WordPress is free. You've probably heard that a dozen times. And it's technically true — the software itself costs nothing to download.
But "free" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. When you add up what running a real WordPress site actually costs — hosting, plugins, themes, security, maintenance, developer time — the number gets uncomfortable fast.
Let's break it down.
The Real Annual Cost of a WordPress Site
Most small business WordPress sites involve some combination of the following:
| Item | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Managed WordPress hosting (WP Engine, Kinsta) | €300–€600 |
| Premium theme | €60–€200 |
| Page builder (Elementor Pro, Divi) | €100–€200 |
| SEO plugin (Yoast, RankMath Pro) | €99–€200 |
| Security plugin (Wordfence, Sucuri) | €99–€200 |
| Backup plugin | €50–€100 |
| Form plugin | €50–€150 |
| Performance/caching plugin | €50–€199 |
| Image optimization plugin | €50–€100 |
| Developer time (updates, fixes, content changes) | €500–€3,000+ |
| Total | €1,358–€4,950/year |
And that's assuming nothing goes wrong.
The Costs That Don't Show Up on Invoices
1. Your time
Every WordPress update is a potential problem. Core updates, theme updates, plugin updates — they conflict. You spend an hour debugging why your contact form broke after a security patch.
If your time is worth €50/hr, two hours a month is €1,200/year. Gone.
2. Slow site = lost revenue
A slow site loses visitors and conversions. If your site makes you €2,000/month and a speed improvement increases conversions 15%, that's €300/month — €3,600/year — sitting on the table.
3. Developer lock-in
WordPress customization requires WordPress-specific knowledge. The custom theme your developer built 3 years ago? Only they can maintain it efficiently.
4. Hack recovery
WordPress powers 40% of the internet. That makes it the biggest target for automated attacks. When (not if) your site gets hacked, recovery costs €200–€2,000+ depending on severity.
The Alternative: What a Modern Site Actually Costs
Here's what a Next.js site on Vercel costs to run:
| Item | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Vercel hosting (Pro tier) | €240 |
| Domain | €12–€15 |
| Content edits (via our retainer) | €299–€999/mo |
| Security, backups, SSL | €0 (built in) |
| Plugin updates, conflicts | €0 (no plugins) |
Total infrastructure: ~€255/year.
No plugin subscriptions. No theme licenses. No security software. No update conflicts.
The Real Question
The real question isn't "how much does WordPress cost?" It's "how much is WordPress costing you that you don't notice?"
The plugin subscriptions are visible. The developer invoices are visible. The hours debugging updates, the slow site losing customers, the anxiety every time you click "update all" — those are the invisible costs that compound quietly.
A one-time migration to a modern stack eliminates most of them.
What a Migration Costs (and What You Get Back)
We charge €1,500–€4,000 for a WordPress → Next.js migration, depending on site complexity. That includes:
- Full rebuild in Next.js with your existing content and branding
- Deployment on Vercel with global CDN
- 90+ PageSpeed scores guaranteed
- Content training so you can manage it yourself
- Managed edits retainer starting at €299/mo (email us your changes, AI handles them)
Most clients break even in 6–12 months when you factor in eliminated plugin costs, saved developer time, and improved conversion rates.
Ready to move on from WordPress?
We migrate WordPress sites to Next.js — AI-assisted, fixed price, fast turnaround. Free audit included.