The verdict in three sentences
Migrating from WordPress to Next.js is worth it when your site exceeds 5,000 to 10,000 visits/month or suffers an LCP above 3 seconds on mobile. You gain speed (LCP from 4 s to under 1.5 s), security (no more vulnerable plugins) and lower hosting cost, in exchange for a 3-to-6-week rebuild. SEO is fully preserved if every old URL gets a 301 redirect to its new counterpart.
Cost and timeline by site size
The budget depends on page count, dynamic-content complexity (blog, e-commerce) and the volume of URLs to redirect. 2026 ballpark for the Senegalese market.
| Site size | Pages / content | Migration cost (FCFA) | Cost (EUR) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple brochure | 5-10 pages | 800,000 - 1,100,000 | 1,220 - 1,680 | 3 weeks |
| Brochure + blog | 15-40 pages + posts | 1,200,000 - 1,600,000 | 1,830 - 2,440 | 4 weeks |
| Content-rich site | 100+ articles | 1,700,000 - 2,100,000 | 2,590 - 3,200 | 5 weeks |
| E-commerce / catalog | 200+ product pages | 2,200,000 - 2,500,000 | 3,350 - 3,810 | 6 weeks |
Add hosting: a shared WordPress VPS costs 15,000 to 40,000 FCFA/month, while a Next.js deployment on edge/CDN often runs 0 to 25,000 FCFA/month for equivalent traffic, thanks to static rendering.
What you gain in concrete terms
The difference goes beyond speed: it touches security, recurring cost and ranking.
| Criterion | Typical WordPress | Next.js (static/edge) | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile LCP on 4G | 3.5 - 4.5 s | 0.9 - 1.5 s | -65% |
| JS payload | 700 KB - 1.2 MB | 150 - 250 KB | -75% |
| Plugin CVEs/year | 8-15 plugin CVEs | 0 (no plugins) | risk removed |
| Hosting/month | 15,000 - 40,000 FCFA | 0 - 25,000 FCFA | -50 to -100% |
| Security updates | weekly | near zero | time freed |
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The break-even threshold: below 3,000 visits/month on a small site, an optimized WordPress (cache + CDN) is often enough. Above that, or if speed is costing conversions, Next.js becomes the better choice.
Mini case study
Fatou runs a news site in Dakar: 80,000 visits/month, 600 articles, mobile LCP at 4.1 s, hosting at 35,000 FCFA/month. The Next.js migration costs her 1,900,000 FCFA. After launch: LCP at 1.3 s, hosting at 12,000 FCFA/month (saving 23,000 FCFA/month or 276,000 FCFA/year), and bounce rate down from 58% to 44%. With ad revenue tied to page views, her page views rise 19%. The investment pays back in under 11 months from ad gains alone, excluding hosting savings.
FAQ
Will I lose my Google ranking? No, if every existing URL gets a 301 redirect to its equivalent. This is the critical step: an exhaustive redirect map (often 50 to 600 URLs) preserves 95-100% of SEO equity over 4 to 8 weeks.
Can I keep my article editing interface? Yes, via a headless CMS (Sanity, Strapi) or by keeping WordPress as a "headless" back office. Your writers continue as before; only the public front end changes.
How long is my site offline during the switch? Zero. We build in parallel, test on a subdomain, then switch DNS: the real downtime is a few minutes, often overnight.
Is it worth it for a simple 5-page brochure? Rarely for speed alone, but yes if you want to remove vulnerabilities, drop hosting to near zero and get a site that no longer needs weekly updates.
Let's talk about your project. We audit your current WordPress site for free and quote the Next.js migration with the 301 redirect plan. 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.
