Why I Ditched WordPress for Astro (And You Should Too)

TL;DR

Switched from WordPress to Astro and achieved:

• 100/100 Lighthouse scores (vs 60-80 with optimized WordPress)
• $0/month hosting costs (vs $30-95/month for WordPress)
• Zero security vulnerabilities (no server-side code to exploit)
• 50-200ms load times globally (vs 2-4 seconds with WordPress)
• 1-second builds (vs complex caching layers)

If you’re a developer building a blog, marketing site, or documentation, Astro is the golden path. Read on for the full comparison, performance data, and cost breakdown.

The WordPress Problem

Let me start with a confession: I’ve built dozens of WordPress sites over the years. It’s the default choice for blogging - powering 43% of the entire web. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: WordPress is technical debt masquerading as convenience.

When I decided to build Golden Path DevOps, I knew I wanted to practice what I preach about modern DevOps. That meant WordPress was immediately off the table. Let me explain why.

What’s Wrong with WordPress?

Don’t get me wrong - WordPress democratized web publishing and made blogging accessible to millions. But in 2025, it’s showing its age:

The Performance Problem

WordPress generates every page dynamically. Every. Single. Request.

When someone visits your WordPress blog:

1. PHP processes the request
2. Queries hit MySQL database (multiple times per page)
3. WordPress core loads (megabytes of code)
4. Plugins execute (each adding overhead)
5. Theme renders the page
6. HTML is finally sent to the browser

The result? Even simple blog posts take 500ms-2s to generate server-side, before network latency. And that’s with caching plugins. Without them? 3-5 seconds is common.

Compare this to Astro: The HTML is pre-built at deploy time. There’s no server processing, no database queries, no PHP execution. The page is just… there. Load time: 50-200ms, globally.

The Security Nightmare

WordPress vulnerabilities are discovered constantly:

• Core vulnerabilities (infrequent but devastating)
• Plugin vulnerabilities (extremely common)
• Theme vulnerabilities (often overlooked)
• PHP runtime vulnerabilities
• MySQL injection risks
• Brute force login attempts (constant)

The maintenance burden is exhausting:

• Weekly plugin updates
• Core updates (hoping nothing breaks)
• Database optimization
• Security plugin configuration
• File permission audits
• Backup management
• PHP version upgrades

With Astro? There’s nothing to hack. No server-side code execution, no database, no admin panel, no login forms. The attack surface is essentially zero.

The Complexity Tax

A basic WordPress installation includes:

• WordPress core (~50MB)
• PHP runtime
• MySQL database
• Web server (Apache/Nginx)
• Caching layer (Redis/Memcached)
• 10-20 plugins (conservatively)
• A theme
• Regular backups
• Monitoring

Each piece is a potential failure point. Each requires updates, configuration, and maintenance.

An Astro blog?

• Static HTML files
• Optional JavaScript (only where needed)
• That’s it.

Why Astro is the Future

Astro represents a fundamentally different approach to building websites. Instead of generating pages on-demand, Astro pre-renders everything at build time. But it’s more sophisticated than traditional static site generators.

1. Performance is the Default

Astro’s philosophy: ship zero JavaScript by default.

When you build an Astro site, you get pure HTML and CSS. JavaScript is only added when you explicitly need it, and only where you need it (via “Islands Architecture”).

The results for this blog:

• Lighthouse Score: 100/100 on all metrics
• First Contentful Paint: <0.5s
• Time to Interactive: <0.5s
• Total JavaScript: <1KB (just for cloud animations)
• Page Weight: ~15KB per page

Compare this to the average WordPress blog:

• Lighthouse Score: 60-80 (if optimized)
• First Contentful Paint: 1.5-3s
• Time to Interactive: 3-5s
• Total JavaScript: 200KB+ (jQuery, plugins, analytics, etc.)
• Page Weight: 1-3MB per page

The difference is staggering. And this isn’t achieved through heroic optimization - it’s the default.

2. Content Collections: Type-Safe Content Management

WordPress stores content in a MySQL database with a complex schema that evolved over 20 years. Want to add a custom field? Install a plugin. Want to version your content? Hope your hosting has good backups.

