The verdict in three sentences
Migrating a mid-sized company website from WordPress to Next.js with a headless CMS costs between 15,000 and 45,000 EUR (about 16,000 to 49,000 USD) in 2026, plus 2,000 to 5,000 EUR for the redirect plan and SEO testing. The move makes sense when the site stacks dozens of plugins, security incidents and an LCP above 4 s, because the WordPress maintenance saved (150 to 400 EUR per month) and the conversion gain cover the investment in 2 to 4 years. If your WordPress site is healthy and fast, a WordPress redesign remains cheaper and less risky.
Three options compared for a CIO
The typical starting point: a WordPress site launched in 2016, 45 plugins including 8 unmaintained ones, a heavy page builder, two security incidents in 18 months and a mobile LCP of 4.8 s. Three scenarios are on the table.
| Criterion | Keep WordPress | WordPress redesign | Next.js + headless CMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront investment (EUR) | 2,000 to 5,000 (clean-up) | 10,000 to 25,000 | 15,000 to 45,000 |
| Monthly maintenance | 150 to 400 EUR | 120 to 300 EUR | 50 to 150 EUR |
| CMS licence (monthly) | 0 EUR | 0 EUR | 0 to 400 EUR |
| Target mobile LCP | 3.5 to 4.5 s | 2.0 to 3.0 s | 1.0 to 1.8 s |
| Attack surface | High (PHP plugins) | Medium | Low (static or hybrid site) |
| Timeline | 2 to 3 weeks | 6 to 10 weeks | 8 to 16 weeks |
| SEO risk at switchover | None | Medium | Medium to high without a redirect plan |
The Next.js scenario is not the cheapest in year one. It becomes so over 3 years once maintenance, emergency fixes and conversion losses due to slowness are counted.
The real risk: SEO during the switch
A poorly prepared migration can lose 20 to 50 % of organic traffic for several months. The causes are always the same: changed URLs without 301 redirects, lost title and meta tags, forgotten structured data, thin pages deleted even though they earned links.
| Migration SEO task | 2026 budget (EUR) | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Full crawl and export of existing URLs | 400 to 800 | Inventory of 100 % of indexed pages |
| Page-by-page 301 redirect plan | 600 to 1,500 | Inbound links preserved |
| Tags, structured data, hreflang carried over | 400 to 1,000 | No technical ranking loss |
| Staging QA (comparative crawl) | 300 to 800 | Zero 404s at launch |
| 8-week post-launch monitoring (Search Console) | 300 to 900 | Fast fix of anomalies |
With this plan at 2,000 to 5,000 EUR (2,200 to 5,400 USD), the traffic dip is usually limited to 5 to 10 % for 2 to 4 weeks, then the speed gain lifts rankings.
Choosing the headless CMS and setting the timeline
The headless CMS determines how comfortable the marketing team will be. Sanity, self-hosted Strapi, Payload or Contentful cover different needs: visual editing, approval workflow, multilingual, number of editors. For a company with 5 to 10 contributors, budget 0 to 400 EUR per month depending on vendor and volume. Content migration (articles, product pages, pages) is scripted: 300 articles move in 2 to 4 development days, media included.
The 8 to 16 week timeline depends mostly on the number of templates (10 to 30), integrations (CRM, ATS, configurator) and languages.
Mini case study
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Claire, CIO of a 400-employee manufacturer near Manchester, pays 320 EUR per month for WordPress maintenance and spent 4,800 EUR on emergency fixes over 18 months. The site generates 90 contact requests per month at a 1.2 % conversion rate. The Next.js migration priced at 32,000 EUR plus 3,500 EUR of SEO, with a 99 EUR per month CMS, brings maintenance down to 100 EUR per month. Direct annual saving: (320 + 267 average fixes − 100 − 99) × 12 = 4,656 EUR. If LCP drops from 4.8 s to 1.5 s and conversion rises from 1.2 % to 1.5 %, she gains 22 contacts per month. At a 10 % close rate and 6,000 EUR margin per contract, that is worth over 13,000 EUR per month, enough to pay back the project in under three months.
FAQ
Will we lose our rankings by leaving WordPress?
Not if every indexed URL gets a 301 redirect and tags are carried over. With a 2,000 to 5,000 EUR plan, the temporary dip usually stays under 10 % and lasts 2 to 4 weeks.
Can the marketing team still edit the site on its own?
Yes, the headless CMS replaces the WordPress admin with an editing interface, previews and an approval workflow. A 2-hour training is usually enough for 5 to 10 editors.
Should we migrate all old content?
No, an audit identifies pages with no traffic or links, often 20 to 40 % of the site. They are merged or redirected, which cuts migration cost and strengthens the remaining pages.
Is Next.js more secure than WordPress?
A Next.js site served statically or in hybrid rendering exposes no PHP database or third-party plugins. The attack surface drops sharply, and security updates go from monthly to quarterly.
What is the total cost over 3 years?
For a typical mid-sized company site, budget 40,000 to 60,000 EUR over 3 years on Next.js (project, CMS, maintenance) versus 35,000 to 50,000 EUR keeping WordPress with its fixes. Conversion gains close the gap.
Let's scope your project. Send us your WordPress URL, plugin count and integrations, and we will deliver an audit, a migration and SEO estimate, and a switchover plan with no traffic loss. 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.
