Hall Web Design vs WordPress
Verdictvs WordPress
WordPress is the right answer when you need a content team, a plugin ecosystem, or a 2,000-page site. For a small-business brochure it's usually the worst-performing, most-fragile, most-expensive option on the shortlist.
WordPress powers around 40% of the web, including a lot of sites that would be faster, cheaper, and less fragile on something else. That's not a knock on WordPress - it's a knock on WordPress being the default answer when nobody asked the question. This page walks through where each approach wins.
Performance
Static + edge-cached. Lighthouse 95+ out of the box. Sub-second LCP on a good connection, <3s on a bad one. PHP + MySQL on shared hosting. Plugin sprawl makes 4s LCP common. Every page hit is a fresh database query unless you wire up caching. SEO
Per-page JSON-LD, clean semantic HTML, Core Web Vitals in the green. Search Console loves it. Depends entirely on the theme + Yoast/Rank Math setup. Can be fine; is often an afterthought that's actively hurting rankings. Security
Static output. No database, no login endpoint, nothing to brute-force. Zero CVEs because there's no runtime to exploit. The most-attacked CMS on the planet. Plugin chain = attack surface. Managed WP hosting patches the core but your theme and plugins are your problem. Editor experience
Decap CMS or a headless admin when you need one. Good, but a smaller ecosystem than Gutenberg. The block editor is genuinely excellent for content-heavy sites. Editors who know WP are a dime a dozen. Flexibility
Any feature is a Next.js route or component. No ceiling except your willingness to write code. Plugin-first. Almost everything you want already exists as a plugin, with the perf cost of plugin-first architecture. Ongoing cost
Vercel hosting from £0 (hobby) or £20/mo (Pro). No plugin licences. No "we need to fix the WordPress auto-update that broke the site" calls. Hosting £10-£50/mo + plugin licences + theme renewal + the cost of someone knowing WP well enough to unbreak it every six months. Ownership + portability
Code is in a git repo, content in markdown/JSON. Everything is yours, trivial to move anywhere. A WordPress export is portable in theory but binds you to WP's database schema. Migrating off WP is painful enough that most people don't. Lock-in
None. If I disappear tomorrow, any competent Next.js developer can pick it up in an afternoon. Your plugin stack is your lock-in. Enough custom post types + a few paid plugins = you're married to them. When WordPress is actually the right call
I'm not anti-WordPress on principle. There are cases where it's genuinely the best tool.
You're running a content operation. Multiple authors, editorial workflow, hundreds or thousands of posts, comments, categories. WordPress was built for this and the block editor has genuinely gotten good. A Next.js + CMS setup can match it, but you'll spend more to get there.
You need a specific plugin stack that already works. If your business depends on WooCommerce for a niche product catalog, or a specialist LMS plugin, or a particular booking integration that only exists on WordPress - great, use WordPress. Don't rebuild a working plugin in TypeScript for the purity points.
Your team already knows WordPress. If you've got an in-house team comfortable in WordPress, retraining them to edit MDX or Decap CMS adds friction without a business reason. Meet people where they are.
Where I come in
For everything else - which in my experience is most small-business sites - a static Next.js build is better on the metrics that matter.
Marketing sites and brochures. Under 30 pages, content changes monthly, conversion matters. These don't need a database, and the performance penalty of having one is paid on every page load.
Sites that need to rank locally. Core Web Vitals are a direct ranking signal. The 30-40 point Lighthouse gap between a typical WordPress site and a static Next.js one is often the difference between page one and page three on Google.
Sites that need to integrate. Most modern integrations - Stripe, HireHop, Formspree, calendar APIs, analytics - are easier to wire cleanly into typed TypeScript than to shim into WordPress via a plugin.
Common questions
Can you migrate an existing WordPress site?+
Yes. I do a content inventory first, map old URLs to new ones (with 301 redirects so you don't lose Google rankings), export the content into markdown or a CMS you can edit, then rebuild as a static Next.js site. Most small sites take 2-4 weeks.
What about my WordPress editors? They don't know how to edit Next.js.+
They don't need to. For client sites I usually wire up Decap CMS or a similar in-browser editor that lets non-developers update content via git without seeing code. V Clarke Books in the portfolio runs exactly this setup.
Won't I lose SEO when I switch?+
Only if the migration is done badly. A proper rebuild keeps the same URLs (or 301-redirects old ones), preserves internal linking, improves Core Web Vitals, and typically gains rankings within a few weeks. I treat search-console parity as a non-negotiable launch condition.
Is this just a static site generator, like Jekyll or Hugo?+
Same idea, much better tooling. Next.js can produce static HTML at build time (which is what most of your pages will be), but it also handles dynamic routes, forms, API integrations, and image optimization in the same codebase. You don't hit a wall the moment you need one dynamic page.
What if I need a blog?+
You can still have one. Either authored in Decap CMS (WordPress-style editor in the browser), MDX files in the repo (Markdown with React components), or a headless CMS like Contentful if your content team wants a richer editor. The blog ships as static HTML either way.
Isn't WordPress free and this costs more up-front?+
WordPress is free to install. The real-world cost is hosting + managed-WP fees + plugin licences + the person you'll pay when something breaks. Over three years a typical WordPress site costs more than a Next.js rebuild because the rebuild has no recurring software fees, cheaper hosting, and needs less maintenance.
Done with WordPress?
Tell me what your current site is costing you - in page-load time, plugin headaches, or conversions - and I'll tell you whether a rebuild is worth it.