Payload CMS development from Vienna
Is your WordPress site slow, packed with plugins and tedious to maintain? I move it to Payload CMS and Next.js: content is migrated, components are rebuilt for you, and load times and usability improve noticeably. Payload is open source and runs right inside your application – your team then edits everything itself, and you own the code.
- WordPress → Payload
- Payload 3 · Next.js · PostgreSQL
- Fixed price by size
- Hosting in the EU
What you get
A content model that fits
Collections, fields and relations mirror how your business actually works: products, locations, team, articles. No forms full of fields nobody needs.
Pages from building blocks
Your team assembles new pages from tested blocks and sees the result straight away in the live preview. The design always stays consistent.
Modernising WordPress
Existing WordPress sites move to Payload: content migrated by script, layouts rebuilt as custom components, old URLs redirected cleanly. Your rankings come along.
AI inside the CMS
Drafts, translations, alt texts or data upkeep with AI, always with human sign-off. Optionally, AI tools can work with your content directly via MCP.
One backend, many channels
The same content feeds your website, landing pages, apps or several brand sites. Everything connects through the REST or GraphQL API.
Hosting & operations in the EU
Database, media and application run on servers in the EU, with backups, updates and monitoring. No licence subscription, no lock-in to a SaaS vendor.
The CMS is part of your application
With WordPress and most SaaS CMSs, content and website live in separate worlds. Payload, by contrast, is configured in TypeScript and runs in the same Next.js project as your website. Database, admin UI and API are generated from that configuration, and the frontend knows every field and its type. For you that means fewer plugins and seams, faster pages and one codebase that is straightforward to extend.
- Open source (MIT licence), no per-seat licence fees
- Roles and permissions down to field level
- Drafts, versions, scheduled publishing and live preview
- Multilingual content with per-field fallback
From WordPress to Payload, without starting from zero
Many WordPress sites have grown over the years: a heavy theme, a page builder, twenty plugins and updates everyone dreads. In several projects at NCA NewConcept Agentur I have moved exactly these kinds of sites to Payload CMS and Next.js. The content moves over by script, page-builder layouts become custom-built components, and the result is a website that loads faster, is easier to use for visitors and easier to maintain for your team.
- Audit: content, plugins, rankings and what is actually needed
- Data migration by script – posts, pages, media, categories, SEO meta data
- Custom components instead of a page builder and a pile of plugins
- Redirects for every old URL, so rankings are preserved
One Payload core for several brands
At NCA NewConcept Agentur I develop the Experten platform: one central Payload CMS feeds five brand websites, Juwelierfinder.com among them, a hub for partner jewellers, lead funnels and AI pipelines for editorial work and data upkeep. New brands are assembled there from existing building blocks instead of copies. The same principle works at a smaller scale too, for a business with several locations, languages or product lines.
- One data set, several frontends and domains
- Partner jewellers maintain their profiles in their own area
- AI drafts land in the CMS as drafts and go live only after sign-off
- A typed data layer between the CMS and every website
What Payload looks like day to day
Drag or swipe
- localhost/admin/collections/pages
Pages are built from blocks: your team arranges content, media and CTA blocks instead of nudging layouts in a page builder. (Demo project, Payload 3) - localhost/admin · live preview
Live preview: changes appear straight away on the real website, phone size included. - localhost/admin
Dashboard: only the areas your project actually needs, including redirects and form submissions. - localhost/admin · versions
Drafts and versions: every change can be compared and restored with one click. - localhost/admin/collections/posts
List view with search, filters and configurable columns.
01 / 05Pages are built from blocks: your team arranges content, media and CTA blocks instead of nudging layouts in a page builder. (Demo project, Payload 3)
What a migration costs
Fixed prices by the size of your website. We pin down the exact scope in the migration check – after that you get a binding quote.
Migration check · €390
Review of content, plugins and rankings, a URL map for the redirects and a fixed-price quote. Fully credited when you go ahead.
Request a migration checkS · Move
Your existing site, fast and secure on Payload
from €5,990
- Up to 10 pages, about 50 posts
- 1 language
- Existing design carried over
- Forms, redirects, SEO data
- Admin panel walkthrough
- 2 months of support included
M · Relaunch
A move with a new design and a clean content model
from €9,490
- Up to 25 pages, about 300 posts
- Custom content types (e.g. locations, team, products)
- New, custom design
- Search and filters
- 1–2 integrations (e.g. CRM, newsletter)
- Everything in S
L · Platform
For complex content, roles and several systems
from €14,900
- More than 25 pages or complex content models
- Roles, approvals and workflows
- Several integrations and data sources
- Several websites from one CMS possible
- Everything in M
- Additional language
- +€1,490 (S) · +€2,490 (M)
- Migrate a WooCommerce shop
- from €8,990
- AI workflows in the CMS (translation, alt text, drafts)
- from €990
- Extra posts beyond the package
- €290 per 100 posts
- OperationsEU hosting, updates, backups and monitoring
- €99 / month
- Operations + careEverything in Operations plus about 2 hours of changes a month
- €249 / month
Final prices – as a small business under § 6 (1) 27 of the Austrian VAT Act, I don’t charge VAT.
How it works
Content & roles
We work out which content exists, who edits it and who approves it. That becomes the content model.
Model & design
Collections and blocks are designed together with the visual design, so admin and website fit each other.
Build & migrate
Built with a preview environment. Existing content is moved over by script and spot-checked.
Launch & training
Redirects, Search Console and backups are in place. Your team gets a walkthrough of the admin panel.
Technologies
- Payload CMS 3
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Cloudflare
- S3 / R2
- Claude API
- MCP
- Vercel
- Hetzner
In practice
- 2025Experten-PlattformThe brain behind the Experten brands: one Payload CMS core connecting every frontend, the jeweller hub, lead funnels and AI pipelines.
- 2026Juwelierfinder.comThe overarching search platform for jeweller services – what Treatwell is for beauty, for the jewellery industry.
- 2026MunchMatch.meTinder for dinner: swipe recipes together until everyone says “Munch!” to the same dish.
Frequently asked questions
Payload CMS or WordPress – which suits me?
WordPress is a good fit if you want a classic website with standard plugins and value a large theme market. Payload pays off once your content has its own structure, feeds several channels or brands, needs custom roles, or the website should be fast and low-maintenance. I look after more than ten WordPress sites myself and only recommend Payload when it genuinely helps you.
How much does a Payload CMS website cost?
Payload itself is free and open source. A migration costs from €5,990 (S, up to 10 pages), from €9,490 (M, with a new design) or from €14,900 (L, platforms), depending on size. Before that, an optional €390 migration check that is fully credited. Running costs: operations with hosting, updates and backups at €99 a month. All prices are final – as a small business I don’t charge VAT.
Can you migrate my WordPress website to Payload?
Yes. Posts, pages, categories, media and SEO meta data are moved over by script, and shortcodes and page-builder content are translated into clean blocks. Every old URL gets a redirect so rankings and links are preserved.
Where is the data hosted?
In the EU by default: the database (PostgreSQL) and media with European providers, the website on Vercel in an EU region or on a dedicated server, for example at Hetzner. In front of it, Cloudflare handles DNS, caching and protection against attacks. Your existing infrastructure works too.
Payload now belongs to Figma – is that a risk?
Payload remains open source under the MIT licence, and you host it yourself. Your website’s code and your data stay with you, whatever happens to the vendor. That is a clear advantage over SaaS CMSs, whose prices and terms can change at any time.
Do you take over existing Payload projects?
Yes, for example upgrades to Payload 3, new features, performance problems or ongoing maintenance. I’m also happy to support agencies that need to deliver a Payload project.
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