WordPress, WooCommerce or Next.js: how I decide which to build your site on
A freelance developer who builds all three explains how he chooses between WordPress, WooCommerce and Next.js for small business websites, with real examples.
2 min readMichael Overton
Most designers have one tool and every project looks like a job for it. I build in three, and the choice is usually made in the first conversation. Here's how.
The question I'm really asking
Not "which is best". They're all good. The question is: who's going to touch this site after launch, and how often?
WordPress: when you'll be editing it yourself
Most small business sites. You want to change the opening hours, add a news post, swap a photo, without calling anyone. WordPress gives you that, and after fifteen years it's not going anywhere.
The catch is that WordPress is easy to build badly. My rule is as few plugins as possible, a custom theme, and where something off the shelf won't do, a plugin written for the job. The Garibaldi, a pub in Knaphill I've looked after since 2015, runs on WordPress. So does most of what I build.
WooCommerce: when you're selling things
If you're taking payments, you're in WooCommerce territory. It's WordPress with a shop, which means you get the same editing freedom, plus products, stock, postage and payments. Deavesons, a family jeweller, sells through it.
People ask about Shopify. It's fine. It's also rent, forever, with less control and a cut of your card fees. For a shop that's part of a wider business rather than the whole business, WooCommerce on your own hosting usually works out better.
Next.js: when speed and control matter more than self editing
Next.js is what my own site runs on, and what I reach for when a site needs to be very fast, very secure, or do something WordPress isn't built for. A tool, a web app, a site with a lot of interaction. Content tends to be managed by me, or through a small admin I build, rather than a full editor.
A tracker I built for the Artemis II mission runs on it. So does a platform I'm building to host clients' brand guidelines. If your project sounds more like software than a brochure, it's probably this.
The honest trade offs
WordPress: easiest to edit, most to maintain. WooCommerce: everything WordPress is, plus the responsibility of taking money. Next.js: fastest and cleanest, least editable by you.
I'll tell you which I'd choose in the first call, and why. If you've got a strong preference the other way, we'll talk it through. But it'll be based on who's editing it on a Tuesday afternoon in two years' time, not on what's fashionable.
