Next.js vs WordPress for a business website: running costs at list prices, Core Web Vitals pass rates for both, and how we built marketlube.in on Next.js.
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Drafted with AI tools; researched, edited and approved by Althameem Ali. Our editorial policy
On this page · 8 sections
- What is the difference between Next.js and WordPress?
- How did we build marketlube.in on Next.js?
- Is Next.js good for SEO?
- Which is faster in practice, WordPress or Next.js?
- What does each cost to run and maintain?
- Should a Kerala business choose WordPress or Next.js?
- Frequently asked questions
- Not sure which one fits?
Full disclosure: we build on both as part of our website design and development work, and our own site, marketlube.in, runs on Next.js. So this post sets out what each platform costs to run, at the vendors' own list prices with the date we read them, what the public speed data says, and how our own build works, including the parts that cost us time.
What is the difference between Next.js and WordPress?#
WordPress is a content management system. The editor, the database, the themes and the plugins come as one package, and a page is assembled on the server when someone asks for it, unless a caching plugin keeps a ready copy. It runs a large share of the web: 39.6% of all websites, and 58.3% of the sites whose CMS can be identified, according to W3Techs (opens in a new tab) (read 27 October 2026).
Next.js is a framework for building websites with React. There is no editor in the box. A developer builds the templates, and the content comes from files in the code or from a separate, headless CMS. Pages can be built ahead of time as plain HTML and served from a CDN, which is how most business sites on it work.
How did we build marketlube.in on Next.js?#
marketlube.in moved from a single-page app to a server-rendered Next.js build on 2 October 2026. Today it runs Next.js 16.2.10 with React 19.2.7 and Tailwind CSS 4, hosted on Vercel. What that means in practice:
- Every post is prerendered. Each article is a Markdown file in the site's code, turned into a static HTML page when the site is built. The pages that list posts refresh every hour, so a new post appears without a rebuild. All the text is in the first HTML response, which a crawler or an AI engine can read without running a script.
- Images are resized at build time. Before each production build, a script writes up to eight smaller copies of every image the site serves from its own folders, from 256 to 2,048 pixels wide, and keeps a copy only when it is at least 15% lighter than the original. A phone gets a file close to the size it shows.
- The SEO plumbing comes from one list. The sitemaps, robots.txt and llms.txt are generated from the same registry of pages that may be indexed. Every page carries one graph of structured data, share images are generated for each page type, and preview copies of the site send a noindex header, so only the live address can be indexed.
- Checks run before anything ships. Every build runs a post validator, a check on the copy and an SEO lint over the built pages. If one fails, the deploy stops.
The trade-off is real. Our site has no CMS: content is code, and only someone comfortable with Git can publish. For a client team that publishes every week, we pair Next.js with a headless CMS, as on the site we built for Clarix Education, whose own team publishes thousands of college profiles and guides without touching code. Yesjay Associates, a chartered accountancy firm, has a Next.js 16 site from us with every page prerendered.
Is Next.js good for SEO?#
It can be, because it can send search engines complete HTML. Our old site shows the risk on the other side: it was a single-page app, and every address, even /robots.txt, answered with the same empty shell until a script ran (our website redesign checklist tells that story). Next.js fixes this only when its prerendering or server rendering is used. A Next.js site built as a browser-side app has the same problem.
Speed is the other half. We ran PageSpeed Insights (Lighthouse 13.5.0) on pages of our own site on 9 October 2026, a week after launch:
These are lab numbers from an emulated phone on a simulated slow 4G connection, and the mobile score moved by up to 9 points between runs of the same page. Google's "good" lines are an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, an INP of 200 milliseconds or less and a CLS of 0.1 or less, at the 75th percentile of real visits (web.dev (opens in a new tab), last updated 31 October 2024, read 27 October 2026). Our lab LCP on mobile sits above 2.5 seconds. Chrome's field data from real visitors, the measure that counts, had no figures for our pages yet when we checked.
