Why we chose Astro over Next.js for marketing sites
Next.js is an excellent framework for building web applications. A marketing site is not a web application. Astro is built for exactly that — and the difference shows in performance, simplicity, and deployment flexibility.
Astro ships zero JavaScript by default
A Next.js page that renders purely static content still ships a React runtime and hydration code to the browser. For a page with no interactivity, this is pure overhead. Astro ships zero JavaScript by default — added only where explicitly needed.
Better Core Web Vitals out of the box
Because Astro doesn't ship a runtime by default, Time to Interactive and Total Blocking Time are lower from the start. For a marketing site where performance affects conversion and SEO, this matters at launch — not after an optimization sprint.
Deploys to FTP and static hosts
Astro's static output is a first-class target. The build produces clean HTML that deploys to FTP, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, or Netlify without special configuration. Next.js static export has edge cases that require attention.
Simpler mental model for marketing content
Astro pages look like HTML with a frontmatter block for data. Components are server-rendered by default. The file structure maps directly to routes. For a developer joining six months after launch, this is much easier to navigate than a Next.js app with hooks and data patterns.
How this shapes Production Starter
Production Starter kits are built on Astro because Astro's output model — static HTML, zero runtime by default, deploy anywhere — matches what a production marketing website actually needs. No Next.js server required, anywhere in the stack.
Browse the kits