When NOT to migrate from WordPress (and when you should)

We migrate WordPress sites to Next.js for a living. And still we're going to devote a whole article to telling you when not to do it. Not out of modesty: because a migration that wasn't needed is money thrown away and an unhappy client, and we'd rather tell you than charge you for it.

When you should NOT migrate (yet)

Signs the migration can wait

• Your site already flies. If your WordPress is well built, on good hosting, without a single plugin too many, and Google isn't penalising you, there's no urgency. Fixing what isn't broken is not a strategy.
• You publish daily and the whole team edits in WordPress. The WordPress editor is its greatest virtue. If it's the centre of your content operation, taking it away has a real workflow cost.
• You've just invested in a redesign. If six months ago you spent good money on the site, get your money's worth. Migrate when the next cycle comes around.
• It's a huge e-commerce with half-documented integrations. WooCommerce with 40 connections to payment gateways, ERPs and logistics is not a weekend job. It can be done, but it needs a serious project, not an Express.
• There's nobody to maintain the content afterwards. If nobody is going to touch the site, migrating doesn't change the fact that it's abandoned. Content plan first.

When you SHOULD, without hesitation

• Your site loads slowly and you can see it in your traffic. Every extra second is traffic and customers walking away. Here the migration pays for itself.
• You live in fear of updating. If touching a plugin makes you dizzy because "last time everything broke", that fear has a cost and it's not going away on its own.
• You've been hacked, or nearly. An unattended WordPress is a target. If you've already paid for one cleanup, don't wait for the second.
• You pay for premium plugins you barely use. Renewing licences year after year for features a single line of code would solve is bleeding from a small wound.
• Your site hardly ever changes. A services website updated twice a year doesn't need a database or a live CMS: it's the perfect case for rebuilding it static.

Notice the pattern: almost all the "when you should" cases are problems you're already suffering, not promises about the future. If migrating only serves to show off your stack, don't migrate. If migrating takes away a real pain, then yes.

Our rule

Before selling you anything, we look at your site in a free audit and tell you which of the two lists you're on. If you're on the first, we'll say so and you'll have lost nothing but a conversation. If you're on the second, we'll show you how much waiting costs you and what the migration would look like.

The cheapest way to find out whether migrating is right for you is to ask someone who earns the same telling you yes as telling you no. Write to us: no commitment, and the truth up front.