Choosing a WordPress theme shouldn’t feel like a life decision, for a lot of businesses, agencies, and previously us, it ends up becoming one.
On paper, it sounds simple:
- Free theme → cheap and cheerful
- Premium theme → more features, more polish
- Custom theme → more expensive, but “proper”
In reality, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. We’ve worked with all three approaches over the years, and we’ve also spent plenty of time untangling a mess that can come from choosing the wrong one.
So let’s look at the pros and cons. Spoiler… there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
Free WordPress Themes – Fine… Until They Aren’t
Free themes get a bad reputation, and sometimes unfairly. They exist for a reason.
The good bits
- They’re free, which is hard to argue with when budgets are tight.
- Quick to launch, install, tweak a few colours, add content, job done.
- Perfectly fine for simple sites, blogs, hobby sites, MVPs, early-stage projects.
If you just need something online, a decent free theme can absolutely do the job.
The problems usually show up later…
- Limited flexibility, once you step outside what the theme was designed to do, things get awkward fast. (Although we’re finding block themes way more flexible).
- Maintenance roulette, some free themes are well maintained, others… quietly disappear.
- You end up working around the theme instead of the theme working around your business.
Free themes aren’t bad… they’re just not designed to grow with your business.
Premium Themes – Powerful, Polished… and Often Overkill
Premium themes are where a lot of businesses land, and it makes sense. They look impressive and promise to do everything.
Why companies like them
- Lots of features out of the box including sliders, layouts, demos, page builders.
- Regular updates (not always) especially from reputable developers.
- Support exists – which is reassuring if something breaks.
For many businesses, a premium theme feels like a safe middle ground.
Where things start to creak…
- Feature bloat – you’ll probably use 20% of what’s included. (We’ve seen sites that use hardly any features).
- Performance trade-offs – more features nearly always means more code.
- You’re still boxed in, unusual requirements can be painful.
- Licensing never really ends… renewals, per-site licences, add-ons.
Premium themes are often very good but they’re built to appeal to everyone, not to fit you perfectly.
Custom WordPress Themes… Built for Purpose
A custom theme isn’t about being fancy. It’s about being intentional.
Instead of starting with a theme and bending your business to fit it, you start with the business and build the theme around that.
Why custom themes work well long-term
- Only what you need, no unused sliders, no mystery shortcodes.
- Always better performance, less code, fewer dependencies.
- Clear ownership, you control updates, structure, and direction.
- Designed to evolve, adding features later doesn’t mean rebuilding everything.
A good custom theme isn’t flashy. It’s quiet, predictable, fast, and easy to work with which is exactly what you want once your site becomes business-critical.
The honest downside
- Higher upfront cost, there’s no way around this.
- You’re paying for thinking, not just building, planning, structure, and future-proofing all take time.
That said, most businesses who outgrow their theme end up paying more fixing and replacing a poor choice than they would have investing properly in the first place.
The Bit People Rarely Talk About, Implementation Matters
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
A badly built custom theme can be worse than a good premium one. And a well-chosen, lightweight premium theme can outperform a rushed custom job.
Performance, security, and SEO don’t magically happen just because something is “custom”. They come from;
- sensible architecture
- clean code
- restrained plugin use
- proper ongoing maintenance
This is why the who matters just as much as the what.
So… Which One Should You Choose?
Very broadly:
- Free theme
If you’re validating an idea, running a personal project, or just need something live quickly. - Premium theme
If you want a polished site fast, your requirements are fairly standard, and you accept some compromises. - Custom theme
If your website is a serious business asset, needs to scale, perform well, and reflect your brand properly.
There’s also a perfectly valid hybrid approach, starting with something lightweight and customising it sensibly, rather than going all-in from day one.
Why We Often Recommend Custom at Spidrweb
At Spidrweb, we tend to work with businesses once their website stops being “just a website” and starts being part of their operations, marketing, or revenue.
That’s usually the point where:
- performance matters
- security matters
- flexibility matters
- future changes are expected, not hypothetical
A well-built custom WordPress theme gives you a stable foundation you can grow on, without constantly fighting against someone else’s design decisions.
There’s nothing wrong with free or premium themes. They exist because they’re useful.
But if you’re tired of workarounds, performance compromises, and redesigning every couple of years, a custom theme often ends up being the calmer, cheaper option in the long run even if it doesn’t look that way on day one.
If you’re not sure which route makes sense for your business, we’re always happy to talk it through, no hard sell, no jargon, and no pretending there’s only one right answer.