{"id":684,"slug":"when-not-to-migrate-counter-cases","title":"When NOT to migrate a client off WordPress — the honest counter-cases Candid Creative will refuse","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","migration-mechanics","pricing-models"],"reference_body":"**Candid Creative will recommend NOT migrating in these cases:**\n\n1. **The site is fine; the client just heard \"WordPress is slow\" on a podcast.** Diagnose. Often the fix is $50/mo of better hosting + WP Rocket. Ben Ryan's headless-WordPress agency review: *\"If your WordPress site is slow, fix the hosting, enable caching, and optimise images. Going headless to solve a performance problem you could fix for $50/month is expensive overkill.\"*\n\n2. **Client edits daily with 5+ non-technical editors.** WordPress's Gutenberg editor is genuinely best-in-class for this profile.\n\n3. **Working WooCommerce store with >50 active SKUs and integrations.** Migration cost will dwarf performance gains.\n\n4. **Critical functionality depends on a niche plugin with no clear equivalent** — LearnDash courses, BuddyPress communities, advanced Gravity Forms with conditional logic and a CRM webhook.\n\n5. **Client budget assumes \"free updates forever from the developer.\"** Headless setups need ongoing developer involvement that WordPress often doesn't.\n\n6. **The client is on a \"no-developer-ever-again\" budget after launch** — they should stay on WordPress with a maintenance contract.\n\n**FatLab's honest framing (we should echo this):** *\"For most of our clients, headless is the wrong choice.\"*\n\n**The audit's job is to tell the truth.** If migration is the wrong project, the audit says so and refers the client to a WordPress maintenance shop. That credibility is worth more than the one engagement.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"page-builder-migration-by-use-case","title":"Reference: alternative-stack recommendations by use case and budget (Candid 6-tier framework)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"rule-lead-with-paid-migration-audit","title":"RULE: Lead WordPress migration sales with a $1,250 fixed-price Migration Audit. Quote the build fixed-price only after the audit completes.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T21:24:18.408Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T21:24:18.408Z"}