Why WordPress isn't always the right choice – an honest story

WordPress powers more than forty per cent of all websites. That makes it popular, but not automatically the best choice for your project. I regularly see clients getting stuck in a WordPress installation that became bigger, slower or more expensive than they expected.

The plugin problem

WordPress itself does little out-of-the-box. You install plugins for SEO, forms, caching, security, backups, analytics, cookie bars – the list grows quickly. Each plugin requires updates, can conflict with another, and adds code that slows your site. I've seen installations with thirty active plugins where half were redundant, but no one dared disable them for fear something would break.

That maintenance costs time or money. Postponing updates increases security risks; updating too quickly sometimes breaks the site. It's a fixed burden you don't have with lighter systems.

Speed and overhead

WordPress loads PHP with every request, queries the database, and processes the output of theme and plugins. Even with caching, the foundation remains heavier than a statically generated site or a focused platform. For a simple company site with five pages and few changes, that overhead is unnecessary.

I recently built a simple landing page for a client who initially wanted a WordPress multisite. After asking questions, it turned out no CMS was needed – the content changed at most twice a year. We chose a static page: faster, safer, no hosting with database, no monthly maintenance. That choice saved months of management.

When WordPress does make sense

WordPress shines when you publish many different content types, have multiple authors, or need functionality that already exists in established plugins. For corporate blogs with editorial teams, association sites with member portals or news platforms, the ecosystem offers many ready-made solutions.

But if you mainly publish articles, consider Ghost. For webshops, you're better off choosing Shopify or a dedicated e-commerce platform. For custom management, I've built a Payload CMS environment that did exactly what the client needed, without the baggage of a general system.

Protecting the platform choice

I've run webshops for fifteen years – I know how quickly technical debt accumulates when you choose the wrong tool. That's why I propose one concrete recommendation per project, with the platform that fits what you want to achieve and who needs to maintain it. No standard recipe, no commercial interest in one supplier.

Sometimes that's WordPress, often it's not. I guided a client from WordPress to Ghost because they mainly wrote and published, without webshop or members. The cutover went smoothly, the site became faster, and the monthly plugin maintenance disappeared.

Honest advice from the first sentence

If you're doubting whether WordPress is the right choice, let's discuss the goal and context. I'll outline what fits, how much it costs, and how long it takes – without surprises afterwards. See how I work on the Kattenberg 118 studio page, or get in touch for a concrete conversation about your project.