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THOUGHTS / BEGINNERS GUIDE 13 Mar 2025 6 MIN READ

What Is a Website Template and Should Your Business Use One?

Before your website exists, someone has to make decisions about how it looks: what colours it uses, how the text is laid out, where the navigation sits, what happens on a phone. Building those decisions from scratch takes time and expertise. A website template is the shortcut — a pre-made design you fill with your own content. It saves money and gets you live faster. What it costs you, and whether that cost is worth it, depends on what you are trying to achieve.

A website template is a ready-made layout you customise with your own text and images. Platforms like Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress all offer templates. They are fast to set up and affordable, but your site may look similar to many others, load more slowly, and give you less control over your Google rankings. For a business that simply needs a basic online presence, a template can be enough. For one that wants to stand out or be found consistently on Google, a custom-built site is usually worth the investment.

When people talk about getting a website up quickly, they are usually talking about templates. You pick a layout you like, replace the placeholder text and images with your own, and publish. For someone with no technical background, it sounds ideal — and for certain situations, it genuinely is.

But templates are more of a compromise than most platforms let on. Understanding exactly what you are getting — and what you are giving up — makes the decision much clearer.

What a Template Actually Is

Behind every website is code: HTML for the structure, CSS for the design, and sometimes JavaScript for interactive features. When a developer builds a website from scratch, they write all of that code specifically for you. When you use a template, you are using code that someone else wrote, designed for a general audience, and made available for anyone to use.

This is perfectly fine in itself. The code is usually functional and the design is often attractive. The issue is not the template — it is the consequences of using one.

The Appeal: Speed and Cost

The main reasons people choose templates are straightforward:

  • They are fast. You can have a basic site live within a day or two, compared to weeks for a custom build.
  • They are cheap upfront. Many platforms offer free templates, with paid plans starting at a low monthly cost.
  • No technical knowledge needed. Most template platforms use drag-and-drop editors that anyone can figure out without writing a single line of code.

For a business that needs something online quickly — a portfolio, a simple service page, an event page — these are genuine advantages.

The Compromises You Accept

Templates come with limitations that are easy to overlook when you are just trying to get online. Here are the main ones:

  • Your site may look like thousands of others. Popular templates are used by enormous numbers of websites. Visitors who browse a lot of sites will recognise the layout. It makes it harder to create a distinctive impression or communicate that your business is unique.
  • Load speed is often slower. Template platforms load a lot of code in the background — features, plugins, and tracking scripts — whether you use them or not. Slow-loading sites frustrate visitors and rank lower on Google. A custom-built site loads only what it actually needs.
  • You are dependent on the platform. If Squarespace raises its prices, changes its terms, or shuts down a feature you rely on, your options are limited. You do not own the underlying code — you are renting a product. With a custom-built static site, you own the code entirely and can host it for free, forever.
  • SEO control is limited. Templates give you some control over your page titles and descriptions, but many of the deeper technical decisions that affect how Google ranks your site are made by the platform, not you. You have less ability to fine-tune performance.

The honest truth: you are not really paying less with a template — you are paying differently. Monthly fees add up, and the time you spend maintaining an unfamiliar platform has a cost too.

When a Template Is Probably Fine

There are situations where a template genuinely makes sense:

  • You need something up immediately and do not have the budget for a custom build right now.
  • Your website is purely informational — no specific SEO goals, no performance concerns, just a place to point people when they ask for your web address.
  • Your business is at an early stage and you are not yet sure what your web presence needs to look like.

In these cases, a template can serve as a useful starting point. The risk is treating it as a permanent solution when your business actually needs more.

When You Should Probably Go Custom

A custom-built site becomes the better choice when:

  • You rely on Google to bring in customers. If search visibility matters to your business, a site built specifically to load fast and be easily crawled by Google will outperform a template over time.
  • You want a distinctive design. Templates constrain what is possible. A custom build starts from a blank page and reflects exactly what your business needs to communicate.
  • You want to avoid ongoing monthly fees. A custom static website hosted on GitHub Pages costs nothing to host, month after month. That is a real financial advantage over time compared to a platform subscription.
  • You want full ownership. With a hand-coded site, you own every file. You can move it to any host, hand it to any developer, and make any change you like. No lock-in.

Frequently asked

Are Wix and Squarespace template platforms?
Yes. Both Wix and Squarespace are website builders that provide templates. You customise the template using their editors but cannot access or own the underlying code. They are both perfectly usable for simple websites, but they charge a monthly fee and give you limited control over performance and SEO.
Can I move away from a template platform later?
You can, but it is not always straightforward. Because you do not own the code, migrating to a new host or a custom site means starting the design from scratch. Content (text and images) can usually be exported, but the design itself cannot be transferred. This is why lock-in is a real consideration when choosing a platform.
Are all custom sites better than templates?
Not automatically — a badly built custom site can be worse than a well-maintained template. What makes a custom site superior is the combination of clean code, fast loading, and a design built around your specific needs. A good custom site built by an experienced developer will consistently outperform a template in speed, search rankings, and distinctiveness.
How much does a custom-built site cost compared to a template?
The upfront cost of a custom site is higher — GitFoundry's pricing starts from £349 for a single-page site and £749 for a multi-page professional site. But there are no ongoing monthly fees and you own the result completely. A Squarespace subscription, for example, costs £13–£35 per month — that is £156–£420 per year, every year, for something you never fully own.

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