I Migrated from WordPress to Astro

I've been using WordPress for almost two decades now. I've built hundreds of websites with it, and I've learned a lot about the platform. But I've also seen how the hosting costs can add up, especially when you're paying $40 per month for a DigitalOcean droplet. That's $480 per year for a website that, frankly, doesn't get massive traffic. When I looked at my analytics and realized I was essentially paying premium prices for modest visitor numbers, I knew something had to change.

Today, my site runs on Astro with a serverless infrastructure, and my hosting bill is... well, basically nothing. Since I'm only billed for what I use and my traffic is moderate, most months cost me literally zero dollars. Here's my story of how I made the switch, what I gained, what I lost, and whether it might be right for you too.

The Breaking Point: When $40/Month Stopped Making Sense

My WordPress setup wasn't anything extraordinary. I had a DigitalOcean droplet that I managed myself, which included:

Full server control and SSH access
Manual updates and backups (my responsibility)
SSL certificate via Let's Encrypt
Self-configured caching and optimization
Complete flexibility but also complete maintenance burden

While I had full control, I was also the sys admin, the security expert, and the performance optimizer. I was publishing maybe 2-3 articles per month, getting a few thousand visitors, and essentially paying $40/month plus my time for server management. The math just didn't add up anymore.

Enter Astro: The Static Site Revolution

Astro caught my attention for several reasons:

Zero JavaScript by default: Pages load incredibly fast
Component-based: I could still use modern development practices
Markdown support: Writing content remained simple
Framework agnostic: I could use React, Vue, or vanilla JS when needed

But the real game-changer? Deploying to Cloudflare Workers (or similar serverless platforms) meant I'd only pay for actual usage.

The Migration Process: Not as Scary as It Sounds

I won't sugarcoat it – migrating years of WordPress content took some effort. Here's what I had to do:

Export WordPress content: Used the built-in WordPress exporter to get all my posts
Convert to Markdown/Astro pages: Wrote scripts to transform WordPress HTML to clean Astro components
Handle images: Downloaded all media files and organized them in a sensible structure
Preserve URLs: Maintained the same URL structure for SEO
Recreate functionality: Rebuilt essential features like search, categories, and tags

The whole process took me a single weekend of focused work. Intense? Yes. But absolutely doable when you're motivated by those monthly hosting bills.

The Cost Breakdown: Where the Magic Happens

WordPress Costs

DigitalOcean Droplet: $40/month ($480/year)
Premium plugins: ~$100/year
Time spent on server maintenance: Countless hours
Total: ~$580/year plus my time

Astro + Serverless Costs

Cloudflare Workers: $0 (free tier covers my traffic)
Build minutes: $0 (using free tier)
Total: $0/year

That's a 100% cost reduction on hosting. From $580/year to literally nothing. And no more server maintenance headaches!

What I Gained: The Unexpected Benefits

1. Global Distribution

The site is now distributed across Cloudflare's global CDN network. Instead of serving everything from a single DigitalOcean droplet, static files are now cached and served from edge locations worldwide. This means faster load times for visitors regardless of their location.

2. Version Control Everything

Every change is now in Git. I can track modifications, revert changes, and collaborate using proper development workflows. No more "who changed what" mysteries.

3. Simplified Backup

My entire site is in a Git repository. That's my backup. No more database dumps or complex backup plugins.

4. Developer Experience

Writing in my code editor with proper syntax highlighting, using modern JavaScript when needed, and having full control over every aspect of the site – it's liberating. Plus, I redesigned the entire site from scratch instead of being tied to my old custom WordPress theme, giving it a fresh, modern look that better represents my current skills.

5. No More Server Management

Remember those DigitalOcean droplet maintenance tasks? Updating PHP, configuring nginx, managing MySQL, monitoring server resources, dealing with memory leaks, fixing permission issues... All gone. The serverless infrastructure just works.

What I Lost: The Trade-offs Are Real

Let's be real about the downsides:

1. No Admin Dashboard

Gone are the days of logging into wp-admin to write a post. Now I write in VS Code. For me, this is fine since I don't publish daily, but for content teams, this would be a dealbreaker.

2. No WYSIWYG Editor

WordPress's Gutenberg editor, love it or hate it, made formatting easy. Now I write in Markdown. Again, I'm comfortable with this, but non-technical users would struggle.

3. Comments and Contact Forms Required Custom Development

In WordPress, I had built-in comments and simple plugins for contact forms. With Astro, I had to build these from scratch. Being a developer, I created my own comment system with nested replies, built a custom contact form, and even developed an admin dashboard for managing them. It works great now, but it took time and effort that WordPress users get out of the box. Not everyone has the skills or time to build these features themselves.

