Why re-platforming to WordPress can give you a strategic advantage

Your Content Management System (CMS) should be a platform that supports growth and scalability. Yet far too often, marketing professionals find themselves fighting against “technological debt”; managing websites that are either too rigid to update without a developer, or too expensive to scale due to rising proprietary licensing fees.

The decision to re-platform is rarely taken lightly; it involves budget, time and risk. However, the decision to stay on a legacy or closed platform often carries a higher long-term cost. Not just the cost for ongoing development support and maintenance, but the opportunity cost of missed leads, poor SEO performance, and the inability to move quickly. This article explores the business case for migrating to WordPress, dispels some common myths and focuses on its reality as the modern, enterprise ready platform.

1. Unlimited extendability vs  walled gardens

One of the greatest powers of WordPress lies in its open-source nature, which gives absolute access to the code and freedom to developers to build all kinds of features.

Unlike many closed Software as a Service (SaaS) CMS platforms, WordPress places no artificial limits on what you can build. If your business needs a bespoke customer portal, a complex API integration with a legacy ERP system, or even some simple server side logic to pull in latest articles by a selected category, a developer can build it. There is no “ceiling” to the platform’s capabilities because you own the foundation.

In stark contrast, platforms like Webflow, Wix, or Shopify operate as “walled gardens.” While they are excellent for getting started quickly, they are closed systems where you are renting the technology. You cannot access the core code, meaning you are restricted to the features and integrations the CMS decides to allow.

For example, Shopify rigidly controls its URL structure, which can complicate SEO strategies. Likewise, Wix and Webflow restricts deep backend modifications, making it impossible to write server side code for more advanced dynamic features. While some CMS platforms may have premium support to customise beyond native tools, generally speaking if you outgrow their native features, your only option is often to rebuild the entire site elsewhere.

Re-platforming to WordPress removes these limitations, giving you the agility to adapt your website to your business, as it grows, rather than adapting your website to the CMS.

2. Future-proofing via market dominance

There are over 800 CMS platforms in total, and selecting the best CMS for your needs can be a minefield. Betting on WordPress though is betting on the most robust CMS ecosystem in the world.

As of December 2025, WordPress powers 43% of the entire internet and holds a massive 60% share of the CMS market. This ubiquity creates a “network effect” of security and innovation; because so much of the web relies on it, not only is it one of the most secured platforms, thousands of developers are constantly updating the core software to meet modern standards like Core Web Vitals, AI integration and enterprise-grade security.

On the other hand, relying on niche or fading platforms introduces significant risk. A prime example is Drupal, which was once a heavy favourite for enterprise sites but has seen a steady decline in market share and developer availability. The complexity of migrating from Drupal 7 to newer versions (which was essentially a rebuild) forced many enterprises to reconsider the platform entirely.

Re-platforming to WordPress ensures you are fishing in the largest talent pool in the world; you will never struggle to find an agency, developer, or hosting partner who knows the system, safeguarding your digital presence for many years ahead.

3. The benefit of owning vs renting

While re-platforming does require an upfront investment, the long-term operational cost of WordPress is often  significantly lower and more predictable than proprietary CMS platforms.

With WordPress, the number of users and WordPress core (as well as many top tier plugins) is free, and you pay for hosting and development. This gives a cost structure that scales well, e.g. doubling your website traffic or user base might slightly increase your hosting bill, but it doesn’t fundamentally change a licensing structure.

Compare this to HubSpot CMS or Adobe Experience Manager, where pricing is often tied to the number of “contacts” in your database or the number of “seats” (users) on your team. As your business scales, growth can be curtailed with exponentially rising fees. HubSpot’s Enterprise tier, for instance, starts at a high monthly premium (from £1,000) and climbs as you add more marketing contacts.

There’s also the uncertainty of unexpected pricing rises you’d avoid with WordPress. For example many users reported a sudden 10x price increases with Prismic.io, while others like Contentful CMS have a large pricing chasm between their basic $300/month plan and estimated $81,000 average yearly cost, meaning if threshold levels are reached, large pricing increases can be unavoidable.

4. Best (and worst) in class  performance, accessibility and security

Because WordPress is so open, the range of quality is massive. If sites are built well, they can be amongst the fastest, most accessible and secure sites possible, or the slowest and most vulnerable, depending entirely on how they are built.

The high performance ceiling

When built by an experienced agency or developer, a custom WordPress site can achieve perfect “100” scores on Google PageSpeed Insights on mobile and desktop. Skilled developers don’t just install a theme and throw in a load of plugins, they customise the site’s codebase from the ground up.

This involves advanced techniques like fine tuning minimal payloads of JavaScript, or optimising the critical rendering path to ensure the browser receives only the essential CSS and HTML required to paint the “above the fold” content immediately, while deferring heavier scripts or other assets until after the user can see the page.

It also means building accessible interfaces, that can be fully navigated by keyboard and screen readers using semantic HTML and proper ARIA labels, ensuring your brand is compliant with AA WCAG 2.1 standards and usable by everyone.

