The software yes, the project no. You can download WordPress freely, but you need hosting, a domain, usually a paid theme and regular maintenance. In Switzerland the total cost of a professionally built WordPress site is CHF 1,500 to 6,000 for the build and CHF 300 to 1,200 per year ongoing. "Free" refers only to the licence.

How secure is WordPress?

The WordPress core is well maintained; the weak point is add-ons. Studies regularly show that the large majority of successful attacks trace back to outdated plugins or themes, not to WordPress itself. A site with current updates, strong passwords and few add-ons is secure. One that hasn't been updated for two years isn't.

Can I switch from WordPress to Shopify or the other way round?

Yes, but it's a project rather than a button press. Product data can be transferred via spreadsheets; content pages usually have to be rebuilt. The URLs matter: if addresses change you need redirects, otherwise you lose existing Google positions. For a mid-sized store expect two to four weeks.

Is a custom build a concentration risk?

Only if it's built on a homemade foundation. If a widespread tool such as Next.js or Laravel is used, any web developer can continue working with it. What matters is that the source code sits in a repository you have access to, and that the technology used is named in the quote. Clarify both before commissioning.

Which system is best for SEO?

All three can rank well; the differences lie in the effort. A custom build reaches the best loading times most easily, because no superfluous code runs alongside. WordPress can keep up with optimisation but needs work and the right add-ons. Shopify is good on product pages, more limited on editorial content. What remains decisive is the content – a fast system with thin copy ranks nowhere.

WordPress, Shopify or custom development?

Around 43 percent of all websites worldwide run on WordPress, according to the ongoing survey by W3Techs. Concluding that it's therefore right for your project makes about as much sense as buying a minibus because it sells well.

Here's the comparison without tribal loyalty – we work with all three depending on the project.

When is WordPress the right choice?

When you publish content yourself regularly and need a system with help available everywhere.

WordPress is a content management system. It's strong when content grows: blog, references, news, team pages. The admin area is usable without prior knowledge after an introduction, and there's an add-on for practically every requirement.

That's precisely where the weakness lies too. Every add-on is third-party code that has to be maintained. A typical WordPress site has fifteen to thirty of them. If one isn't updated, a security hole opens – and compromised WordPress sites are the most common reason businesses contact us.

Costs: build CHF 1,500 to 6,000. Ongoing CHF 300 to 1,200 per year for updates, security checks and backups. That item isn't an optional extra, it's operating cost.

Suits: company websites with a blog, businesses with frequent content changes, projects with unusual requirements.

Doesn't suit: when nobody takes on maintenance. An unmaintained WordPress site is a liability after two years.

When is Shopify the right choice?

When you sell products and don't want to deal with technology.

Shopify takes care of the things that cause most trouble in e-commerce: payment processing, shipping rules, tax rates, security updates. All of it runs in the background, and when something breaks it's Shopify's problem.

The price for that is renting rather than owning. From around CHF 30 per month, plus transaction fees of 1.2 to 2.9 percent if you don't use Shopify Payments. At CHF 100,000 annual turnover that quickly becomes CHF 2,000 to 3,000 extra.

The second limitation is design freedom. Much is possible, some isn't, and you only discover where the boundary runs when you hit it.

Costs: build CHF 1,200 to 6,000. Ongoing from CHF 360 per year plus transaction fees.

Suits: stores up to a few hundred products, standard processes, anyone wanting to start quickly.

Doesn't suit: unusual pricing logic, tight integration with an inventory system, very large product ranges.

When is a custom build worth it?

When speed, search engines or a connection to existing software is decisive.

A custom-built site has no third-party add-ons, no database queries for content that never changes, and no code you don't need. The result is loading times a builder or an add-on ecosystem can't reach – and loading time is a confirmed ranking factor.

The second strength is the attack surface. Where there are no add-ons, there are no add-on vulnerabilities. Ongoing maintenance effort sits considerably below WordPress.

The downside is the higher initial investment and dependence on someone who understands the code. So before commissioning, ask which technology is used. Established tools like Next.js are so widespread that any web developer can work with them. A homemade solution would be a genuine concentration risk.

Costs: build CHF 3,000 to 12,000. Ongoing CHF 0 to 300 per year for hosting.

Suits: SEO-driven projects, multilingual sites, integrations with existing systems, businesses with a long horizon.

Doesn't suit: small budgets, very frequent structural changes by you.

What does each system cost over five years?

The build price is only part of the calculation. Over five years, for a normal company website, it looks like this:

	WordPress	Shopify	Custom build
Build	3,000	3,000	5,000
Maintenance 5 years	3,000	0	500
Licences 5 years	500	1,800	0
Hosting 5 years	750	0	500
Total	7,250	4,800	6,000

Total cost over five years: WordPress, Shopify and custom development compared

The figures are guide values and shift considerably by project. With Shopify, transaction fees come on top which overtake everything else as turnover grows. With WordPress much depends on how many add-ons are in use.

What the table shows: the cheapest entry is rarely the cheapest solution.

What is possible with a WordPress website?

Practically everything an SME needs – and that is both blessing and curse.

Add-ons make booking systems, member areas, multilingual sites, forms with conditional logic and connections to accounting software possible. A ready-made solution exists for most requirements, which saves development time.

The catch: every add-on brings its own code, its own updates and its own vulnerabilities. A site with thirty add-ons isn't thirty times more powerful, it's thirty times more maintenance-intensive. We therefore recommend keeping the number deliberately small and checking, for central features, whether a lean custom solution wouldn't make more sense.

A rule of thumb from practice: under ten add-ons a WordPress site stays manageable. From twenty, maintenance becomes a cost factor of its own, and from thirty you should question the platform choice fundamentally.

Comparing WordPress, Shopify and custom development by maintenance, freedom, loading time and speed to launch

How do I tell which system a site is built with?

Surprisingly many people ask – usually to check what competitors use.

For WordPress a look at the source often suffices. Right-click, "View page source", then search for wp-content. If it appears, it's WordPress. A second clue is the address /wp-admin – if a login shows up there, the case is clear.

Shopify you recognise by cdn.shopify.com in the source. With custom builds it's harder, because there's no uniform fingerprint.

More practical are browser extensions such as Wappalyzer, which show it automatically.

Which question really decides?

Not "which system is better", but who maintains the site in three years.

If nobody takes on maintenance, WordPress is the worst choice despite being the most widespread system. If you want to grow and margin matters, Shopify fees eventually become an issue. If Google is to be the main source of enquiries, much speaks for a custom build.

Who maintains the site in three years – the question that decides the platform choice

We work with all three and recommend what fits the situation. Our own site, by the way, is a custom build with Next.js – for exactly the reason above: as an agency selling SEO, a slow site would be hard to explain.

Which system suits your project we're happy to clarify without obligation. Details of our services are on the page for business websites, and if it's about a store, under ecommerce website development.