4. Dynamic Features Require Work

Search and other dynamic features – everything that was a plugin in WordPress now requires either:

Third-party services
Custom API routes
Client-side JavaScript

5. No Scheduling Posts

Want to publish something next Tuesday at 3 PM? In WordPress, that's two clicks. With Astro, I need to push to Git at that exact time or set up CI/CD automation.

6. Plugin Ecosystem

Need a feature? In WordPress, there's probably a plugin. With Astro, you're often building it yourself or integrating external services.

WordPress vs Astro: The Comprehensive Comparison

Aspect	WordPress	Astro	Winner
Performance	Depends on hosting, caching, and optimization. Can be fast with effort and money.	Lightning fast by default. Static files served from CDN edge locations.	Astro ⚡
Cost	$20-100+/month for decent hosting	$0-5/month for most sites	Astro 💰
Ease of Use	User-friendly admin, visual editing, no coding required	Requires technical knowledge, command line, Git	WordPress 👍
Flexibility	Thousands of themes and plugins, but limited by PHP/MySQL	Total control, but you build most features yourself	Tie 🤝
Maintenance	Regular updates, security patches, plugin compatibility	Minimal maintenance, update when you want	Astro 🛠️
SEO	Excellent with plugins like AIOSEO or RankMath	Great performance boosts SEO, features need manual implementation	Tie 🤝
Content Management	Best-in-class CMS with media library, user roles, revisions	Files in folders, Git for version control	WordPress 📝

Who Should Consider Switching?

Astro is perfect for you if:

You're comfortable with code and Git
You prioritize performance and cost savings
You don't need frequent content updates
You want complete control over your site
You're building a portfolio, documentation, or blog

Stick with WordPress if:

Non-technical people need to edit content
You need complex dynamic features
You rely heavily on plugins
You publish content multiple times daily
You need user accounts and permissions

Making Peace with the Trade-offs

Two weeks into using Astro, do I love it? Not really. I miss the WordPress admin. I miss how easy things were with plugins. Writing in a code editor isn't as pleasant as a nice CMS interface. But you know what I absolutely love? Not spending $580/year on hosting. Not worrying about PHP updates breaking my site. Not dealing with server maintenance, memory limits, or nginx configurations.

The money I'm saving? That's $580/year ($480 from hosting + $100 from plugins) that stays in my pocket. The peace of mind from not maintaining servers? Priceless. I may not be in love with Astro itself, but I'm definitely in love with the simplicity of serverless, the zero hosting bills, and never having to SSH into a server at midnight because something broke.

The Hybrid Approach: Best of Both Worlds?

If you're torn, consider these hybrid solutions:

Headless WordPress: Keep WordPress as a CMS but use Astro as the frontend
Astro + CMS: Use services like Contentful or Strapi for content management
Incremental migration: Move marketing pages to Astro, keep blog on WordPress

My Workflow Now

Here's how I work with my Astro site today:

Open VS Code
Write content in Markdown with frontmatter
Preview locally with npm run dev
Commit and push to GitHub
Automatic deployment via CI/CD
Site updates in under a minute

Is it as convenient as clicking "Publish" in WordPress? No. But the control, performance, and cost savings make up for it tenfold.

Final Thoughts: It's About the Money (and the Headaches)

Let's be real: I didn't switch to Astro because I fell in love with static site generators. I switched because I was tired of bleeding money for a low-traffic site and exhausted from playing server administrator on weekends.

Do I miss WordPress? Every single day. Would I go back? Not for $580/year. The developer experience in Astro isn't amazing – it's just different. But the hosting bills? Those are amazing. The server maintenance? Beautifully non-existent. The PHP update anxiety? Gone forever.

My migration from WordPress to Astro was purely practical. I traded convenience for cost savings, a nice admin panel for freedom from server management, and easy plugin installation for never worrying about PHP versions again.

Would I recommend everyone drop WordPress for Astro? No. WordPress is still fantastic for what it does. But if you're technically capable, if your hosting bills make you wince, and if you're tired of server maintenance, then yes – the inconvenience of Astro might be worth the savings and simplicity.

I may not love Astro, but I sure love keeping that $580/year. And I really, really love never having to update PHP again.

Have questions about migrating from WordPress to Astro? Found this helpful? Feel free to reach out – I'm happy to share more details about the migration process, specific technical challenges, or anything else about my experience making the switch.