WordPress is cheaper to start, but custom websites win on speed, security and 5-year cost of ownership for small businesses. If you do not publish content weekly and you do not run a 100-product shop, you do not need WordPress.
Custom vs WordPress: Full Comparison
Eight categories that actually matter for a UK small business.
| Category | Custom (BadeStudio) | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Typically under 2s, targets 90+ PageSpeed | 3 to 6s with plugins, often 60 to 75 PageSpeed |
| Security | No public CVE surface, no admin panel | Largest CMS attack surface, weekly patches |
| Maintenance | Minimal, no plugin updates | Constant: core, plugin and theme updates |
| Plugin dependency | Zero | Typically 10 to 25 plugins per site |
| 5-year cost | £500 to £600 (optional Care Plan extra) | £2,700 to £7,000+ |
| Customisation | Unlimited, code is yours | Limited by theme and plugin compatibility |
| Ownership | 100% yours, portable HTML/PHP | Yours, but tied to plugin licences and theme vendor |
| Update risk | No automatic breakage | Plugin auto-updates can break the live site |
Where WordPress Wins
We are not going to pretend WordPress is bad. It powers a huge share of the web for good reasons. Here is where it genuinely beats custom.
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Massive plugin ecosystem
Need a forum, membership, LMS, marketplace? There is a plugin. Building those from scratch is expensive.
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Easy to find help
Every freelancer and agency on the planet knows WordPress. You will never be locked out by your developer disappearing.
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Self-service content edits
Your team can add blog posts, swap images, edit menus without calling a developer.
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Mature ecommerce (WooCommerce)
For shops with 100+ products and complex variations, WooCommerce saves real money.
Where Custom Wins
For a typical UK small business marketing site, these advantages add up to a faster, cheaper, safer website.
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Core Web Vitals out of the box
No render-blocking plugin CSS, no jQuery bloat, no theme overrides fighting each other. Pages just load fast.
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No plugin vulnerabilities
Most WordPress hacks come through outdated or abandoned plugins. Custom sites have nothing to exploit.
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No update treadmill
Custom sites do not break when you ignore them for 6 months. WordPress will.
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Lighter codebase
In our experience, hand-coded sites are often several times smaller in total page weight than equivalent WordPress builds (HTTP Archive Web Almanac).
5-Year Cost of Ownership
Where the money actually goes once your site is live.
| Cost line | WordPress (typical) | BadeStudio Custom |
|---|---|---|
| Initial build | £500 to £2,500 | £500 (Starter) |
| Hosting (5 yrs) | £1,500 to £3,000 (£25-50/mo) | £0 to £600 (lightweight host) |
| Premium plugins (5 yrs) | £1,000 to £2,500 | £0 |
| Developer fixes / updates (5 yrs) | £500 to £2,500 | £0 (optional Care Plan £39/mo, not required) |
| 5-year total | £3,500 to £7,000 typical | £500 to £600 |
Figures based on UK SMB hosting, plugin and freelancer rates 2025-2026.
When to Use Each
Use WordPress if you...
- Publish 5+ blog posts every week
- Run an ecommerce store with 100+ products
- Need user accounts, memberships or LMS
- Have a non-technical team that edits daily
- Build a marketplace or directory site
Go custom if you...
- Run a small business marketing site (under 20 pages)
- Care about page speed and Core Web Vitals
- Are security-sensitive (clinic, finance, school)
- Hate the idea of monthly fees and plugin licences
- Want a site that still works untouched in 5 years
BadeStudio Pricing
One-off prices, no subscriptions, full code ownership.
Starter
A clean, branded website to get you online fast. Pick from our demo library and we tailor it with your brand and content.
- 1 template from our sector demo library
- Full content swap (logo, colours, copy, images)
- Up to 5 pages, 1 language
- Contact form + Google Maps
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Basic SEO setup
- 5–7 working days delivery
- 1 round of revisions
Pro
Custom design and 8–12 pages. The sweet spot for most UK SMEs, with blog, advanced SEO and 2 languages included.
- Custom branded design
- 8–12 pages, 2 languages included
- +£200 per additional language
- Blog setup with categories
- Advanced SEO: schema, sitemap, meta
- Analytics + Search Console setup
- Lead form + WhatsApp / email integration
- 10 working days delivery
- 2 rounds of revisions
Premium
Fully custom design, 15+ pages, multi-language. Domain and email setup included. Built for scale.
- Fully custom design (no template base)
- 15+ pages, multi-language
- +£200 per additional language
- Advanced SEO, schema, hreflang
- Domain + hosting setup included
- Business email setup (up to 5 addresses)
- Premium support: 30 days post-launch
- 3 rounds of revisions
Custom vs WordPress FAQ
See Custom Done Right
Five live sector demos. All hand-coded. None running WordPress. See the speed for yourself.
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