WordPress or a Hand-Coded Website: Which Should You Choose?
WordPress runs about four in ten websites, and it earned that. A hand-coded site gives up the editor and plugins in exchange for far fewer moving parts. Here's how the two compare on editing, upkeep, security, speed and cost, and when we'd tell you to pick WordPress.
- From $399, no GST added
- No deposit: pay once you approve the draft
- ★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
What each one actually is
WordPress is free, open-source software, licensed under the GPL, that you install on a web host. Your pages and posts are stored in a database, a theme controls how they look, and plugins add features such as contact forms, galleries, online stores and booking calendars. You log in to an admin area to make changes. W3Techs puts WordPress on 39.5% of all websites and 58.2% of sites whose content management system it can identify, far more than any other platform.
A hand-coded site is a set of HTML, CSS and JavaScript files written for one business. A typical small business site has no admin area, no database and no plugins: the server sends the files and the browser displays them. Every site we build is made this way, rather than with a page builder or a WordPress theme.
business.gov.au sums up the trade-off for self-hosted systems like WordPress: more flexible and customisable than a subscription builder, but more work to set up and maintain. A hand-coded site sits further along the same line, with less to look after and less you can change on your own.
The two side by side
| Question | WordPress | Hand-coded |
|---|---|---|
| Who makes changes? | You or your staff in the admin area, or a developer | The developer. With us, text and image changes on existing pages are included in hosting |
| What needs updating? | WordPress itself, the theme and every plugin, on an ongoing basis | Nothing on a set schedule; the host keeps the server secure |
| Adding a feature | Often a plugin, installed in minutes, some with yearly licences | Written into the site, and quoted before work starts |
| Speed | Varies widely with the theme, plugins and hosting | Starts lean, because each page only sends the code it uses |
| Hosting needs | A host running PHP and a MySQL or MariaDB database | Any host that can serve files |
| Moving to another provider | Export and import to another WordPress host | Copy the files to any host |
| How the costs fall | Build, then hosting, licences and maintenance | Build, then hosting |
Editing: the difference you'll notice every week
WordPress's biggest strength is that you can change a price, post a news item or add an event without asking anyone. If someone in the business enjoys doing that, or several staff keep different parts of the site current, it's a real advantage. Google's SEO Starter Guide notes that most content management systems turn the titles you write into the page's title tag automatically, so some of the technical basics look after themselves for owners who edit their own pages.
On a hand-coded site, changes go to whoever built it. That suits owners who would rather send an email than learn an editor, and it works well when the site changes a handful of times a year. With us, text and image changes on your existing pages are included in the $30 monthly hosting. New pages or features are quoted before we start.
Be honest about which kind of owner you are. If you plan to publish an article every week, each one is a new page, which with us means a quote each time, and WordPress will suit you better. If the last thing you logged in to was your banking app, a site you never have to log in to may be the better fit.
Updates and security
WordPress has applied minor core releases, including security releases, automatically by default since version 3.7. Plugins and themes are different: WordPress's own documentation says they only update automatically in special cases unless the site owner switches it on, and it recommends backing up before you update.
That matters because most of the risk sits in the add-ons rather than WordPress itself. Patchstack, a WordPress security company, counted 11,334 new vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025. It found 91% in plugins, 9% in themes and only 6 in WordPress core, and reported that 46% had no fix from the developer in time for public disclosure. A WordPress site with a few well-maintained plugins, updated promptly, carries a very different risk from one running dozens that nobody has looked at in a year.
business.gov.au's advice for self-hosted sites is to keep the CMS and other tools patched and to turn on automatic updates or set reminders. Whatever the system, it also advises a strong password and two-factor authentication. A hand-coded site takes most of that list away, with no admin login to guess and no plugins to patch. It isn't immune to everything, though. The server still needs securing and monitoring, forms need spam protection, and the account that holds your domain needs a strong password.
Speed on a phone
The HTTP Archive's Web Almanac measures how real visitors experience millions of sites. In its 2025 chapter on content management systems, 45% of WordPress sites passed Google's Core Web Vitals on mobile, which put WordPress among the lowest of the platforms compared. The chapter is fair to it, though: it attributes the wide variation in WordPress performance more to configuration and tooling, meaning themes, plugins and page builders, than to WordPress core.
So a carefully built WordPress site can be quick, and a hand-coded site stuffed with full-size phone photos can be slow. The difference is the starting point. A hand-coded page only sends what that page needs, so there's less to strip back. Our guides to why a website is slow and Core Web Vitals go into the detail.
What each costs to build and run
An Australian cost-guide site, which says it verified its figures in October 2026, publishes these ranges for WordPress. Our own prices are alongside.
| Cost | WordPress (published ranges) | WebCraft Studio, hand-coded |
|---|---|---|
| Build | Standard site $3,000–$10,000; custom theme $8,000–$25,000 | $399, $899 or $1,499, by number of pages |
| Hosting | $15–$100 a month | $30 a month, no contract |
| Theme and plugin licences | $0–$80 a month | None |
| Maintenance or care plan | $100–$500 a month, optional if you do updates yourself | Security monitoring and backups come with hosting |
| Changes after launch | Yourself in the editor, or development time at $80–$180 an hour | Text and image changes on existing pages included; new pages quoted |
| Three years of running costs, excluding the domain | From $540 (cheapest hosting, free plugins, your own updates) to $24,480 at the top of every range | $1,080 |
Read the WordPress column fairly. A care plan is a choice, not a requirement: an owner who applies updates, checks backups and makes their own changes pays only for hosting and any licences, and at the bottom of those ranges that's less over three years than our hosting. What the figure leaves out is the time those jobs take. A domain costs about $20 a year either way, and we register it in your name. No GST is added to our prices.
