The verdict in three sentences
Migrating a 300-page WordPress site for an industrial SME in Berlin to Next.js costs EUR 15,000 to 35,000 and takes 6 to 10 weeks. The main risk is SEO rather than technology: without a 301 redirect plan covering 100 % of URLs, part of the organic traffic can vanish within days. Done properly, the migration takes load time from 4.8 s to an LCP under 1.8 s and cuts maintenance from EUR 350 to 150 per month.
The diagnosis: why the current WordPress site is expensive
A 300-page industrial site running 40 plugins builds up three kinds of debt. Performance: 4.8 s to load on mobile, Core Web Vitals in the red and buyers leaving the product page before seeing the specifications. Security: every plugin is an attack surface, and updates regularly break a form or a configurator. Hidden cost: EUR 350 per month of maintenance, plus emergencies billed outside the contract.
| Migration item | 2026 range (EUR excl. VAT) | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Audit and URL inventory | 1,500 to 3,000 | Full crawl, traffic per page, backlinks |
| Next.js architecture and headless CMS | 3,000 to 6,000 | CMS choice, content models, static rendering |
| Design system and templates | 3,000 to 8,000 | Products, ranges, industries, news, careers |
| Migration of 300 pages | 3,500 to 9,000 | Import scripts, clean-up, optimised media |
| 301 redirect plan | 1,000 to 3,000 | 100 % of URLs, automated tests |
| Forms, configurator, CRM integrations | 2,000 to 5,000 | Quote requests, datasheet downloads |
| Testing, performance, go-live | 1,000 | Lighthouse, SEO regression tests |
| Total | 15,000 to 35,000 | 6 to 10 weeks |
Three options compared over 3 years
A full migration is not always the right answer. Here is the comparison, as a 2026 order of magnitude, for a 300-page site.
| Criterion | Optimised WordPress | Headless WordPress + Next.js | Static Next.js + headless CMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial cost | EUR 6,000 to 10,000 | EUR 18,000 to 30,000 | EUR 15,000 to 35,000 |
| Monthly maintenance | EUR 250 to 350 | EUR 200 to 300 | EUR 120 to 150 |
| CMS licence | EUR 0 | EUR 0 | EUR 0 to 100 per month |
| Realistic mobile LCP | 2.5 to 3.2 s | 1.5 to 2 s | 1.2 to 1.8 s |
| Plugins to maintain | 15 to 25 | 10 to 15 on the back office | 0 |
| 3-year total cost | EUR 15,000 to 22,600 | EUR 25,200 to 40,800 | EUR 19,300 to 44,000 |
| Migration SEO risk | Low | Medium | Medium, controlled by 301s |
Optimised WordPress remains relevant if budget is tight and the marketing team is attached to the editor. Headless keeps WordPress as the back office but carries part of the debt. Static Next.js with a headless CMS gives the best performance and security, with a comparable 3-year total cost once emergency maintenance is factored in.
Protecting search rankings during the migration
SMEs that lose traffic after a migration almost always neglected four points: URLs missing from the redirect plan, title tags and meta descriptions not carried over, images without alt attributes and an unsubmitted sitemap. The safe method: crawl the old site, map every URL to its new address, test the 301s automatically before the switch, then monitor Search Console daily for 4 weeks. A temporary dip of 5 to 10 % for 2 to 3 weeks is normal; beyond that, a URL is missing.
Mini case study
Natalie, IT director of a 120-employee industrial SME near Berlin, launches a migration at EUR 26,000. Maintenance drops from EUR 350 to 150 per month, EUR 2,400 saved per year, and emergency interventions (about EUR 3,000 per year) disappear. LCP falls from 4.8 s to 1.6 s. The site received 60 quote requests per month at a 1.2 % visitor conversion rate; at 1.6 % after migration, it receives 80. With a 10 % close rate and an average order of EUR 9,000, the 20 extra requests represent roughly EUR 18,000 of additional monthly revenue. The project pays back within a few months.
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FAQ
Will we lose our rankings by leaving WordPress?
Not if 100 % of URLs are 301-redirected and tags are carried over. A 5 to 10 % dip for 2 to 3 weeks is common, after which traffic usually exceeds the previous level thanks to performance gains.
Will the marketing team still be able to edit pages?
Yes, through a headless CMS (Sanity, Strapi, Payload) with a visual editor. Training takes half a day and publishing a news item stays as simple as in WordPress.
How long does migrating a 300-page site take?
Allow 6 to 10 weeks depending on the quality of existing content and the number of integrations. The switch itself takes an hour, ideally on a Tuesday morning.
What happens to our 40 WordPress plugins?
Most disappear because their functions are built into the code (SEO, caching, forms, security). The 3 or 4 truly business-critical ones, such as a configurator, are rebuilt or connected via API for EUR 1,000 to 3,000 each.
Is Next.js suited to a multilingual site?
Yes, internationalisation is native with per-language URLs and hreflang tags. Adding German or English mainly costs the translation, around EUR 0.12 to 0.18 per word.
Let's scope your project. Send us your site URL and constraints, and we will price a EUR 15,000 to 35,000 migration delivered in 6 to 10 weeks with a complete redirect plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
