Look, I get it. Grabbing a WordPress template is easy to do. Most of the time, you only have to one-click import the theme, insert your content, and go. All the plugins, which give you your desired functionality, are there for you to use. Oftentimes, you end up stuck with plugins that you don’t need. With all of these WordPress plugins adding up, it’s easy for your site to become slow and vulnerable to malware.
This is why I make all of my WordPress client sites with a custom design. It sounds like a lot of work, and it does involve a bit more attention to detail, but the client ends up with a website that has fewer updates, fewer places to be exploited by malware, and fewer areas for bugs. Oftentimes, I have a designer create the design in Adobe XD before having it developed in Divi or Elementor.
Once we get the site complete, we usually have less than 5 plugins for the entire website, making it thin and efficient with less room for error.