Choose WordPress when a non-technical team edits content daily, you need a large plugin ecosystem, and conventional design is acceptable. Choose a custom build when performance is a business requirement, the design must be distinctive, or plugin security and maintenance overhead have become a real cost. Over three years the total cost is closer than the initial quotes suggest.
We build custom sites, so weigh our view accordingly. WordPress powers a large share of the web for good reasons, and we recommend it to a handful of enquiries a year.
The honest comparison window
Where the cost hides
WordPress's real strength
Custom's real strength
WordPress theme build $2,000–$8,000; custom Next.js $4,000–$15,000. WordPress wins here clearly.
Custom builds are statically generated and typically two to four times faster than a plugin-heavy WordPress site.
WordPress plugins are a continual patching obligation. A custom build has dependencies but no plugin ecosystem.
WordPress is genuinely excellent here. A headless CMS is good but rarely better for a large non-technical team.
Custom has none of the theme constraints. WordPress can look like anything with enough effort, at rising cost.
WordPress $100–$500/month including plugin management; custom $350–$900 with fewer moving parts.
| WordPress | Custom Next.js | |
|---|---|---|
| Initial build | $2,000 – $8,000 | $4,000 – $15,000 |
| Hosting (3 years) | $1,000 – $3,500 | $0 – $1,800 |
| Plugin licences (3 years) | $1,000 – $3,000 | $0 |
| Maintenance (3 years) | $3,600 – $18,000 | $12,600 – $32,400 |
| Performance work | Often recurring | Built in |
| Three-year total | $7,600 – $32,500 | $16,600 – $49,200 |
WordPress remains cheaper over three years for most sites. The custom case is not cost — it is speed, distinctiveness and not carrying a plugin security surface. Be sceptical of anyone claiming custom is cheaper.
Often, yes. WordPress stays as the editor your team knows; a Next.js front end renders the site. You get the performance and design freedom of custom with the editing experience of WordPress.
No. WordPress with a well-built theme and good content ranks perfectly well. The SEO problems attributed to WordPress are usually performance problems caused by plugin bloat, which is a configuration issue rather than a platform one.
Core WordPress is reasonably secure and actively maintained. The risk is plugins — a site with twenty-five plugins has twenty-five codebases to trust and patch. Fewer plugins and disciplined updates address most of it.
Yes, with a lean theme, few plugins, good caching and optimised images. It takes discipline that most WordPress sites do not receive, which is why the average WordPress site is slow while a well-built one is fine.
Then keep it. Migrating a functioning site is a cost with no immediate return. Migrate when the platform is actively blocking something you need, not because a newer stack exists.
How we think about this work, in more depth.
Comparison
A 30-minute call, then a written proposal with scope, price and timeline within two to three working days. No retainer required to get a real number, and no obligation if the answer is that we are not the right fit.