Should You Buy or Build a Custom WordPress Template?

January 1, 2015

As someone who designs and builds custom WordPress templates for a living, you would probably expect me to tell you that you should never buy a pre-build template for your site. And you are correct, that does sound like something I would say. But, even I will admit there are some situations where buying a pre-built template might be the way to go.

Pre-Built WordPress Templates

Pros:

There are good reasons for purchasing a pre-built template, the most important one being your budget. Not everyone has money to spend on a custom designed and built WordPress template. It can get expensive if you want a section with special functionality, or a bunch of intricate visual effects.

That’s where a pre-built template might be the better option for you. Pre-built templates are, for the most part, significantly cheaper than a custom built template, usually ranging anywhere from $50 to $200 dollars, or sometimes more for the really fancy ones.

Pre-built templates can also be very useful if you just need a “quick and dirty” site. If you are one of those go-getters that can, and will, do it yourself, a pre-built template might be for you. Most pre-built templates are user friendly and offer a decent amount of customization.

Besides that, pre-built templates are getting better and better. If you look hard enough you can find some very nice looking ones.

Cons:

While pre-built templates usually do offer that decent amount of customization, they are still limited. Most of these templates offer you the ability to change your sites fonts, colors, and background colors/images. Depending on the template, you might have more customization than those options; you might be able to add a slideshow to your home page or decide what layout you want on your individual pages. But the level of customization is nothing compared to a custom built template. In the end, with a pre-built template, you are still being limited in what you can and can not do.

On the same note as the customization of the template, you have to remember you’re not the only one buying this template. With a pre-built template, you a purchasing a one-size-fits-all sort of product. Sure you can customize it, but the framework and the overall feel of the website will still be the same across the board for anyone else that purchases that design.

Custom WordPress Templates

Pros:

It’s custom, made for you, 100% to your liking. It’s like buying a tailored suit vs. buying a suit off the rack. When you get a custom built WordPress template, at least at MayeCreate, there is a whole process of sizing, measurements, pattern design and alterations.

We start with a rough design, just designing the home page to really focus in on the overall look of the site. Then we design your internal pages of the website. After we have completely nailed down what you are looking for we build it tailored to you, and only you. With a pre-built template you run into customization limits; a custom design blows those restrictions out of the water.

Not only is your site customized to you, the customer service is, too. When you work directly with the designer or company that built your site, they know every line of code in your template making tweaks here and troubleshooting there a ton easier. Ultimately, a custom built site ends up being an overall more personalized experience than working with a theme developer who doesn’t know what you have done to customize the theme, what server settings you are using, or even the name of your company.

Cons:

Again if price is your main concern, a custom built site might not be the way to go for you. There are different options available as far as price is concerned, but overall it is still going to be more expensive to get have a custom built template.

So What’s the Verdict?

Overall, if you have a very, very small budget, a pre-built template might be the route you want to take. But if at all possible, I recommend exploring your options with a custom built template. In the end you will be much happier working with a professional to develop the look of your theme custom tailored to you.