Why I’m moving my blog away from WordPress (after over a decade)

Since 2012, my blog has proudly run on WordPress. Over the years, I’ve poured countless hours into building with it, not just for personal projects, but also professionally. I’ve worked at Automattic, contributed to WooCommerce, and lived deep in the WordPress ecosystem. It’s not an exaggeration to say WordPress shaped my career.

So, this decision wasn’t made lightly: I’m moving my blog to a custom setup built with React, Next.js, TailwindCSS, and MDX.

Let me explain why.

WordPress Isn’t Developer-Friendly Anymore

The irony is that while WordPress has become more powerful for end-users, it has become more painful for developers, especially those of us who value modern tooling and clean DX (developer experience).

The block editor (Gutenberg) was a bold move. But from where I stand, it has introduced more complexity than clarity. React-based, yes, but wrapped in layers of abstraction, poor documentation, unpredictable APIs, and heavy context switching. It feels like working against the grain of modern development instead of with it.

I used to love building custom themes and plugins. Now? I dread opening the editor and wrestling with block structures, InnerBlocks, useSelect, theme.json, and block.json config hell.

Finally with only one WordPress major release per year, it's hard to keep up with the latest features and best practices.

I Want to Write, Not Tweak the Editor

When I blog, I want the tech stack to stay out of the way. I want Markdown, not block HTML comments. I want simplicity, not a UI framework built inside a CMS built inside PHP.

By switching to MDX, I get the best of both worlds: the clean syntax of Markdown, plus the ability to drop in custom React components when I need richer interactivity. It’s fast, focused, and fun, three things I haven’t felt with WordPress in a while. The only downside is finding a host that isn't Vercel and that still provides a good experience for Node.js apps. I host my site on O2switch and made a GitHub action to deploy my site to it. It's fast, reliable, and cheap.

Performance, Control, and Peace of Mind

A headless Next.js blog gives me:

  • Blazing-fast performance (no PHP, no queries, just static files)
  • Better SEO and control over meta output
  • Full design freedom with Tailwind (no enqueueing styles or fighting theme layers)
  • A writing workflow that lives in my codebase, versioned with Git
Blog metrics

No database, no plugin updates, no sudden changes from WordPress core to break things. It’s calm.

WordPress Still Has a Place

Let me be clear: WordPress is still the best solution for many types of sites. I still use it for work. WooCommerce is unmatched in the e-commerce space. And the community is incredible.

But for a personal blog? For someone who codes daily, lives in React, and wants complete control? It’s no longer the best tool for me.

What’s Next?

I’ll share the full stack, repo, and setup soon, this isn’t just a tech reboot, it’s also a content refresh. Expect more posts about React, the indie web, and lessons learned moving from monolithic CMS to component-driven publishing.

If you’re also a WordPress dev feeling the same tension, know you’re not alone. It’s okay to evolve.