1. Executive Summary
When you decide to create a website and start searching, you will have a strange experience from day one. Some posts say, “It was made in one day with I’m Web,” and some companies give estimates of 20 million won. It's the same 'website', but the price is 1,000 times different. Who is lying?
No one lies. There are three ways to create a website:Because it is. Web builders such as I’m Web and Wix, open source CMS such as WordPress, and agency customization. For the three methods, the products themselves are different, the money-making structures are different, and what you lose when you switch after a few years are also different.
This article compares the three approaches by structure, not ad copy. Initial costs, three-year cumulative costs, hidden clauses such as platform dependency, and even the expansion path when the business grows. After reading it, you will come away with the answer, “This is our company’s method,” and one safety measure that must be observed no matter which method you choose.
Questions this article answers
“Is I’m Web enough, or should I entrust the production to you?”, “Why is WordPress half price?”, “What do I lose if I switch later?” — The answer is based on entrepreneurs preparing their first website and working-level managers considering renewal.
A detailed dissection of cost numbers Structure of website production costsWe've already covered this, so here we focus on method selection.
2. Three production methods, what are the differences?
First, let's clear up the terminology. Although everyone has heard the name, the line is surprisingly blurry.
web builderis a rental service that creates a site by assembling blocks in the browser, like I'm Web, Wix, and Six Shop. Instead of the platform taking care of all servers, security, and updates, you pay a monthly fee. It is a rented structure.
WordPressis a free and open source CMS. Four out of ten websites in the world run on WordPress. The software is free, but you have to rent your own hosting server, install themes and plugins, and take care of security updates yourself. It's closer to building a manufactured home on my own land.
custom madeis a method in which an agency or developer creates from scratch according to the company's needs, from planning to design and development. The degree of ownership and freedom of the finished product is the greatest, and the initial cost is also the highest.
| division | web builder | WordPress | custom made |
|---|---|---|---|
| initial cost | 0~hundreds of thousands of won | Tens to millions of won | Hundreds to tens of millions of won |
| money spent every month | Usage fee: 10,000 to 50,000 won | Hosting 100,000 to 100,000 won | Hosting + Maintenance Agreement |
| production period | a few days | 2-6 weeks | 1~4 months |
| Design freedom | within template scope | Theme + Custom | no limits |
| Ownership of deliverables | Platform dependent (non-transferable) | Wholly owned (transferable) | Fully owned by contract |
| administrative burden | almost none | Direct updates and security | Delegated to a maintenance contract |
The column to pay attention to in the table is not the price. ownershipno see. The remaining items are adjusted with money, but ownership cannot be bought with money later. You will find out why in Chapter 3.
3. Web builder — fastest, most bundled
Website builders have clear strengths: speed and a low barrier to entry. You can launch a presentable site over a weekend without knowing how to code or manage a server. Templates have improved considerably in recent years. A well-chosen template with good photography can outperform many low-cost commissioned websites.
3.1 When a web builder is the answer
It is a stage where you don't know where the business will go as it is just starting up, when the role of the website is just a 'business card that appears when you search', or when the lifespan of a site is set, such as an event or season. In this situation, spending millions of won on custom-made products is truly a waste. It is not too late to start with 20,000 to 30,000 won per month and make a decision after the business is established.
3.2 Non-contractual provisions — platform dependency
The problem arises when you leave. Most domestic web builders, including I’m Web, Export of the entire site is not supported.. The pages, posts, and designs accumulated over three years exist only within the platform. Want to move it somewhere else? We're making it again from scratch. It's not a transfer, it's a re-creation.
Search assets are also shaken. If you have connected the domain in your name, you can keep the address, but since the page URL structure follows platform rules, it is difficult to reproduce the existing URL during transfer, and detailed 301 redirect settings are also subject to platform restrictions. This means that the page rankings that search engines have built up over three years can be reset once you move.
Optical illusion of 30,000 won per month
Web builder usage fee of 30,000 won per month becomes 1.08 million won over 3 years. It's cheap up to here. The problem is that the actual cost includes re-production costs and loss of search rankings that occur when the business grows and moves three years later.
So even if you use a web builder, you must keep two things in mind. The domain is registered directly in your name, not through a platform agency.to do, and Original text and photos are stored separately outside the platformto do If you just follow these two, you will avoid the worst.
4. WordPress — The price of freedom is administrative burden
WordPress occupies a broad middle ground between web builders and customization. Ownership is complete, and thanks to the theme and plugin ecosystem, you can achieve a similar look for less than half the cost of customization. Anyone who has compared quotes has probably heard the explanation, “It’s cheaper because it’s based on WordPress.” That's true. Instead, your bill will just be pushed back.
4.1 What is good?
If you are a business that continuously builds content, there is no better tool than WordPress. The structure for administrators to directly publish blogs, cases, and notices is built in from the beginning, and meta tags, site maps, and structured data are precisely controlled with SEO plugins. If you don't like your hosting, you can pick up the entire site and move to another server. This is impossible with a web builder.
