Why We Stopped Building on WordPress

We stopped building client sites on WordPress because static, Git-versioned sites are faster, more secure, and easier to keep optimized, and those three things are what SEO and AI search depend on. WordPress is still a capable platform, and it’s still right for some businesses. But for the sites we host and optimize, it stopped being the best foundation.

If you’ve read our older Field Notes, you’ll see the evolution. We wrote about Elementor, Divi, WP Engine, and the best plugins to install. We meant every word at the time. This is the story of why our recommendation changed.

What we kept running into

Speed was a constant fight

A typical WordPress site combines a theme, a page builder, and a stack of plugins. Each adds code to every page, whether that page needs it or not. We spent a lot of time on caching plugins, image optimizers, and script tweaks just to claw back speed that the stack itself had taken away. Every new feature put it at risk again.

Security meant constant patching

WordPress core, themes, and plugins all need regular updates, and outdated plugins are one of the most common ways sites get compromised. Keeping dozens of client sites patched and tested was ongoing work that added no value for clients; it just kept them safe from problems the platform created.

Updates broke things

A plugin update that conflicts with another plugin, or a theme update that shifts a layout, can break a page without anyone noticing until a customer does. Fixing it meant rolling back, testing, and trying again.

Structure was hard to control

Page builders generate deeply nested markup. Getting exactly the headings, semantic HTML, and structured data that search engines and AI agents read best often meant fighting the tools instead of using them.

What we build instead

Today, every site we host is a static site built with a modern framework (we use Astro), stored in Git, and served from Cloudflare’s global edge network. In plain terms:

• Static: pages are built ahead of time into simple, fast HTML files. There’s no database to query and no server software running for each visit.
• Git-versioned: every change to the site is recorded, reviewable, and reversible. If something’s wrong, we roll back in seconds.
• Edge-hosted: pages are served from data centers close to each visitor, so they load fast everywhere.

What changed for our clients

• Speed: our sites consistently score 95+ on Google PageSpeed, without caching plugins or ongoing tuning.
• Security: with no plugins and no admin login exposed on the live site, the most common attack paths simply don’t exist.
• Reliability: no surprise breakage from updates, because there’s nothing to auto-update.
• SEO and AI readiness: we control every heading, link, and line of structured data, so pages are built exactly the way search engines and AI agents read best. See What Is an Agent-Ready Website?
• Ownership: the code is clean, portable, and yours to keep.

The tradeoffs, honestly

Static sites aren’t for everyone:

• You don’t log in to edit pages yourself the way you would in WordPress. For our clients, that’s the point: edits are part of the plan and we handle them. But if you want to make lots of changes yourself, every day, that matters.
• Some highly dynamic features need extra services, such as complex member areas, large catalogs with real-time inventory, or community forums.
• The WordPress plugin ecosystem is enormous. If your business depends on a specific plugin, that’s worth weighing.

When WordPress is still the right call

WordPress remains a good fit if you have an in-house team that edits content constantly, you rely on specific WordPress plugins for core business functions, or you run a large publication with many authors and complex editorial workflows. In those cases, managed WordPress hosting from a reputable provider is still a solid choice.

What it means if you’re on WordPress today

You don’t have to start over to get these benefits. If you like your current design, we can rebuild it on our stack so it looks the way you know it, with every URL mapped and redirected so you keep the rankings you’ve earned. Explore our hosting and web design, or see how we work.