Why We Build in Astro and TypeScript Instead of WordPress
Your site loads faster, breaks less, and costs less to keep running over three years. That’s the short answer. Here’s the long one.
What WordPress actually is
WordPress isn’t a website. It’s a content management system with a database, a plugin ecosystem, and a PHP engine that rebuilds your page from scratch on every visit, unless a caching plugin does that job for it, which is one more moving part. A typical small-business WordPress build runs a theme, a page builder (Elementor or Divi), an SEO plugin, a caching plugin, a form plugin, a security plugin and a backup plugin. Seven systems, seven update cycles, seven ways for one plugin conflict to take the site down.
What Astro actually is
Astro builds your site once, when it’s published, into plain HTML, CSS and only the JavaScript each page actually needs. There’s no database queried on every visit, no PHP engine, no plugin stack. TypeScript catches broken code before it ships, not after a visitor finds it. The finished site goes out to Cloudflare’s network as static files, so it loads fast everywhere, not just near the one server your host rents you.
The comparison that matters
| WordPress (typical small-business build) | Astro + TypeScript (BAD build) | |
|---|---|---|
| Page speed | Depends on the theme, builder, plugins and caching | Static files from Cloudflare’s edge. This site has to score 90+ on Lighthouse on every key page before it ships |
| Moving parts | Theme + builder + 4–6 plugins | One codebase |
| Update surface | Core, theme and every plugin, every month | Far smaller: a short list of build tools, no plugins |
| Hosting | Managed WordPress hosting, billed monthly | Cloudflare Pages; the free tier covers a typical business site |
| Security patching | Constant. In 2025, plugins accounted for about 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities | No PHP and no plugins on the live site to patch |
| Who can break it | Anyone with admin access who installs a plugin | Only a code change, reviewed before it ships |
| Editing your content | Built in, in the browser | In the browser, through the CMS add-on |
The plugin figure comes from Patchstack’s State of WordPress Security report: 11,334 new vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025, about 91% of them in plugins and only six in WordPress core.
Why this is better for you, not just for us
You stop paying the plugin tax. Premium page builders, form tools and themes are usually sold as yearly licences, stacked on top of hosting. A Full Website from BAD is €1,490 once. Care starts at €49 a month if you want someone keeping it updated and monitored. CMS access is €150 to set up plus €15 a month, and the monthly fee is waived on Standard or Growth Care. Every price is on the services page, no form.
Your site doesn’t go down because someone else’s plugin broke. WordPress security problems overwhelmingly come from outdated or vulnerable plugins, not from WordPress itself. An Astro site has no plugin layer to break into. Less software running means less to attack.
Speed affects ranking and sales. Google’s Core Web Vitals feed into search ranking, and a slow page loses mobile visitors before they read a word. A static site starts fast. You’re not fighting a heavy page builder to reach a good score. Check your own site’s speed in 60 seconds.
You’re not locked into an ecosystem you didn’t choose. Once a WordPress site is built around one page builder or theme, leaving it usually means a rebuild, not a move. The content and the design are tangled together. An Astro site is portable HTML and structured content, with no proprietary format holding it hostage.
Fewer things to babysit. No “WordPress needs an update” email. No plugin breaking after a core update. No 2 a.m. “the site’s down” call because a form plugin fought a caching plugin. That’s real time back.
Where WordPress still wins
WordPress’s real advantage isn’t editing. It’s the plugin ecosystem. Need a niche booking system, a membership paywall, or a tool built for one industry’s odd case? There’s probably a WordPress plugin for it already, built and maintained by someone else.
An Astro build doesn’t have that two-click library. Something genuinely unusual gets built into the site instead of installed. That holds up better over time (no abandoned plugins, no conflicts), but it means more planning up front. Worth knowing before you choose, especially if your business already runs on one specific niche tool.
The honest tradeoff, one line each
- WordPress: a bigger off-the-shelf library for niche features, and more moving parts to maintain and secure.
- Astro and TypeScript: editing through a CMS add-on, and unusual features built to order instead of plugged in.
For most five-page business sites, such as a clinic, a trades business or a property manager, the standard features cover everything, so this rarely matters. If your business depends on one niche tool, bring it up on the call. To see what a build actually costs, read what a website costs in Croatia in 2026.