React or WordPress: which should you choose?

WordPress is usually right when

• Your site is mostly pages and posts: a company site, a service business, a blog, a portfolio.
• You want your own team to edit text, images and pages without calling a developer.
• You need an online shop. WooCommerce runs on WordPress and covers most small and medium stores.
• You want to launch sooner. Themes and plugins already cover many common features.

React is usually right when

• The site behaves more like an app: dashboards, tools, planners, anything where users click around and the page updates without reloading.
• You need a custom interface that a theme can't give you.
• The same interface will be reused in many places, so reusable components save time.
• You have, or will have, developers who maintain it.

What about SEO?

A plain React app sends the browser an almost empty page and builds the content with JavaScript. Search engines can handle that, but it can slow indexing. For a marketing site you want server rendering or prerendering, so the content is already in the HTML. I do this on my own portfolio. WordPress outputs ready HTML by default, which is one reason it's a safe choice for content sites.

What about maintenance?

WordPress needs regular updates to core, themes and plugins, and a site that's left alone will eventually have problems. A React site has fewer moving parts for visitors, but any change needs a developer. Neither is maintenance-free, so decide who will look after it before you choose.

Can you use both?

Yes. A common setup is WordPress for the content and a custom React interface for one special feature, such as a calculator or a product finder. It adds some complexity, so I only suggest it when the feature really earns it.

How I'd decide for your project

I ask three questions. Who will update the site, and how often? Is it mainly content, or mainly interaction? And what has to work on day one? Your answers usually make the choice obvious.

Two quick examples

A dental clinic that wants a home page, treatment pages, a team page and a contact form is a WordPress job. The staff can update opening hours themselves, and the site can launch quickly.

A tool where customers log in, compare options and see results update as they change a setting is a React job. The value is in the interface, and a theme can't provide that.

Mistakes I see often

• Choosing React because it sounds modern, when the site is really a handful of pages that someone else will need to edit.
• Choosing WordPress and then installing dozens of plugins to imitate an app. The result is slow and fragile.
• Building something custom when a well-maintained plugin already does the job.
• Not deciding who will look after the site, and ending up with nobody.