The verdict in three sentences
For a services SME whose WordPress site has 60 pages, 25 plugins and a PageSpeed mobile score of 38, a migration to Next.js costs between 10,000 and 30,000 EUR excluding VAT on the Dutch market and ships in 4 to 8 weeks. The main risk is not technical but SEO: without a 301 redirect plan covering 100 % of URLs, losing 30 to 60 % of organic traffic for several months is common. Done properly, the migration ends breaking updates, lifts the mobile score above 90 and lowers maintenance costs.
Why migrate, and when not to
WordPress is still a fine tool for a blog or a small site. The trouble starts when a stack of plugins (page builder, cache, SEO, forms, multilingual, security) creates conflicts at every update. Next.js serves static or server-rendered pages, with no public-facing database and no third-party plugins to update every week.
| Criterion | WordPress with 25 plugins | Next.js (headless or static) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical PageSpeed mobile score | 30 to 55 | 85 to 98 |
| Mobile load time on 4G | 4 to 8 seconds | 1 to 2 seconds |
| Security updates | Weekly, risk of breakage | Monthly, controlled dependencies |
| Attack surface | Public admin, vulnerable plugins | No admin exposed on the public site |
| Content editing | Familiar WordPress back office | Headless CMS (Sanity, Strapi) or WordPress kept as headless |
| Estimated annual maintenance | 2,500 to 5,500 EUR | 1,200 to 2,800 EUR |
Do not migrate if your site has fewer than 10 pages, if your team edits content daily with no technical support and refuses any change of tool, or if a theme refresh and plugin clean-up are enough to reach a mobile score of 70.
Budget and timeline: Dutch market and Kolonell pricing
The market ranges below are 2026 orders of magnitude for agencies in Amsterdam and the Randstad. They mostly depend on the volume of content to migrate and on business features (complex forms, booking, client area).
| Option | Scope | Budget excl. VAT | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market: simple static migration | 20 to 40 pages, design kept | 10,000 to 14,000 EUR | 4 weeks |
| Market: headless migration | 60 pages, WordPress kept as CMS | 14,000 to 21,000 EUR | 5 to 6 weeks |
| Market: full redesign + headless CMS | 60 pages, new design, Sanity | 21,000 to 30,000 EUR | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Kolonell: Premium package | Next.js rebuild, animations, advanced SEO, redirects | 3,050 to 5,340 EUR (2,000,000 to 3,500,000 FCFA) | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Kolonell: Standard maintenance | Updates, backups, fixes | 75,000 FCFA per month (about 110 EUR) | Ongoing |
The redirect plan is the one line item you never cut. It includes exporting every indexed URL (Search Console, sitemap, crawl), one-to-one mapping to the new URLs, keeping the title tags and meta descriptions that perform, then daily 404 monitoring for 30 days after go-live.
| SEO step | Deliverable | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl and inventory | Full URL list with traffic and backlinks | 2 to 3 days |
| Mapping table | Old URL to new URL file, 100 % coverage | 2 days |
| Pre-production testing | Automated test of every redirect | 1 day |
| Go-live and submission | New sitemap sent to Search Console | 1 day |
| Post-migration monitoring | 404 and rankings report at D+7, D+15, D+30 | 30 days |
Mini case study
Illustration: Joost runs a building inspection firm in Amsterdam. His site gets 2,000 visits a month and converts at 1.2 %, or 24 enquiries. After migration, with mobile load time down from 6 to 1.5 seconds, a 1.8 % conversion rate is a reasonable target: 36 enquiries, so 12 more. With a 20 % close rate and an average job of 1,100 EUR, the gain is 12 x 0.20 x 1,100 = 2,640 EUR a month. A 5,000 EUR migration pays back in under two months, before maintenance savings.
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FAQ
Will I lose my Google rankings?
Not if 100 % of URLs are 301-redirected and high-performing content is kept. A 5 to 15 % fluctuation over 2 to 4 weeks is normal, then traffic recovers, often higher thanks to speed.
Will my team still be able to edit pages?
Yes, through a headless CMS such as Sanity or by keeping WordPress purely as a back office. Onboarding usually takes one 2-hour training session.
What happens to my forms and plugins?
Each plugin is replaced by native code or a dedicated service. Out of 25 plugins, typically only 3 to 5 genuinely useful functions need rebuilding.
How much does Next.js hosting cost?
From 0 to 20 EUR a month on Vercel or Netlify for an SME, or Kolonell managed hosting at 25,000 to 75,000 FCFA a month (about 40 to 110 EUR) with monitoring included.
Can we migrate and keep the current design?
Yes, it is the cheapest option, around 10,000 to 14,000 EUR on the Dutch market. It makes sense if the design is less than 3 years old.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current site address, page count and plugin list, and we will come back with a migration scope, an indicative budget and a go-live schedule with no SEO 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.