4.2 What should I prepare for?
Installation of a WordPress site is not the end, but the beginning. The main body, themes, and plugins each require updates, and putting them off creates a security hole. Saying that it is a platform used by 40% of the world's sites is the same as saying that it is the most profitable attack target for hackers. In reality, most hacking incidents occur due to neglected old versions of plugins. One day, you may experience a broken screen due to a conflict between plugins.
So the real question with WordPress is not “Can it be made?” “Who takes care of it after it’s made?”no see. It's a great choice if you have someone in-house to take care of it or sign a maintenance contract, but if you're going to build it and leave it alone, a web builder is safer. How a neglected site comes back from an accident Practical standards for maintenance and securityThis was dealt with separately.
5. Customization — When It’s Worth It
What makes customization expensive is human time, not code. A planner listens to the company's story and creates a structure, a designer draws a screen that fits the brand, and a developer implements it. This is the cost of building it from scratch according to the company, rather than fitting it into a template.
5.1 Three situations where customization is worthwhile
first, When feature requirements lie outside the template. Requests such as quote calculators, reservation systems, content by membership level, and in-house system integration cannot be achieved with a web builder, and WordPress becomes a plug-in mess. Second, When the website is the forefront of sales. In B2B, where the first impression of a contract worth tens of millions of won is decided on the website, using the same template as a competitor is itself a loss. Third, When search traffic determines business success or failure. Being able to design URL structure, page speed, and structured data from scratch means a different starting point in SEO.
5.2 How to manage costs and risks
The risk with customization is variation rather than cost itself. This is a market where quotations for the same requirements are 5 times higher for each company, so comparisons are impossible unless you have the eye to read the quotations. Anatomy of each quote item Structure of production costsYes, the portfolio verification and contract provisions are Company Selection GuideI have summarized it in . Before signing a contract, nail down two things in writing. Ownership of the resulting source code, and Maintenance scope and cost after opening.
6. Decision Frame — Four Questions
Now all that remains is to choose. Don't decide on a method first, but answer the following four questions first. The answer tells the way.
Question 1 — What is the role of the website?
‘Business cards that appear when you search’ are enough for a web builder. If you are a ‘salesperson who generates inquiries’, you need content and SEO, so it is better than WordPress. If you are a ‘showroom that determines contracts’, you need custom production. If the role definition is ambiguous, the estimate will also be ambiguous.
Question 2 — Where will the business be in three years?
You should judge it not by its current size, but by its size three years from now. If your expansion plans are specific, a method with no migration costs (WordPress, custom) will ultimately be cheaper. If you are a small business that will be similar to what it is now three years from now, the web builder dependency issue is not a real threat.
Question 3 – Who takes care of it after it is created?
Is there someone internally who uploads content and takes care of updates? If not, it is correct to exclude self-operating WordPress from the candidates. You can either go with a web builder, or you can go with a production that includes a maintenance contract.
Question 4 — Is the budget initial or monthly?
If you don't have the initial funds but can afford a few thousand won per month, go for a web builder. If you can make an initial investment and want to reduce the monthly burden, go for production. However, when comparing 3-year cumulative total costCalculate with If you look at the initial cost alone, the web builder always wins, and if you look at the three-year total, the rankings are often reversed.
| Our company situation | Recommendation method | reason |
|---|---|---|
| Immediately after starting a business, a business card-type website is needed. | web builder | Fast and cheap. After the business direction is solidified, the judge |
| Plan to create search traffic through blogs and examples | WordPress or Custom | Content publishing structure and SEO control are key |
| B2B, the website is the first sales contact point | custom made | Brand differentiation and trust factor design are directly related to sales. |
| There is a request for functions such as reservations and calculators. | custom made | Requests beyond the limits of template/plugin combination |
| Focus on online sales | Commerce specialized platform | Payment, inventory, and CS have different problems from general-purpose websites. |
How to start with the premise of transferring
The strategy itself of “start with a web builder and move when you grow” is reasonable. There is just one condition. What you need to know when you start is what you can and cannot take with you when moving.
All you can take with you is the domain in your name and any original content you keep separate from it. Design, URL structure, and page-specific search rankings are left behind. How to protect your search assets as much as possible during a renewal that also includes relocation Renewal GuideIt was covered in .
7. Conclusion and Checklist
There is no right answer among the three methods, and our company has a wrong answer. Spending three years on a web builder saying you want to do content marketing, leaving WordPress unattended without anyone to take care of it, and spending tens of millions of won on a site that would suffice for a business card. The method follows from the company's stage and role definitions.
Final inspection checklist before contract
- Role definition: Can you say in one sentence whether your website is a business card, a salesperson, or a showroom?
- Total cost over 3 years: Did you compare the three-year accumulation of usage fees, hosting, and maintenance rather than the initial cost?
- Domain name: In any case, is the domain registered directly in the name of the company (yourself)?
- Escape route: Have you checked what you can take with you when leaving the platform/company (content, source, DB)?
- Operating entity: Has it been decided who will take care of updates and content after opening?
- Ownership Terms: If it is custom-made, are source code ownership and maintenance scope included in the contract?
Check at least one of the six domain names today. The rest can be changed, but getting back a domain registered in the agency's name is often a lawsuit.