9 out of 10 clients who call me for "a WordPress site" don't need WordPress. They often need something much simpler — and faster, and cheaper, and more secure.
This is not WordPress bashing. WordPress is fantastic for what it does: a blog, a news site, something with hundreds of pages and an editorial team. But that's not what most SMB clients need.
The question nobody asks
"Who is going to manage the content?" That's the question. If the answer is "me, about twice a year", then you don't need a CMS. You need a set of HTML pages that load fast, index well and don't scream for plugin updates every three months.
A CMS is a hammer. Not everything is a nail.
What you do have then
For most SMB sites this is ideal:
- Static HTML/CSS/JS — loads in milliseconds
- A form that goes to your email
- Optionally a few dynamic blocks (testimonials, pricing) via a simple JSON file
- No database, no plugins, no "your site has been hacked" emails
Result: faster site, better SEO, higher conversion, lower maintenance budget.
When should you use WordPress then?
Honestly: if you have a blog where multiple people publish content, or if you're going to manage 50+ pages, then WordPress is fine. But for an 8-page business site that you update twice a year? Then it's a Range Rover for fetching a loaf of bread.
The real question
Ask yourself one question: "How often am I going to edit this without a developer?"
- Never / very rarely → static site
- A few times per month → simple headless CMS (Notion, Airtable as source)
- Weekly, with multiple people → WordPress, or something like Sanity / Strapi
Choosing the right tool saves years of maintenance, hundreds of euros in hosting and endless "it doesn't work anymore" panic.