But if you're a solo business owner trying to grow something real? WordPress isn't free. It's quietly draining your time, money, and mental bandwidth.
Here's why.
The Time Tax – "You're the web dev now."
WordPress gives you infinite flexibility. Which sounds great until you're four hours deep into plugin hell trying to get a contact form working.
You install one plugin. Then another.
Something breaks.
You Google.
You watch a 19-minute YouTube tutorial with 2 minutes of actual help.
But here's the worst part: You've done this before.
Six months ago, you figured out how to set up that same contact form. But you forgot the steps. Or the plugin updated. Or your theme changed something.
So you're not just learning. You're relearning. Over and over.
Every time you need to add a simple feature, you're starting from scratch. The knowledge doesn't stick because you're not a web developer, you're a creator who occasionally needs to touch WordPress.
This isn't just annoying. It's expensive. Every hour you spend relearning your own website is an hour you're not selling, building, or publishing.
I tracked this last year: 47 hours on WordPress maintenance alone.
That's more than a full work week spent on tech instead of business.
The Plugin Paradox – "They seem easy... until they're not."
Plugins promise simplicity. "Just install and activate!"
But every plugin is a black box built by different developers with different standards.
Plugin A conflicts with Plugin B (but only on Tuesdays)
Updates break functionality you depend on
Settings are buried in different menu locations
Documentation assumes you know things you don't
Support forums are full of "try this random code snippet"
The cognitive load is brutal.
You're not just managing one system, you're managing 15+ mini-systems that all need to play nice together.
And when something breaks? Good luck remembering which plugin caused it.
The Anxiety Tax – "You don't know what just broke... but something did."
Even when it works, it doesn't feel stable.
17 plugins running different versions
Theme updates that break layouts
Hosting limits you didn't know existed
Settings you changed months ago and can't remember
You start tiptoeing around your own site, afraid to touch anything.
This anxiety stacks. It kills momentum. And it makes you hesitant to create.
When publishing feels fragile, you publish less.
And consistency is everything. You can't build an audience if you're afraid to hit publish.
The Financial Reality – "It adds up fast."
Let's say you go the "budget-friendly" route. You grab shared hosting from a provider like SiteGround.
It looks cheap at first: $4.99/mo intro offer
But year two? That jumps to $26.99+/mo with fewer features than you expected
Then come the plugins.
Most are freemium—until you need them to actually work:
Elementor Pro: $59/yr
RankMath (for SEO): $99/yr
WP Rocket (for caching): $59/yr
ShortPixel or Smush Pro (image compression): $49/yr
Gravity Forms or equivalent: $59/yr
Wordfence or another security plugin: $149/yr
Add in a premium theme and backups and you're suddenly staring at $400–500+ per year, not including your time.
The real math:
If your time is worth $100/hour, and you spend 6 hours/month on WordPress maintenance and relearning, that's $7,200/year in opportunity cost.
For a "free" platform.
The Focus Problem – "Too many choices paralyse progress."
WordPress can do everything. Which means it's optimised for nothing.
You spend more time choosing between 47 contact form plugins than actually collecting leads.
More time relearning how to customise your theme than writing content.
More time managing your tech stack than building your business.
Most creators don't have a tools problem. They have a focus problem.
They need constraints, not infinite options.
The Opportunity Cost – "Your janky site is costing you leads."
WordPress isn't just costing time and energy. It's costing real money.
Broken layouts = lost credibility
Janky UX = less trust
Cluttered designs = no clear action
DIY feel = amateur perception
People click. But they don't stay. Or subscribe. Or buy.
The conversion killer:
If your site converts at 1% instead of 3% because of WordPress friction, and you get 1,000 visitors per month, you're losing 20 potential customers every month.
That "free" site? It's bleeding potential on every visit.
So what's the alternative?
I built EazySites.com for creators like me who were done being accidental web developers.
Our philosophy is simple: Constraint as a feature.
You get:
No plugins (everything's built-in and optimised)
No relearning curve (it works the same way every time)
Clean, consistent publishing experience
Built-in lead capture and email tools
Just enough customisation to look pro, not enough to waste hours
One focus: helping you publish consistently and convert visitors
You write. You publish. You grow.
That's it.
The power of one:
One platform (not 17 plugins to manage)
One interface (no relearning required)
One focus (publishing, not tinkering)
One goal (building your audience and business)
Final Thought
WordPress is free, the same way a free puppy is free.
It's cute at first.
But if you're not careful, it'll chew through your time, your energy, and your momentum.
We believe tools don't build businesses. Habits do.
If your website is stealing your time instead of making you money, check out EazySites.com.
Built for creators who want to ship, not tinker.
Ready to stop paying the WordPress tax? Try EazySites free →