Custom project template for community version possible?

There are built in project templates and it is possible to contribute to them. We have a self hosted community version of Gitlab and I am loooking for options to create custom project templates. I know, this is a premium feature and I am evaluating the pros and cons of the different prizing plans.

Is there a way to create custom templates by e.g. adjusting the templates which are available in the community version or by e.g. importing projects from a custom git repository?