For contrast, the old single-page site, tested with the same Lighthouse version on 30 September 2026 (on our office Mac rather than through PageSpeed Insights, so not like for like), scored 54, 61 and 63 on mobile and weighed 50.3 MB, 47.9 MB of it in 76 images.
Which is faster in practice, WordPress or Next.js?#
The public data says the platform doesn't decide it. HTTP Archive's Core Web Vitals Technology Report (opens in a new tab) joins Chrome's real-user data with the technology each site runs. Our read of it on 27 October 2026, for September 2026:
A "site" here is an origin, one web address, with enough Chrome traffic to be measured. Our arithmetic on the report's counts.
Our reading: Next.js sites as a group pass less often on phones, likely because many of them are web apps that send a lot of JavaScript to the browser, not lean marketing sites. And visitors in India see fewer passes on both platforms than the world average. A lean WordPress site beats a heavy Next.js one, and the reverse holds too. Whichever you choose, a fast site needs few third-party scripts, images sized for the screen, fonts that load early, and someone who measures after every change.
What does each cost to run and maintain?#
The vendors' own pages, read 27 October 2026: Hostinger (opens in a new tab), Vercel (opens in a new tab), Yoast (opens in a new tab) and Patchstack's 2026 report (opens in a new tab) (updated 25 February 2026).
The upkeep is where the gap shows over the years. Our website maintenance cost guide compares 14 Indian sellers' published plans, most of them priced around WordPress updates.
Our own starting prices, before GST: a custom-designed business website of up to 8 pages from ₹60,000 (AED 8,000 in the UAE), a Next.js website with a headless CMS of up to 15 pages from ₹2 lakh (AED 15,000), and the website care plan from ₹3,000 a month, billed yearly. Hosting and domains are billed at cost, in your name. Every figure is on our pricing page, and our guide to website development costs sets them beside the market's ranges.
Should a Kerala business choose WordPress or Next.js?#
Two of those rows have their own guides: Arabic and English website design for Gulf-facing sites, and our landing page checklist for pages that take ad traffic. If you are weighing a site builder against both, our post on AI website builders and agencies works through three years of costs.
Moving a site from WordPress to Next.js puts its addresses at risk more than anything else: every URL that earns visits needs to stay or redirect permanently, as the redesign checklist above explains.
Frequently asked questions#
Is Next.js better than WordPress for SEO?#
Neither ranks a site by itself. Next.js makes it easier to send complete, lean HTML and to control every tag; WordPress makes it easier for a team to publish often, which matters as much. In HTTP Archive's September 2026 data, WordPress sites passed Core Web Vitals on mobile more often than Next.js sites, so the build matters more than the platform.
Can my team edit a Next.js website without a developer?#
Yes, when it is paired with a headless CMS such as Sanity, Payload or Strapi, set up with fields for each kind of content. Changes outside those fields, such as a new page layout or a new feature, need a developer.
Is WordPress safe for a business website?#
It can be, when core, the theme and the plugins are updated promptly and the plugin list stays short. Patchstack's count for 2025 put 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities in plugins and only 6 in WordPress core.
Can a business Next.js site run on Vercel's free plan?#
Vercel's FAQ limits the free Hobby plan to personal, non-commercial use, so a business site belongs on a paid plan, such as Pro at $20 a month for each developer seat (read 27 October 2026), or on another host.
How long does each take to build?#
On our own price list, a custom-designed business website of up to 8 pages takes 4 to 8 weeks, and a Next.js website with a headless CMS of up to 15 pages takes 8 to 14 weeks. Late content is the usual reason either takes longer.
Not sure which one fits?#
If you already have a site, the cheapest answer is often to keep the platform and fix the build. Tell us what your site runs on and what it needs to do, or see how our web team in Calicut scopes both. For a second opinion on the technology before you commit, book a technology consultation with Althameem Ali.
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Written by
Co-founder, Marketlube
Althameem Ali researched, edited and approved this post. Marketlube is a growth partner in Calicut building brands, websites, CRMs and campaigns for businesses across Kerala, India and the Gulf.
