A dialogue on Twitter in regards to the many individuals posting that they’ve left WordPress for Astro went modestly viral, with longtime WordPress supporters explaining why they ditched WordPress for Astro. Statistics present that WordPress is dropping customers and Astro is gaining them at a price of 100% 12 months over 12 months, indicating that the shift towards Astro is greater than a passing pattern.
WordPress Marketshare Steadily Declining
An underreported statistic about WordPress is that WordPress peaked in mid 2025 with a marketshare of 43.6% and has been on a gradual decline ever since, presently sitting at a 42.2% marketshare (according to W3Techs), a drop of 1.4%. WordPress is dropping marketshare, it is a truth.
An argument may very well be made that the WordPress marketshare share is inflated as a result of a major variety of WordPress web sites are deserted or spam. The official WordPress statistics present that 10.56% of WordPress web sites haven’t been up to date since 2022. Meaning, in case you don’t rely deserted web sites, the precise WordPress marketshare is lower than the 42.2%.
Astro Downloaded 2.5 Million Instances Per Week
Astro is a static website generator and net framework. It’s not a content material administration system, it’s software program that generates web sites from content material. Websites created with Astro are referred to as static as a result of they’re basic HTML net pages that aren’t dynamically generated from a database the way in which that PHP-based websites constructed with WordPress are. The consequence is that Astro-based websites obtain quicker and are simpler.
Astro had been steadily gaining recognition because it debuted in 2021. The concept Astro isn’t fashionable and that the hoopla is loud voices is demonstrably false. Astro’s recognition is actual. It’s currently being downloaded at a price of two.5 million downloads per week. That’s a 100% enhance from 2025 when it was being downloaded at a price of 1.4 million weekly downloads.
Screenshot Of The Astro Obtain Statistics
Joost de Valk, founding father of the Yoast search engine optimization plugin, could have recognized one of many the reason why so many individuals are turning to Astro. He lately wrote of an epiphany during which he realized he didn’t want a content material administration system (CMS); he simply wanted an internet site.
He wrote:
“For twenty years, ‘I need a web site’ meant “I want a CMS.” WordPress, Joomla, Drupal: the dialog was at all times about which one. That framing is outdated. Individuals by no means wished a CMS. They need an internet site.”
Some Doubt The Astro Actuality
Rayhan Arif, a WordPress enterprise individual, lately expressed his incredulity over the various tweets and weblog posts by folks sharing their expertise leaving WordPress for Astro.
He tweeted:
“Each “’leaving WordPress’ publish I come throughout appears to level to Astro. However after I dig a bit deeper, I typically don’t see any prior conversations or context displaying these folks have been really utilizing WordPress within the first place.
To me, it begins to really feel much less natural and extra like a coordinated narrative virtually like a well-planned unfavorable marketing campaign towards WordPress. It even makes me wonder if some corporations is perhaps incentivizing this sort of messaging for their very own enterprise positive aspects.
I may very well be unsuitable, however that’s actually the impression I’ve been getting.”
That tweet appeared to suggest that Cloudflare, which acquired Astro at the start of 2026, could have been orchestrating a whisper marketing campaign. However no one in that dialogue agreed with him.
Astro Had Momentum Predates Cloudflare’s Acquisition
One of many first responses pushed again towards the concept of a whisper marketing campaign. Tommy J. Vedvik argued that the motion towards Astro was already taking place earlier than Cloudflare acquired Astro or created EmDash.
Vedvik responded:
“You’re most likely unsuitable in case you suppose it’s Cloudflare who’s behind it. This occurred manner earlier than Cloudflare acquired Astro or created EmDash”
David V. Kimball made an identical level from his personal expertise, saying he had been encouraging folks to maneuver away from WordPress earlier than Astro grew to become a part of a broader public dialog.
Kimball wrote:
“No, I’ve been pushing folks away from WordPress to Astro earlier than it was cool, beginning about two years in the past.”
He added that he had not seen many others doing the identical till lately, however described himself as “a residing respiratory individual” who had already helped many individuals make that transfer.
The pushback didn’t show that each publish was natural, nevertheless it did problem the concept that the sample started with Cloudflare. The replies recommended that Astro had already been gaining floor amongst some builders earlier than the current consideration round EmDash.
Not everybody who left WordPress rushed towards Astro. Entrance finish developer Tammy Hart shared that she was a WordPress defector however that she loathed Astro.
Longtime WordPress Defecting To Astro
A number of respondents made a degree of building their WordPress credentials. That grew to become one of many thread’s strongest themes: essentially the most detailed criticisms weren’t coming from folks with no historical past in WordPress, however from individuals who stated that they had constructed careers, companies, or shopper work round it.
Daniel Schutzsmith responded by figuring out himself as each an Astro consumer and a long-time WordPress skilled.
