Comparison · Mexico
Custom web design
or a WordPress
template
The question is not which is better. It is what you are trying to achieve.
The two routes solve different problems, and confusing them is expensive in both directions. Here is what actually changes between them, when each one is right, and how to tell which one you are standing on.
The difference
What you buy in each case
A template is a structure already decided by someone who does not know your business. It arrives with an order of sections, a slot for everything and a pile of options you will never use. Your job is to fit your content where it goes.
A custom site starts the other way round: first what you need to say and in what order, then how it looks. The structure comes out of your case, not out of a catalogue.
| Template | Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the structure comes from | A catalogue | What you need to say |
| Time to publish | Days | Weeks |
| Cost | Thousands of pesos | Tens of thousands |
| Weight and speed | Drags what you do not use | Only what is there |
| Who edits daily | You, from a panel | Whoever coded it |
| How much it looks like yours | Like others in your sector | Like nothing else |
| What it is good for | Informing and publishing often | Convincing once, properly |
The case for a template
When a template is the right answer
And I say it even though it is not what I sell:
- When you publish often: a blog, news, a catalogue that changes weekly.
- When you need to be online next month and the budget is tight.
- When you are still validating: you do not know what you will sell or to whom, and paying for custom design freezes decisions you have not made.
- When the site is for reference and people arrive knowing what they want.
In any of those cases I would tell you to use a well-chosen template and keep the difference. I have said it on calls where the project was mine if I had stayed quiet.
The case for building it
When a template is too small for you
- When you sell something that does not exist yet — a pre-sale, a launch — and it has to be imagined before it can be seen.
- When your difference is the experience itself: a hotel, a restaurant, a brand where how it feels is the product.
- When the price is high and the page has to hold that price up before anyone asks.
- When you compete against ten rivals using the same template and looking like them costs you money.
There, structure matters more than style, and borrowed structure works against you. How a custom one gets built →.
The misunderstanding
«Custom» gets said a lot
A good share of what is sold as custom design is a template with the colours changed. It is not necessarily fraud — sometimes it is what the budget allowed — but it is worth knowing what you are buying. Three questions settle it:
- Can I see the structure before the design? Whoever builds custom starts there; whoever uses a template has nothing to show you.
- Which builder do you use? If the answer is a product name — Elementor, Divi, Wix — it is a template. Legitimate, but not custom.
- What happens if I want something the tool does not do? On a custom project it gets coded; on a template it gets negotiated downwards.
The weight
What nobody tells you about weight
A commercial template loads code for every variant it offers, whether you use one or all of them. On top go the plugins, each with its own stylesheet and script. The typical result is several megabytes for a page of text.
A custom site only loads what it has. That is the part invisible in the pitch deck and the one that decides whether someone on bad signal ever gets to read you. It is also, incidentally, the most laborious and least glamorous part of the craft.
The studio
Who does the work
Johonatan Cordero, web designer. Cauce is a one-person studio: you talk directly to whoever designs and writes the code. I do not work with builders or templates, which disqualifies me for a share of projects — and that is fine. The numbers are on the pricing page →.
Questions
Frequently asked
Is WordPress bad?
No. WordPress runs an enormous share of the web, and for a blog, a magazine or a catalogue that changes often it is the right tool. The problem is not WordPress: it is using it for something that needs no content manager and carrying its weight in exchange for nothing.
Can a template look custom?
It can look different, which is not the same. Change the type, the colours and the photos and the origin stops being recognisable. What does not change is the structure: the order of the sections, how you enter, what appears first. And that is where it gets decided whether it convinces or merely informs.
Is custom-built harder to maintain?
Different, not harder. A template is maintained by updating plugins, and every update can break something. A custom site has no plugins to update, but if you want to change text every day you need someone. Which is why I ask first how often you plan to edit.
How much more does it cost?
A fair amount, and there is no point dressing it up. A well-set-up template can cost a few thousand pesos; a custom experience starts at $25,000 MXN + VAT. The useful question is not which is more expensive but whether what you sell justifies the gap.
Can I start with a template and migrate later?
Yes, and it is often the sensible route: you validate that the business works with the cheap option and rebuild once you know what you sell and to whom. What I would not recommend is the reverse order.
Contact
Tell me what you are selling.
With that I can tell you whether a template suits you or whether the case calls for something built by hand. If it is the former, I save you the budget and tell you which one to pick.
or by email johonatan@encauzar.com
