TL;DR
I used Astro for this blog because it was content-driven and easy to use. I believe more websites could use Astro!
Like many CS students and early-career developers, I dreamed of having my own clean, personal website - something to showcase projects, write blogs, and reflect my growth. I spent quite a bit of time exploring the options out there. By sometime in 2023, I narrowed it down to two contenders: Next.js and Astro.
I did consider classics like Jekyll and Hugo, but ultimately ruled them out. While they’re great static site generators (and still used by many), I found their their ecosystems a bit dated, and the developer experience not as smooth.
So, how did I choose? Here’s why I ended up building this site with Astro.
Next.js
Next.js is a React framework for building full-stack web applications. You use React Components to build user interfaces, and Next.js for additional features and optimizations. — Next.js Documentation
Next.js has been the go-to React framework for a while now. Its widespread adoption in the industry and personal projects make it a reliable choice.
It’s also widely used in my university’s software engineering projects, and it’s often the default choice when someone says they’re “building a React web app.”
There are also plenty of high-quality starter templates and example repos to kick off a blog or portfolio. One example that caught my eye (and inspired this blog’s initial layout) was timlrx/tailwind-nextjs-starter-blog. It’s a cleanly organized setup that combines Tailwind CSS with Markdown blogging.
Astro
Astro is the web framework for building content-driven websites like blogs, marketing, and e-commerce. Astro is best-known for pioneering a new frontend architecture to reduce JavaScript overhead and complexity compared to other frameworks. If you need a website that loads fast and has great SEO, then Astro is for you. — Astro Documentation
Back in 2023, Astro was still a relatively new player in the web dev space. I first came across it through Fireship’s video, and it instantly caught my attention. The idea of shipping near-zero JavaScript by default and using React (or other frameworks) only when needed was refreshing.
At the time, there weren’t a ton of resources or starter templates out there. But one of the early ones that stood out was AstroPaper, a clean and minimalist blog template that aligned well with what I had in mind.
So why did I choose Astro?
Advantages of Astro
So why did I ultimately go with Astro? Here are a few key reasons that made it the better fit for this blog:
1. Content-Driven by Design
Astro was designed for building content-rich websites. This includes marketing sites, publishing sites, documentation sites, blogs, portfolios, landing pages, community sites, and e-commerce sites. If you have content to show, it needs to reach your reader quickly. — Astro Design Principle
Astro is built with content in mind. Writing Markdown and rendering it feels natural. You don’t need to wrestle with complex strategies just to render a blog post. That makes Astro especially great for blogs, documentation, and portfolios. Astro mentioning this in their design principle is reassuring.
2. My Blog is Mostly Static
My blog doesn’t need complex client-side interactions or heavy state management. It’s mostly just text, images, and a sprinkle of interactivity here and there.
3. Avoiding Next.js App Complexity
Next.js is incredibly powerful, but sometimes that power comes with overhead. Features like routing, API routes, dynamic imports, server/client boundaries (especially with the new App Router) can be overkill for a simple blog.
With Astro (so far), I didn’t have to think about server vs. client components, or optimizing page loading. The complexity just melts away.
4. Learning Curve Was Okay
Even though Astro was relatively new to me with templating and .astro extensions, the learning curve felt manageable. They provide a tutorial to build a simple blog, which was very helpful in understanding the framework.
And since it supports React and other frameworks, I could bring in components I already knew how to build.
Caveat: When Not to Use Astro
Astro’s core focus is not full-blown applications with complex client-side logic, authentication flows, or real-time interactions. If you’re building a dashboard, e-commerce site, or SaaS platform, frameworks like Next.js, Remix, or even Vite + React might serve you better.
While Astro’s ecosystem is growing rapidly, it’s still relatively young compared to Next.js. Libraries and enterprise-ready patterns would be more supported in the React/Next.js world.
Conclusion
So… Those were the reasons I went with Astro for this blog.
At the end of the day, building this blog wasn’t just about picking the trendiest tech - it was about choosing the right tool for the job.
Next.js is powerful and popular. But for a simple, mostly static blog that focuses on writing and showcasing content, Astro just made more sense.
If you’re a student or a developer thinking about spinning up content showing site, I’d strongly recommend giving Astro a try. It’s also picking up more popularity now in 2025 as the framework is more matured.
Thanks for reading! 🚀 If you want to see more dev posts like this, feel free to stick around.