Schutzsmith wrote:
“Actual Astro consumer right here and I feel you’ll see I’ve made 100s of web sites with WordPress, been WCUS organizer 3 occasions, WCNYC organizer 2 occasions, and WCMIA organizer 1 time.”
Keanan Koppenhaver made an identical credibility declare, writing:
“Former VIP-agency dev, WP company proprietor, present plugin proprietor and multi-time WordCamp speaker, right here.
I’m utilizing Astro for lots now! Nonetheless WP in some circumstances, however Astro, particularly whenever you’re working by your self or with a git-knowledgeable small workforce, helps you progress manner quicker.”
Mike Sewell acknowledged that he used each WordPress and Astro however that WordPress is not his go-to:
“I’ve been constructing shopper websites with WordPress since 2010. I nonetheless use it for some jobs, however I’ve discovered myself increasingly more reaching for different instruments – nextjs + sanity, 11ty, and experimenting with EmDash. WordPress isn’t going anyplace nevertheless it’s not my go to.”
Many others shared related backgrounds with WordPress, displaying that there could also be a motion from inside the WordPress ecosystem that’s shifting away from WordPress.
The Matt Mullenweg Impact
Whereas most customers shared that the explanation for leaving WordPress have been pragmatic causes like Astro’s efficiency and relative simplicity, Schutzsmith, the previous WordCamp organizer who had constructed a whole bunch of WordPress websites, defined that his cause for shifting away from WordPress was resulting from purchasers expressing skittishness about committing to WordPress after Matt Mullenweg’s actions which left a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of WP Engine clients unable to replace their WordPress web sites.
Schutzsmith shared:
“Matt steered it in a horrible course and now it’s develop into very arduous to promote WP to enterprise purchasers that actually see the drama he creates by seeing the articles and movies throughout publications and influencers about it.
That influence has not gone away. Actually, the monumental growth of issues like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, make shifting to a much less dramatic, extra steady content material administration system, a no brainer.
Promoting enterprise on JavaScript primarily based options has develop into a lot simpler than convincing that very same purchaser that their website received’t be affected if Matt has one other meltdown.
The minute he stated .org is his private web site to distribute plugins and themes, it made it not protected for the enterprise.”
Schutzsmith was talking from skilled expertise, later explaining that six of his shopper’s web sites hosted on WP Engine have been disrupted due to actions taken by Mullenweg.
AI Coding Instruments Are Making Astro Viable
Lastly, AI-assisted coding was one of many highest cited explanations for why Astro is receiving extra consideration now. A number of replies within the dialogue recommended that AI instruments make code-first website improvement really feel quicker and fewer depending on conventional CMS interfaces.
David Hamilton described Astro as a robust match for Claude Code, writing:
“I exploit astro as a result of it’s ridiculously appropriate with Claude code.
I haven’t needed to open a CMS a figma board or something.
My newest web sites are all made by way of Claude and astro, I don’t see myself shifting again to the standard web site builders anytime quickly.”
There have been many others who shared the very same expertise.
A Balanced View Of AI And Internet Growth
But there are others like Kevin Geary, developer of the Etch web site builder, who categorical a nuanced opinion of utilizing AI for creating web sites.
In a separate publish from a number of weeks earlier he wrote:
“A logical, evidence-based conclusion about the place AI suits into a high quality improvement workflow is: AI is a good software for enhancing productiveness however must be closely reviewed and steered by somebody who really is aware of what they’re doing.
In case you’re within the 100% anti-AI camp, you’re probably taking a purely emotional place.
And in case you’re within the “AI can do all of it, run 18 brokers at a time, coders are cooked” camp, you’re additionally taking a purely emotional place.”
Is The WordPress Ecosystem Eroding?
Anecdotal proof signifies that WordPress veterans are leaving or minimizing their use of WordPress, largely due to the advantages of Astro, not essentially as a result of WordPress is a poor expertise. Some are selecting Astro as a result of it’s quicker. Others are utilizing it as a result of AI coding instruments make code-first workflows simpler and quicker. Some are selecting it as a result of their websites are largely static, making WordPress considerably overkill for his or her scenario.
Then there are some who imagine that the WordPress governance drama has develop into a enterprise danger.
The bigger story isn’t that Astro is changing WordPress; it’s nonetheless too early to make that declare. The extra necessary query is whether or not the flip towards Astro is an indication that WordPress has develop into overly complicated and that it’s now simpler to construct with AI.
Mockingly, on the opposite facet of that argument, WordPress is on the verge of a significant transformational change resulting from AI. WordPress model 7.0 is about to carry all the advantages of AI into WordPress at a scale that no different CMS or website-building framework can match. The large neighborhood of plugin and theme builders is poised to roll out AI-assisted options that shall be arduous to compete towards.
Featured Picture by Shutterstock/yulsiart
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