Why beMarketing continues to support WordPress while building the next generation of websites on Astro.

For most of the last decade, WordPress was the default answer to nearly every website conversation.

Need a marketing website? WordPress.

Need SEO? WordPress.

Need flexibility? WordPress.

Need a content management system? WordPress.

The platform earned that reputation. It became the foundation for a significant portion of the internet and built an ecosystem that is still unmatched in scale.

But the latest data suggests something important has changed.

Not overnight. Not dramatically.

But meaningfully.

According to W3Techs, WordPress market share peaked at 43.6% in January 2025. By May 2026, it had fallen to 41.9%. While that may seem like a small change, it represents six consecutive quarters of decline after years of growth.

At the same time, alternative platforms continue to gain ground.

Shopify has grown from 3.8% market share to 5.2%.

Wix has increased from 2.5% to 4.3%.

Even more interesting is what’s happening with modern web frameworks.

HTTP Archive data shows WordPress origins declining by 0.33% while Astro grew by 10.96% month-over-month.

That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident.

Why the Market Is Shifting

The reasons are fairly straightforward.

Businesses today expect websites to be faster.

Consumers expect better mobile experiences.

Marketing teams want flexibility without sacrificing performance.

Developers want modern frameworks that reduce technical debt and improve maintainability.

WordPress can absolutely accomplish many of these goals. The challenge is that achieving them often requires layers of plugins, ongoing maintenance, security management, and increasingly complex environments.

For some organizations, that’s perfectly acceptable.

For others, it creates friction.

The market appears to be rewarding platforms that simplify those challenges.

Where beMarketing Stands

Our position is simple.

We are not abandoning WordPress.

We currently manage hundreds of WordPress websites for clients across home services, healthcare, professional services, and other industries.

Many of those websites perform exceptionally well.

Many continue to generate leads every day.

Many should remain on WordPress.

We are not interested in forcing businesses onto a platform simply because it is new.

Our responsibility is to recommend the right solution for the specific business.

That said, we are increasingly choosing Astro for new website builds.

Specifically, Astro sites deployed through Netlify.

What We’re Seeing Internally

Recently, our team conducted an internal evaluation comparing several Astro/Netlify builds against a competing WordPress implementation.

The review measured performance across 11 categories:

• Visual Design & Branding
• Navigation & Information Architecture
• User Experience
• Mobile Responsiveness
• Page Speed & Performance
• SEO
• Content Quality
• Conversion Optimization
• Trust & Credibility
• Accessibility
• Technical Health

The results were telling.

Our Astro builds produced weighted average scores ranging from 7.1 to 8.5.

The competing WordPress build scored 6.8.

The largest advantages appeared in:

• Visual Design & Branding
• Navigation & Information Architecture
• User Experience
• Mobile Responsiveness
• Page Speed & Performance
• Conversion Optimization
• Technical Health

To WordPress’s credit, it remained highly competitive in SEO and in some comparisons held the edge. That’s not surprising given the maturity of the WordPress SEO ecosystem and the tools available within it.

Ignoring that reality would be intellectually dishonest.

But when we looked at the complete picture, especially performance, user experience, and conversion potential, Astro consistently delivered stronger outcomes.

What This Means for Business Owners

If you already have a successful WordPress website, this is not a recommendation to rebuild it tomorrow.

A platform is only one component of digital performance.

Strategy, content, user experience, SEO, conversion optimization, and execution still matter more than technology alone.

However, if you’re considering a new website, a redesign, or a major digital investment, platform selection deserves more scrutiny than it did five years ago.

The question should not be:

“Should I use WordPress?”

The question should be:

“What platform best supports where my business needs to be over the next five years?”

For some businesses, that answer will still be WordPress.

For many others, modern frameworks like Astro are becoming increasingly compelling.

Our View

The agencies that win over the next decade won’t be defined by the platforms they defend.

They’ll be defined by how well they adapt.

At beMarketing, we’ll continue to support WordPress clients with the same commitment we’ve always had.

We’ll also continue investing in modern frameworks like Astro because that’s where we’re seeing performance, momentum, and opportunity.

The data is changing.

We’re paying attention.