The verdict in three sentences
For a 25-lawyer business law firm in Dublin, migrating from WordPress to a headless CMS (Sanity or Strapi, with a Next.js front end) costs EUR 12,000 to 25,000 excl. VAT in 2026 and ships in 6 to 10 weeks. The real risk is not technical: it is losing traffic if the 301 redirect plan for the 300 existing URLs is rushed. The higher maintenance cost (EUR 150 to 300 per month instead of EUR 80) pays off as soon as the site carries the employer brand, thought leadership and appointment booking.
Why law firms are leaving WordPress in 2026
The scenario is familiar: a WordPress site built in 2018, 35 plugins of which 9 are no longer updated, a premium theme abandoned by its vendor, a 4.8-second mobile load time and two security alerts a year. For a firm handling M&A deals or sensitive litigation, a defaced page or a leaking contact form is a direct reputational risk, and GDPR requires you to demonstrate the security of the data you collect.
A headless CMS separates content (managed in Sanity or Strapi) from presentation (a static or server-rendered Next.js site). There is no database exposed on the public site, no third-party plugins to monitor, and pages load in under 1.5 seconds.
| Criterion | Current WordPress | Headless CMS + Next.js |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile load time (LCP) | 3.5 to 5 s | 0.9 to 1.6 s |
| Third-party plugins to maintain | 25 to 40 | 0 to 3 |
| Security incidents per year (order of magnitude) | 1 to 3 | close to 0 |
| Monthly maintenance | EUR 80 | EUR 150 to 300 |
| Hosting | EUR 20 to 40/month | EUR 0 to 50/month (Vercel, Netlify) |
| CMS licence | EUR 0 | Sanity EUR 0 to 15 per editor/month, self-hosted Strapi EUR 0 |
| Approval workflow | fragile plugin | native (draft, review, publish) |
Detailed migration budget for a 25-lawyer firm
The budget depends mainly on the volume of content to migrate (lawyer profiles, news, publications, practice area pages) and the complexity of the templates. Here is a realistic breakdown for 300 URLs, including 120 insight articles and 25 partner and associate profiles.
| Item | 2026 range (EUR excl. VAT) | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| SEO audit and inventory of 300 URLs | 1,200 to 2,500 | 1 week |
| Content modelling in Sanity or Strapi | 1,500 to 3,000 | 1 week |
| Design and Next.js build (12 to 18 templates) | 5,000 to 10,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Automated content and media migration | 1,500 to 3,500 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| 301 redirect plan and testing | 800 to 2,000 | 3 to 5 days |
| Bilingual set-up (profiles and practice areas) | 1,000 to 2,500 | included |
| Training for editorial assistants (2 sessions) | 600 to 1,500 | 2 half-days |
| Total | 12,000 to 25,000 | 6 to 10 weeks |
The 301 redirect plan deserves special attention. Every old URL (for example /2021/03/contract-law-reform/) must point to its exact new address, not to the home page. You export URLs from Search Console and the sitemap, map them to the new ones in a spreadsheet, then test each redirect before go-live. A firm that skips this step commonly loses 30 to 50% of its organic traffic for three to six months.
The sensitive part: training editorial assistants
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In most firms, two or three assistants or a communications officer publish news and update lawyer profiles. Sanity Studio is clearer than the WordPress admin, but it is different. Plan two half-day training sessions, an illustrated 10 to 15 page editing guide and one month of support by messaging. The native approval workflow (draft, partner review, scheduled publishing) is often what wins the team over: it replaces email threads full of screenshots.
| Watch point | Risk if neglected | Recommended measure |
|---|---|---|
| 301 redirects | -30 to -50% traffic | URL-by-URL mapping, tests before launch |
| Editor training | content unpublished for 2 months | 2 sessions + guide + 30-day support |
| Forms and GDPR | non-compliance with the Data Protection Commission | forms without local storage, processing register |
| Lawyer profiles | outdated information | structured fields, sign-off by each partner |
| Regulatory notices | breach of Law Society rules | dedicated template reviewed by compliance |
Mini case study
Aoife, managing partner of a 25-lawyer business firm in Dublin 2, receives a quote of EUR 18,500 excl. VAT to migrate 310 URLs to Sanity and Next.js in 8 weeks, with EUR 220 per month maintenance. The current site costs EUR 80 per month in maintenance, but the agency bills an average of EUR 2,400 a year in fixes (broken plugins, a 2025 hack). Real annual WordPress cost: 960 + 2,400 = EUR 3,360. Annual headless cost: EUR 2,640. Running costs are therefore EUR 720 a year lower. More importantly, the firm receives 14 qualified enquiries a month today; with a site 3 times faster, a cautious 15% uplift means 2 extra matters a month. A single EUR 8,000 fee matter covers almost half the project.
FAQ
Should a law firm choose Sanity or Strapi? Sanity is hosted and costs EUR 0 to 15 per editor per month, ideal for 3 to 5 editors without a tech team. Strapi is free but self-hosted, adding EUR 30 to 80 a month for server and monitoring. For 25 lawyers, Sanity is usually the simplest choice.
Will we lose our Google rankings? No, provided all 300 URLs are redirected one by one with 301s and title and meta tags are carried over. A temporary 5 to 10% dip for 2 to 4 weeks is normal, after which the speed gain usually improves positions.
How long will the site be offline during the switch? Not at all. The new site is built in parallel and the DNS switch takes under an hour, ideally on a Friday evening.
Can we keep insight articles published since 2015? Yes, migration is scripted, including images and authors. Budget EUR 1,500 to 3,500 excl. VAT depending on volume and the quality of the original markup.
Will the site be bilingual? Yes, Sanity handles per-language fields natively. Translating the content itself is budgeted separately, around EUR 0.10 to 0.15 per word for professional legal translation.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current site URL: we will price the URL inventory, the headless migration and the redirect plan, for an indicative budget of EUR 12,000 to 25,000 excl. VAT and delivery in 6 to 10 weeks. 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.
