People will tell you templates are a botch job and that custom work is throwing money away. Both claims are self-serving. The right question isn't which is better, but where you are right now.
What each one is
A template is a ready-made design you buy and fill with your content. A custom site is drawn and built starting from your business: your sections, your brand and only what you need.
When a template is the right call
- 01You've just started and need to exist online this month.
- 02The budget is tight and you'd rather spend it on getting known.
- 03Your site is going to be a business card with your details on it.
- 04You don't yet know what you need, and you'll learn as you go.
In those cases, investing in a design of your own is getting ahead of yourself. Go out, see what people ask you for, and decide later with actual information.
When a template falls short
- 01Your site has to do something specific the template doesn't cover.
- 02It matters to you to look different from the other ten businesses in town.
- 03You're going to sell online seriously and every step of the checkout counts.
- 04You've already paid three times to «adapt» the template to what you wanted.
Nearly every custom job that reaches me starts the same way: «we have a template, but doing this means fighting it every single time».
The difference nobody shows you
A template ships with dozens of features you'll never use, and all of them weigh. It tends to be slower, harder to change and dependent on plugins maintained by people you've never met. A custom site carries only what's yours: it runs faster and it's changed without fear.
That doesn't make it the right answer. It means the saving on a template is real at the start and gets spent over time, while the cost of custom work is real at the start and pays itself back. Choose knowing that, not because someone tells you the other option is a botch job.