WordPress runs a third of the internet. Every web designer knows it. It’s the default answer to “what should my website be built on?”
But default isn’t always right. Here’s an honest look at what WordPress actually involves — the trade-offs, the real costs, and what the alternatives offer.
What WordPress actually is in 2026
WordPress started as a blogging platform in 2003 and grew into the dominant CMS by becoming everything to everyone. Need an ecommerce store? There’s a plugin. Need a booking system? There’s a plugin. Need a page builder? There’s five.
That flexibility is real. It’s also the source of most of WordPress’s problems.
The average WordPress site runs 20–30 plugins. Each plugin is a dependency. Each dependency needs updating. Each update can break something else. The security surface area is enormous — WordPress is the most targeted CMS on the internet precisely because it’s the most common one.
None of this makes WordPress bad. It makes it a specific trade-off that’s right for some situations and wrong for others.
The problems that come up most often
Performance. A default WordPress install with a page builder and a handful of plugins will score 40–60 on Google PageSpeed — before images and copy are added. Getting above 80 requires ongoing effort: caching layers, image optimisation, plugin audits. WordPress can be fast. Most WordPress sites aren’t.
Security. WordPress sites get compromised regularly — through outdated plugins, brute-force login attacks, or themes from unvetted sources. Hosting providers offer “WordPress-specific security” as a product category because the problem is common enough to sell solutions to.
Maintenance overhead. Staying secure means keeping WordPress core, plugins, and PHP versions up to date. If that’s not happening regularly, risk is accumulating. For most small business owners running a business, it isn’t happening regularly.
Design constraints. Page builders like Elementor and Divi offer flexibility, but they generate complex, heavy HTML that’s hard to control precisely. A site can look fine but perform poorly and become difficult to maintain over time.
What the alternatives look like
The modern approach separates two things that WordPress bundles together: the code that builds the site, and the interface used to edit content.
Astro (or similar modern frameworks) handles the site itself — generating fast, lean HTML with minimal overhead. Sites built this way consistently score 90–95+ on performance benchmarks without extra optimisation effort.
Headless CMS tools like Sanity handle content editing. The interface is clean and purpose-built — edit text, upload images, publish. No plugin ecosystem to manage, no block editor quirks, no admin panel accumulating cruft. Most people find it simpler than WordPress within a few days of using it.
The combination gives you a site that performs like custom-coded and feels like a simple CMS to maintain.
When WordPress is still the right answer
WordPress is genuinely the right choice in some situations.
If a business needs a large content operation with multiple editors and complex publishing workflows, WordPress’s maturity is an advantage. If WooCommerce is already deeply embedded in the business, the cost of moving is real. If there’s a specific plugin the business depends on with no good equivalent elsewhere, that matters.
The question to ask is: are you using WordPress because it’s the right tool, or because it was the default when the site was first built?
The cost picture
WordPress has a reputation for being cheap. The software is free, which helps that reputation. The full picture is different.
A properly maintained WordPress site involves: managed hosting ($30–100+/month for anything serious), premium theme or page builder licences, plugin licences, and regular developer time when updates break things. Over two years, that adds up.
Modern alternatives are often hosted on platforms like Vercel, which is free at the scale most small businesses need. No plugin licences, significantly less maintenance overhead. The total cost of ownership is often comparable or lower.
The short version
WordPress is the right choice for large content operations, complex ecommerce, or businesses with specific plugin dependencies.
For most NZ small business websites — service businesses, consultants, studios, trades — it’s the wrong default. The complexity and ongoing maintenance overhead exist to solve problems those businesses don’t have.
There are faster, more secure, easier-to-maintain options. Worth knowing about before committing to a build.
Curious how this applies to your situation? The Q&A page covers more, or
get in touch for a straight conversation about what would actually suit your business.