Off-the-shelf solutions vs custom website (part 1)
Why WordPress, Wix, Shopify and Squarespace cost you more in the long term than custom development: analysis of hidden costs and real ownership.
Choosing between an off-the-shelf solution and a custom website determines the future of your digital presence. This decision impacts your budget, growth and above all your digital independence.
The off-the-shelf solutions ecosystem
WordPress, Wix, Shopify and Squarespace dominate the market and 43% of websites use WordPress (Source : W3Techs 2024). This popularity is explained by their promise of simplicity, but hides important realities.
The advantages that seduce at first glance
These platforms excel in immediacy. You can put your site online in just a few hours, without any technical knowledge. The initial investment remains accessible with subscriptions starting at €10 per month. The visual editing interface allows you to modify content directly on the page, while hundreds of professional templates offer an immediately presentable design. Integrated technical support reassures entrepreneurs who fear technical problems.
Real constraints :
•Total dependency: your site only exists on their platform
•Limited customization: template constraints
•Standardized performance: generic optimizations
•Mandatory recurring costs: lifetime subscription
•Blocked scalability: impossible to add unique features
The economic reality over 10 years
Cost analysis reveals significant gaps between initial investment and long-term reality.
| Solution | Monthly cost | Cost over 5 years | Cost over 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Business | €13 - 179 | €780 - 10,740 | €1,560 - 21,480 |
| Shopify | €24 - 299 | €1,440 - 17,940 | €2,880 - 35,880 |
| Squarespace | €12 - 69 | €720 - 4,140 | €1,440 - 8,280 |
| WordPress.com | €14 - 172 | €840 - 10,320 | €1,680 - 20,640 |
| Custom website | €0 | €3,000 - 8,000 | €3,000 - 8,000 |
Hidden costs that accumulate
Beyond basic subscriptions, off-the-shelf solutions generate additional costs that are often underestimated. Each advanced feature requires a premium extension, charged between €10 and €50 monthly. Truly professional templates cost between €50 and €200 extra. Storage quickly proves insufficient, requiring upgrades at €5-20 per month. For e-commerce, platforms take 2 to 3% commission on each sale, directly reducing your margins. Priority support, essential for a serious business, adds another €20 to €100 monthly to the bill.
The non-ownership trap
The fundamental difference lies in the ownership of your digital asset.
The illusion of ownership
With an off-the-shelf solution, you never truly own your website. The source code belongs entirely to the platform, depriving you of any intellectual property on your digital presence. Your data, yet the heart of your business, remains stored on their servers according to their conditions. Your site's features depend entirely on their developments, creating total dependency. You have no real technical control, making any deep modification impossible. This situation creates a major vulnerability : your site's sustainability depends entirely on a third-party company's commercial strategy.
The catastrophic scenario of non-payment :
•Site immediately offline: disappears instantly from the web
•Content and data lost: texts, images, database deleted
•Google SEO erased: years of SEO lost
•Marketing investments canceled: links pointing to a non-existent site
•Customer relationships interrupted: irreparable loss of trust
Real business impact case :
A company on Shopify for 3 years :
•€2,880 in subscriptions (€80 × 36 months)
•€4,000 in marketing to generate traffic
•€1,500 in extensions and customizations
•Hundreds of hours of content creation
Total invested : €8,380 + time
One missed payment = total instant loss.
Technical limitations and performance impact
Technical constraints directly affect your business results.
WordPress structural flaws
WordPress presents significant vulnerabilities that directly impact your business :
- Vulnerable security: preferred target of cyberattacks, 90% of hacked sites
- Degraded performance: plugin accumulation slows loading
- Constant maintenance: each update risks breaking the site
- Limited customization: theme constraints prevent uniqueness
- Permanent anxiety: technical instability creating constant stress
The lock-in of proprietary platforms
Wix, Shopify, Squarespace and their competitors lock you into a rigid technical framework. Design remains frozen within the limits of available templates, making any significant visual differentiation impossible. Natural SEO suffers from bridled technical optimizations, limiting your visibility on Google. Integrations with your business tools remain restricted to the platform's commercial partnerships. Overall performance remains average, optimized for the masses rather than your specific needs.
The measurable impact on your business :
•Slow sites: lose 40% of their traffic
•Non-optimized sites: convert 30% less well
•Standard sites: 50% less remembered by visitors
•Degraded performance: direct revenue reduction
•Generic design: compromises lasting customer relationships
The custom website : an asset you own
A custom website represents the creation of a real digital asset that you own
Complete ownership
With a custom website, you become the owner of a real digital asset. The source code belongs to you entirely, constituting valuable intellectual property. Your database remains under your absolute control, guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of your strategic information.
You freely choose your hosting and can migrate at any time without constraint. Features are developed specifically according to your business needs, creating a unique competitive advantage. Scalability becomes unlimited, allowing all future modifications without depending on a third-party platform.
Concrete advantages :
•Optimized performance: code specific to your needs
•Enhanced security: custom architecture
•Advanced SEO: advanced technical optimizations
•Perfect integrations: connections with your tools
•Total differentiation: unique experience
•Superior ROI: better conversion
"A custom website is not an expense, it's an investment in an asset that generates value without recurring costs."
Conclusion of this first analysis
The figures speak for themselves : off-the-shelf solutions lock you into costly long-term dependency. Over 10 years, a Wix site costs between €1,560 and €21,480, a Shopify site between €2,880 and €35,880, a Squarespace site between €1,440 and €8,280, a WordPress.com site between €1,680 and €20,640, while a custom site costs between €3,000-8,000 (one-time investment).
More importantly : with custom development, you truly own your digital asset. This technological independence transforms your site into a real company asset, valuable and sustainable.
In part 2, we will analyze migration strategies and decision criteria to choose the best approach according to your situation.