This debate usually generates more heat than light, because people argue it in the abstract. It's not abstract — it depends on your specific situation. Here's how to work out which side you're on.
What WordPress is genuinely good at
- Non‑technical editing. Marketing can add a page, swap an image, publish a post without touching a developer. For a lot of businesses this is the whole ballgame.
- A plugin for everything. Bookings, memberships, ecommerce, forms — usually a well‑trodden path exists.
- A large pool of people who can work on it. You're not locked to one agency.
- Speed to launch for a standard brochure or blog site.
What it costs you
- Maintenance is not optional. Core, theme, and plugins need updating on a schedule or the site becomes a security liability. Someone has to own that.
- Performance takes effort. A stock WordPress site with a page builder and a dozen plugins is slow by default. Making it fast is real work.
- Plugin sprawl. Every plugin is code from someone else running on your site. Five is fine; twenty-five is a problem.
What a custom build is genuinely good at
- Speed. A site built on a modern framework and served as static pages or from the edge is fast without ongoing tuning.
- Doing exactly what you need and nothing you don't — no fighting a theme to get the layout right.
- A smaller attack surface. Less third‑party code, fewer things to patch.
- A clean foundation if the site is core to the business and will keep evolving.
What it costs you
- More upfront. You're paying to build things WordPress would give you off the shelf.
- Editing needs a plan. Either a headless CMS is wired in, or content changes go through a developer. This has to be designed in, not bolted on.
- A smaller pool of people who can pick it up, depending on the stack chosen.
The deciding questions
- Who edits the site, how often? Frequent edits by non‑technical staff push toward WordPress or a custom build with a proper CMS. Rare edits make a custom build with a light CMS very comfortable.
- How standard are your needs? If an off‑the‑shelf plugin does 90% of what you want, WordPress saves you money. If your requirements are unusual, you'll fight the platform either way — build it clean.
- Will you fund maintenance? WordPress punishes neglect faster. If upkeep won't happen, a static custom site fails more gracefully.
- How central is the site? A site that's a digital business card can be whatever's cheapest to run. A site that is the business deserves a deliberate foundation.
There's no universal answer, but there's usually a clear answer for you. If you'd like help finding it, that's a conversation we're happy to have.