’ve weighed up the good and bad of custom development, let’s do the same for pre-built themes. After all, while they may offer a faster and more affordable way to launch your site, they too have a few drawbacks of their own.
Benefits of Custom WordPress Development
Fast Setup and Quick Launch
With a pre-built theme, there’s no waiting around weeks for a developer to code it.
Simply find the theme you need and upload it directly from your WordPress dashboard where you can also activate that theme and manage updates at the click of a button.
Even when you factor in the time spent finding, and later customizing that theme, you’re looking at a couple of hours at the most compared to a month or more for custom development work.
This plug-and-play approach makes ready-made themes a fantastic option for anyone who needs to launch quickly.
Lower Upfront Costs
If you were paying attention to the drawbacks of custom development, you’d already know that pre-built themes are always going to be the least expensive option.
Again, we’re talking about the difference between a few hundred dollars for a high-priced theme and plugins compared to a few thousand dollars for a custom-built website.
And that’s not to even mention the countless free themes floating around.
Of course, we don’t advise using a free theme for your agency’s clients as they tend to be less secure and limited in features, but we shouldn’t pretend that they don’t exist as an option for those who prioritize saving money above all else.
Of course, you could well argue in defense of higher development costs as providing long-term value for money, a valuable asset that will continue to serve your business goals for years to come.
Still, let’s face it:
Not every website is meant to be a long-term investment.
What about a landing page for a one-off event or a limited-time-only product offer?
Do you really need a custom WordPress theme that’s going to take thousands of dollars and several weeks to build?
Probably not, right?
A $100 premade theme would likely do the job just as well.
User-friendly and Easy to Maintain
The biggest upside to pre-built WordPress themes is their simplicity.
They’re not built for hardcore developers and the seriously tech-savvy. They’re built for everyday users who just want an attractive, functional website that converts.
Say you’re building a simple portfolio website to attract freelance design clients.
Do you really need the level of complexity that goes into an expensive custom theme?
We’d imagine you could get just as good results with a theme that looks professional and is easy to update.
That’s exactly where pre-builds shine.
Most offer beginner-friendly interfaces and intuitive WordPress theme customization options. The best ones also tend to be well-documented, with a wealth of support available when things aren’t working out as planned.
Wide Range of Style Options
While it’s true that a custom-made theme gives you complete design control, that’s not to say there isn’t a theme out there that’s well suited to achieving that all-important double-whammy:
On-point branding and customer appeal.
There’s an abundance of WordPress themes out there in almost any possible style you can think of.
In Astra, for example, you can find a range of templates for different types of websites such as blogs, online stores, or a variety of blogging niches.
To put all that another way, there are plenty of style options out there, especially if you use your theme with a top WordPress page builder to expand design flexibility even further.
The Drawbacks of Pre-Built WordPress Themes
Limited Customization Options
Theme customization is certainly getting better these days. The introduction of blocks and block patterns has opened up more doors for creating quality designs without relying on a professional.
Still, the fact remains that even the most highly customizable WordPress theme on the planet is no match for a theme that’s purpose-built for your precise, individual needs right from the very start.
Slower Page Speed and Performance Issues
To follow on from that last point, the most obvious way to go beyond a theme’s customization limits is to use plugins.
The problem with that, of course, is that every extra plugin uses resources. Use too many resources, and you’re going to see your performance scores going down.
Before we move on, it’s also worth noting that not all pre-built themes are performance-optimized, even if they claim to be.
Sure, the best ones are built with minimal coding and may even come with built-in options for things like caching and image compression, but many others are not.
Of course, that’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of things you can do to speed up your WordPress site, but here’s the bad news:
Either you have to do those things yourself, which eats up your valuable time, or you’ll have to pay someone to do them for you, which eats into your bottom line.
Potential Security Risks
Outdated themes are a source of security vulnerabilities in WordPress, and those vulnerabilities can put your entire business at risk.
Imagine the consequences if your theme developer decided to no longer support that theme and you didn’t find out until it was too late.
Cyber attackers could worm their way in and cause untold damage, whether that’s by breaching sensitive customer data, homepage defacement, or redirecting your users toward harmful content.
Either way, it’s a surefire way to lose your audience’s trust in a hurry.
