Why Most Agencies Still Run WordPress (And Why You Shouldn't)

WordPress runs 43% of the web. It's the easiest way to get a website online. But most agencies use it not because it's the best tool, but because they learned it in 2012 and haven't updated their toolkit since.

And you pay the price.

Why Agencies Love WordPress (Even Though They Shouldn't)

WordPress is easy to sell. You can say "we build websites" without explaining what that means. You can charge $3k-15k for a site that took 60 hours to build using a premium theme and a few plugins.

The barrier to entry is low. You don't need to know how to code. You buy a theme. You install some plugins. You configure settings. You're a WordPress developer now.

Here's the problem: that low barrier to entry means every other person who calls themselves a web developer is also doing the same thing. You get commodity websites. Cookie-cutter designs. Copy-paste solutions.

And for agencies, WordPress is a repeatable, scalable model. Build 20 almost-identical sites. Charge the same price for each. The client doesn't know the difference between a custom site and a templated one.

The Real Cost of WordPress

You hire an agency. They build you a WordPress site. Looks nice. Launches. For the first month, everything is great.

Then the bills start coming.

• Plugin subscriptions. You need SEO. That's a plugin. You need forms. Another plugin. You need CRM integration. Another. Each one is $40-400/mo. By month six, you're paying more in plugin costs than you paid for the site.
• Security updates. WordPress gets hacked constantly. Your theme needs updates. Your plugins need updates. Your PHP version needs updates. Oversee this yourself and it's a headache. Pay someone to do it: $200-500/mo.
• Performance degradation. You add more plugins. The site slows down. Core Web Vitals score drops from 90 to 45. Users bounce. You hire someone to optimize it. $3k-10k.
• The plugin dependency trap. You build your site on a plugin that does X. The plugin maker decides to discontinue it. Or they raise the price 300%. Or they get acquired and shut down. Now you're stuck.
• Hosting costs. Your slow WordPress site needs expensive hosting to not be completely unusable. Shared hosting doesn't cut it. Managed WordPress hosting is $300-1000+/mo.
• Developer lock-in. You need to change something. You have to hire a WordPress developer. It's not easy for anyone who doesn't know PHP. Simple changes cost money.

You do the math. You paid $8k upfront. You're now paying $800/mo to maintain it. Over 3 years, that's $36,800 total. For a website.

What WordPress Actually Is (And What It Isn't)

WordPress is a blogging platform. Matt Mullenweg created it in 2003 to make it easy for non-technical people to publish blog posts. That's what it's great at.

It is not:

• A web application platform (though people use it that way)
• A secure system (unless you're constantly patching)
• A fast platform (unless you're obsessing over optimization)
• A modern development framework (it's built on PHP from 2003)

But agencies still use it for everything. For marketing sites. For SaaS. For membership platforms. For e-commerce. It works, technically. But it's like using a screwdriver as a hammer. You can do it, but why?

The Modern Alternative: Next.js and Custom Web Development

Next.js is a JavaScript framework built for the modern web. It's what companies like Netflix, Hulu, and TikTok use to build their applications.

For a website or web application, Next.js gives you:

• Speed. Pages load in 200-500ms. Not 3-6 seconds like WordPress.
• No plugins. You code what you need. No third-party bloat.
• Security. No databases full of plugins waiting to be exploited.
• Flexibility. Need a custom feature? Code it. No hunting for a plugin.
• Scalability. Your site runs on modern infrastructure. Auto-scaling, monitoring, CDN. It just works.
• Ownership. You own the code. You're not locked into a WordPress ecosystem.

But it costs more upfront. Custom development is more expensive than templated WordPress. You're paying for engineering, not just configuration.

Why Agencies Keep Recommending WordPress Anyway

Because it's profitable for them, not for you.

WordPress lets agencies build sites fast and cheap. 40 billable hours instead of 200. They can charge you $10k, spend 60 hours, and pocket $167/hour. Custom development: 200 hours at $150/hr = $30k. That's way better for you (you get a better site), but worse for agencies.

Plus, WordPress clients need ongoing maintenance. Security patches. Plugin updates. Performance optimization. That's recurring revenue. If you build a proper custom site, it requires less ongoing care, which means less recurring revenue for the agency.

So agencies have a financial incentive to keep you on WordPress forever, paying them monthly for optimization and maintenance work that shouldn't be necessary in the first place.

When WordPress Is Actually Fine

There are legitimate uses:

• A simple blog. If you just want to publish articles, WordPress is still fine.
• Budget-conscious projects. If you literally have $1k and need a website now, WordPress themes will get you there.
• Teams that already know it. If your whole team is WordPress developers and you're comfortable with it, fine. But realize you're choosing comfort over efficiency.

If you're a growth-focused business, need a fast website, want to own your infrastructure, and are tired of plugin bloat and maintenance headaches: WordPress is not the answer.

What We Actually Recommend

Depends on your goals:

• Marketing website or landing pages: Next.js custom build. Fast, secure, no plugins.
• E-commerce: Shopify (if you want to not think about it) or a custom Next.js build with Stripe/Shopify integration (if you want full control).
• Membership or SaaS: Custom software. Not WordPress.
• Blog only: Honestly? Medium or Substack. Or a lightweight Next.js blog. Not WordPress.

We've migrated dozens of sites from WordPress to Next.js. Almost every client says the same thing: "Why didn't we do this years ago?"

WordPress will keep evolving. It'll keep getting better. But it's built on 20 years of decisions that made sense in 2003, not 2026. It's not going away, but it's becoming the economy option.

And if you're building a business, you want better than economy.