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Template vs Custom Website Design: Which One to Choose?

Designing a website takes more than just placing content in a structured manner.

You must consider navigation, visual appeal, accessibility, and search engine optimization. This is where the debate of custom vs. template website design comes into play.

Customer web design is where you create websites that align with your brand styling and aesthetics. Templates are ready-made designs that you can use for your website.

So, which one to choose?

We will discuss the difference between custom and template website design based on budget, time-to-market, SEO-friendliness, and more. We will also answer some critical questions, like:

  • Why is good website design important?
  • Which website design approach is the most suitable?
  • What is the best use case for custom or template web design?
  • What is the cost of website design?

Let's first understand what a custom website design and its benefits are.

What is a Custom Website Design?

Custom website design is creating a tailor-made site based on specific business needs. This involves creating a website layout, selecting a color scheme, developing custom graphics and images, and building a website structure unique to the business.

Customer web designs help your website stand apart from several websites. Another great advantage of custom website design is a higher focus on customer experience. It enables higher customizations to make websites more user-friendly and have layouts aligned with brand style.

Built from scratch, customer website designs begins with an idea and define how a site should look and work. Further, Graphics are designed and coded into HTML based on the look and feel of the site based on branding requirements. It involves hiring professional custom website development solutions, planning, wireframing, designing, and coding.

Custom web designs that are unique, scalable, secure, and fully optimized for search. By working with a professional web development company, you can ensure that a custom site is designed to meet your business needs and goals.

Custom website design offers several advantages:

  • You can create a unique and differentiated brand identity online.
  • You can craft websites that engage with your visitors immediately.
  • Your website gets a search engine optimization (SEO) advantage.
  • You can make changes to your website as per changing market demands.
  • You have more flexibility with hosting.

If you want a customized experience, there is no denying that a custom website design is the best choice.

At the same time, custom website designs can be challenging if you are on a restricted budget. It requires a higher budget and resources.

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What is a Template Website Design?

A website template is a pre-designed layout that allows you to arrange content onto a web page. It is like a drag-and-drop website builder where you can simply place content, image blocks, photo galleries, logos, and more.

One of the most significant advantages of a template website design is the ease of use. Even if you don’t have the technical knowledge to build a website or don’t know how to code, you can use a template website design.

Yet, template website design has many advantages, like:

  • You can build a website rapidly.
  • You can structure content on a ready-made design.
  • You don't need to create a website from scratch
  • You don’t require coding knowledge to design a website.

There are some caveats in using templates for your website. If you're choosing a template for your website, you need to consider the purpose and functionality. Another critical element is the design. If the template design has vulnerabilities and performance issues, it can affect your website.

You can fix performance issues and customizations in template designs by finding the right UX/UI design solutions. Now that we have an overview of custom vs. template website design,n let’s compare it to understand which one is right for your projects.

Custom vs. Template website design: Key Differences

Custom website design offers a unique and tailored approach to creating a website, while template website design offers a more cost-effective and efficient option. The choice between custom and template design ultimately depends on the specific needs.

So, here are some use cases where custom vs. template design differs.

You want a cost-effective website

Template website designs are more cost-effective than custom websites because they are pre-designed and pre-built. So, the costs associated with designing and developing a website from scratch are reduced.

However, some paid templates can increase the cost if not chosen wisely.

In contrast, custom website design can be expensive because it involves designing and developing a website from scratch. However, if you can find the right website development company which optimizes the cost of website design, the payoff is far better than template designs.

While a template design may be more cost-effective, it may not provide the customization or functionality your website needs. In such cases, a custom design may be the more cost-effective option in the long run.

Essential aspects of custom web design cost:

  • Cost of custom website design can be in the range of $5,000 to $10,000 and can go up to $50,000 or more for complex designs.
  • Expertise of designers, developers, and design complexity can increase the cost
  • Requires more time and effort to design and develop a website.

Critical aspects of template web design costs:

  • You can purchase a website template for as low as $50 to $200
  • Requires less time and effort to implement
  • May lack the unique features and customization options
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You need better flexibility and scalability

In terms of flexibility, custom website design is a better option because everything is created from scratch. The best part of using a custom website design is the flexibility of adding features as per market demands.

For example, the recent trend of ChatGPT and generative AI text is forcing businesses to adopt such technologies for their websites and applications.

Custom website design helps you integrate AI-based features for enhanced functionality. At the same time, template website design does not offer such flexibility.

In terms of scalability, custom website design can help you scale your site as operations scale. On the other hand, template website design is also scalable as it is designed to be easily modified or expanded.

You want a secure website

Both custom and template website design differs in terms of security.

So, here is a comparison between custom vs. template website design based on security, vulnerabilities, and maintenance.

Differentiator Custom website design Template website design
Security It offers greater security as the website is built from scratch with security in mind. It may have security vulnerabilities due to its pre-made nature, which hackers could exploit.
Vulnerabilities Less likely to have vulnerabilities May have vulnerabilities, especially if they are not regularly updated or maintained.
Maintenance Requires regular maintenance to keep them secure. Requires regular updates and maintenance to ensure security vulnerabilities are addressed.

Your UI needs to be user-friendly

Both custom website design and template website design can offer an excellent user experience. However, there are some differences between the two approaches.

Custom website design involves designing and developing a website tailored to specific user needs. The website's layout, features, and overall user interface are created for the target audience and brand. As a result, the website is more likely to provide a unique and personalized user experience.

On the other hand, customizing templates to deliver personalized experiences can be tedious. You may have to tweak the template's HTML code to deliver a time-consuming and expensive personalized experience.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to be unforgettable.

Connect with our team of professionals today and let us create a custom website design that sets you apart.

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You require a mobile-friendly web design

First, the question that comes to your mind is why you need a mobile-friendly web design.

Simply put, mobile users have increased drastically over the past decade. Mobile search accounts for more than 59% of online searches, so optimizing your website design to be mobile-friendly makes sense.

So, which design approach provides the best mobile-friendly UI?

Comparing custom vs. template website design in terms of mobile-friendly design has many advantages.

Custom website design involves working with a web designer or developer to create a unique design. It allows you to have complete control over the look and feel of your site.

On the other hand, templates are pre-designed and already available online. So, making changes to it and making the UI user-friendly can become challenging.

You are on a deadline

The template design approach makes more sense if you are on a deadline. There is minimal coding required with template design, so it reduces the time needed to create a website.

However, the problem of customizations with template design can impact business outcomes.

However, the myth of custom designs taking more time is misplaced. Customizations can take more time if they are complex. Another advantage is the capability of making quick changes that custom website design offers. This improves business agility and allows you to adjust the website to changing customer demands.

Intelivita's Custom Website Design Prowess

Designing a website to serve millions of users and offering a mobile-friendly UI experience requires enhanced customizations.

So, when UK Eats wanted a custom website solution for their food ordering app, Intelivita helped with top-notch customized web design and development.

Our engineers, designers, and developers helped UK Eats with scalable web design.

We designed features like advanced search, payment gateway integration, and customized menus. Similarly, if you want to leverage custom website design or customize template design, get an estimate now!

Posted In:
  • Web Development
  • Dhaval-Author
    Dhaval Sarvaiya
    Co-Founder

    Hey there. I am Dhaval Sarvaiya, one of the Founders of Intelivita. Intelivita is a mobile app development company that helps companies achieve the goal of Digital Transformation. I help Enterprises and Startups overcome their Digital Transformation and mobile app development challenges with the might of on-demand solutions powered by cutting-edge technology.

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