When a client tells us they can get a WordPress site for $3,000, we don't argue. They're right. But $3,000 is the down payment, not the total cost of ownership. Here's what the next three years actually look like.
The Initial Build: $2,500 – $5,000
This is the number everyone focuses on. A freelancer or small agency builds a WordPress site, installs a theme, configures plugins, adds your content, launches. Done.
Then the recurring costs begin.
Year One: The Real Numbers
Hosting: $360 – $1,200/year
Shared hosting at $3–$10/month is inadequate for a business site. Managed WordPress hosting is what you actually need for acceptable performance. Kinsta starts at $35/month and WP Engine at roughly the same. That's $360–$1,200/year depending on traffic and plan tier.
Source: Kinsta and WP Engine published pricing (2026).
Premium Theme: $50 – $200
Most quality themes are a one-time purchase. Some require annual renewal for updates and support.
Essential Plugins: $200 – $1,000/year
The plugins most business sites actually need are not free. Codeable's 2026 pricing analysis puts plugin license costs at $200–$1,000/year across common business stacks. Typical line items:
- SEO plugin (Yoast Premium, Rank Math Pro): $99–$229/year
- Security plugin (Wordfence, Sucuri): $199–$499/year
- Backup plugin: $50–$100/year
- Forms plugin (Gravity Forms, WPForms): $59–$259/year
- Page builder (Elementor Pro, Divi): $59–$199/year
Maintenance: $1,200 – $6,000/year
WordPress core, themes, and plugins need regular updates. Each update needs to be tested so it doesn't break the site. This happens monthly at minimum.
The 2026 WordPress maintenance market ranges from $30/month (automated-only) to $5,000+/month (enterprise). For a business site with real stakes, Codeable's market analysis puts realistic maintenance at $140–$500/month — $1,680–$6,000/year.
Do it yourself and you pay with your time instead of money.
The Emergency Costs
These aren't hypothetical.
Security Incidents: $200 – $2,000+
Codeable's 2025 data puts WordPress breach recovery at $200–$2,000+ depending on severity. A Melapress industry survey cited by Codeable found that 64% of WordPress professionals had experienced a breach, with most occurring on sites without structured maintenance.
Plugin Conflicts That Crash the Site: $200 – $500
An update breaks something. Now you need emergency developer time to diagnose and fix it.
Performance Degradation: $500 – $2,000
WordPress sites slow down as plugins accumulate and databases grow. Performance optimization is periodic maintenance, not a one-time task.
The Three-Year Total
Conservative math on a $3,500 WordPress build:
- Initial build: $3,500
- Managed hosting ($40/month × 36): $1,440
- Plugin renewals ($400/year × 3): $1,200
- Maintenance ($250/month × 36): $9,000
- One security incident + one plugin emergency: $1,500
Three-year total: approximately $16,640.
That $3,500 site actually costs $16K+ over three years. And at the end of it, you still have a WordPress site that needs ongoing attention.
The Next.js Alternative
A custom Next.js build at Vizantir starts at $15,000. Three-year math looks different:
- Initial build: $15,000
- Hosting on Vercel Pro ($20/month × 36): $720 (many marketing sites stay on the free Hobby tier for personal projects, but commercial use requires Pro)
- Plugin licenses: $0 — there are no plugins
- Maintenance: typically lower than comparable WordPress care because there's less surface area to patch — budget $100–$300/month depending on scope
- Security incidents: far less likely. No plugin ecosystem to exploit, no admin login exposed to the internet. Not zero risk — dependencies still need updating — but a structurally smaller attack surface
Three-year total: approximately $20,000–$26,000 depending on maintenance scope.
Source: Vercel published pricing (2026).
What the Math Actually Says
The $3,500 WordPress site and the $15,000 Next.js site end up in the same cost neighborhood over three years. The WordPress site might even be slightly more expensive once you factor in one security incident and realistic maintenance.
What you get for roughly the same total spend:
- A faster site (performance affects conversion — Google's own research puts mobile abandonment at 53% past 3 seconds)
- Fewer moving parts to break
- A codebase your developer can actually maintain five years from now
- Less recurring maintenance burden on your team
The Real Question
It's not "how much does a website cost?" It's "how much does owning this website cost over time, and what does it give me back?"
When you factor in total cost of ownership and performance, the premium build often wins on the economics alone. When you factor in how the site represents your brand to clients deciding whether to trust you with significant money, the argument gets stronger.
Want the version of this math specific to your business? Book a strategy call.