Anyone who asks around for website quotes usually ends up hearing two different answers. One person proposes WordPress. Another proposes a custom site, often a static one. Each says theirs is the right choice. Since I do both, I have no reason to push either, and the honest answer is that it depends on a handful of fairly concrete questions.
The difference, in two sentences
WordPress is a content management system: the site lives on a server running PHP with a MySQL or MariaDB database, and each page is put together when someone asks for it. It has a dashboard where the owner logs in, writes, uploads photos and installs plugins that add features.
A static site is a set of ready-made files, delivered as they are from a network of servers spread around the world. There is no database and no admin dashboard exposed to the internet. Changing some text means changing the files and publishing again.
When WordPress is the right answer
I recommend WordPress, without hesitation, in three situations.
- The owner will edit a lot, and alone. A restaurant that changes its menu every week, a business that posts news often, an association with several people writing. The WordPress dashboard is familiar, there are tutorials for everything, and nobody has to be called to change a comma.
- It needs a feature a plugin already provides. A simple shop with WooCommerce, a long form, a members' area, a reservations system. Building that from scratch costs more than configuring something thousands of sites have already tested.
- You already have a WordPress site that works. If the site does its job and only needs maintenance, a clean-up or a visual refresh, rebuilding it from scratch is rarely worth it. The best work here is putting what already exists in order.
The cost nobody puts in the quote
WordPress itself is free. The catch is that a WordPress site isn't something you hand over and forget. It's software running on a server, and running software needs looking after.
Updates
There are three layers to update: WordPress itself, the theme, and each plugin. Since version 5.5 you can switch on automatic updates for themes and plugins, one by one, in the dashboard; WordPress checks twice a day and emails the owner about what it updated and what failed. It helps, but it doesn't solve everything. An automatic update can break the site at three in the morning, and WordPress's own documentation recommends having backups before you turn them on.
Plugin security
Each plugin is code written by a different person or company, with a different level of care. An abandoned plugin stops getting fixes and just sits there, installed, waiting. A site with twenty plugins depends on twenty suppliers. The practical rule is to have few, from active authors, and remove the ones you don't use.
Hosting and backups
WordPress needs a server with PHP and a database, and that's paid for every month. Cheap hosting usually means slow, and slow on a phone means customers who give up. Backups have to exist, live off the server and, at least once, have been restored to prove they work.
None of this is an argument against WordPress. It's the price of having an editing dashboard and a plugin ecosystem. It just needs to be in the budget from the start, with someone responsible for it.
When a custom site wins
- The content rarely changes. Address, hours, services and photos that change two or three times a year. For that, an admin dashboard is one more thing to maintain rather than a help.
- Speed matters. Ready-made files, served from close to the visitor, open quickly even on a weak connection. For a local business whose customers look it up on a phone, that shows.
- You don't want to think about maintenance. No database, no plugins and no exposed dashboard means almost nothing to update and very little to attack.
- Hosting costs little or nothing. A small static site fits within the free plans of services such as Cloudflare. My own site runs on Cloudflare.
- You need something specific. An ordering page that follows the place's real hours, a booking flow with the business's own rules. Built to measure, it does exactly that and nothing more.
The downside is plain: without a dashboard, changes go through whoever built the site. For a business that changes little, that's a fair trade. For someone who wants to edit every week, it isn't, and WordPress is the right answer again.
WordPress makes sense
- You edit content often and want to do it yourself.
- You need a shop, reservations or a members' area that a plugin already covers.
- You already have a working WordPress site that just needs care.
- Someone is responsible for updates and backups.
Custom makes sense
- The content changes a few times a year.
- Speed on a phone is a priority.
- You don't want to pay for, or think about, server and plugin upkeep.
- You need one specific feature, built for your business.
How I decide what to recommend
I build WordPress sites, from scratch or as ongoing maintenance, and I build custom sites. Before recommending one or the other, I ask these questions:
- How many times a month will you want to change something, and what?
- Who will make those changes?
- Do you need to sell, take bookings or have customers with accounts?
- Do you already have a site? Does it work? What doesn't?
- Who will handle the updates two years from now?
If the answers point to frequent editing and plugin features, it's WordPress. If they point to a site that changes little and has to be fast and trouble-free, it's custom. If you already have WordPress, I nearly always start by looking at what it needs before suggesting anything else.
In short
Neither option is better across the board. WordPress trades maintenance for independence. A custom site trades independence for speed and peace of mind. The right choice is the one that fits how your business will actually use the site.
If you're choosing between the two, or have a WordPress site that needs attention, tell me what you have and I'll tell you what I'd do in your place.