- Static site — what it means
- A static site is a website that serves pre-built HTML as-is, rather than assembling the page on the server for every visit. Because it keeps no database or executable program on the server, it displays faster and has structurally fewer attack surfaces and maintenance tasks.
Let me say up front that this is a position piece. I run a production company that does not make its living from WordPress, so read it with that in mind. That said, every number in this article is either sourced or measured on my own site.
On that basis, I will say it plainly. In 2026, I do not recommend building a new site on WordPress.
✓ In this article
- Three reasons I do not recommend WordPress (published data plus measurements)
- The cases where WordPress still fits — honestly
- What to build with instead, if you are starting now
This is not an article denying anyone currently running a WordPress site. At the time it was the right answer, and our own portfolio includes migrating a WordPress site with over 100 articles. This article is written for people about to build something new.
Reason 1: it is structurally disadvantaged on page speed (published data plus our own measurements)
Let me talk data, not impressions. According to HTTP Archive’s Core Web Vitals Technology Report (measurements from real user environments), about 49% of WordPress sites pass Core Web Vitals. More than half of WordPress sites fail to meet Google’s standard for a comfortable page experience. The static site framework Astro, by contrast, sits at 67%. The median page weight is about 2.63MB for WordPress against 1.65MB for Astro (Search Engine Journal, May 2026).
This is not a question of the skill of the people using WordPress; it is a question of structure. A system that assembles the page on the server for every visit and a static site that merely hands over finished HTML do not start from the same line.
This site of mine is a static site built with AI (Claude Code), and its measured mobile Lighthouse scores are 98 on the home page and 97 on article pages (measured 17 July 2026).
…That is the smug version. Now the honest confession. When I measured it in order to write this article, the first result was 73. The site of the person about to write “WordPress is slow” was itself slow. The cause was a 1.7MB web font for headings. Once I subset the font down to the characters actually in use, it hit 98 with no change to the design. It took an hour.
The reason I included that embarrassing story is that it is what measurement actually looks like. “It must be fast” is not reliable. Measure it, then fix it. And a static site rewards a fix directly. Try the same thing on WordPress and you end up fighting a three-way battle between plugins, theme, and server.
Reason 2: money and effort leak out just from owning it
WordPress is open source, and vulnerabilities in the core, themes, and plugins are found daily. That neglected WordPress installations become targets is something maintenance vendors themselves say in unison — which is why an entire “WordPress maintenance” industry exists. The going rate is ¥5,000 to ¥100,000 a month, centered on ¥10,000–30,000 (from a 2026 survey of maintenance fees). Annualized, ¥120,000–360,000 goes out purely to keep the site alive.
And here is what bothers me most. Has anyone ever explained to you what that maintenance fee buys? “Core and plugin updates, backups, monitoring” — on a static site, none of that work exists in the first place. There is no program on the server to update, so there is no plugin to be breached and no update to break things.
For reference, running costs on my own site were just under ¥100,000 a year in the Webflow era; on the current static AI site they are the domain fee alone, ¥1,500 a year.
Reason 3: there is almost nothing left that only WordPress can do
The reasons to choose WordPress used to be “we can update it ourselves” and “plugins can do anything”. In 2026, neither is exclusive to WordPress any longer.
- Ease of updating → no-code tools (Webflow and others) and AI-built sites can both be updated from a browser or a chat. The news section on this site updates itself automatically from Instagram
- Extending functionality → forms, bookings, multilingual, analytics: all can be added through external services or AI implementation. I even had an AI build an invoice calculation tool and put it on this site
- Running a blog → this site runs over 70 blog articles with no CMS. Adding an article is a matter of instructing an AI
Once “only WordPress can do this” has disappeared, what remains is the comparison on speed, maintenance cost, and security. And as we saw above, that is precisely where WordPress is weak.
A real case: what happened when we migrated a WordPress site with over 100 articles
People tend to assume migration is a nightmare, so here is an account of a project we actually did: moving a WordPress site with more than 100 articles over to Webflow.
The conclusion first: every single URL was preserved. That is the scariest part of a migration, so you can set your mind at rest on it.
The method is unglamorous. We received access to the client’s WordPress admin panel, exported every article as CSV, and moved them across. AI was not as capable then as it is now, so we did all of it by hand, extraction included. Which is to say: with AI available today, that part finishes far faster.
From here on, let me be honest for the sake of this article. Our remit on that project ended at the Webflow build, additional design on top of the design already submitted, and basic SEO setup. We were not in a position to track search rankings after the migration, and we still do not know. We did not take on maintenance either, so we do not know how the maintenance cost changed before and after. It was a project that ended without the post-launch numbers ever being shared with us.
Writing “rankings went up after the migration” would make a stronger article, but I cannot write about something I never saw. If anything, the lesson to draw from it is the more useful thing: a migration is not complete when it goes live, but only once you have also decided who watches the numbers afterwards. Rebuilder and client alike — leave that blank and you end up at “the migration worked, but nobody knows whether things got better”.
The cases where WordPress still fits (honestly)
To be fair, here they are. If any of the following apply, WordPress remains a rational choice today.
- You already have WordPress operating knowledge and a dedicated person in-house (zero learning cost is powerful)
- You depend deeply on specific plugin assets, such as a membership site or WooCommerce
- You have a large number of existing WordPress sites and want management standardized on one system
- Your requirements are unusual and you already have an experienced WordPress specialist team attached
Conversely, for an ordinary small or mid-sized business or sole trader who wants to build a new company site, draw traffic with a blog, and hold running costs down, I cannot find a reason to recommend starting on WordPress in 2026.
▶ For the full picture on Webflow itself: What is Webflow? A specialist’s plain guide to what it does, how to use it, and who uses it (2026 edition)
So what should you build with? | The WordPress alternatives are Webflow and AI-built static sites
My conclusion is that it depends on the case. The overall thinking on choosing a platform is collected in the selection guide.
- Individuals through small and mid-sized businesses: static site production with AI. Fast, structurally free of maintenance costs, and updates can be handed to an AI. The whole story of rebuilding our own site is published in this article
- Larger organizations and governance-first cases: commercial no-code such as Webflow. You are buying permission management, support, and stability
If you are running WordPress today, there is no need to tear it down in a hurry. But at your next redesign, before you “rebuild it in WordPress again”, please stop once and compare. We have a track record of migrating a WordPress site with over 100 articles, and the diagnosis and report on which one fits you is free. → Book a free consultation / See what AI website production covers
One last time: treat this as a position piece and doubt it. And once you doubt it, go and measure your site in PageSpeed Insights. Numbers take nobody’s side.
FAQ
Should I also abandon a WordPress site I am running now?
There is no need to tear it down in a hurry; if it works fine and you have a maintenance arrangement, carrying on is fine. The moment to decide is your next redesign, and we recommend comparing speed, maintenance cost, and update arrangements then.
Why is WordPress disadvantaged on page speed?
Because of the mechanism that assembles the page on the server for every visit, and the accumulation of themes and plugins. In published data, the Core Web Vitals pass rate stops at about 49% — clearly below static site frameworks.
Does migrating away from WordPress reset my SEO?
Not if you carry the URLs and internal structure over correctly. When rebuilding our own site the author preserved every URL and confirmed by measurement that most of the old articles’ indexing was retained as of the following day.
Do static sites have weaknesses too?
They do. They do not suit sites built around dynamic functionality such as memberships or e-commerce, which require combining external services and solid architecture. There are also fewer builders who can handle them than WordPress, so choosing the right partner matters.
