What Next.js is, in plain words
Next.js is a framework, meaning a foundation developers build websites on, based on React, the interface technology behind many large web applications. In plain terms: instead of assembling your site from a theme and plugins the way WordPress does, a developer writes it as custom software.
My own studio's site runs on it, and I build client sites with it. I also regularly tell owners not to use it. Which answer applies to you depends on what the site has to do, who edits it, and what you want to spend, so let's take those in order.
When Next.js is the right call
Next.js earns its place when at least one of these is true:
- The site does real work beyond describing your business. Online ordering, customer portals, quoting tools, dashboards: anything that behaves like software. The flower shop store I run, serving over 15,000 customers, is built this way because it needed delivery logic and checkout behavior no theme offered.
- Speed is a business requirement. Next.js sites can be genuinely fast on phones, with pre-rendered pages and optimized images by default. For businesses that live on Google search, page speed feeds both rankings and conversion.
- You integrate with other systems. Custom code talks to CRMs, payment processors, booking systems, and databases without fighting a plugin's assumptions.
- Security posture matters to you. A largely pre-rendered custom site has a much smaller attack surface than a platform running dozens of third-party plugins. There is simply less software standing there to be exploited, and the maintenance burden shifts from weekly plugin patching to occasional dependency updates.
Notice what's not on the list: being modern. Modern is not a business requirement.
When it isn't: the case for WordPress and site builders
WordPress or a good site builder is the better call when:
- Non-technical people edit content often. This is the big one. WordPress gives your team an editing interface out of the box; with Next.js, easy editing must be deliberately built in, which is a real cost, or every text change goes through a developer. If your marketing lives on frequent blog posts and page tweaks by staff, that convenience is worth real money.
- The budget is under roughly 5,000 dollars. At that level, a well-built WordPress site or even a polished site-builder page beats a rushed custom build every time. A cheap custom build is the worst of both worlds.
- Your needs are standard. Ten pages, a contact form, a gallery, a blog: WordPress has solved this a million times. Custom code adds cost without adding anything a visitor can see.
- You may change vendors. The pool of people who can competently take over a WordPress site is enormous. Custom codebases need developers comfortable in that stack. They are plentiful in the DMV, but it is a smaller pool, and worth thinking about upfront.
Costs and maintenance, honestly
Rough ranges, hedged as always:
- Site-builder or template site: 0 to 3,000 dollars up front, 20 to 50 dollars a month.
- Professionally built WordPress site: commonly 3,000 to 15,000 dollars, plus the maintenance a plugin-based platform needs. Figure 50 to 300 dollars a month for updates, backups, and monitoring.
- Custom Next.js site: commonly 8,000 to 30,000 dollars and up depending on features, with hosting often 0 to 50 dollars a month on modern platforms, and maintenance that's lighter week to week but requires a developer when it's needed at all.
The crossover logic: WordPress is cheaper to build and costlier to keep patched; Next.js is costlier to build and calmer to run. Over several years, for a site with custom features, the totals get closer than the sticker prices suggest. For a simple brochure site, they don't. WordPress or a builder stays cheaper the whole way.
How to hear through the hype
When a developer pitches you a framework, any framework, a few questions cut through the enthusiasm:
- Who will edit content, and can you show me exactly how they'll do it? Vague answers here predict pain.
- What happens when you're unavailable? You want a mainstream stack, code in an account you control, and documentation.
- What would this cost on WordPress instead, and why is the difference worth it for my business? A developer who can argue both sides is thinking about you. One who can't is thinking about their toolbox.
- What are the monthly costs after launch: hosting, maintenance, and changes?
The tool matters less than the fit. I've moved businesses in both directions, and the successful projects had one thing in common: the platform was chosen after the requirements, not before.
What to do next
To figure out your own answer:
- Write one page: everything the site must do, who edits it and how often, and any systems it must connect to.
- Mark each item as standard, like brochure pages, a blog, and a contact form, or custom, like ordering, portals, integrations, or unusual speed needs.
- Mostly standard and frequently edited by staff: get WordPress or site-builder quotes.
- One or more genuinely custom items, or speed as a business requirement: get quotes both ways and compare three-year totals, not build prices.
- Whatever you choose, confirm before signing that you own the domain, the hosting account, and the code or site export.
This decision is a conversation I have with owners at HashWhales weekly, and I'll tell you honestly when the answer is WordPress. It often is.