WordPress vs Next.js: which to build on, and what it costs

en 2026-09-15 7 min read

Choosing between WordPress and Next.js is really a question about money, so here is our answer first: the platform does not change our price. A business website is step 03 on our ladder, EUR 1.500-3.500 excluding VAT, built either way. What the choice changes is who can edit the site, how much work it takes to keep it safe, and what it can grow into later.

Next.js is our default for a new build. We also tell people to stay on WordPress when that is the better answer, because selling somebody a rebuild they do not need is a bad trade for both sides.

What you are choosing between

WordPress is a content management system you install on hosting. It arrives with an editor you may already know, a theme that decides how pages look, and a plugin for almost anything you might want. Your site becomes the sum of code written by different people who update on their own schedules.

Next.js is a framework. The site is code in a repository, content comes from wherever you decide to keep it, and nothing loads on a page unless somebody put it there. Nothing arrives for free either. When you want an events calendar, a location finder or a member area, someone builds it.

When WordPress is the right answer

• You already run a WordPress site with years of posts and a plugin doing real work, and nothing is actually broken. A rebuild spends budget to arrive roughly where you already are.
• Someone in your office needs to build new pages themselves, laying out sections without asking a developer first.
• The site is pages, a contact form and a blog, and you want the shortest honest route to a good one.

When that describes you, we build on WordPress, or we say the site you have is fine and the budget belongs somewhere else. The step and the price are the same as they would otherwise be, because the price follows scope, not the stack.

When Next.js is the right answer

• The site needs accounts, a dashboard, an API, a link into your CRM, payments or a chatbot. That is step 04, EUR 3.500-7.500, and at that point the framework stops being a preference.
• Speed has to hold across every page, on a phone, on a weak connection, a year from now.
• The design is yours rather than a theme's, which is what design and engineering in one team is for.
• Your content is structured and appears in several places at once, so it should live in one place and be pulled in where it is needed.
• You want code, repository and database that are genuinely portable. You own all three, and any React developer can pick the project up.

How we work in this stack is set out on the Next.js development page.

Speed, maintenance and cost, side by side

What each step costs

After launch, Care runs at EUR 100-300 per month: updates, monitoring, backups and small fixes, not a redesign and not new features. SEO foundation is a one-off at EUR 450-750, covering Console, analytics, indexation, technical hygiene, titles, internal links and a plan for 3-6 months. SEO growth, at EUR 500-800 per month, is the version that keeps running. All of it is on packages.

How a build runs

Scoping comes first and the fixed quote comes out of it, which is why a range is all anyone can honestly publish. What moves your number: how much already exists and can be kept, whether the site needs accounts and payments, how many languages you sell in, and what happens after launch.

Then design, build, content, launch. A mini-site is 2-3 weeks, a business website 3-6 weeks, an advanced site or web app 6-12 weeks. The part that slips is waiting on text and photography, not the code. We can host the finished site, though that is agreed per customer rather than bundled in.

When to spend less

If your site works and only looks dated, the fix is design applied to what exists, not a rebuild in a new stack. That is cheaper on WordPress than anywhere else, and we will say so.

If nobody can find the site, the framework is not the problem. Start with SEO foundation as a one-off at EUR 450-750 and find out whether your pages are indexed at all before spending on step 03. If you are still testing whether the offer lands, build step 01 at EUR 600-900 in 1-2 weeks and come back for the rest once it earns.

And do not replatform because of a speed score. If the slowness is an uncompressed hero image and a chat widget nobody uses, that is a small fix rather than a project, and we would rather tell you than invoice you.

Questions buyers ask

Will I be locked into you if we build on Next.js?

No. You own the code, the repository and the database. It is a standard React project, so any competent developer can carry it on. We would rather keep you because the work is good than because leaving is painful.

Can I still edit the site myself?

Yes. We connect a CMS and you edit text, images and pages in it. The difference from a page builder is that you change content while the layout stays consistent. If free-form layout control matters more to you than consistency, say so during scoping, because that argues for WordPress.

Is WordPress genuinely less secure?

WordPress itself is maintained seriously. The risk lives in the plugins, because each is code on your server that nobody on your side reviewed, and an unpatched one is a route in. Kept updated and backed up, which is what Care covers at EUR 100-300 per month, it is fine.

Does Next.js rank better in Google?

Not on its own. Google ranks pages, not frameworks. A framework helps with the technical half, speed and clean markup and control over titles and links, but a fast site with thin content still loses to a slower one that answers the question properly. The structural work is SEO foundation, a one-off at EUR 450-750, with SEO growth at EUR 500-800 per month if you want it to continue.

If you want a number for your own site instead of a range, tell us what exists today and what it has to do. Send us the details and you get a fixed quote after scoping.