We’ve built dozens of WordPress sites over the years. It’s familiar, clients know it, and the plugin ecosystem is massive.
But we’re moving on. Here’s why.
The WordPress Problem
WordPress powers 43% of the web, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for every project. For small business websites, WordPress brings significant challenges:
The Performance Penalty
Recent data shows that only 44% of WordPress sites pass Core Web Vitals benchmarks—Google’s key metrics for user experience. This isn’t just a number; it directly impacts your search rankings and user engagement. When nearly 60% of WordPress sites fail basic performance standards, small businesses are unknowingly handicapping their online presence.
The technical reality:
- Bloat - A basic WordPress install makes 50+ HTTP requests and loads 500KB+ of assets before you’ve even added content
- Database overhead - Every page load triggers multiple database queries, even for static content that never changes
- Plugin cascade - The more plugins and themes you add to your WordPress site, the slower it may become, creating a vicious cycle where fixing one problem creates another
The Hidden Costs
- Security concerns - Constant updates, plugin vulnerabilities, and the perpetual game of whack-a-mole with hackers
- Hosting complexity - Requires PHP, MySQL, regular backups, and increasingly expensive hosting to maintain decent performance
- Maintenance burden - Updates that break things, compatibility issues between plugins, and the need for ongoing technical support
For a 5-page business website that updates quarterly, this infrastructure is like using a semi-truck to deliver a pizza.
Why Astro?
Astro is a modern static site generator that takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of generating pages on-demand from a database, it compiles your entire site to pure HTML at build time. The result? Lightning-fast websites that just work.
Performance That Speaks for Itself
The numbers tell a compelling story. 63% of real-world sites built on Astro achieve Core Web Vitals, significantly outperforming WordPress at 44%. This isn’t marginal improvement—it’s transformative.
One agency achieved a perfect 100 Google PageSpeed Score using Astro, with LCP dropping below 2.5 seconds, FID well under 100 milliseconds, and CLS virtually zero. These aren’t theoretical benchmarks; they’re real-world results that translate directly to better user experience and higher search rankings.
Zero JavaScript by Default
Astro’s revolutionary approach ships zero JavaScript to the browser unless you explicitly need it. This selective loading strategy has led to retail sites reporting an 8.4% increase in conversions and travel sites experiencing a 10.1% boost—proof that performance directly impacts your bottom line.
Security Through Simplicity
With no database to hack, no PHP vulnerabilities to exploit, and no plugin backdoors to breach, Astro sites are inherently more secure. You’re not constantly patching security holes because they don’t exist in the first place.
Cost Efficiency That Scales
- Host on Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages for free (or nearly free)
- No need for expensive WordPress hosting with PHP and MySQL
- Lower bandwidth costs due to smaller page sizes
- Reduced maintenance means fewer developer hours
Developer Experience That Delivers
- Write in Markdown, React, Vue, Svelte, or plain HTML
- TypeScript support out of the box
- Modern build tools that actually make sense
- File-based routing that eliminates complexity
Real-World Results
When we chose Astro for Tap to Door, we made the decision based on our client’s specific needs for performance and simplicity. While we don’t have before/after metrics since we built it in Astro from the start, industry research validates our choice.
A recent case study comparing WordPress to Astro showed an 80% reduction in data transfer—from 120KB to just 23KB per page. For mobile users, this difference determines whether your site loads in 2 seconds or 8 seconds—and whether visitors stay or leave.
The Sustainability Angle
Here’s something we care deeply about at Tsuga Digital: the environmental impact of our work. Smaller, faster sites aren’t just better for users—they’re better for the planet. Less data transfer means less energy consumption at every step of the journey.
This aligns perfectly with our sustainable web design principles, where we explore how efficient code and thoughtful hosting choices can reduce the web’s carbon footprint. Astro’s lean approach naturally supports these goals, creating websites that tread lightly on both servers and the environment.
When to Still Use WordPress
Let’s be honest—WordPress isn’t going anywhere, and for good reason. It still makes sense when you need:
- E-commerce complexity - WooCommerce remains unmatched for stores with thousands of products
- Multiple content editors - When non-technical team members need daily publishing access
- Complex membership systems - Subscription sites with gated content and user management
- Specific plugin dependencies - When your business relies on niche WordPress plugins
- Dynamic functionality - Real-time features, user-generated content, or complex forms
WordPress excels at complexity. But most small business websites don’t need complexity—they need clarity, speed, and reliability.
Migration Considerations
Switching from WordPress to Astro isn’t just a technical decision—it’s a strategic one. Here’s what to consider:
Content Migration
We’ve developed efficient processes to export your WordPress content and restructure it for Astro. Blog posts, pages, and media can all make the journey.
SEO Preservation
Proper 301 redirects, structured data migration, and careful URL planning ensure you don’t lose the search rankings you’ve worked hard to build.
Feature Parity
Most WordPress features have Astro equivalents:
- Contact forms → Netlify Forms or similar services
- Comments → Disqus or utterances
- Search → Algolia or pagefind
- Analytics → Same as before (Google Analytics, Plausible, etc.)
Training & Handoff
For clients who want to maintain their own content, we set up headless CMS solutions like Sanity, Strapi, or even WordPress as a headless backend—giving you the editing experience you’re familiar with while delivering Astro’s performance benefits.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
According to Core Web Vitals reports, Astro leads with 60% of its websites achieving good scores in real-world performance metrics, compared to WordPress and Gatsby at around 38%. When the majority of your competitors are failing basic performance tests, choosing Astro gives you an immediate advantage.
This performance gap isn’t shrinking—it’s growing. While PHP performance has improved over the years, with PHP 7.3 handling 3x more requests than PHP 5.6, it still can’t compete with pre-built static HTML. Even with aggressive caching, WordPress sites struggle to match the instant response times of static sites.
Our Approach
At Tsuga Digital, we’re not dogmatic about technology. We choose tools that serve our clients’ goals. For content-heavy sites that change frequently, for complex applications, or for clients with specific WordPress requirements, we still build WordPress sites—and we build them well.
But for the majority of small business websites—those digital business cards, service showcases, and marketing sites—Astro delivers better results with less overhead. It’s faster, more secure, more sustainable, and more cost-effective.
Ready to Make the Switch?
If your WordPress site feels sluggish, if you’re tired of constant updates and security scares, or if you simply want a website that loads instantly and ranks better, it might be time to consider Astro.
We’ve successfully migrated numerous WordPress sites to modern static architectures, preserving SEO value while dramatically improving performance. Our process is refined, our results are proven, and our clients are thrilled with the outcomes.
Let’s talk about your website’s future. We’ll assess your current setup, discuss your needs, and determine if Astro is the right fit for your business. Even if it’s not, we’ll point you in the right direction.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the technology—it’s about building websites that work brilliantly for your business and your users.