WordPress is a powerful and flexible content management system that makes it easy to create and manage a professional-quality website. WordPress has occupied more than 42% of the web, a statistical data that rises every day. Majority of the big names like Etsy Journal, TechCrunch, Microsoft News, and many more use WordPress. And WordPress Themes make it easy and functional to maintain a website.
WordPress allows its users to create websites using both custom themes as well as premium themes. Both themes have their own benefits and drawbacks. Making the right choice for your client depends on various factors such as budget, time, and other functional requirements. In this blog post, we will look at the core features and factors that can help you clarify which theme is most desirable for your work. So let’s get started!
Custom Themes
As the name implies, this theme offers a fully customized and coded website, built on a WordPress platform. The site is designed specifically for your business needs and integrates with all necessary online sales and marketing tools. There are no forcing plugins into compliance or over-coding templates. Rather, you come out of the process with a fully customized, fully operational website that handles every functionality request.
It’s definitely the most efficient way to build a complex website that delivers highly interactive and animated experiences for end users. Let’s take a look at some benefits and drawbacks of developing with custom themes.
Pros
- Unique Brand Identity
Have you achieved a level of recognition where having a unique and consistent brand identity is no longer just an added advantage? Custom themes allow for coding and designing from scratch, letting you have your websites specifically tailored to your brands. - Custom Plugin Development
API Integrations.
Product Variation Modules.
Tailored Authentication Process.Are you looking for such specific and tailored functionalities for your website? Developing custom plugins can help turn all your functional requirements into reality. - Fully Secured
Allow access only to authenticated users and keep potential attackers away. If you’re looking for a highly secured website with advanced user authentication management, custom themes can make it possible.
As the framework is built from scratch, you have complete control over your code, so you can ensure there are fewer opportunities for attackers to exploit. - Future-proofing
We provide detailed and thorough documentation beforehand. We set processes in place to ensure that no aspect is left out in the development lifecycle. So you can stay assured that you will avoid technical debt as much as possible.
We develop custom plugins according to your requirements in such a way that they can be tweaked to meet the growing needs in the future without causing disruptions to the website. - Collaborative Design Process
When we do custom development, we work closely with your team to bring your vision for your website to life.
Custom themes allow us to work on your needs from scratch in a highly collaborative manner delivering you with the best, personalized, and experience-rich website for your brand. - Comprehensive Review and Testing Procedures
When the time comes to deliver your custom website, we leave no stone unturned. Our team of specialists takes your website through a comprehensive review process.
We only add the necessary plugins dictated by your requirements, so we ensure minimal functional interruptions and avoid any plugin breaks or incompatibilities. - Clean-custom Code
While coding, our team follows proper coding standards and practices keeping all future vulnerabilities in mind. This ensures that your website is less prone to bugs and errors.
Cons
- Expensive
As custom themes are built from scratch, they require specialized skills and resources, making them more expensive and time-consuming. If you’re on a tight budget, pre-built themes might be a more cost-effective solution for you. - Longer Development Time
Custom-themed websites go through an intensive build that requires a minimum of 6 months of build time. So it’s not suitable for clients who are looking at quick launches for their projects. This theme is more viable for clients who are looking for a more steady and long-term plan. - Bugs and Maintenance
It requires you to adopt a long-term website maintenance plan. As the build is custom and complex, it requires experts (system administrators) to take care of bugs or issues that might arise from time to time. - Requires Full Administrative User Training
Custom themes have a complex backend architecture which requires knowledge and understanding to manage it. So you will need to undergo a full user training session so you can understand the administrative functionalities of the website and manage the site and its users on your own.
Premium Themes
When the requirements of the build are simple, using a premium theme is a strong, cost-effective solution. While a premium theme offers basic design options… the diversity in layouts provides ample opportunity to present your brand in a meaningful way. This is a quick-turnaround website at the lowest price.
This option allows us to give you exactly what you need: a good, clean site that works… with no overselling of features and mods and no additional time in development.
Pros
- Faster Profits With Fast Turnaround
Clients often want to launch their website quickly and want their online business to thrive quickly. Premium themes can surely help with that, as they can deliver websites with faster turnaround times resulting in early profits. - Easy Plug-and-play for Minimal Client Assistance
This theme can be installed and activated easily, making it a convenient and user-friendly solution if you’re not tech-savvy, allowing you to perform a majority of administrative tasks with minimal assistance. - Get to Phase 2 Quickly
The development phase for templated websites is quick and easy as design themes are pre-built, so we can quickly jump on to phase 2. This way, the entire project just speeds up, and you get the results early. - Affordable Website Maintenance for Security
Premium themes just follow a simple and consistent architecture throughout the project. This makes them a popular choice among users all around the world. So the process of web maintenance, like security updates and patches, can become highly affordable for you in the future. - Simple Backend for Client Autonomy
Premium themes don’t have that complex backend structure, so you neither need to explicitly learn the technical aspects nor to train your staff. You just need to understand the basics of how it works, and you’re good to go to easily manage your website and users. - Budget Friendly
As premium themes already use pre-built templates, they don’t require many resources or time to do the development, and they don’t have to go through any complex processes. They are the ideal choice if you’re looking for faster turnarounds and budget-friendly websites.
Cons
- You Have to Fit Yourself Into the Template’s Box
Using Premium themes, you can’t think of any out-of-the-box ideas or functionalities for your website as your ideas can only be limited to what the templates allow them. The look and feel of your website will only be what and how the template dictates. - Creativity Is Limited – Content Does Not Lead
Design options are limited, and you’re limited with thinking creatively using premium themes. You just need to fit the website’s content around the theme – chances are that your brand requires more content, but a template might not allow you. - Increased Load Time
Premium themes have already designed templates containing a bunch of unnecessary code which you might not require for your website. These additional code blocks can surely affect your website, which may result in increased load time and poor performance. - Limited Support and Updates
Most of the premium themes only allow updates and provide support for a year. After that, you can’t receive any help in case of any issues. This also means you have to get your plugins and other added features, renewed after a year. However, we do offer monthly support packages that assist in these updates and monthly tasks. - Security Risks
These themes are just sold and distributed as a package of files, allowing attackers to insert malicious data or code into themes anonymously. This can unknowingly lead to the exposure of you and their your sensitive data.
Summarizing It Up for You
We just went through the pros and cons of Custom WordPress and Premium WordPress themes. So, which one’s the best for you?
Custom themes may be best for unique design requirements or complete control, while Premium themes may be suitable for a professional look and feel that can save time and resources for you.
It all really depends upon your budget, needs, and goals. Your choice could be either, but rest assured, we’re here to help.
Contact us today to get started!