So you’ve got a beautiful new website for your business ready to go live. It was fully customizable and you made it or had someone make it for you. But was it customizable? Or did someone build a new website for you, but get hung up on limitations on what they could do?

There are a ton of options out there for creating websites, but some of them come with restrictions. For instance, if you’ve ever had a website built for you or built one on your own, were there times that you wanted to do something on the site but it just wasn’t an option? That’s what we call renting your website versus owning your website.  So, do you own your website?

When it comes to building or having a website built for you, there are two different approaches you can take. You have a website builder and an open-source content management system (CMS). A website builder is a user-friendly option that can create a website quickly, but often times they have limitations when it comes to customization and flexibility. An open-source CMS provides a higher level of flexibility, customization options, and control over the design and functionality of your website.

Having a user-friendly builder sounds great, but what about if their policy changes on what you can do with your website? Unfortunately, you’re at the command of the site builder. Open-source CMSs don’t run into that problem, because you actually own the site you’re building.

Site builders typically have a limit on the options of how much you can customize your website. While you can modify your design within the options they provide, there’s usually a limit to the extent of what you can do with your site. Open-Source CMSs allow for extensive customization and flexibility, allowing you to pretty much create whatever it is that you can think of.

As for the functionality of the builders, site builders come with built-in features and functionalities. They are usually simplified and easy to integrate into your website, but again, they lack the advanced functionality that an open-source CMS can provide. When push comes to shove, an open-source CMS allows you to create the website you want, with almost limitless possibilities whereas site builders are giving you a template to choose from.

One of the largest reasons to build your website with an open-source CMS comes down to the ownership of your site. Website builder sites are typically hosted on the builders server, giving you limited control over the infrastructure. The builder you choose is the owner of the software you’re using, and you are bound by the terms and conditions that you agreed to.

Open-source CMS platforms give you more ownership and control of  YOUR website. You can choose the server where your website is hosted with full access to the code of the website and can maintain ownership of your content. Basically, with a website builder you have a site that they can control and with an open-source platform you have full control and ownership of your site. Owning your website allows you the flexibility to shape it according to your goals and needs.

If you’re on the market for a new website, whether it be a new business, an older and out of date website, or maybe you currently don’t own the website you have, make sure to get in touch with the team at The Gratzi. We build all of our clients websites on an open-source CMS platform allowing for fully customizable options! If we haven’t created what you’re looking for, our team will research and find out the possibilities. When you have a site built through The Gratzi, you can feel confident that you own your website not rent it!