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WordPress, or a static site that just works?
We build business sites as static Astro sites with the code in GitHub instead of WordPress. Here is the honest version of why, with real numbers from a live client rebuild.
| Comparison dimension | WordPress | Astro static site |
|---|---|---|
| What is actually running | A PHP application and a database build every page while the visitor waits. | Plain HTML and CSS, built once ahead of time, served from a global edge network. No server. |
| Speed | About 173 ms to first byte on the live site we measured. Every request hits the origin server. | About 62 ms on the same site rebuilt. Served straight from the edge cache, roughly 2.8 times faster. |
| Page weight | Around 157 KB for one homepage, most of it page builder markup and plugin scripts. | Around 45 KB for the same homepage. Roughly 3.5 times lighter, so it loads fast on a phone. |
| Security | Core, theme, and every plugin are a live attack surface, and WordPress is the most targeted platform on the web. | No database, no admin login, no code running on a server. There is nothing to hack at runtime. |
| Maintenance | Core updates, plugin updates, theme updates, security monitoring, and backups, forever. | Nothing to patch. Change the content, rebuild, redeploy. That is the whole job. |
| Hosting cost | A monthly bill for a server that runs all day to serve the same pages. | Static hosting at the edge costs almost nothing, and at most business sizes it is free. |
| Editing content yourself | Log in and edit anything yourself. This is the real WordPress advantage. | Not self serve out of the box. You send us the change, or we wire up a simple editor for the pages you touch often. |
| Version history | Edits overwrite each other. Getting yesterday back depends on whether a backup ran. | The whole site lives as code in GitHub. Every change is tracked, and any version can come back in minutes. |
| When something breaks | A plugin update conflicts with another plugin and the site white screens until someone digs in. | Static files do not crash. There is nothing running to break. |
Speed and weight figures measured live in June 2026 on a client's WordPress homepage and the same site rebuilt in Astro, served from the Cloudflare edge. Same business, same content.
The honest take
WordPress is the right tool when a content team publishes every day and needs to edit everything themselves. Most business sites are not that. They are a brochure that changes a few times a year, and WordPress makes you carry a database, an admin login, and a stack of plugins to serve it. That stack is slower, it is the most attacked software on the web, and somebody has to keep patching it forever. A static site skips all of it: faster pages, nothing to hack at runtime, the whole site versioned in GitHub, and hosting that costs almost nothing. The trade is self serve editing, and we close that gap by making changes for you or wiring up a simple editor for the pages you actually touch. Deciding who should build it? See agency, freelancer, or one studio.
Stuck maintaining a WordPress site?
Tell us what your site needs to do. We will tell you on a quick call whether a static rebuild is worth it for you, honestly.
Common questions
- Is WordPress bad?
- No. WordPress powers a huge share of the web, and it earns its keep when a content team publishes daily and needs to edit everything themselves. The problem is the default: most business sites are five to fifteen pages that change a few times a year, carried by a database, an admin login, and a stack of plugins that all need feeding. That is paying rent on machinery you are not using.
- How do I update my site without a WordPress admin?
- Two ways. For most clients, you send us the change and it is live the same day, tracked in version control. If you edit certain pages often, we wire up a simple editor for exactly those pages, so you get the self serve part of WordPress without dragging the whole platform along.
- Will I lose my Google rankings if I move off WordPress?
- Not if the move is done properly. Your pages keep their addresses or get permanent redirects, and titles, descriptions, and structured data carry over. Google does not rank platforms, it ranks pages, and a faster, lighter version of the same page tends to do better, not worse.
- What does GitHub have to do with my website?
- GitHub is where the site lives as code. Every change is a tracked commit, so there is a full history of who changed what and when, and any previous version of the site can be restored in minutes. It is the difference between hoping a backup ran and knowing exactly what yesterday looked like.
- Where do your speed numbers come from?
- We measured them live in June 2026 on a real client engagement: the same business, same content, on its existing WordPress site and on our Astro rebuild served from the Cloudflare edge. The rebuild came in roughly 3.5 times lighter and 2.8 times faster to first byte. Your numbers will vary, but the direction will not.