A specialist's caveat
We build with Next.js, we like it, and we turn down Next.js projects regularly because the client would be worse off. A framework is a choice about who will maintain the site, how content will be edited, and what the budget can sustain, not about what the developer prefers. Here are the cases where we say no, and what we recommend instead.
When the client will edit everything and has no developer
A ten-page business site whose owner wants to change copy, add pages, swap images and adjust the menu, without anyone technical involved, is a WordPress site or a hosted builder. Next.js with a headless CMS gives the owner a good editor for content but not for structure: a new page type, a new section layout, a changed menu, are all developer work. If there is no developer on retainer, the site will freeze on the day the project ends.
Recommend instead: WordPress with a block theme, or Squarespace or Webflow for the simplest cases.
When the budget is a one-off build with no maintenance
Next.js sites need a deployment platform, a CMS subscription or a content workflow, dependency updates, and someone who understands the code when something changes. That is manageable on a small retainer and impossible on none. A client with a build budget and no monthly budget needs a platform that maintains itself.
Recommend instead: a hosted builder, or WordPress on managed hosting with a care plan.
When the site is mostly a store
WooCommerce and Shopify are complete commerce systems with payments, tax, shipping, inventory, refunds, customer accounts and a decade of edge cases handled. A headless Next.js storefront over a commerce API is a real option for a large brand with a team, and a heavy build for a small store that just needs to sell. The storefront alone takes as long as a whole WooCommerce build.
Recommend instead: WooCommerce when content and commerce belong together and the client owns the hosting; Shopify when they want a managed platform.
When plugins would do the job
Booking, membership, forums, learning management, directories. WordPress has mature plugins for each that would take weeks to reproduce in a framework. If the project's value is in one of those features and the rest is a brochure, the plugin ecosystem wins on cost and time by a wide margin.
Recommend instead: WordPress with the relevant plugin, integrated carefully, with the theme built properly around it.
When the developer who will maintain it is a WordPress developer
The client has an agency or an in-house person who knows PHP and WordPress. Handing them a React codebase is handing them a maintenance problem, however well documented. The right stack is the one the maintainer can work in.
Recommend instead: the maintainer's stack.
When it is a landing page
A single campaign page with a form does not need a framework, a build pipeline or a CMS. A static HTML page, a simple static site generator or a landing-page tool ships faster and has nothing to maintain.
Recommend instead: whatever is quickest. This is not architecture.
When it is a good fit
For balance, the cases where Next.js is the right answer for a business site:
- Performance is the differentiator. Core Web Vitals are a ranking and conversion lever the client cares about, and a properly cached Next.js site is very hard to beat.
- Content lives in a headless CMS already, or should because it feeds several channels.
- There is custom application logic: quoting tools, configurators, dashboards, integrations that would be fighting WordPress.
- The team is developer-led and will maintain a codebase as a matter of course.
- Scale and reliability matter in a way a shared PHP host cannot deliver.
If two or more of those hold, Next.js is likely right. If none do, it likely is not, however much we enjoy building with it.
How to make the call
Answer three questions honestly. Who edits the site, and what will they need to change without a developer? Who maintains it, and in what stack? What is the monthly budget after launch? The answers pick the platform. The developer's preference should not enter into it, and a developer who only offers one answer is telling you what they sell, not what you need.
We offer both, which is why we can say this plainly: Next.js when the case is there, WordPress when it is not, and the recommendation comes before the quote, not after.