The same goes for three themes, which often lack the commitment to regular updates and stringent security of paid themes. Naturally, this makes them easier to exploit, which is just another reason why we don’t recommend them.
Not Always SEO Optimized
Themes with basic SEO features such as options for adding metadata are certainly becoming more common as of late, but there are still far more themes that *aren’t* optimized for search engines than those that are.
That might be because their core files are bloated with unnecessary code, because of a poorly designed HTML structure, or, of course, because of every good developer’s arch nemesis: Excessively heavy scripts.
This is especially true of those themes that are dependent on plugins to provide core features, which, as we’ve already seen, can slow down page speeds.
Now, improving the SEO of a usually unoptimized site is absolutely possible. We even produced a complete WordPress SEO guide to show you how to do it.
But again, that means either more time or more money.
For any business that takes its organic search results seriously, a custom theme developed with an ‘SEO by Design and Default’ may prove to be a better long-term investment.
Who Should Choose Custom WordPress Development
Some of you will have read this far and now have a clear picture of which path you should take. Others, meanwhile, may still be undecided.
If you’re in the latter camp, take a look at the three following use cases. Do any of them sound like your agency? If so, you’re an ideal candidate for custom WordPress theme development.
- Agencies Needing Unique and Specialized Websites – If one-of-a-kind, high-quality websites for high-budget clients are your agency’s stock-in-trade, custom development is without question the best way to achieve that.
- Clients with Specific Branding and Functionality Needs – Working with clients with a brand identity or specific functionality requirements that are outside the norm, enlisting the help of a white-label WordPress developer gives you the resources to create sites that break the mold.
- Businesses Focused on Long-term Growth – Whether it’s adding new services, switching up the design, or integrating new third-party tools, a custom theme offers the flexibility to adapt over time. This makes it a solid option for businesses that need a site that will grow as their company grows.
Who Should Choose Pre-built WordPress Themes
If none of the descriptions above rang true for you, maybe the following three will. If you identify with any of these, you’ll be much better served with a pre-built WordPress theme.
- New Businesses with Limited Budgets – Just starting out and don’t have thousands to spend on custom design? Go with a pre-built theme for now. You’ll still get an attractive site with essential features at a much lower price.
- Projects with Short Timelines – A custom theme can take weeks. Pre-built themes let you get up and running in a matter of hours if that. If the clock is ticking, go with a pre-built theme to get up and running quickly.
- Agencies Needing Quick and Basic Website Solutions – Not every website needs to be that complex. If you’re building something simple, like a blog or a basic portfolio site, you can meet your needs quickly and fairly cheaply with a pre-built site.
How to Decide Which Option is Right for Your Agency
At the end of the day, there may not be a one-size-fits-all strategy for determining which approach to use.
A more beneficial scenario is one where you decide whether to go custom or ready-made on a project-by-project basis.
Here, you’ll need to:
A: Evaluate Project Goals and Client Expectations
Does the client need something that would be simple and affordable to accomplish with a pre-build? Or do they buck with convention in a way that’s best suited to a custom-built theme.
B: Consider Budget and Timeline Constraints
Ultimately, it’s going to come down to two questions: ‘How much can you spend?’ And ‘How long have you got?’
If your budget stretches no further than the hundreds, go pre-built. If it stretches into the thousands, you can go custom-built if that’s the right fit.
Likewise, if you have hours or days, it’s pre-build. If you have weeks to spare, then you can afford the luxury of waiting for a custom-build.
Custom WordPress Development or Pre-Built Themes: What’s the Best Option for You?
Although there’s certainly a lot to think about, deciding between custom or pre-built WordPress themes ultimately comes down to how you answer two pivotal questions:
- Can you afford it? – We don’t just mean in terms of dollars and cents. Can you afford to wait several weeks or do you need it as soon as possible?
- Do you need it? – As the old saying goes, just because you can, that doesn’t mean you should. Are there certain custom design options or unique features you need that no pre-built theme will provide?
If you answered no to the first question, you don’t even need to answer the second one. You don’t have the time or the money for a custom theme, so pick a pre-build.
If you answered yes to both questions, WordPress Custom Development is the right move for you.
Looking for Flexible WordPress Solutions for Your Agency?
White Label WordPress Development Services and discover how we can support your unique client needs with custom theme development.