Our WordPress site is slow. Do we need to rebuild?

Usually not. Most slow WordPress sites are slow for a small number of identifiable reasons — too many plugins, unoptimised images, a heavy page builder, a poor host. That is normally cheaper to fix than to replace, and we will say so after looking.

Can you maintain our existing WordPress site?

We take on WordPress work as a clearly separate service line rather than as our default. We will be straightforward about whether we are the right people; for routine WordPress maintenance a specialist will often serve you better and cost less.

Kamo vs WordPress

The default, and sometimes the right answer

WordPress runs a very large share of the web and it does so for good reasons. It is genuinely excellent for content-led sites where non-technical people publish regularly, the ecosystem is enormous, and finding someone to maintain it is easy anywhere in the world. We are not interested in the sport of dismissing it. What we will do is describe accurately where the plugin-stack model breaks down, because that is where people end up calling us.

Where we differ from WordPress, including where they are stronger.
Dimension	WordPress	Kamo
Publishing by non-technical staff	Excellent — this is what it is for, and it is hard to beat	Good, when we build an editing layer; it is work rather than a given
Getting started	Fast and inexpensive, with themes for nearly every purpose	Slower and more expensive up front
Performance over time	Degrades as plugins accumulate; caching often hides rather than fixes	Held by budgets the build enforces, so it cannot silently regress
Security maintenance	Ongoing — plugins are the most common compromise route and need constant updating	A much smaller surface, with dependencies chosen deliberately
Unusual functionality	A plugin exists; whether it is maintained is another matter	Built to fit, and maintained by the people who built it
Finding another supplier	Very easy — enormous market of developers	Harder; a smaller pool works comfortably in a modern framework stack
Cost at five years	Low build cost plus continuous maintenance, and often a rebuild	Higher build cost, lower maintenance, designed to be changed rather than replaced

When WordPress is the better choice

Content publishing is the primary purpose and several non-technical people update the site weekly
Budget is genuinely constrained and a good theme meets the need
You want the widest possible pool of future suppliers, anywhere, at any price point
A well-maintained plugin already does the unusual thing you need, properly

The honest verdict

For a content-led site with regular non-technical publishing and no unusual requirements, WordPress is frequently the correct engineering decision and we will tell you so rather than sell against it. The case for a custom build is performance you can hold, functionality no plugin covers honestly, or a security and maintenance burden you no longer want. If you already have WordPress and it mostly works, we will audit it and often recommend fixing rather than replacing.

Questions we get asked

Other comparisons

Kamo vs a marketing agencyThe incumbent, and the one this whole argument is about Kamo vs a website builderWix, Squarespace, Webflow and the rest Kamo vs offshore developmentThe rate comparison, and what the rate does not include Kamo vs hiring in-houseUsually the right long-term answer, and not always available

Tell us what you are trying to do

A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether we are the right people. If we are not, we will say so and point you somewhere better.

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