Why Bespoke PHP Sites Beat WordPress in 2025
(and probably forever)

I’ve been building websites for Australian businesses and government departments since 1995. In that time I’ve seen every trend come and go: table layouts, Flash, jQuery spaghetti, Bootstrap everything, and for the last decade — WordPress everywhere.

WordPress now powers roughly 43% of the web. That’s impressive… until you realise most of those sites are slow, constantly patched, and quietly costing their owners thousands in ongoing maintenance.

Here’s the truth I’ve learned after 30+ years of writing code by hand: for serious small-to-medium businesses, non-profits, and anyone who values speed, security and sanity — a custom-coded (“bespoke”) PHP site almost always wins.

1. Speed that actually matters

Google says a 1-second delay in mobile load time can drop conversions by 20%. WordPress sites rarely break 90/100 on PageSpeed once you add a realistic theme, plugins and content.

A recent hand-coded PHP site I delivered for a Victorian accounting firm scored 99 mobile / 100 desktop — with zero optimisation tricks. No caching plugins, no CDN required.

Why? Because there’s no theme bloat, no 47 database queries to render “hello world”, and no JavaScript loading a JavaScript file that loads another JavaScript file.

2. Security you can reason about

WordPress is attacked constantly because attackers know exactly what’s running. One unpatched plugin and your site joins a botnet.

With a bespoke site:

• There’s no plugin directory for hackers to scan
• You’re not running code written by random developers in 2012
• Updates only happen when something actually needs updating — not every week because “WooCommerce broke again”

I still have PHP sites I wrote in 2008 that have needed exactly zero emergency security patches.

3. You own it — completely

When you pay for a WordPress site, you often don’t own much. Change developers and you’re stuck with their favourite premium theme licence, their page-builder lock-in, and a database full of shortcodes.

With bespoke PHP you get clean, commented source code • no licence fees ever • move hosts in minutes • any competent PHP developer can pick it up in 2025 or 2045.

4. It costs less in the long run (yes, really)

WordPress feels cheap upfront. Then reality hits:

Year 1: $2,000 build
Year 2–5: $800–$2,000/year in updates, plugin renewals, security fixes, speed tweaks

That $2,000 WordPress site quietly becomes $6,000+ over five years.

A custom PHP site might cost $3,000–$6,000 upfront, but ongoing costs are usually under $300/year — often just hosting and the occasional feature addition.

5. It does exactly what you need — nothing more

Need a client portal that pulls data from Xero, creates PDFs, emails them, and logs everything? WordPress will need 6–8 plugins that vaguely talk to each other.

Custom PHP: one coherent system, built for purpose, no conflicts.

When WordPress actually makes sense

To be fair — WordPress is brilliant when:

• You need to update content daily without any technical knowledge
• You want to try dozens of designs in an afternoon
• Budget is extremely tight and “good enough” really is good enough

Bloggers, hobby sites, and some startups — go WordPress and enjoy life.

The bottom line

WordPress is a Swiss Army knife. Sometimes you just need a scalpel.

If your website is a critical business tool — not just a brochure — a clean, hand-coded PHP solution will almost certainly save you time, money, and sleepless nights over the next decade.

— Rolf
LampDatabase | Victoria, Australia
Custom PHP developer since the internet had training wheels