Choosing between WordPress and custom development? Compare costs, timelines, pros/cons for UAE businesses. When to use WordPress (90% of cases) and when custom development makes sense.
Quick Decision Framework
Choose WordPress if: Budget AED 12,000-50,000, Timeline 3-8 weeks, Need professional business website/blog/WooCommerce store, Want to edit content yourself. 90% of UAE businesses should choose WordPress.
Choose Custom Development if: Budget AED 80,000-300,000+, Timeline 12-24 weeks, Need unique functionality WordPress cannot handle, Expect 100,000+ monthly users. Only 10% of businesses truly need fully custom.
What is WordPress (Really)?
WordPress powers 43% of all websites globally. It is NOT a "cheap" website builder like Wix/Squarespace, not only for blogs, not insecure or slow when properly developed, and not limited in capabilities.
WordPress IS a flexible CMS powering complex sites (The New Yorker, Sony Music, Microsoft News), highly customizable with 60,000+ plugins, easy for non-technical teams to update content, and cost-effective for 90% of business needs.
Cost Comparison
WordPress Development: Template Customization AED 8,000-15,000 (2-3 weeks), Custom Theme AED 20,000-50,000 (5-8 weeks), WooCommerce AED 40,000-80,000 (8-12 weeks). Ongoing: AED 800-3,000/month.
Custom Development: Web Platform AED 80,000-200,000 (12-20 weeks), eCommerce Platform AED 120,000-400,000 (16-30 weeks). Ongoing: AED 5,000-15,000/month.
When to Choose WordPress
Perfect for: Corporate websites (About, Services, Team, Contact + Blog), Content-heavy sites (news, magazines, blogs), WooCommerce stores (up to 10,000 SKUs), Service booking sites (appointments, reservations), Multilingual Arabic/English sites.
NOT ideal for: High-traffic apps (500K+ monthly users - becomes expensive to scale), Real-time features (live chat, collaborative editing), Complex SaaS applications (multi-tenant systems), Heavy data processing (analytics platforms), Unique user experiences (highly interactive interfaces).
When to Choose Custom
Perfect for: SaaS platforms (multi-tenant architecture, complex user roles), Marketplaces (multi-vendor, complex commissions), Fintech applications (payment processing, wallets, compliance), Enterprise portals (employee intranets, legacy integrations), Data-intensive applications (analytics, big data).
WordPress couldn't handle real-time financial transactions, regulatory compliance requirements, or unique UX needs for these use cases.
Our Honest Recommendation
For 90% of UAE businesses: Start with WordPress (custom theme, not page builder). Launch in 5-8 weeks for AED 25,000-50,000. Validate business model. Migrate to custom IF needed when you hit 100K+ monthly users OR need features WordPress can't handle.
For the 10% that need custom: SaaS platforms, complex marketplaces, fintech, high-scale apps. Budget AED 100,000+ and 12+ weeks. Ensure you have ongoing development budget.
The Hybrid Option (Headless WordPress): WordPress content management + custom Next.js frontend. Budget AED 60,000-120,000. Ideal for content-heavy sites needing modern UX.
