Once you decide to have a website built, this is the first dilemma that comes up: should you buy a ready-made template (theme) or have one built from scratch as a custom design? Both have their place. Let's be honest — I'm not trying to sell "custom software" to every business; the right choice depends on what you need.

Ready-made template: fast and economical

Ready-made themes are pre-designed layouts. You drop in your content and go live.

Pros: Cheaper, faster to launch, and more than enough for simple needs.

Cons: Thousands of businesses use the same template — you can't stand out. They often carry far more code and plugins than necessary, which can make them slow. And when you want to customize something, you hit the limits of the template.

Custom design: yours, and flexible

With custom design, the site is built from scratch around your brand's needs.

Pros: A look that's entirely your own, only as much code as you actually need (meaning speed), and a flexible structure that can grow however you want. If you have a specific workflow (inventory, orders, membership), only custom development can solve it.

Cons: More effort, and therefore a higher upfront cost and a slightly longer timeline.

Which one is right for you?

A ready-made template may be enough: if your budget is limited, you need a simple brochure/showcase site, and you want to go live quickly.

Custom design is worth it: if you take your brand seriously, want to stand out from competitors, expect concrete results from the site (leads, sales), or need a special system (e-commerce, an admin panel).

My approach

I work on the custom side: fast, brand-specific sites that don't carry unnecessary code. But I won't run up needless costs just to make something "custom" — if your need can be met with a ready-made solution, I'll tell you that plainly too. First we talk about what the site needs to achieve, then we choose the right path. You can take a look at the work I've done here.