Astro theme or WordPress theme: which to pick

You can buy a WordPress theme in an evening and install it in one click. An Astro theme needs a terminal and Git. If the comparison stops there, WordPress wins. We sell Astro themes, so weigh this with that in mind, but six months into a site’s life the picture looks different.

Speed

Without caching, WordPress builds each page on the server for every request. A typical theme loads jQuery, slider scripts, and every plugin’s stylesheet on every page.

Astro builds the HTML once, at publish time. JavaScript reaches the browser only where it’s needed: the menu, the gallery. For a site made of articles and sales pages, that’s most of the difference in load time.

Hosting

WordPress needs a server with PHP and MySQL. A built Astro site is a folder of files served by Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages. For a small site, the free tier is enough.

Security and upkeep

The usual WordPress breach comes through an outdated plugin. Hence the monthly updates, the backups, and the dread of clicking “Update all.” A static site has no admin panel and no database, so there’s nothing on the server to break into.

Where WordPress is easier

Editing. A content manager logs into the admin and edits text. In an Astro theme, copy lives in Markdown files. For a developer or a technical writer that’s a plus: history in Git, edits in your own editor. A non-technical manager needs a headless CMS on top.

A plugin for everything. A store, a forum, user accounts: in WordPress each is an extension. In Astro each is its own development project.

Who should pick what

Company site, landing page, blog, docs, portfolio: Astro. Especially when a developer builds the site and the content is written by someone comfortable with Markdown.

A store with a cart, a site with user accounts, a newsroom of ten non-technical editors: WordPress or a dedicated platform.

If your project is in the first group, browse the Astro theme catalog. For a blog there’s Marginalia; for a local business, Plumb.