Leaving WordPress Website development
Move off WordPress for good.
We rebuild WordPress websites as static sites. Every page moves across, every old address is redirected so your Google rankings carry over, and there are no plugins, database or updates left to look after. Pages load in under a second, and your own team edits them in a visual editor.
+37%
conversion rate
Cheeky Kiwi Travel · since leaving WordPress
38×
faster
Wingboy · from 27s on WordPress to 0.7s
1 → 4
people who can edit
NIODA · one person could edit its WordPress site
3 → 1
sites on one build
Precise Group · three WordPress sites before
Why People Leave
WordPress gets slower, costlier and riskier every month.
WordPress is the most attacked platform on the web, because it's the most common. Every plugin is code from another company, running on your server, and each one needs updating before attackers find its flaws.
Australia's cyber security agency has put out two critical warnings this year that affect WordPress sites. The first, in July, was about plugins. The second, in October, was about PHP2Shell, a flaw in PHP, the programming language WordPress runs on.
It happens to businesses like yours. Before it came to us, Karis Life, a Sydney mobility-aids retailer, had its WordPress and WooCommerce store hit by ransomware twice.
Each plugin also slows the site down a little. Some of the WordPress sites we've rebuilt took ten seconds or more to load, and one took 27. A slow site doesn't rank on Google, doesn't get mentioned in AI answers, and doesn't turn visitors into customers.
Side by Side
Static or WordPress?
Side by Side
| Compared on | Static (pre-rendered) | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Static (pre-rendered) Loads in under a second, by design | WordPress Fast when hosted and cached well, but slows down as plugins are added |
| Hosting cost | Static (pre-rendered) Close to $0 a month | WordPress Roughly $30–100 a month for managed hosting |
| Maintenance | Static (pre-rendered) None. There are no updates to run | WordPress Updates to WordPress, its theme and every plugin each month, and to PHP whenever a flaw is found |
| Security | Static (pre-rendered) No database or login page for anyone to attack | WordPress Needs security settings, backups and updates. It's the most attacked platform on the web, because it's the most common |
| Editing | Static (pre-rendered) Visual editor that shows changes before they go live | WordPress The editor your team may already know |
| Extra features | Static (pre-rendered) We build what you need and connect it to your other software | WordPress Tens of thousands of plugins, with memberships, courses and events ready to install |
| Best for | Static (pre-rendered) Marketing sites, service businesses, anything where speed and cost to run matter | WordPress Sites built around a plugin with no alternative, with someone paid to keep it patched |
Our verdict
We build static sites only. Keeping WordPress safe now means acting the same day every time a flaw is found, and a static site needs none of that.
Baked In
What the move includes.
-
Every page and post moved.
Pages, blog posts, images and documents come across, tidied up on the way.
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Every old address redirected.
Each old link points to its new page, so your Google rankings and your customers' bookmarks carry over. We watch Google Search Console for a month to be sure.
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Every plugin replaced.
Forms, search, bookings and payments become services that keep themselves up to date, and the rest aren't needed any more.
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Nothing left to patch.
No WordPress, plugins, PHP, database or login page on the new site, so there's nothing to update and nothing for hackers to get into.
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Stores and apps too.
A WooCommerce store moves to Shopify, and anything with logins or bookings becomes an app, the way Karis Life's store and Cheeky Kiwi Travel's booking platform did.
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12 months of care.
For a year after launch, we fix any bug and apply critical updates, at no charge.
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Your team trained.
An hour on the new editor, on your own pages, before the switch.
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Never offshored.
Designed and built in Australia, by a small studio with a network of Australian specialists.
Side by Side
Your plugins, and what replaces them.
Side by Side
| Compared on | On WordPress | After the move |
|---|---|---|
| Contact forms | On WordPress Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms or WPForms | After the move A form service that emails you each enquiry and filters the spam |
| SEO | On WordPress Yoast or Rank Math | After the move Titles, descriptions and the structured data Google reads, built into every page and edited in the CMS |
| Page builder | On WordPress Elementor, Divi or WPBakery | After the move Named sections your team edits in CloudCannon or Sanity, with a live preview |
| Bookings | On WordPress A booking plugin | After the move Your booking system's own widget, such as Cliniko or Rezdy, or a booking flow we build |
| Online store | On WordPress WooCommerce | After the move Shopify, with your products moved across |
| Security | On WordPress Wordfence or Sucuri, plus monthly updates | After the move Nothing to install. There's no server program or login page on the site to protect |
| Speed | On WordPress WP Rocket or another caching plugin | After the move Not needed. The pages are finished files, sent from servers close to your visitors |
| Backups | On WordPress UpdraftPlus or your host's backups | After the move Every version of every page is kept, so any change can be undone |
The rule
Your quote lists every plugin on your current site and what replaces it. Anything without a ready-made service gets built once.
The Process
How the move works.
- Step 1 · week 0
List everything.
We go through your site and list every page, post, plugin and old address. The fixed quote says what moves, what gets redirected and what replaces each plugin.
- Step 2 · weeks 1–3
Design.
We work out how the new site is organised and what each page says, then design it. You approve real pages with your own content in them.
- Step 3 · weeks 3–6
Build and move.
We build the site, move your content across, and connect your forms, bookings and payments. Your team learns the editor on its own pages.
- Step 4 · week 6+
Switch over.
We point your domain at the new site, turn on every redirect and watch Google Search Console for a month. Then WordPress can be switched off for good.
Fresh Out
Sites we've moved off WordPress.
Fresh Out
Cheeky Kiwi Travel Taken off a WordPress site that took ten seconds to load. The conversion rate is up 37% since.
Wingboy A 27-second WordPress site rebuilt to load in 0.7 seconds, with the same content.
NIODA A WordPress site only one person could edit, rebuilt so four people can. Every old address still works.
Fiducian Moved off WordPress in 2021 and rebuilt again in 2026. Over 300 pages, and 8 in 10 edits made by their own team.
Precise Group Three slow WordPress sites rebuilt as one system, with each page published to the sites it belongs on.
Karis Life A WooCommerce store that crashed when it got busy and was hit by ransomware twice, rebuilt on Shopify so it stays up.
Kea Health A WooCommerce store that slowed to a crawl in every traffic burst, rebuilt on Shopify with a second store merged in.
Price List
What it costs.
Price List
- Website build static, pre-rendered, designed from scratch
- from $9,000 typically $9–18k
- Shopify store a WooCommerce store moved to a custom Shopify theme or a headless storefront
- from $9,000 typically $9–35k
- Content migration moving your content off WordPress
- quoted typically $1–4k
- Care plan monitoring, updates, small changes and a monthly speed report
- from $250/month
What affects the price:
- how many page layouts the new site needs
- how many pages and posts move, and how many old links need redirecting
- which plugins your site relies on, and what replaces each one
- connections to other software (CRM, bookings, payments)
Fixed quote after a scoping call, with every page, plugin and redirect listed. For a first idea of cost, give our estimator your site's address.
Try the estimatorFair Questions
Ask away.
Eight questions people ask before they leave WordPress. Have another question? Ask us.
Do you build WordPress sites?
No. We build static sites, and we move businesses off WordPress. Keeping WordPress safe means updating it, its theme and every plugin, and acting the same day each time a flaw is found, as with PHP2Shell in October 2026. A static site has none of those parts, so there's nothing to patch.
What happens to our WordPress plugins?
Each one is replaced by something that doesn't need patching. Forms send to a form service, search and filters are built into the site, and bookings and payments connect to the services you already use. Your quote lists every plugin and what replaces it.
Will we lose our Google rankings?
Not if every old address is redirected, and every one is. We map each old page to its new one with a permanent (301) redirect, keep the page titles that rank, and send Google the new list of pages on launch day. Then we watch Google Search Console for a month and fix anything that slips.
Can you move our WooCommerce store too?
Yes, to Shopify. Products, customers and orders move across, every old product and category address is redirected, and Shopify runs the checkout, payments and stock from then on. Karis Life's store made that move after its WooCommerce site was hit by ransomware twice.
Can we keep our domain and email?
Yes. Your domain stays in your name, and we only change the records that point it at the website, so your email keeps working where it is.
How long does the move take?
About six weeks for most sites, from the first call to the switch. A site with hundreds of pages, or a store, takes longer, and the quote says how long.
What happens to the old WordPress site?
It stays where it is until the new site is live and every redirect has been checked, so nothing is lost on the way. After that you can cancel the WordPress hosting.
Is it worth leaving WordPress if our site works fine?
If someone patches it the same day each time a flaw is found, it loads in under two seconds and your team is happy editing it, it can wait. Most WordPress sites we're asked to look at miss at least one of the three, and that's usually the moment to move.
Also on the menu Web development
- Websites. What we build and how. Static sites that load in under a second, with nothing to patch.
- eCommerce. Shopify stores, from a custom theme to a fully custom storefront.
- Web & mobile apps. Client portals, booking systems, dashboards and mobile apps.
- SEO & AI Visibility. Get mentioned when customers ask ChatGPT, Claude or Google's AI.
Made to Order
Tell us about your WordPress site.
Send the address and a couple of lines. Within a business day of our call, you'll get a fixed quote with everything that moves across and what replaces each plugin.