Astro vs WordPress: the honest comparison.

We build Astro sites. That does not make us objective, but it forces us to be precise: the slightest exaggeration would turn against us. So here are measurable data, the cases where WordPress wins, and our verdict up front.

What changed in 2026#

Four announcements have reshaped the comparison this year.

Adoption is moving too. In the HTTP Archive sample, Astro went from 17,783 sites in September 2025 to 49,450 in September 2026 (×2.8). WordPress went from 3,163,026 to 2,714,694 over the same period (−14%), while still powering 39.7% of all websites according to W3Techs.

WordPress remains by far the most used tool on the web. Astro is no longer a niche experiment.

Two philosophies, not two versions of the same tool#

WordPress is a full-stack CMS. It handles everything: content, design, server, database, plugins, users. It is a Swiss army knife, and it does roughly everything you ask of it.

Astro is a web framework built for content sites. By default it generates every page in advance, as plain HTML, at build time. It can also render pages on the server when a page needs fresh data on each request. Your content comes from Markdown files, a CMS or an API.

These are not two competitors doing the same thing differently. They solve different problems, which is why the right answer depends on your project.

Performance: the numbers#

This is the most measurable difference, so we separate two sources: the whole market, measured by HTTP Archive, and the sites we deliver ourselves.

Swipe the table to see every column.

Market columns: HTTP Archive Tech Report, September 2026 data, mobile, all origins. Last column: Google PageSpeed mobile scores of the sites we delivered.

71% of Astro sites pass all three Core Web Vitals on mobile. For WordPress, it is 48%.

HTTP Archive Tech Report, September 2026, mobile.

The reason is architectural: WordPress runs PHP and queries a database on every visit, and its themes and plugins add weight (the five causes). Astro serves pages that are already built.

Cost: over 3 years, not day 1#

The build price can look comparable. The total over three years is where the two diverge.

Swipe the table to see every column.

WordPress creation prices: agency range from a survey of 103 public French prices (open licence, June 2026). Hosting, maintenance and plugins: our estimates for a typical business site, French market 2026, detailed in the full cost breakdown. Astro4B prices exclude VAT; an optional maintenance plan exists, nothing forces you to take it.

The gap comes from recurring costs. WordPress needs a server, updates and paid plugins. An Astro site deployed on Cloudflare Pages costs nothing to host.

WordPress (agency site), range €4,546 to
€11,996

Astro (Astro4B), showcase site + CMS €1,516

Solid bar: low end of the range · outline: high end. Same sources as the table; Astro4B prices ex. VAT.

Security: the attack surface#

In 2025, Patchstack recorded 11,334 new vulnerabilities across WordPress, 42% more than in 2024. 91% were in plugins and 9% in themes; only six concerned WordPress core, all low priority.

A WordPress site exposes:

• a PHP interpreter;
• a MySQL database;
• a login page (/wp-admin);
• a file upload handler;
• dozens of plugins, each a potential entry point.

A static Astro site exposes HTML files on a CDN. There is no server to compromise, no database to inject, no login to brute-force. Security is not a plugin you add; it follows from the architecture.

Editing content: Gutenberg vs a Git-based CMS#

This is the first objection we hear, and it is legitimate.

WordPress is ahead on editing comfort. A visual block editor, user roles, scheduled publishing, revisions, and since WordPress 7.1, Notes with mentions and inline feedback. Simultaneous editing of the same page is still not available.

On the Astro side, we install Decap CMS. It is free and open source. Editors work in a browser interface, with an optional draft, review and publish workflow, and every change is saved in your own Git repository. Its limits: it is less visual than Gutenberg, two people cannot edit the same page at the same time, and media management is simpler. Decap CMS, in detail.

A simple rule: one to three people publishing a few times a month are well served by Astro and a CMS. A newsroom of five people or more publishing every day will be more comfortable on WordPress.

Is your team technical?

• Yes

  Git + Markdowncode directly

• No

  Dynamic data or auth?

  • No

    Decap CMSAstro4B stackOur choice

  • Yes

    Headless CMSContentful, Sanity…

After launch: what you can change on your own#

With WordPress, a non-technical owner can install a plugin, add a page template or switch themes without calling anyone. That freedom has a cost: every plugin added is more code to update and another possible entry point.

With Astro, you change texts, images, pages and articles yourself in the CMS. Adding a feature (a booking module, a new page layout, a third-party integration) means changing the site’s code, so it goes through a developer.

Most business sites change their content often and their features rarely. If yours needs new features every month, plan for a developer’s time, whichever platform you choose.

SEO: same field, different tools#

Both platforms rank well when the content is good. The method differs.

WordPress has the guidance advantage: Yoast, Rank Math and thousands of tutorials walk a non-specialist through titles, metas and sitemaps.

