Roughly 40% of the web runs on WordPress, which makes WordPress vs a custom website sound like a settled question. It isn't — but it's also not the religious war both camps make of it. It's a cost-and-fit question, and it has a boring, checkable answer for each situation. Here's the comparison we'd want as a small business owner: what each one actually is, where the money goes over two years, and the specific cases where WordPress is simply the right call.
The one-paragraph version of each
WordPress: a content management system. You pick a theme, add plugins for features, and manage everything from an admin panel — no programming. Custom (we build with Next.js): code written for your specific site, compiled into fast static pages. No admin panel by default, no plugins — just exactly the features you need, implemented once.
Neither is "modern vs outdated." WordPress is from 2003 and actively developed; Next.js is what companies like Netflix build on. The difference is architectural, and it plays out in speed, security and running costs.
Where WordPress genuinely wins
- You publish constantly. Blog three times a week, run a content site, manage a large catalog that non-technical staff update daily — the WordPress editor is mature and your team learns it in an afternoon. This is what it was built for, and it shows.
- DIY on a €0 budget. Free theme, €5/month hosting, 30–40 hours of your own time. The result won't be fast or pretty, but it will exist — the right trade when validating an idea.
- You need a solved niche feature today. Memberships, forums, complex booking — somewhere in WordPress's 60,000 plugins your feature already exists at "good enough" level.
And the corollary nobody selling custom sites says out loud: if your current WordPress site works and doesn't hurt, keep it. Migrating a functioning site for ideology is money spent on a problem you don't have.
The plugin tax: where WordPress costs hide
A working WordPress business site typically accumulates 20–30 plugins — SEO, cache, forms, security, backups, sliders. Each one charges rent in three currencies:
- Speed. Every plugin ships code your customer's phone must download and execute. Typical result: 400–800 KB of scripts and load times of 3–4 seconds — measured against Google's 2.5-second LCP threshold, that's a failing grade with ranking consequences. (How to check your own site in 2 minutes: website speed and Google rankings.)
- Security. Powering 40% of the web makes WordPress the #1 target. Unpatched plugins are the standard break-in route, so updates aren't optional — they're a monthly chore with occasional emergencies.
- Maintenance money. Because that chore scares owners, agencies sell it back as a service: €50–150/month, indefinitely. The "cheap" €800 site quietly becomes €2,000+ per year of ownership.
None of this is a scandal; it's just the real total cost, and it belongs in the comparison.
What the custom side trades away — and gets
The honest trade-off first: frequent self-service publishing is not the strong suit. Changing a price or a text is trivial; running a three-posts-a-week blog without a developer requires adding content tooling, which adds cost. If publishing is your business, reread the WordPress section.
What you get in return: static pages with nothing to hack in the WordPress sense, load times comfortably inside Google's thresholds, no plugin roulette after updates — which is why our maintenance costs €19/month and is optional, not a life-support subscription. And the part we consider non-negotiable regardless of who builds for you: you own the code. We hand over the full repository at delivery; whether staying with us is worth it has to be proven monthly, not enforced by lock-in. (The wider ownership checklist — domain, hosting, licenses — is its own article.)
The two-year math
| WordPress (agency-built) | Custom (our pricing) | |
|---|---|---|
| Build | €600–1,200 | €290–890 |
| Maintenance, 24 months | €1,200–3,600 | €0–456 (optional) |
| Two-year total | €1,800–4,800 | €290–1,346 |
Ranges are market-typical for Spain (sources and context in what websites cost in Spain); our numbers are the published ones on the pricing page. The pattern holds even if you argue individual figures: WordPress front-loads convenience and back-loads cost.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit content myself on a custom site?
Routine changes — texts, prices, photos — are either handled within maintenance or built as editable areas if you tell us what changes often. What you don't get is a universal admin panel. If you need one daily, that's a real requirement and points to WordPress or adding a CMS layer — say it upfront and the recommendation changes.
My WordPress site is slow. Fix or migrate?
Measure first — PageSpeed Insights, two minutes. A plugin cleanup and proper caching sometimes rescues a WordPress site for a few hundred euros, and then you're done. If it still fails the 2.5-second bar after cleanup, or maintenance fees are eating you, migration typically pays for itself within 1–2 years of canceled subscriptions.
Is Next.js overkill for a five-page site?
The technology is heavyweight; the result is the opposite — plain, fast, static pages with no moving parts to break. You don't operate the machinery, we do. What you experience is the output: a site that loads in around a second and doesn't need weekly patching.
The short version
WordPress wins when content volume rules: frequent publishing, DIY budgets, niche plugin needs — and a working WordPress site you already have is a site to keep, not migrate. Custom wins when the business rules: speed that survives Google's thresholds, no security treadmill, no mandatory monthly fees, code in your hands. Run the two-year math for your case, and if you want a second opinion on where you land, describe your site in two WhatsApp messages — we'll answer honestly, including when the answer is "stay where you are."