WordPress Loses Marketshare. Is Astro Eroding Their User Base?

A dialogue on Twitter concerning 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 shedding customers and Astro is gaining them at a price of 100% yr over yr, indicating that the shift towards Astro is greater than a passing development.

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 gentle decline ever since, at present sitting at a 42.2% marketshare (according to W3Techs), a drop of 1.4%.  WordPress is shedding marketshare, this can be a truth.

An argument may very well be made that the WordPress marketshare share is inflated as a result of a big 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, if you happen to don’t rely deserted web sites, the precise WordPress marketshare is lower than the 42.2%.

Astro Downloaded 2.5 Million Occasions Per Week

Astro is a static website generator and internet 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 known as static as a result of they’re traditional HTML internet 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 easier.

Astro had been steadily gaining reputation because it debuted in 2021. The concept that Astro just isn’t well-liked and that the hoopla is loud voices is demonstrably false. Astro’s reputation is actual. It’s currently being downloaded at a price of two.5 million downloads per week. That’s a 100% improve 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, might have recognized one of many the reason why so many individuals are turning to Astro. He just lately wrote of an epiphany wherein he realized he didn’t want a content material administration system (CMS); he simply wanted a web 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. Folks by no means wished a CMS. They need a web site.”

Some Doubt The Astro Actuality

Rayhan Arif, a WordPress enterprise individual, just lately expressed his incredulity over the numerous tweets and weblog posts by folks sharing their expertise leaving WordPress for Astro.

He tweeted:

“Each “’leaving WordPress’ submit I come throughout appears to level to Astro. However after I dig slightly deeper, I usually don’t see any prior conversations or context displaying these folks have been truly utilizing WordPress within the first place.

To me, it begins to really feel much less natural and extra like a coordinated narrative nearly like a well-planned detrimental marketing campaign in opposition to WordPress. It even makes me ponder whether some firms is perhaps incentivizing this sort of messaging for their very own enterprise good points.

I may very well be flawed, however that’s truthfully the impression I’ve been getting.”

That tweet appeared to indicate that Cloudflare, which acquired Astro at first of 2026, might have been orchestrating a whisper marketing campaign. However no person in that dialogue agreed with him.

Astro Had Momentum Predates Cloudflare’s Acquisition

One of many first responses pushed again in opposition to 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 in all probability flawed if you happen to assume it’s Cloudflare who’s behind it. This occurred approach 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 turned 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 just lately, however described himself as “a residing respiration individual” who had already helped many individuals make that transfer.

The pushback didn’t show that each submit was natural, however it did problem the concept the sample started with Cloudflare. The replies instructed 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 creating their WordPress credentials. That turned one of many thread’s strongest themes: probably the most detailed criticisms weren’t coming from folks with no historical past in WordPress, however from individuals who stated they’d constructed careers, companies, or consumer work round it.

Daniel Schutzsmith responded by figuring out himself as each an Astro person and a long-time WordPress skilled.

Schutzsmith wrote:

“Actual Astro person 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 instances, however Astro, particularly if you’re working by your self or with a git-knowledgeable small crew, helps you progress approach quicker.”

Mike Sewell acknowledged that he used each WordPress and Astro however that WordPress is now not his go-to:

“I’ve been constructing consumer 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 wherever however it’s now not my go to.”

Many others shared comparable backgrounds with WordPress, displaying that there could also be a motion from inside the WordPress ecosystem that’s transferring away from WordPress.

The Matt Mullenweg Impact

Whereas most customers shared that the rationale for leaving WordPress have been pragmatic causes like Astro’s efficiency and relative simplicity, Schutzsmith, the previous WordCamp organizer who had constructed a whole lot of WordPress websites, defined that his purpose for transferring away from WordPress was as a consequence of purchasers expressing skittishness about committing to WordPress after Matt Mullenweg’s actions which left a whole lot, if not hundreds, of WP Engine clients unable to replace their WordPress web sites.

Schutzsmith shared:

“Matt steered it in a horrible path and now it’s grow to be very laborious 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 impression has not gone away. Actually, the monumental growth of issues like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, make transferring to a much less dramatic, extra secure content material administration system, a no brainer.

Promoting enterprise on JavaScript based mostly options has grow to be a lot simpler than convincing that very same purchaser that their website gained’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 now not secure for the enterprise.”

Schutzsmith was talking from skilled expertise, later explaining that six of his consumer’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 instructed that AI instruments make code-first website growth 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 suitable with Claude code.

I haven’t needed to open a CMS a figma board or something.

My newest web sites are all made by Claude and astro, I don’t see myself transferring 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 Improvement

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 submit from a number of weeks earlier he wrote:

“A logical, evidence-based conclusion about the place AI suits into a high quality growth workflow is: AI is a good software for enhancing productiveness however must be closely reviewed and steered by somebody who truly is aware of what they’re doing.

In case you’re within the 100% anti-AI camp, you’re seemingly taking a purely emotional place.

And if you happen to’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 principally static, making WordPress considerably overkill for his or her state of affairs.

Then there are some who imagine that the WordPress governance drama has grow to be a enterprise danger.

The bigger story just 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 grow to be 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 serious transformational change as a consequence of AI. WordPress model 7.0 is ready to carry all the advantages of AI into WordPress at a scale that no different CMS or website-building framework can match. The large group of plugin and theme builders is poised to roll out AI-assisted options that can be laborious to compete in opposition to.

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