Headless or full replatform: which to choose (and why we almost always recommend rebuilding)

When you decide to leave monolithic WordPress, there's a fork in the road that almost nobody explains well: do you keep WordPress behind as your content manager (headless) or remove it entirely and rebuild the site (full replatform)? The answer changes the cost, the maintenance and your day-to-day. Let's take a stand.

The two routes, in one sentence

• Headless. WordPress stays alive as the editing panel; Next.js renders the site in front, consuming its API. You still have the WordPress editor, but the visitor no longer touches PHP.
• Full replatform. WordPress disappears. The content is migrated once and the site becomes static. Goodbye plugins, goodbye patches, goodbye hosting bill.

Headless vs full replatform

• WordPress editor · Headless: Stays · Full replatform: Goes (or moves to another CMS)
• Security maintenance · Headless: Continues (WP core + hosting) · Full replatform: Disappears
• Recurring cost · Headless: WP hosting + Vercel · Full replatform: Vercel only (almost zero)
• Public-facing speed · Headless: Very high · Full replatform: Very high
• Ideal for · Headless: Daily publishing, several editors · Full replatform: Sites that hardly ever change

Why we almost always recommend rebuilding

Let's be clear, even if it sounds contrarian: for most websites, headless is paying for a convenience that hardly gets used. Keeping WordPress alive "just for editing" means carrying on paying its hosting, carrying on updating its core and carrying on having its attack surface. And most services or corporate sites get touched two or three times a year. For that, dragging all of WordPress along behind isn't worth it.

When the site hardly changes, a full replatform turns the whole hosting bill around and removes maintenance at the root. It's cheaper to own and simpler to live with.

When headless DOES make sense

Rebuilding isn't always the answer. Headless shines when:

• You publish daily (a media outlet, a genuinely active blog).
• Several people edit and the WordPress editor is their working tool.
• You have content workflows built in WordPress (roles, revisions, scheduling) that you don't want to rebuild.

Quick rule: if the WordPress editor is the centre of your daily operation, headless. If your site is an excellent brochure you update now and then, rebuild it entirely. And if in doubt, it's almost always the latter — people overestimate how much they're going to edit.

A middle ground that works

There's a third route we use often: replatform with a lightweight headless CMS (not WordPress) for the few parts that do change — a blog, some prices, a listing. You keep the autonomy to edit those pieces without carrying all of WordPress behind. The best of both worlds, without the weight.

Not sure which one is right for you? That's exactly what we decide with you in the free audit: we look at how you work and tell you whether headless or rebuild. Full context in the migration guide.