Astro has the control advantage: you decide every line of the generated HTML, with no markup added by a theme and no script slowing down rendering. In the HTTP Archive data, the median Lighthouse SEO score is 100 for Astro sites against 92 for WordPress, and the Core Web Vitals gap (71% vs 48%) counts towards Google’s page experience signals.

Headless WordPress + Astro: the middle path#

There is a third option: WordPress becomes a back office only, and Astro builds the public site from its content. Some teams choose it to keep the WordPress editor they know while getting fast pages.

We do not offer this setup, and here is why:

• two systems to host and maintain: the Astro site, and the WordPress install behind it;
• WordPress still needs updating and securing: the plugin attack surface does not disappear because the public site is static;
• the back office needs paid hosting, so you lose the €0 a month.

What we offer instead: Astro with Decap CMS, which covers the editing needs of most business sites. If the WordPress editor is non-negotiable for your team, our advice is to stay on classic WordPress and optimise it well.

The catalogue: WordPress’s real strength#

Let’s be honest: in volume, the WordPress catalogue is unmatched.

• the largest directory of free and open-source plugins, with tens of thousands of extensions;
• thousands of themes and a developer community in every country;
• for almost any need, a plugin already exists.

Astro has a smaller but fast-growing catalogue:

• 900,000 npm downloads per week at the end of 2025 (2.5× over the year);
• 4th most admired web framework in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025;
• used by Cloudflare, Visa, Google, Microsoft, Netlify and OpenAI for their documentation sites;
• 49,450 sites in the HTTP Archive sample in September 2026, almost three times more than a year earlier.

If you need a plugin that only exists for WordPress (an advanced booking system, an LMS, complex e-commerce), WordPress remains the pragmatic choice.

For a small business, which one?#

Three common profiles, and what we would recommend:

• A craftsperson or a local shop with five pages (services, opening hours, contact): Astro. The site barely changes, it must load fast on a phone, and €0 a month of hosting matters more than a plugin catalogue.
• A consultant publishing one article a month: Astro with Decap CMS. Publishing is simple enough, articles stay fast, and there is no plugin to update.
• A shop selling 300 products online: WordPress with WooCommerce, or Shopify. Catalogue, stock, payment and shipping are mature there; rebuilding them around Astro would cost more than it saves.

When WordPress is the better choice#

WordPress wins when:

• you need full e-commerce (WooCommerce is mature and proven);
• you need a membership area with complex roles and permissions;
• a large editorial team publishes every day and wants a visual editor without compromise;
• you need a specific plugin with no equivalent outside WordPress;
• you want to build the site yourself, with no developer.

When Astro is the better choice#

Astro wins when:

• your site is mostly content: business site, blog, portfolio, documentation;
• performance matters (competitive search results, mobile visitors);
• you want no running costs after delivery;
• you want to own your code without depending on third-party plugins;
• security is a concern;
• you want a site that stays fast without constant maintenance.

Can you migrate from WordPress to Astro?#

Yes. Pages, articles and images are exported and converted, titles and meta descriptions are carried over, and every old address is kept or redirected with a 301 so that your rankings follow. What does not migrate as is: plugins. Each one is replaced either by a feature built into the site or by an external service.

The migration guide details the steps. If you would rather have it done for you: our WordPress to Astro migration service.

The Astro4B choice#

We build with Astro because most showcase sites and company blogs do not need what WordPress adds, nor what it weighs. They need a fast, well-indexed, secure site that costs nothing to run. Why we build with Astro. When a project needs WordPress (e-commerce, complex systems, specific plugins), we say so clearly.

We applied it to Marrakech City Guide, the travel guide our founder publishes, back online on 17 July 2026 after a full relaunch: migration from WordPress to Astro, a new site structure, a refocused editorial line, every piece of content rewritten and a new English version (the site was French-only before). The migration handled the switch without a traffic dip; the growth that followed comes from the whole relaunch. According to Search Console, 60 days later it was getting 31 visits a day from Google, against 3 in June, at an average position of 14 (20 before the Google update that had hit it in February). Every WordPress migration we take on follows the same method.

June 2026 3 Google visits a day · before the relaunch

60 days later 31 Google visits a day · average position 14

1. Mostly content?

   Business site, blog, portfolio, documentation → Astro. The content does not change between visits.

2. E-commerce?

   Product catalogue with payment → WordPress + WooCommerce, or Shopify. The tooling is more mature.

3. Who publishes?

   One to three people → Astro + Decap CMS. A daily newsroom → WordPress.

4. Performance critical?

   Competitive SEO, mobile visitors, Core Web Vitals → Astro. The advantage is structural.

FAQ#

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Still undecided? Test your current site on PageSpeed Insights. If the score is above 90, your current stack works. If it is below, the configurator shows what an Astro site would cost, and what it would change. To switch from one to the other without losing your rankings: moving from WordPress to Astro.