Custom Website vs Template: Which Is Right for Your Small Business?

You've decided your business needs a website. But now the question: custom-built or template?

The internet's full of conflicting advice. Template fans say they're "good enough." Custom advocates say anything else is amateur hour. The honest answer is it depends — but there are real trade-offs most people don't talk about.

The Quick Comparison

Numbers aside, here's what actually matters.

What "Template" Really Means

A template website uses a pre-built design that thousands of other businesses also use. You swap in your logo, colours, text, and photos. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and most WordPress themes work this way.

The appeal is obvious: it's fast, it's cheap upfront, and you don't need technical skills.

The Problems Nobody Mentions

They're Designed for Everyone (So They Fit Nobody Perfectly)

Templates have to work for restaurants, accountants, plumbers, and pet shops. That means generic sections, generic user flows, and generic messaging.

An electrician doesn't need a "Portfolio" gallery. They need an emergency contact button front and centre. A template won't give you that unless you hack it into shape.

The Code Is Bloated

Templates ship with features for every possible use case — e-commerce, booking systems, animations, galleries — whether you need them or not. All that unused code still loads.

The result: slower pages, worse mobile performance, and lower Google rankings. Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor, and template sites routinely score poorly on Google's Core Web Vitals.

You Probably Don't Own It

This catches people out. Most template platforms host your site on their servers. Your files, your content, sometimes even your domain — all tied to their system.

Want to leave? Some providers charge export fees or simply don't let you take the files. You're renting, not owning.

SEO Has a Ceiling

Template platforms give you basic SEO controls — page titles, meta descriptions, maybe an alt tag here and there. But you can't control page structure, schema markup, internal linking architecture, or server-side optimisation.

For local businesses competing in search results, that ceiling matters.

They All Look the Same

This sounds superficial but it's not. If three plumbers in the same area use the same WordPress theme (it happens more than you'd think), customers can't tell them apart. Your website should differentiate you, not blend you in.

When Templates Genuinely Work

Templates aren't always wrong. They're fine if:

• You're testing a business idea and don't want to invest much yet
• Your website isn't critical — you get 100% of work through word of mouth
• You have technical skills and can properly optimise a template yourself
• Budget is genuinely under £500 and you understand the trade-offs

If any of those apply, a well-chosen template on Squarespace or a clean WordPress theme is perfectly reasonable. Just go in with your eyes open about what you're getting.

What Custom Actually Gets You

Performance

Hand-coded sites only include the code they need. No bloat, no unused plugins, no third-party scripts running in the background. The difference is measurable — custom sites typically load 3–5x faster than template equivalents.

SEO Without Limits

Full control over page structure, headings, schema markup, internal linking, URL hierarchy, and technical SEO. For local businesses trying to rank in their area, this is the difference between page one and page five.

Ownership

You get the files. You own the code. Host it anywhere, move it anywhere, modify it however you like. No monthly platform fees, no lock-in, no surprise charges to export your own content.

Built for Your Customers

Every element serves a purpose. A tradesman's site gets emergency call buttons. An accountant's site gets a contact form that preselects services. The user journey matches how your customers actually think and act.

The Honest Downsides of Custom

• Higher upfront cost — quality custom work starts around £500 for small sites, and agencies charge £5,000–15,000+
• Takes longer — even a straightforward build needs a week or two for design, build, and testing
• Quality varies wildly — not every developer understands small business needs, and some will oversell features you don't need

The 5-Year Cost Reality

This is where the maths gets interesting.

Template route:

• Setup: £500
• Monthly fees: £30/mo × 60 = £1,800
• Updates and fixes over 5 years: ~£800
• Total: ~£3,100 (plus whatever customers you lost to slow loading and poor SEO)

Professional hand-coded site:

• Setup: £497
• Monthly fees: £0
• Updates over 5 years: ~£300
• Total: ~£797

The template costs 4x more over five years and performs worse. The cheap option isn't cheap.

Questions to Ask Any Provider

Before you commit to anyone — template or custom — ask:

1. "Do I own the website files and domain?" — If the answer is vague, walk away
2. "What are the ongoing costs?" — Get the full picture, not just the setup fee
3. "Can I move to another provider?" — Test this before you're locked in
4. "How fast will it load on mobile?" — Ask for actual speed test results
5. "How will this help me get found on Google?" — If they can't answer specifically, they're just selling a design

Red Flags

Template red flags:

• "Live in 24 hours" (quality takes longer)
• "£99 website" (you'll pay far more in monthly fees)
• Won't confirm you own the files
• Can't show performance metrics

Custom red flags:

• No portfolio of similar businesses
• Quotes before understanding what you need
• Pushes expensive features you didn't ask for
• No clear process or timeline

The Bottom Line

For most small businesses competing for local customers, a professional hand-coded site pays for itself quickly through better search rankings, faster loading, and higher conversion rates. The upfront cost is comparable to a template — and the long-term cost is dramatically lower.

Templates work for testing ideas or businesses that don't depend on online visibility. For everything else, invest in something built for your business.

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If you're weighing up your options, get a free estimate or check out the £497 tradesman website package — hand-coded, SEO-optimised, pay once and it's yours.

Axel

Full-stack developer specializing in Shopify and Django. Building automated e-commerce solutions.