Custom vs. Pre-Built Shopify Themes: How to Choose the Right Fit for Your Store

Which Shopify theme will set your store up for success – a ready-made template or a custom-built design? In this guide, we outline the major differences between standard themes and custom Shopify themes in a side-by-side comparison.

TL;DR: Standard vs. Custom Shopify themes: Which will boost your business?

• A side-by-side comparison of custom Shopify themes and standard themes, including factors such as cost, design flexibility, performance, scalability, maintenance and security, time to market, SEO optimization, uniqueness, functionality, UX, and long-term value.
• Pre-built themes offer fast setup, affordability, ease of use, built-in features, and community support, but have limited customization, scalability challenges, brand similarity, and expensive workarounds.
• Custom themes have benefits such as unique branding, full control, advanced features, and scalability, but also have drawbacks, which are high investment, longer development timelines, and ongoing maintenance.
• The decision between a custom and pre-made Shopify theme should be based on your budget, timeline, brand goals, and growth plans.

Custom Shopify themes vs. standard themes: a side-by-side comparison

#1. Cost

Custom Shopify theme development may be more costly at the beginning, as you have to pay professionals to design and develop a customized theme to fit your business. The expenses include coding, design, and testing. Updates might also require paid developer services.

Shopify pre-designed themes have a cheaper up-front price and are sometimes available as a one-time or free download in the Shopify theme store. Although it is cheap to set up, this can be accompanied by additional costs through premium features or applications.

#2. Design flexibility

With a custom Shopify theme, you have full control of creativity to create layouts, styles, and interactions tailored to your brand and your customers' expectations, without design limits.

A premade Shopify theme is configurable with respect to color, font, and structure, but this has to be done within the limits of the template. More significant design modifications can necessitate coding expertise or might be impossible.

#3. Performance

A custom Shopify theme can be optimized for your store’s specific requirements through Shopify speed optimization services, cutting down extraneous script and improving load speed for a great user experience and search engine optimization.

A Shopify theme from the Theme Store often contains extra code and generic features that can slow down performance and also negatively affect SEO. While many high-quality premade themes are still well-optimized, performance ultimately depends on the developer’s coding quality and on disabling or removing unnecessary features.

Read our article on how to speed up your Shopify store to discover tips to boost its performance.

#4. Scalability

A custom Shopify theme is built for growth. It has a flexible architecture, which means developers can add new functions to it easily, expand the list of products, and adjust to the changes in design or client demands without the necessity to revamp the whole site.

Pre-built themes can become restrictive as your business expands, often requiring a theme change for advanced features. Adding specific features (like custom product configurators or unique checkout flows) can be challenging or impossible without heavy theme modifications or a complete redesign. Eventually, the businesses will require functionality that the template cannot support and will have to make their migration to a custom build.

#5. Maintenance and support

A custom Shopify theme usually requires Shopify support and maintenance by your in-house team developer or the specialists who originally built and know the theme inside out. Fixes and updates are dependent on their availability and the service agreements.

The theme developer or community typically supports pre-designed themes on an ongoing basis. The periodic updates to the theme may include bug fixes, Shopify compatibility, and minor improvements.

#6. Security

A custom Shopify theme allows for implementing tailored security measures during development. Shopify developers can harden the code and audit it against attacks, carefully integrate secure third-party tools, and remove additional scripts that could open security holes.

Shopify pre-built themes’ security depends on the developer’s update frequency and diligence. While popular themes often receive timely fixes, third-party apps can introduce risks.

Read our article on how to make your Shopify store more secure to learn practical steps for protecting your business.

#7. Time to market

Shopify theme customization is a complex process that includes research, design, code, and testing, which will take additional time before launch, but provides good compatibility.

With pre-built themes, you will have rapid installation. It can be installed and then configured so you can begin selling. This is suitable for businesses that require fast launching or seasonal marketing activities.

#8. SEO optimization

Shopify custom theme can be highly SEO-friendly with optimized internal linking and markup, and blazing-fast performance that can be adjusted to the audience of your site. You can design the structure and navigation to fit your keywords and content strategy, making your site crawlable, easier to rank, and more user-friendly.

Shopify pre-designed themes differ in the perspective of SEO since some have been constructed professionally, whereas others still do not have advanced features and could even have codes that block the crawling process.

#9. Uniqueness and branding

A custom Shopify theme gives a completely immersive experience of your brand and customer experience. Your store is transformed into a special digital flagship that the customers know at once.

