Shopify theme or custom website? How to decide
A ready-made theme costs little and launches fast; a custom website costs more and fits exactly. Here is an honest way to decide which one your business needs right now.
We sell ready-made themes and we also build custom websites, so we have no reason to push you one way. Most businesses should start with a theme. Some genuinely need a custom build. The trick is knowing which one you are before you spend money. Here is how we explain it to people who ask us.
What you get with a theme
A theme is a finished design you install on your platform (Shopify, or HTML for a static site) and fill with your own content.
- Cost: a one-time price. On the Shopify Theme Store, premium themes are typically a few hundred dollars; ours start at $89.
- Launch time: days, sometimes hours, once your products and photos are ready.
- What you can change: colours, fonts, sections and layouts through the theme editor, without code. Deeper changes need a developer.
- Upkeep: the theme author fixes bugs and ships updates. With our themes, updates are free for the lifetime of the theme and support runs for 3 months from purchase.
The trade-off: you share the design with other stores, and you work within what the theme's sections can do.
What you get with a custom website
A custom website is designed and built for your business specifically.
- Cost: much higher. It depends entirely on scope; our own minimum budget for a custom project is $2,000, and larger stores or web apps cost well beyond that.
- Launch time: weeks to months: discovery, design, build, content and testing.
- What you can change: anything, because the site was built around your needs.
- Upkeep: someone has to maintain it. Budget for updates, hosting and small changes after launch.
The trade-off: more money and time up front, and you depend on whoever built it for future changes.
When a theme is the better choice
- You are launching or testing a product and need to sell soon.
- Your catalogue and buying process are standard: browse, choose a variant, buy.
- A theme already has most of what you need, and the rest is an app or two.
- Your budget is better spent on photography, products or marketing.
A well-chosen theme with good photos and clear product information beats a custom site with a thin catalogue. Many very successful stores run on themes.
When custom is worth it
- Your buying process is unusual: configurators, quotes, bookings, memberships or complex B2B pricing.
- Your brand depends on an experience no theme offers, and you have the budget to keep it maintained.
- You need integrations with your own systems (stock, ERP, booking) that apps can't handle cleanly.
- You have outgrown a theme: you are fighting it every week and paying developers to bend it.
The middle ground
There are options between "theme" and "fully custom":
- A theme plus targeted development. Start with a theme close to what you need and pay for a few custom sections.
- A theme on another platform. If you like a theme but use a different platform, a made-to-order version can be cheaper than custom. We offer made-to-order versions of our themes.
- Custom later. Launch on a theme, learn what customers actually need, then build custom with real data instead of guesses.
Questions to ask yourself
- What does my site need to do that a normal online store doesn't?
- How soon do I need to start selling?
- What is my total budget, including content, photography and the first year of upkeep?
- Who will make changes after launch, and how much will that cost?
- If I had a theme next week, what exactly would stop me from selling?
If your answer to the last question is "nothing much", buy a theme. If it is a specific, important feature, that feature is what a custom project (or targeted development) should be about.
Next steps
Browse the Orbital themes and open the live demos. If you think you need something custom, tell us about your project: asking is free, and you get a fixed price before any work starts.