Back to Static: Why I Left WordPress for Next.js

2025-12-17 00:00:00::AUTHOR: CALEB

It’s been a while, but I’ve finally made the switch back to a static site generator, specifically Next.js.

For years, I ran this blog on WordPress. It’s the giant of the web for a reason—easy to use, massive plugin ecosystem, and dynamic. But with great power comes great responsibility, and in the case of WordPress, that responsibility became a burden I no longer wanted to carry.

The Maintenance Treadmill

maintaining a WordPress site is a never-ending cycle of updates. Core updates, theme updates, plugin updates. It felt like every time I logged in, something needed patching.

"Even with auto-updating features enabled, the anxiety of 'will this update break my site?' never really goes away."

Security Nightmares

The breaking point for me wasn't just the maintenance; it was the security risks. WordPress is a massive target. Even with auto-updates turned on, I found myself dealing with compromises and attempted takeovers. The attack surface is just too large when you're relying on a stack of third-party plugins to keep the lights on.

I realized I was spending more time administrating the server and worrying about security than I was writing content.

Ecosystem Uncertainty

Beyond the technical headaches, the recent drama surrounding the WordPress ecosystem has been disheartening. Watching the battles over governance and the direction of the platform has eroded my confidence in its future stability. When you build on a platform, you want to trust that the stewardship is focused on the community and stability, not just corporate infighting. It felt like the right time to step away.

Why Next.js?

Switching to Next.js brings me back to the "static" world (with dynamic capabilities when I need them).

  1. Security: Statically generated pages mean there's no database to inject into, no login page to brute force, and no PHP vulnerabilities to exploit. The attack surface shrinks to almost nothing.
  2. Performance: You can't beat the speed of pre-rendered HTML served from a CDN. My site scores have jumped significantly.
  3. Developer Experience: As a developer, writing in Markdown/MDX and coding React components is so much more natural than fighting with WYSIWYG editors and PHP templates.

The AI Advantage

In a previous post, I Thought Static Site Generators Were Fast — Here's How Mine Slowed Me Down, I talked about the friction that can come with complex static buildups. But things are different now. AI coding agents have completely changed the game.

Refactoring components, migrating content, or tweaking CSS used to be tedious manual labor. Now, I can pair program with an AI to handle the boilerplate, letting me focus on the creative side. It makes maintaining a custom Next.js stack significantly easier than it was even a few years ago.

This new site captures the aesthetic I love—a retro terminal vibe—built with modern, secure, and performant tech. It feels good to be back to static.