What to choose Custom built website or WordPress in 2023?

Ask a non-tech founder what is his biggest dilemma, he won’t say “his wife’s bad mood”, rather it would be to decide the technology best suited for his idea. You talk to a dozen people and you will have a dozen options all mutually exclusive, completely driven by one’s own opinion. And in all honesty, it is not their fault. Well, the answer completely depends on your requirements and the stage of your startup. But don’t worry I will take you through it with a completely non-technical explanation ( Custom built website or WordPress ).

Before we start: Don’t go Shopping with an undefined list!

Before we start, know that almost all the technologies can create just about any idea that you might possibly have(90% of times), however, what matters and what we will look at in this article is :

• Cost of development,

• Duration of development,

• Scalability of the product for long-term use,

• Application Speed that the tech can deliver,

• And the tech being SEO friendly,

These are also the parameter which is considered when the Godfathers’ of the tech industry create a new or update a framework or a language.

Want to know the cost to hire WordPress developer?

See not so tough to understand is it? Let’s grow your confidence with 1 bit at a time

This cake has 3 layers of icing

Website Development is always done in 3 phases and you need to know this because you will have to choose the technology for all the 3 differently. One is Frontend, this is what you see on your browser (what you call a website or an app), another is Backend this is what is hosted on the server (this handles your logic and connection with the database) and then you have Database (this hold all the data of your application).

know in detail What is WordPress website? Advantage and disadvantage of WordPress

This is the real deal

With the above learning let’s dive right into what you to read about what to select and when to select. The IT companies will always give you 2 suggestions: Ready-Made Solution or Custome Development, the late will generally be more expensive than the prior.

Ready-Made Solution:

When: The idea is not validated, the industry is new to you and you are not sure if this is the thing you want to be doing for the rest of your life. Choose this when you are looking to experiment and just want to test the idea and market reaction. Or if you have really less time for the launch. 
Some famous examples: WordPress, Shopify, etc.

The Problem: The problem with these platforms is that you will have to go with custom development sooner or later if you are doing the startup for the long run. The development will mostly be from scratch so it will be a complete reinvestment.

Custom built website:

When: Idea is validated, an established business, the startup is profitable, you are enjoying it and you want to do this startup for the long term. Choose this no matter how big your business grows you won’t have to recode the complete platform from scratch; Some tweaks and you will be good to go.

The Problem: It is expensive and like building a house, you want to make sure you use the right material (technology and languages) since you don’t want to rebuild the complete thing.

I won’t bore you with the explanation, since for you what matters is what is the most suited tech for your purpose.

Think of it like a horoscope you first have to find your zodiac sign and then read the horoscope. First I will tell you which languages suit what kind of need and then you can read about those languages based on your affordability and requirement.

For E-commerce:

Front end: EmberJs/React.JS, HTML, Bootstrap

Backend: Node JS/ PHP / .Net

Database: MongoDB/ MySQL

For Marketplaces:

Front end: Angularjs / JQuery / Reactjs, HTML, Bootstrap

Backend: PHP/ Python/ Java

Database: MySql

For Analytics/Statistic/Algorithmic systems:

Frontend: React.js/ JQuery, Ajax, HTML, Bootstrap

Backend: Python(highly recommended)/Java

Database: MySql

For Static/Informative website:

Frontend: Angularjs/JS with Ajax, HTML, Bootstrap

Backend: PHP / WordPress

CMS:

Frontend: Reactjs/JS/ Jquery, Ajax, Bootstrap

Backend: PHP/WordPress/Drupal

Database: MySql

For Booking Systems:

Frontend: Angular/ JS, Bootstrap

Backend: PHP/Nodejs/ Python

Database: MySql

Too many options, aren’t there? So just how do you decide? Well, now you know your zodiac sign (the development language), its time to see the prophecy. Websites are built with a combination of Frontend, Backend, and Database.

Know the difference between Webflow vs WordPress

When to use which technology:

Technology in Frontend:

1) ReactJS (Recommended): It is really fast and highly efficient. It is your perfect love when you talk about the SEO on your website. I could give you some more technical pointer but let’s keep this non-tech.

It works great with other latest technologies and has a lot of powerful tools.

However, for new people, the learning might take some time and if you are using legacy technologies with React you might face challenges.

Best combination: ReactJS with Node.js or ReactJS with Python

2) AngularJS: It is easy to learn, has a strong community. Use it when you are not working with a lot of data or data-heavy applications.

The language has not been very stable as there have been completely new releases with complete deprecated support and no compatibility with older versions.

But since it has Google tag to it, you certainly can’t ignore it. (Not something I recommend)

Know the difference between ReactJS vs AngularJS

Technology in Backend:

PHP: PHP is a wear language of the slot. It is good for basic website development and CMS development. Since it is easy to learn, it has a huge community and amazing support. Hence creating an abundance of resources, this makes the development work cheaper. So if you have budget and time constraint or if you are creating a never-seen-before feature and want to trial run it, go for PHP.

Some of the famous frameworks of PHP are: CodeIgniter and Laravel

1) .Net and Java: These are some of the oldest and highly mature languages. Most of the legacy and very stable projects are builds on this. The community is vast and ever thriving.

If your application deals with a lot of data and needs high security this and our next superstar language are your go-to languages.

Also, you can choose this if your application is expected to handle millions of users. Most of the banks use these languages for their development work.

2) NodeJS: It is another powerful language and is the youngest. Nodejs is fast, secure, and can handle small to medium applications.

However, application with lots of data, like a stock market analysis application it would not be recommended.

For everything else, you can pretty much rely on and it’s strong integrations with other languages. After Python, it is the next best thing IMO.

3) Python (Recommended): Python is the star. It takes time to learn Python but once you do there is no holding you back.

Python has most privileges compared to any other language with any OS. Use this for the project which needs integration with hardware, or if your application is really big and has a lot of complicated logic.

Do not use Python for static or basic websites.

Read Also: Python vs Node: Which is best for your Project

Pros And Cons Of WordPress And Custom Built Website –

CUSTOM BUILT WEBSITE-

PROS:

When the owner of the website wants to do some specific modifications that WordPress website not provide these websites are built.

1. The custom built website is more search-engine friendly than the WordPress website.
2. This website is able to grow with the business so that one can make a change in its website which is unique.
3. It has more support than the WordPress website built from inbuild templates.
4. It will provide one’s company branding by using such designs that are unique.

CONS:

1. The websites built by the custom built website are more expensive than the WordPress website.
2. Making a customize website takes a lot of time than creating the same website through WordPress website.

Read Also: Create a Website

WordPress Website-

PROS: 

1. It takes less time as compared to build from scratch. WordPress has an inbuilt library of themes so you can pick any theme directly rather than creating it on your own.
2. WordPress provides a secure platform to build a site, by the large group it can detect any loop or bug and then provide security in the system.
3. The WordPress website brings up updates quickly which will help you to update your website and use new features.
4. It has responsive themes to make the site effective and attractive on mobile devices.

CONS:

1. In the WordPress website choosing themes according to yourself is good but its customization is tough for which you need to Hire WordPress Developers.
2. It is unprotected to hackers though it provides security. Its quick updates make it an open way to hackers and also it requires regular maintenance which is not possible for everyone.

Conclusion

Hence, Custom built website and WordPress both the websites have pros and cons now you have to decide which you have to use according to your work looking at the budget and features.