Astro’s Content Collections are revolutionary:

// src/content/config.ts
import { defineCollection, z } from 'astro:content';

const blogCollection = defineCollection({
  type: 'content',
  schema: z.object({
    title: z.string(),
    description: z.string(),
    pubDate: z.date(),
    author: z.string(),
    tags: z.array(z.string()),
    featured: z.boolean().default(false),
  }),
});

export const collections = {
  'blog': blogCollection,
};

What this gives you:

• Type Safety: TypeScript knows the exact shape of your content
• Build-Time Validation: Invalid content fails the build, not production
• Git-Based: All content is in markdown files, versioned with Git
• No Database: Content is just files - portable, searchable, diffable
• IDE Support: Full autocomplete and type checking

Try adding a blog post with a missing required field. Astro catches it at build time:

Error: Invalid frontmatter for "my-post.md"
  - title: Required
  - pubDate: Expected date, received string

In WordPress? Your post publishes with broken metadata, and you discover it when users complain.

3. Developer Experience That Doesn’t Fight You

WordPress development in 2025 feels archaic:

• Edit PHP files on a server or use complex local environments (MAMP, XAMPP, Local)
• Debug with var_dump() and pray
• Hope plugin conflicts don’t break everything
• Test in production (or maintain staging servers)
• Fight with theme systems that override your changes

Astro development is modern:

npm run dev

You get:

• Hot module reloading (changes appear instantly)
• TypeScript support out of the box
• Component-scoped CSS (no global scope pollution)
• Real error messages (not white screens of death)
• Build-time error checking
• Lightning-fast builds (~1 second)

4. Component Islands: The Best of Both Worlds

WordPress is all-or-nothing: everything is server-rendered, or you bolt on a JavaScript framework with a plugin.

Astro’s Islands Architecture is genius. Your page is static HTML by default. But when you need interactivity, you add an “island”:

---
// This component only loads JavaScript where it's used
import InteractiveSearch from '../components/InteractiveSearch.jsx';
---

<article>
  <h1>My Blog Post</h1>
  <p>Static content, no JavaScript...</p>

  <!-- This island hydrates with JavaScript, only here -->
  <InteractiveSearch client:load />

  <p>More static content...</p>
</article>

The island loads JavaScript. The rest of the page doesn’t.

You can use React, Vue, Svelte, or Solid - all on the same page, all only loading where needed. Try doing that in WordPress.

5. The Modern Stack Advantage

Building this blog with Astro meant embracing a modern, serverless stack:

Development:

• Astro framework
• TypeScript for type safety
• Git for version control
• Claude Code for AI-assisted development

Deployment:

• GitHub for source control (private repository)
• Netlify for hosting (free tier)
• Global CDN (automatic)
• Automatic HTTPS (included)
• Deploy previews (every push)

Total cost: $0/month (plus ~$12/year for the domain)

Compare to WordPress:

• Managed WordPress hosting: $15-50/month
• Or: VPS ($10/month) + maintenance time + stress
• Security plugins: $50-200/year
• Backup solution: $50-100/year
• Performance plugins: $50-100/year
• Page builder: $50-200/year

And you still get worse performance and security.

The WordPress vs Astro Breakdown

Let me make this concrete:

Performance

Security

Cost (Monthly)

Developer Experience

Who Should Use Astro?

Astro is perfect for:

• Blogs (like this one)
• Marketing sites
• Documentation sites
• Portfolio sites
• Landing pages

Astro might not be ideal for:

• E-commerce (use Shopify, or Astro + Snipcart)
• Web apps (use Next.js, SvelteKit)
• Sites with user-generated content (use a headless CMS + Astro)

But honestly? Most “websites” don’t need WordPress. They need fast, secure, maintainable sites. That’s Astro.

The DevOps Angle

As someone who writes about DevOps practices, WordPress feels like a betrayal of everything we preach:

Infrastructure as Code? WordPress is click-ops in the admin panel.

Immutable Infrastructure? WordPress mutates state in the database constantly.

Version Control? Good luck versioning a MySQL database.

Automated Testing? How do you test plugin interactions?

