December 13, 2023

The real cost of running WordPress

‘If you can think it, you can build it.’ WordPress uses great slogans to promote its free software. But free is not free at all. It is actually more expensive than most paid alternatives, especially when we compare it to Hugo.

Lower conversion

WordPress has a lower page speed than most alternative solutions. This is very clear when you compare WordPress to Hugo websites. We know that conversion rates will drop significantly on slower pages. Having 5% less conversion/orders can be very costly.

Getting hacked

WordPress is famous for getting hacked. When you get hacked, you have to hire a professional at 50+ euro an hour that will restore a backup and change all passwords. Hopefully this does not influence order data, because restoring your orders is even more expensive. Hugo websites, on the other hand, are almost impossible to hack.

Running updates

Having updates done manually for you (by an IT professional) will cost you 50+ euro an hour. These updates have to be done on a monthly basis and can lead to errors. When such an error occurs it can bring your website down or degrade its functionality. Hugo websites do not require updates.

Higher hosting costs

Hosting WordPress will cost significantly more than hosting a static site. Kinsta will let you host 100 Hugo websites for free, while they ask 400+ euro per year for a WordPress environment.

()  Joost van der Schee