Unless a CMS platform gives 100% freedom to control front end code like WordPress, it will almost certainly be impossible to reach the highest possible performance and accessibility scores. Squarespace and HubSpot CMS for example that are much more locked down for example will always include default platform scripts, core modules or heavy tracking functions.

Avoid shortcuts

Conversely, less experienced developers will often supplement their lack of coding knowledge with plugins, third party themes or site-builders. If heavy, multi-purpose themes such as Divi or used, or several plugins are installed to achieve simple functionality, the site will suffer from bloat as plugins often add render blocking requests or scripts that clog the browser’s main thread, leading to slow load times and a poor user experience.

This is not a fault of WordPress, but a result of implementation. One reason WordPress became so popular was thanks to its easier learning curve, open source nature and low barrier to entry, but that low barrier and open ecosystem has led to a large proportion of WordPress sites failing many best practices.

Security is a process

A common myth is that open source is less secure because “hackers can see the code.” The reality for businesses is the opposite: transparency equals resilience and WordPress (core) is possibly the most PenTested, and secured platforms in the world.

On the other hand proprietary platforms often rely on smaller internal security teams to find and fix vulnerabilities. Platform users are subject to their security protocols, whereas with WordPress additional security layers and features can be implemented.

Security is often cited as a concern with WordPress sites, but in 99% of cases, breaches are due to human error such as weak passwords, outdated plugins, poorly built themes, or cheap hosting.

A strategic WordPress re-platform should implement hardening protocols such as disabling file editing from the dashboard, moving the default login URL, implementing server-side 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication), and using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) like Cloudflare.

While a cheap theme with low quality or abandoned plugins is a security liability, an enterprise WordPress environment is a stronghold used by some of the most traffic heavy and well known brands.

5. Content flexibility and autonomy

For marketing professionals, CMS autonomy is a must have. A modern WordPress build should empower your team to publish new content, expand a website’s navigation or create new landing pages and lead generation forms directly without needing developer input.

Modern WordPress (via the Gutenberg Block Editor) has shifted from a simple text document interface to a true visual page builder. Marketers can drag and drop complex elements such as hero banners, testimonials, call-to-action blocks etc seeing exactly how they will look in real-time in the back end. This “what you see is what you get” experience allows editorial teams to build rich, immersive landing pages for new campaigns instantly.

WordPress’s integration features too improve autonomy. Major third party providers have built out of the box integration tools for WordPress, means you’re not tied into custom coded integration solutions. This means you can easily switch your mailing list provider for example from Mailchimp to Klaviyo, or the CRM from HubSpot to Salesforce without having to port a complex coded solution during a re-platform.

6. Technical SEO baked in

While many platforms claim to be “SEO-friendly,” WordPress is considered a gold standard for a reason. Its fundamental code structure is optimised for search engines right out of the box, but the real strategic advantage comes from its granular control and ability to modify underlying fundamentals.

Closed platforms often auto-generate sitemaps and URL structures, which can dilute keyword relevance. WordPress allows you to strip these prefixes, create custom permalinks and URL structure, and control every aspect of schema markup using custom functions or tools like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

With the right hosting in place such as WP Engine, entire infrastructure is optimised to the delivery of WordPress sites only. Aggressive server-side caching, image optimisations and efficient CDN delivery can be implemented that outperforms many of the shared hosting environments found with SaaS builders, help ensuring sold Core Web Vitals which is great for the user experience and your conversion rates.

When is WordPress NOT the right fit?

It is also important to recognise that while WordPress is a solid choice for the majority of website re-platform use cases, it won’t be the best choice tool for every single digital product.

For small businesses or sole traders for example who require zero maintenance and have no budget for development, “Walled Garden” builders like Wix can actually be a good choice. WordPress, even DIY WordPress, requires a degree of both configuration and stewardship including theme and plugin selection and management, ongoing maintenance, hosting facilitation etc. If a business cannot afford a maintenance retainer or lacks the internal resource, the managed environment of a closed builder is a safer, albeit more limited bet.

Likewise, complex web applications such as a bespoke analytics dashboard, a project management tool like Trello, or a real-time social feed are more likely to require a dedication application framework. These types of web applications, possibly with millions of table records, stray more into custom software that require bespoke database and table architecture .

Summary

Re-platforming to WordPress is more than a technical migration; it is a shift in business philosophy from “renting” your digital presence to “owning” it. By moving to an open-source foundation, you eliminate vendor lock-in, cap your licensing costs, and gain access to a global talent pool that ensures you are never beholden to a single agency or provider.

While the re-platform migration process requires upfront investment and a commitment to best practices in security and performance, the long-term ROI is clear. You gain a platform that is agile enough for your marketing team to control day-to-day, robust enough to handle enterprise traffic, and flexible enough to integrate with whatever new integration or technology the future holds. In a digital landscape defined by constant change, WordPress offers the ultimate strategic advantage: adaptability.

Looking to re-platform to WordPress? Get in touch.