WordPress vs Next.js for a Canadian business website

01Ownership and lock-in

WordPress scores well on ownership. The software is open source, content lives in a database you can export, and if the domain and hosting account are in your name you can move to any PHP host. The practical lock-in is subtler: page builders store layouts in their own formats, and a site that leans on a dozen plugins is hard to rebuild without them.

A Redenn Next.js build gives you the code repository, the content, the domain registered at Cloudflare Registrar in your name, and the Vercel, Supabase and analytics accounts. There is no plugin layer to depend on. The honest limitation is that structural changes need a developer who knows React, so ownership is real but you will want a maintenance relationship, with Redenn or with anyone else who works in the same stack.

02Total cost over three years

This example uses only Redenn's published prices. WordPress costs are shown as varies because hosting, premium themes, plugin licences and maintenance differ from site to site, and guessing would not be fair to either side.

Search Setup, a contact form, analytics and Search Console are bundled into Business, so nothing else is needed to launch a findable site. Extra standard pages are CA$49 each and copywriting is from CA$99 per page.

03When to choose WordPress

Some WordPress websites should stay on WordPress. Choose it, or keep it, when:

• Several people publish every week and need a familiar editorial workflow with roles and drafts.
• You depend on a specific plugin, such as a membership, course or directory system, with no equivalent in your budget.
• Someone already maintains the site well and it is fast today.
• The site is a large content archive and a rebuild would cost more than the problems it solves.

04When to choose Next.js (Redenn Modern Web)

Choose a Next.js build when the website's job is to win customers rather than to publish daily. Pages are generated ahead of time or rendered on the server and served from Vercel's CDN, built to target Google's Core Web Vitals thresholds (LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms, CLS 0.1 at the 75th percentile), although no build can guarantee a score on every device. Choose it when:

• You want a fixed price and a ship date: Business CA$499 in 8 to 12 business days after content is received.
• Leads should land in a CRM with source tracking and follow-up should be automated.
• You are tired of plugin update emails and want maintenance included in hosting.
• You plan to add booking, chat, an AI receptionist or a customer portal on the same codebase later.

05How a WordPress Modernization works

WordPress Modernization from CA$499 moves an existing site to Next.js with the same content, a redirect map for every old URL and a Search Console handover, so search engines see one continuous site rather than a new one. Copy is migrated, not rewritten, unless you add copywriting from CA$99 per page. Redenn builds on this stack for Canadian businesses such as Empire Framing Inc., a custom framing contractor, and Synergy Homes Inc., a design-build custom home builder in Winnipeg.