If you're building or rebuilding a business website in 2025, you've probably considered WordPress. It's familiar, it's everywhere, and there's a plugin for everything. But here's what they don't tell you in the WordPress marketing materials.
The WordPress Problem Nobody Talks About
WordPress was revolutionary in 2003. Two decades later, it carries two decades of technical debt. Let's be honest about what you're signing up for:
- 43% of all hacked websites run WordPress (Sucuri 2024)
- Average WordPress site has 20+ plugins (each a security risk)
- Requires weekly updates or face vulnerabilities
- Performance degrades with each plugin
- Database-heavy = slow without expensive caching
- No server-side code to hack (static generation)
- Features built-in, not bolted on
- Zero maintenance with managed hosting
- Performance improves with each optimisation
- CDN-first = fast everywhere by default
Head-to-Head: The Real Numbers
| Feature | WordPress | Next.js |
|---|---|---|
| Page Load Speed | 3-6 seconds | <2 seconds |
| Security Updates | Weekly (your responsibility) | Zero maintenance |
| Plugin Vulnerabilities | Common attack vector | N/A (no plugins) |
| Google PageSpeed | 40-70 average | 90-100 typical |
| SEO Performance | Requires plugins | Built-in optimised |
| Mobile Performance | Often poor | Mobile-first |
| Hosting Costs | $20-100/month | -From $49/month (managed) |
| Developer Availability | Abundant | Growing rapidly |
Performance: Where Next.js Dominates
WordPress relies on PHP executing on every page request. Even with caching plugins, you're fighting an uphill battle. Next.js generates static HTML at build time—your pages are ready before anyone requests them.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): WordPress averages 4.2s. Next.js sites typically achieve under 1.5s.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): WordPress themes often score poorly. Next.js Image component prevents layout shift by default.
- Time to Interactive: Fewer resources to load means users can interact faster.
For Google rankings in 2025, Core Web Vitals aren't just nice-to-have—they're essential. WordPress sites consistently struggle to hit the "good" threshold without expensive optimisation work.
Security: The Elephant in the Room
Here's an uncomfortable truth: WordPress is the #1 target for hackers. Not because WordPress core is insecure, but because the plugin ecosystem is a minefield.
Every plugin you install is code written by someone else, often a solo developer with no security background. When that plugin has a vulnerability (and they often do), your site is compromised.
Next.js sites have a fundamentally different security model:
- No database to inject SQL into
- No PHP to exploit
- Static files served from CDN (no server to hack)
- API routes are isolated and can be properly secured
The True Cost: Let's Do the Maths
WordPress Hidden Costs (Year 1)
- Hosting: $240-600/year (quality hosting isn't cheap)
- Premium theme: $60-200
- Essential plugins: $200-500/year (SEO, security, caching, backups)
- Developer time fixing issues: 10-20 hours @ $100/hr = $1,000-2,000
- Your time managing updates: 2 hrs/month = $1,200/year (at $50/hr value)
- Total: $2,700-4,500/year
With managed Next.js hosting from NullGlitch, you pay $49/month for a site that's faster, more secure, and requires zero maintenance from you. That's $588/year—and we handle everything.
When WordPress Actually Makes Sense
To be fair, WordPress isn't always the wrong choice:
- Large blogs with multiple authors who need a familiar editor
- Sites needing very specific plugins that don't exist elsewhere
- Teams with in-house WordPress developers who maintain the site full-time
- Budget below $1,000 total and willing to accept the trade-offs
For business websites, landing pages, and most e-commerce sites? Next.js is the modern choice.
Making the Switch
Migrating from WordPress to Next.js isn't just a technical upgrade—it's an investment in your business's digital future. You get:
- Better Google rankings from superior Core Web Vitals
- Higher conversion rates from faster page loads
- Peace of mind from proper security
- Time back from zero maintenance
Ready to Upgrade?
We migrate WordPress sites to Next.js regularly. Our modern development process means we can build you a custom Next.js site for FREE during your 15-day trial. If you love it, hosting starts at just $49/month with all maintenance included.
Why can we afford to build for free? Our streamlined development process and modern tooling means we work 3-4x faster than traditional agencies. We pass those savings to you.
