Compare before you decide

Getting a website built means settling a handful of questions that have no single right answer. This page collects them in one place and says which option suits which business.

Summary: which option suits whom

Most of these answers depend on where your business is right now, not on which technology is better in the abstract. The table below summarises when each option fits; the full article is one click away on whichever row matches you.

The main choices an SME has to make before building a website, and the conditions that make each option the better fit
The decision	Pick this if	Pick the other if	Full article
Build on WordPress or write custom code	WordPress Your starting budget is tight, the site is mainly a company profile or a blog, and someone will keep the core and its plugins updated	Custom code You need speed, security, and business-specific features that off-the-shelf plugins were never designed for	Read the article
Custom-built or a template site builder	Template builder You want to be online as fast as possible on a low budget, and you can live with the layout and structure the builder allows	Custom-built You want control over site structure for SEO, control over load speed, and room to add features without hitting the template's ceiling	Read the article
A website or a web application	Website The goal is to be found, understood and contacted; content leads, and visitors never log in	Web application People log in to work with data — ordering, booking, tracking status, or a back office several staff share	Read the article
Commission a system or subscribe to one	Annual subscription Your workflow is close to what the off-the-shelf product assumes, and you want to start quickly without a large upfront spend	Custom system Your workflow is specific to the business, it has to connect to systems you already run, and you are judging total cost over years rather than month one	Read the article
Rent a website monthly or own it outright	Rent monthly You are just starting, still testing the market, and want a storefront online for a small monthly payment	Own it The rent adds up to more than buying outright, and you want the domain, the customer data and the code held in the business's own name	Read the article
Rebuild or improve the site you have	Improve the existing site The structure and URLs still hold up, the rankings you have are fine, and the problem is the look and the content rather than the platform	Rebuild The site is slow, you cannot edit it yourself, nobody hands it over, or its structure cannot carry what the business plans to do next	Read the article
Hire a freelancer or an agency	Freelancer The scope is clear and self-contained, the budget is limited, and you have time to manage the work yourself	Agency Several workstreams have to be coordinated, you want a written contract and schedule, and someone has to maintain it after handover	Read the article
A local team or a Bangkok team	Local team You want to meet face to face, and the work is tied to local context — your customers and competitors are in the same province	Bangkok team You need specialist skills or a team covering several roles at once, which is hard to find locally, and remote work suits you	Read the article
Invest in SEO or pay for SEM	SEM You need visitors and enquiries quickly for a launch or a campaign, and you have budget to keep the ads running	SEO You are playing the long game, want to be found without paying per click, and accept that results accumulate slowly	Read the article
Is classic SEO enough, or do you need to think about AI	Classic SEO It remains the foundation either way: site structure, load speed, and content that genuinely answers the question	Add GEO Your customers are starting to ask ChatGPT or Gemini before they search Google, and you want your business named in those answers	Read the article

Scroll the table sideways to see the remaining columns

All articles, grouped by the question you are answering

These 17 articles were written separately, but they answer one connected set of questions. They are grouped here in the order most owners actually decide them.

Choosing what the site is built with

The first question almost everyone hits: WordPress, a template builder, or code written from scratch.

Choosing what to build, and how you own it

Scope and ownership. Getting this wrong costs more than picking the wrong technology, because it binds you for years.

Choosing who builds it

Freelancer, agency, local team or Bangkok team — each suits a different shape of project.

Prices and the costs that actually land

Real numbers to plan around: build cost, domain cost, and the recurring charges that are easy to overlook.

Getting found

A site nobody finds may as well not exist. This part is about the channels that put your business in front of people and AI.

Decided already, or want a second opinion

If you have read through and still are not sure which way your business should go, tell us about it and we will say where we would start. If you would rather see numbers first, the packages page lists scope and price in full, starting at ฿79,000.

See packages and prices

FAQ: questions that come up before deciding

The questions owners ask most often while they are still weighing the options

How is this page different from the packages page

This page helps you work out which direction suits your business; it is not about buying anything yet. The packages page tells you what the scope and price look like if you do build with us. Read this one first and the prices make more sense.

I do not know where to start. What should I read first

Start with whether you need a website or a system people log in to use. That answer changes everything after it — the budget, the timeline, and who you should hire. Technology and price come after.

WordPress or custom code: which is better

Neither is better on its own. WordPress suits content-led sites where someone keeps the platform updated. Custom code suits businesses that need specific features and speed and would rather not depend on other people's plugins long term. TumWebSME builds custom code, and the article lays out our reasoning so you can weigh it yourself.

Renting monthly or buying outright: how do I decide

Two things. First, multiply the rent out by year and see how long it takes to match paying once. Second, ask whether you would still hold the domain, the customer data and the content if you stopped paying. The second question usually matters more than the arithmetic.

Freelancers cost less, so why do people hire agencies

Freelancers do excellent work when the scope is clear and self-contained; that is not a lesser option. People choose an agency when several workstreams have to be coordinated, or when the business needs a contract, a schedule, and someone to maintain the site after handover.

Is SEO alone enough now that people ask AI

SEO fundamentals still matter, because AI systems read the same page structure crawlers do. What is new is writing a complete, checkable answer in one place. There is no magic markup that gets you cited automatically — Google says as much itself.