My Journey with WordPress

I've been making websites on WordPress for nearly 20 years — personal sites, client sites, and more. For a long time, WordPress met almost every need. It was flexible, familiar, and supported a wide range of features.

But over time, WordPress started creating its own problems. I noticed many sites, including ones I worked on, were overloaded with 40 to 60 plugins. Security issues were a constant worry. Page speed scores were disappointing. The new block editor wasn’t something users needed. It was frustrating: the tool that helped us build websites was making it harder to create fast, secure sites.

Instead of leaving WordPress behind, I thought, "What if we simplified it and built it right?"

Rethinking WordPress

I started this experiment with clear goals. First, I wanted to get rid of plugin overload. Instead of relying on plugins for features, I aimed to create a backend that matched the specific needs of each site. This meant using custom post types and fields, designing a user interface that matched the content, and skipping the Gutenberg editor.

For SEO, instead of adding a plugin later, I wanted it built into the theme. The same goes for performance — no caching plugins, no CDNs. I chose to run the entire setup on AWS S3 and CloudFront, using Simply Static to convert the dynamic WordPress site into static HTML files.

The final product is a static site with a familiar WordPress admin interface. Editors can use what they already know, and visitors get fast HTML files.

Performance Results

Here’s where it got interesting. I compared my WordPress setup with popular modern setups — Astro and Next.js, both hosted on Vercel.

The WordPress setup achieved 195ms Time to First Byte, 386ms First Contentful Paint, and 1,205ms Largest Contentful Paint. The Astro build had 191ms TTFB, but 818ms FCP and 2,021ms LCP. The Next.js build had 176ms TTFB, 604ms FCP, and 1,920ms LCP.

For perceived load speed, especially LCP, the WordPress site outperformed both alternatives.

What This Means

I don't want to exaggerate. These tests were just one example, at one moment in time. Astro and Next.js are great frameworks that perform well in skilled hands.

However, these results challenge the common belief in web development that WordPress is outdated and that modern JavaScript frameworks always perform better. Performance often comes down to choices, not just the tools we use. A well-built WordPress site that prioritizes SEO and delivery can be just as effective.

Also, many users are already familiar with the WordPress admin interface. When you combine that with a custom backend for the site's content, it becomes truly user-friendly — without the steep learning curve of a headless CMS or a new framework.

WordPress isn’t going anywhere. But it's time we rethink how we build with it.