Custom Web Development vs. DIY Builders: Which is Right for Your Business?

The biggest difference between a platform like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify and a custom-built solution (often on WordPress or custom frameworks) is ownership.

When you use a DIY builder, you are essentially renting your website. You are building your house on their land. If you stop paying their monthly subscription, or if they change their terms of service, your website disappears. You cannot pick up a Wix site and move it to a cheaper hosting provider.

With custom web development, you own the code. You own the database. You are free to move hosting providers, change developers, or scale the site however you see fit. You are building an asset, not just renting a service.

Have you ever visited a website that took forever to load? You probably clicked “Back” and went to a competitor.

DIY builders are designed to be easy for you to use, not for the computer to read. To make those drag-and-drop features work, these platforms often load a massive amount of “bloatware” (unnecessary code) in the background.

Google notices this.

Search engines prioritise websites that load instantly and offer a great user experience (Core Web Vitals). A custom-coded site is lean. We only build the features you need, keeping the code clean and the load times fast. (Read more on this in our post: 5 Website Mistakes That Could Be Hurting Your Google Rankings)

Most DIY builders work beautifully—until you need them to do something unique.

If you are a standard coffee shop, a template is fine. But what if you want to:

• Sync your website inventory automatically with your eBay store?
• Create a custom booking system for your specific service?
• Integrate a legacy payment gateway?

With a DIY builder, you often hit a wall where the computer simply says “No.”

With custom development, if you can imagine it, we can build it. We specialise in complex integrations—like our custom eBay dashboards—that allow your website to become a tool that saves you time, rather than just a digital brochure.

On the surface, £20 a month sounds cheaper than a professional build. But let’s look at the hidden costs of DIY:

1. Your Time: How many hours will you spend fighting with text alignment or fixing mobile layouts? What is your hourly rate as a business owner?
2. Plugin Subscriptions: To get advanced features on DIY platforms, you often have to pay for extra “Apps.” Those £5/month add-ons stack up quickly.
3. Lost Sales: If your site isn’t mobile-optimised or trusted by Google, the cost of lost business far outweighs the savings of a template.

The internet is a wild place. Websites get hacked, and updates break things.

If your DIY site goes down or gets compromised, you are usually stuck in a live chat queue with a support bot.

When you work with a digital agency like NaNet, security is baked in from the start. And if something does go wrong? You have a dedicated team to call who knows your business and knows your code. (Check out our guide on Maximising Website Security for more on how we protect our clients).

Choose a DIY Builder if:

• You have zero budget.
• You need a site up today for a temporary event.
• You don’t care about ranking high on Google yet.

Choose Custom Development if:

• You want a unique brand identity, not a template used by thousands of others.
• You need specific functionality (like stock syncing or client portals).
• You view your website as a long-term business asset.

Still not sure where to start? We don’t just build code; we build businesses. Contact us today to discuss what your website actually needs to do.