For a long time, my personal website was built with Angular. Back when I first set it up, Angular gave me everything out of the box — routing, state management, and a familiar component-based structure. It served its purpose for showcasing my work, and honestly, I didn’t think too much about performance or content strategy.

But over time, things changed — both in the web ecosystem and in how I viewed my personal site.

The Problem with Angular for My Use Case

Angular is powerful, no doubt. But it’s also opinionated and heavy, especially for something like a portfolio site or a blog. Here’s what I started to notice:

• Too much JavaScript for static pages: Even the simplest “About Me” section ended up bundled with way more JS than needed.
• Slower initial load times: Core Web Vitals weren’t happy. Angular’s client-side hydration just wasn’t ideal for mostly static content.
• Content workflow pain: I wanted to write blogs in Markdown or MDX and just push them via Git — not spin up a CMS or edit inline HTML templates.
• Overkill architecture: Maintaining routing, lazy loading, and global services felt unnecessary for a portfolio.

In short, I was maintaining an SPA for what was basically a static site with occasional interactivity. That didn’t sit right anymore.

Why Astro?

I started exploring Astro and was immediately drawn in by its promise:

“Build fast content-focused websites, with less client-side JavaScript.”

And it delivered.

Key reasons I moved to Astro:

• Zero JS by default: Astro ships static HTML by default, with opt-in islands of interactivity. Pages now load lightning-fast.
• MDX support: Writing posts became as simple as dropping Markdown files in a folder. No build configs or CMS setup.
• Component flexibility: I could still use React or Vue components wherever needed, without buying into their entire runtime.
• Developer experience: Simpler file structure, fast dev server, and no unnecessary ceremony.

It felt like Astro was built for developers like me — those who want modern DX without turning every project into a JavaScript-heavy SPA.

The Migration Experience

Rebuilding the site was surprisingly smooth:

• I rewrote static pages in .astro files — most HTML just worked.
• Used TailwindCSS for styling (which plays nicely with Astro).
• Ported reusable bits from Angular into lightweight components or partials.
• Integrated MDX for blog posts and added a clean route-based file system.
• Deployed on Netlify with minimal config.

The result? A lighter, faster, cleaner site — both for users and for me as the builder.

Final Thoughts

Angular is still a fantastic choice for complex enterprise apps. But for personal websites, content-heavy projects, or anything that doesn’t need a full SPA — Astro hits a sweet spot.

Sometimes, the best tech decisions are the ones that make your life simpler.

If you’re maintaining a portfolio or blog using a full-blown framework, consider giving Astro a spin. You might end up wondering, like I did:

Why didn’t I do this earlier?