When WordPress is the better choice
We hand-code every site we build, and we'd still point you to WordPress if:
- you'll publish often, such as news, articles, events or listings, and want to do it yourself;
- several people need to update the site, each with their own login;
- you need features that already exist as established plugins, such as memberships, online courses, content in several languages, or a large store with complicated shipping rules;
- you want to be able to hire from the large pool of WordPress developers and agencies, now and in future;
- the site will run to hundreds of pages;
- you already have a WordPress site that works, loads reasonably and is kept updated.
That last one deserves a pause. Rebuilding a site that's doing its job, just to change the technology underneath, rarely makes sense. Our guide on whether to redesign or rebuild walks through how to decide.
When hand-coded is the better choice
- The site is one to eight pages and changes a few times a year: services, areas, photos, reviews, contact details.
- You'd rather send an email than log in to an editor.
- You don't want to think about plugin updates, licence renewals or a care plan.
- Most visitors arrive on a phone, often on mobile data, and you want the page to show up quickly.
- You want a fixed price, and to see the finished draft before you pay.
That describes most of the trades and local service businesses we work with. More involved features can be hand-coded too: online stores are $799 for up to 25 products or $1,999 for unlimited products, and booking and payment systems built into a site are quoted per job. If you already use a booking tool such as Cliniko, Fresha or Calendly, we can link it from the site instead.
Questions to ask, whichever way you go
- Is the domain registered in your name, in an account you can log in to?
- Who applies updates, how often, and is that in the price?
- Are any premium theme or plugin licences in your name, and what happens when they lapse?
- Can you get a complete copy of the site if you leave?
- What does a change cost after launch, and how soon is it made?
- Is the quoted price with or without GST?
For the same comparison against website builders, see our Wix versus custom cost breakdown. Our guide to the hidden costs of a cheap website covers what to check in any quote.
Our hand-coded website prices
One page
$399
A single hand-coded page with your services, area, photos, reviews and an enquiry form, with no plugins to update or licences to renew.
Fits most small business sites
Up to 3 pages
$899
A home page and two more, such as services and contact. Changes after launch are an email to us rather than a login.
Up to 8 pages
$1,499
Room for a page per service or location. Pages added after launch are quoted before we start.
- Payment. No deposit. We build your draft first, you ask for as many changes as you like, and you pay once you approve it. If you don't go ahead, you owe nothing.
- GST. WebCraft Studio isn't registered for GST, so no GST is added.
- Timing. Most sites are live within 5–10 days of us getting your words and photos; bigger sites (up to 8 pages) take 2–3 weeks.
- Hosting. After launch, hosting is $30 a month: hosting, security monitoring, backups, email support and unlimited text and image changes on your existing pages. New pages or features are quoted first. No contract, cancel anytime.
- Domain and email. We register your domain in your name (about $20 a year), connect it to your site and set up your business email.
WordPress and hand-coded sites: common questions
Is WordPress free?
The software is: it's open source under the GPL. Running a WordPress site still costs money for hosting, any premium themes or plugins, and someone's time to keep it updated, whether that's yours or a developer's.
Is a hand-coded website better for SEO than WordPress?
Neither ranks better by itself. Google's SEO Starter Guide covers things like useful content, descriptive titles and image descriptions, and those can be done well or badly on either. WordPress makes some of it easier for owners who edit their own pages; on a hand-coded site the developer builds them into each page. Nobody can promise rankings with either.
Can an owner edit a hand-coded website without a developer?
Only someone comfortable editing HTML files can. Our sites don't have an editor, so changes come to us by email or phone. Text and image changes on your existing pages are included in the $30 monthly hosting.
Is a hand-coded website more secure than WordPress?
It has less to attack: no admin login, no database on a typical small site and no plugins. Patchstack found 91% of new WordPress-ecosystem vulnerabilities in 2025 were in plugins. The server still has to be secured and monitored, which our hosting covers.
Can you rebuild my WordPress site as a hand-coded one?
Yes. We rebuild it from the words and photos already on your site, priced by page count: $399, $899 or $1,499. Your domain stays in your name, and the new site goes live once you've approved the draft. If your current site depends on a plugin feature such as a membership area, we'll tell you whether hand-coding still makes sense before we quote.
Do you build WordPress sites?
No. Every site we build is hand-coded. If WordPress is the better fit for what you need, a WordPress developer is the right choice, and we'll say so if that's how it looks.
More comparisons and cost guides
Get a fixed price for a hand-coded site
Tell us how many pages you need and what the site has to do. We'll send a fixed quote by email and build the draft, and you pay once you've approved it.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au