This is why I chose Astro after 15+ years advocating for popular open-source platforms like WordPress, and my recent testing of other "modern" frameworks like Node.JS and React that were recommended to me.
Running a web design agency
I run opace.agency, a digital agency that promotes PHP/MySQL based open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla, and has done since being founded in 2008.
I’ve always been a massive fan of open-source, software re-use, not re-inventing the wheel, and critically, not locking customers into proprietary code or systems.
Using LLMs like ChatGPT
I've been writing about and experimenting with AI tools from before the days of ChatGPT, so when I decided to launch my newest venture, Web-Site.Design, I knew we needed to integrate AI to stand out in the market.
Since ChatGPT came out in 2022 and the subsequent LLMs that followed, like Claude and Gemini, everything has changed. From brainstorming ideas to fixing writer's block or debugging code, I have never looked back. Then, with each new GPT version, LLM provider or model, the capabilities and possibilities have got better and better.
Using LLMs to create websites
For a while now, we've been able to create basic websites using AI, but we're now at the point where complex apps and online solutions can be developed almost entirely by AI. I say "almost" as this still needs technical skill and human oversight to get it right.
Evaluating my options
After evaluating a wide range of frameworks and technologies, including React, Next.js, and other Node.js-driven stacks, I decided on Astro. Not only for our own site, but as the default framework for every customer site we now build.
Honestly, the decision was easy!
Why Not WordPress, Drupal or other PHP/SQL platforms?
WordPress and Drupal have served us (and countless businesses) incredibly well. They’re powerful, flexible, and benefit from massive plugin ecosystems. But they come with trade-offs:
- Performance bottlenecks, especially without heavy optimisation.
- Complex maintenance overhead - plugins, themes, security patches, updates, etc.
- Bloated output when compared to modern-day expectations for mobile-first sites with lightning-fast load times.
- Increased risks of hacks and vulnerabilities with each new plugin or extension installed.
- Slower development times compared to other options and often expensive builds when complex or custom requirements are involved.
For Web-Site.Design, the promise is rapid, AI-powered, human-perfected custom builds, but at a price point that is too hard for any small business, startup or new venture to resist (£50/month), including research, design, content, hosting and deployment.
This needed to offer something different to our standard services at Opace, something that didn't suffer from the same trade-offs. I needed something faster, leaner, and easier to automate and version-control.
Why Not React, Next.js, or Node.js?
I love React and I’ve worked with Next.js. They’re great for developing certain use cases, especially internal tools or those with app-like experiences. But for small businesses, they need their websites to be found by customers and search engines like Google.
I still recall the first headless build we did at Opace, which used Next.js to create a headless front-end running on top of the WordPress CMS and various APIs which integrated into the client’s mobile app. It was fast and looked amazing until I clicked 'view source' and realised there was nothing there. With SEO being my main strength, I pushed back and said it wouldn't work. In hindsight, I would have done things very differently.
As well as the SEO issues, they introduce unnecessary complexity:
- Overhead: Next.js/React often ship more JavaScript than necessary for content-heavy sites.
- SEO challenges: While SSR and SSG solve some issues, they’re still not as good as clean HTML.
- Development speed: Great for apps, but slower for rapid prototyping, especially when working with non-technical clients.
Our business model depends on rapid development using prompt engineering and AI agents, typically like Bolt.new for the initial ux.
We use ChatGPT or Manus in agent mode to do the research, planning and create the brief.
Then, to perfect the site, our developers use Claude Code or GPT-5 Codex running inside environments like VS Code with Roo Code to add the final touches, deploy, and iterate until complete.
Why Astro Was the Perfect Fit 🌟
Astro hit the sweet spot for us for a whole range of reasons:
✅ Open Source Philosophy
Astro is open source. This fits perfectly with our long-standing philosophy of being an open-source web development agency. Building upon our existing stack, including platforms like WordPress and Drupal, we can continue building on that ethos with Astro.
✅ Fast & SEO Friendly
Ships zero JavaScript by default. That means fast load speeds, amazing Core Web Vitals, and a near-perfect Lighthouse score out of the box. With my SEO and digital marketing background, this was non-negotiable. Search engine bots can fully crawl and index our sites with all code visible directly in the raw HTML source.
✅ AI-driven workflows
Ideal for AI-assisted web development. Because we use AI agents to scaffold, write, and refine code, Astro’s simplicity (with its file-based routing, Markdown/MDX support, and integrations ecosystem) means AI can generate usable, production-ready code far faster than how we normally work.
✅ Easy Version Control & Deployment
Everything gets deployed cleanly to GitHub. Deployment pipelines are straightforward. Whether pushing to Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages, the workflow just works. For us, this means we can go from code to full website in under 7 days, sometimes less than 24 hours.
✅ Great Ecosystem & Integrations
We’re already standardising on excellent community tools like
Astro SEO for schema/meta tags and Astro Sitemap for automated sitemap generation.
We’re also building some of our own integrations, which we plan to publish on GitHub soon, including more advanced SEO tools and front-end editing capabilities.
The Future at Web-Site.Design
With an amazing offer built on top of Astro for maximum SEO performance and future-proofing, we believe we're on to something great here - a web dev process that can be 90% automated and can be infinitely scaled, without the traditional bottlenecks associated attached to web design and development.
The caveat here, of course, is that this process only lends itself to smaller business sites that fit a typical mould.
For larger builds, e-commerce and custom requirements, Astro paired with AI is still a great choice, but the £50/month, 7-day promise isn't really achievable; but who knows, one day maybe it will be.
We’ve gone from an agency rooted in traditional PHP/SQL platforms (via Opace.agency) to a forward-looking model that embraces AI, automation, and the next generation of web frameworks.
Astro wasn’t just a random choice. It was the only choice that balanced performance, SEO, developer experience, and scalability with our vision.
What do you think?
Drop your thoughts below — I’d love to hear your experiences or answer any questions!
My name is David Bryan, founder of Opace.agency and Web-Site.Design. I’m passionate about open-source, SEO, and the next generation of AI-driven web development. For over 15 years, I've been sharing my insights, experiences, and experiments in digital marketing and web design.
Don’t forget to check out my projects and resources 🫰🏻
🌐 Linktree - https://linktr.ee/opace
⚙️ GitHub - (https://github.com/OpaceDigitalAgency)
Follow me on dev.to for more articles 👇🏻
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