Fast Feedback? Wait for FTP uploads and database propagation.

Astro embodies DevOps principles:

• Everything is code (versioned in Git)
• Immutable builds (each deploy is a new artifact)
• Fast feedback (build fails in seconds, not production)
• Automated deployment (push to deploy)
• Infrastructure as Code (Netlify config in version control)

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Astro harder to learn than WordPress?

For developers, no. Astro uses familiar HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There’s no proprietary templating language like WordPress’s PHP/theme system. If you know basic web development, you can be productive in Astro within an hour.

For non-technical users, yes. WordPress has a GUI admin panel. Astro requires comfort with code, Git, and the command line. If you’re not a developer, stick with WordPress or use a modern CMS like Webflow.

Can I migrate existing WordPress content to Astro?

Yes. WordPress has an XML export feature (Tools → Export). You can convert WordPress XML to Markdown using tools like:

• wordpress-export-to-markdown (npm package)
• exitwp (Python script)
• Manual conversion (for small blogs)

Most migrations take a weekend for typical blogs. Your URLs can remain the same with proper routing configuration.

What about dynamic features like comments and search?

Astro sites are static, but you can add dynamic features via third-party services:

Comments:

• Giscus (GitHub Discussions, free)
• Utterances (GitHub Issues, free)
• Disqus (free tier available)
• Hyvor Talk (paid)

Search:

• Algolia (free tier: 10k searches/month)
• Pagefind (static search, free)
• Fuse.js (client-side search, free)

Forms:

• Netlify Forms (free tier)
• Formspree (free tier)
• Web3Forms (free)

Does Astro work for e-commerce sites?

Not directly. Astro is best for content-heavy sites (blogs, docs, marketing). For e-commerce, consider:

• Shopify (best for most e-commerce needs)
• Astro + Snipcart (lightweight product catalog)
• Astro + Stripe (custom checkout flows)
• Next.js or SvelteKit (for complex web apps with server-side logic)

How does Astro compare to Next.js or Gatsby?

Astro:

• Zero JavaScript by default
• Simpler mental model (no hydration confusion)
• Best for content sites (blogs, marketing, docs)
• Faster builds for large sites

Next.js:

• Full React framework
• Better for web apps with complex interactivity
• Server-side rendering and API routes
• Larger JavaScript bundles

Gatsby:

• React-based, GraphQL-focused
• Slower builds for large sites
• More complex configuration
• Declining popularity (Astro is the spiritual successor)

Bottom line: Use Astro for content sites, Next.js for web apps.

What’s the learning curve like?

Time to productivity:

• WordPress: 1-2 hours (GUI is intuitive)
• Astro: 2-4 hours (if you know HTML/CSS/JS)
• Next.js: 1-2 days (React + framework concepts)
• Gatsby: 2-3 days (React + GraphQL)

Time to mastery:

• WordPress: Weeks (plugin ecosystem, PHP, theme development)
• Astro: Days (simple mental model, good docs)
• Next.js: Weeks (app router, server components, caching)

Astro has the fastest time-to-mastery for developers because it’s built on web standards, not framework-specific abstractions.

Conclusion: The Golden Path Forward

I called this blog “Golden Path DevOps” because there’s a clear, optimal route through the chaos of modern cloud infrastructure. The same is true for blogging platforms.

WordPress was the golden path in 2005. It democratized blogging and deserves respect for that.

Astro is the golden path in 2025. It’s faster, safer, cheaper, and more maintainable.

If you’re starting a new blog today and you choose WordPress, you’re choosing technical debt. You’re signing up for:

• Constant maintenance
• Security concerns
• Performance struggles
• Monthly hosting costs
• Plugin dependency hell

If you choose Astro, you’re choosing:

• Zero maintenance (no servers to patch)
• Zero security concerns (nothing to exploit)
• Perfect performance (static HTML)
• Zero hosting costs (free tier)
• No dependencies (just your code)

The choice is clear.

I’m not saying WordPress should die - it serves a purpose for non-technical users who need a GUI. But if you’re comfortable with code and Git? If you value performance and security? If you practice DevOps principles?

Use Astro. It’s not even close.