After Years of Web Development, Here's Why I Abandoned WordPress — and What I Recommend Now
Just a few months ago, I built a small prototype that changed everything.
I manage several WordPress websites, and I find them frustratingly hard to customize. WordPress was a great tool in the 2010s, but today it has become bloated and complex. It is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world — and that popularity has come at a cost. Customizing themes to look exactly the way you want is increasingly painful. Finding the right plugin for a given task can be difficult, especially since different plugin versions often aren’t compatible with each other. Out of curiosity, I tried rebuilding one of my sites using a different approach — a static site generator (SSG). In under an hour, I had something better than what I had spent months refining.
I have been doing web development since 1993 — the year the Web was born. I started in my parents’ basement. Since then I have done a bit of everything: pure HTML static pages, the CMS era with Drupal and WordPress, collaborative editing with wikis, the arrival of Node.js, JavaScript frameworks, and now AI transforming everything. I even worked as a research assistant for Serge Proulx at UQAM’s digital communications laboratory, formerly known as LabCMO. At the time we were studying the emerging effects of social media on society. When I predict the end of the CMS era here, it’s with the perspective of someone who has witnessed major shifts in this industry from its very beginning.
The problem with WordPress
WordPress is a powerful tool. I taught WordPress at the SAT (Société des arts technologiques) in 2010. I also worked extensively with Drupal, another CMS widely used at the time by members of the Koumbit worker cooperative, of which I was briefly a part. I understand the appeal of CMSs: you can do everything with them!
But “doing everything” comes at a price.
Themes are rigid: you want to change a colour, move a block, adjust a layout — and you spend hours figuring out how. Or you pay someone to do it. It wasn’t this complicated in the 2010s. Themes seem to have grown more complex over time.
Plugins multiply: forms, SEO, caching, security, social media… Each plugin is a risk. When you run an update, plugins that worked together can suddenly become incompatible. Your site goes down. Preferably on a Friday night.
And security: WordPress is the number one target for hackers on the Web — not because it is poorly designed, but because it is everywhere. Unless you monitor it closely and keep everything updated, you are vulnerable.
For a small business, your website is often the first impression you make. It should represent you well, be easy to find on Google, and run without worry. For a business whose site is essentially a storefront, that’s a lot of complexity for very little real benefit.
Static Sites: A Modern Alternative to WordPress
Static sites have existed since the beginning of the Web. But for a long time, editing them without coding was difficult. That has changed.
Today, with tools like Hugo or Astro combined with AI, you can create a professional static website, fast and polished, in a fraction of the time. Updating it afterwards is equally easy.
I had already worked with static sites around 2019, including at the CHU Ste-Justine research centre. I loved the approach even then, but it still required a lot of manual configuration. What changed everything was AI.
For the past several months I have been recommending this approach to all my clients. Several colleagues who run their own businesses have made the same switch.
I applied this approach myself for my DJ services site, dansons.ca — fast, easy to update, and trouble-free since launch.
Why it’s better for your business
A well-built static site is:
Fast. Static sites load far faster than WordPress. Google rewards speed — your search ranking improves.
Secure. There is no database to hack, no plugins to exploit.
Stable. No updates that break everything. Your site works the same in a year as it does today.
Easy to update. With AI, adding a page, changing text, updating your services — it’s straightforward. You don’t need a developer for every small change.
And if you need interactive features — forms, booking, an online store — we can add them in a targeted way, connecting specialized tools like Stripe for payments. You get the power without the unnecessary complexity.
When WordPress Is Still the Right Choice
WordPress remains relevant for high-volume blogs with multiple contributors or online stores with thousands of products. For the vast majority of small businesses, a static site is not just sufficient — it’s superior.
Build Your Static Site in Quebec
If your website is giving you headaches, or if you don’t have one yet and don’t want to end up with something unnecessarily complex, let’s talk.
I offer turnkey packages starting at $1,000 to build your site. I handle the design, development, launch, and search engine optimization.
Would you prefer to discuss your needs first? Book a free 15-minute discovery call: