Template vs. Bespoke: How to Decide What's Best for Your Website

Choosing between a website template and a bespoke design can feel daunting, especially with so many factors to weigh up. Both options have advantages and drawbacks, and your choice will influence everything from your website's appearance to its functionality and cost.

In this guide, we'll break down each option to help you decide what's best for your business.

We'll cover:

1. Understanding Website Templates
2. Understanding Bespoke Design
3. Key Factors to Consider
4. Our own Opinion
5. Conclusion

Understanding Website Templates

What are Website Templates?

Website templates are pre-designed web pages that you can customise with your own images, text and media. These templates come with built-in design elements, such as layouts, fonts, and colours, and are typically offered by platforms like Webflow, WordPress, or Squarespace. They're a popular choice for businesses looking to launch quickly without a hefty price tag.

Pros of Using a Website Template

1. Cost Effective: Templates usually cost between £0-£150 which makes them much cheaper than bespoke designs and ideal for businesses with limited budgets.
2. Faster Setup: When you buy a website template, the design work is already done. This allows businesses with tight deadlines to launch within a fraction of the time it would take for a bespoke design from a freelancer or agency.
3. Ease of Use: Well-designed templates are user-friendly and intended for non-developers to easily customise and maintain their sites without extensive technical knowledge. Again, this saves costs of hiring additional development support.

Cons of Using a Website Template

1. Limited Customisation: While templates can be customised with your own content (images, videos, text) quite easily, if you want to fully express your brand you may discover limitations or need to hire professional help.
2. Potential for Similarity: Since templates are widely available, there's a chance that other businesses may use the same design, making it harder for your site to stand out.
3. Less Flexibility: If your business needs specific features or functionality, a template might not offer the flexibility to meet those needs, requiring additional development work. An example might be a cafe that requires integration with an in-shop POS system.

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Understanding Bespoke Design

What is a bespoke website?

Put simply, a bespoke website is custom designed and built from a blank sheet to meet your specific requirements and goals. Usually, this will involve hiring freelancers or an agency with design and development expertise. Unlike templates, which are pre-designed, bespoke sites are tailored to your brand, audience, and functionality requirements.

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Pros of Bespoke Website Design

1. Full Customisation: A bespoke design enables complete control over every aspect of your website, ensuring it perfectly aligns with your brand and vision.
2. Unique Look and Feel: Since you (and your designer) are starting from a blank piece of paper, you can create a unique design and user experience with the potential to set you apart from competitors.
3. Advanced Functionality: Bespoke websites can include complex features and integrations that might be impossible or difficult to implement with a template.
4. Scalability: As your business grows, a bespoke site can be more easily scaled and adapted to meet evolving needs. Especially if you establish a strong working relationship with your developer.

Cons of Bespoke Website Design

1. High Cost: Bespoke designs are significantly more expensive than templates, reflecting the time and expertise required to create a custom site. Most freelance options will start at around £1500 with agency prices often being much higher, depending on the complexity of your website requirements.
2. Longer Development Time: Building a bespoke website takes time, often several months, as it involves a detailed design and development process. In our experience, the design phase can take longer than anticipated, as you often go through rounds of amendments with your designer before moving into development.
3. Ongoing Maintenance: Bespoke sites may require more complex maintenance and updates, often necessitating ongoing developer support. This can add significant additional costs to an already expensive bespoke build.

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Key Factors to Consider

Budget

Your budget may be the ultimate deciding factor in choosing between a website template and a bespoke design. Templates usually cost up to £150, whereas a bespoke design will be in the thousands.

Timeline

A website template can be purchased and set up within hours, making it the perfect choice if you need to launch quickly. On the other hand, bespoke websites may take weeks or months to deliver.

Customisation Needs

Consider how much customisation your website requires. Specific features and integrations like booking systems may lead you to choose a bespoke design.

Long-term Goals

Consider how your business might scale or require advanced functionality in the future. A bespoke website might be a good long-term investment, while a website template will help you launch quickly with lower costs.

Our opinion

We believe a website template is the best option for most small to medium-sized businesses. There are outstanding website template designs available on the Webflow marketplace, which often match or outperform the quality of many bespoke builds.

In our opinion, the best strategic move for most businesses would be to purchase a website template and then spend the cash saved on strong marketing to drive sales through the website.

Bespoke website designs are only necessary for websites that require unique creativity or custom functionality.

Conclusion

Choosing between a website template and a bespoke design is a crucial decision that can shape your online presence. By carefully considering your budget, timeline, customisation needs, and long-term goals, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your business objectives.

We recommend exploring all the options before committing to either solution. Whether you opt for the cost-effectiveness of a template or the tailored approach of bespoke design, the key is to select an option that best supports your brand and growth strategy.