Pre-designed themes are frequently highly used; therefore, the uniqueness is diluted. Although branding does not have to be lost completely when carefully working on the content and design modifications, it is still more difficult to attain true exclusivity.

#10. Functionality

Any feature, such as custom product filters, advanced search, or different bundling logic, can be built into the custom theme. This gives a native and easy user experience without using third-party applications to provide mission-critical functionalities.

Most pre-built themes have a solid set of features that address common ecommerce requirements. But more demanding needs might require third-party apps, which can bloat your site and disrupt performance.

#11. User experience (UX)

A custom Shopify theme is built with the specifics of the target audience and preferences in mind, enhancing navigation, increasing engagement, and eventually boosting conversions.

In pre-built themes designed to suit a wide range of industries, and may not be fitted to your niche-specific customer needs. Their UX is generally good, but it's built on the assumption of a generic shopper, not your specific customers.

#12. Long-term value

A custom theme will incur an initial cost, but can produce greater ROI in the long run. It does not require redesigning every time, which makes it easier to expand functionality as your business grows without significant expenses.

Pre-made themes might appear cost-effective in the short term; however, as your requirements grow, it is usually necessary to modify or, in many cases, replace entirely, which can be more expensive than a custom creation over a longer time frame.

Pre-built themes – Pros and cons

Let’s explore the primary Shopify pre-built themes' advantages and disadvantages.

Pros

• Fast setup and affordability. Perfect for companies that want to launch a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), allowing merchants to go live without significant investments in Shopify design or Shopify development.
• Ease of use. Pre-designed themes are easy to set up and use and do not require any coding, which allows the entrepreneur to open their store quickly.
• Flexibility and features. Mobile-friendliness and accessibility with pre-built features for different industries.
• Community and support. Backed by developer updates and community troubleshooting, and solutions.

Cons

• Poor customization. Pre-made designs can be an obstacle to proprietary branding or advanced layout changes.
• Scalability friction. There may be constraints in the layouts, features, and integrations, which may act as a bottleneck in the future growth of the business.
• Brand similarity. Having several stores with the same theme can contravene brand identity.
• Expensive workarounds. The additional cost rises to achieve certain features, as custom code may be imposed, increasing expenses in the long run.

Benefits and drawbacks of a custom Shopify theme

Here are the main pros and cons of the custom Shopify theme you need to know.

Pros

• Unique branding. A design that demonstrates the identity of your brand.
• Full control. Customize every aspect: the way everything is laid out and the color scheme, animations, and features should provide a tailored shopping experience.
• Advanced features. This includes incorporating additional tools and special functionality that cannot be achieved by using the standard themes.
• Scalability. With minimal effort, you can add a new feature to your store and develop as your business grows.

Cons

• High cost. Requires costs for professional design and development.
• Longer timeline. Depending on the number of themes, it may take weeks or months to design, build, and launch.
• Ongoing maintenance. Maintenance of updates and check-ups can require additional costs in the long run.

How to make the right choice?

When making choices between a custom theme and a pre-made Shopify theme, consider these factors:

• Budget. In case of a limited budget, a ready-made theme will provide a professional look at a lower rate. If you have funds to invest, built-from-scratch custom themes will bring long-term value and flexibility.
• Time frame. Need to launch fast? Then, a ready-made theme is your choice. While custom themes take longer, they provide a unique experience.
• Brand goals. If standing out and providing an exclusive shopping experience is your top priority, then an original theme will pay well.
• Future growth. Are you planning the expansion of your product line or the addition of high-end features? A custom build will make sure that your store is able to scale without limitations.

Why partner with DigitalSuits

At DigitalSuits, our specialists do not just develop beautiful themes; they create themes that work. No matter if you’re in ecommerce, retail, jewelry, fintech, real estate, or another industry, our team assures the following:

• Custom solutions. Designs, configuration, and usability that fit your business and brand.
• Technical excellence. Sophisticated, clean, and optimized code to ensure effective SEO strategy and fast performance.
• Professional proven experience. We have a track record of successful Shopify and Shopify Plus projects across industries. Review our cases, which highlight our expertise and innovative solutions we've delivered.
• End-to-end support and maintenance. Development and support will be provided through planning, design, launch, and post-launch maintenance. We also offer flexible Shopify retainer services to ensure your store continues to run smoothly.

We serve a wide range of sectors and adapt our solutions to your industry’s unique needs – explore the industries we work with to see how we can help your particular business thrive.

With DigitalSuits, you get more than just a theme; you will have a strategic partner who makes sure that your store is a long-term success. Book a Shopify consultancy to receive the best solutions to your business needs.