Overview
In this article, I want to share why I decided to move my portfolio to Astro and how the experience has been nothing short of amazing. Coming from a Next.js background, I was looking for something that prioritized performance and simplicity without sacrificing the developer experience I love. Astro turned out to be the perfect answer, giving me zero headaches and maximum speed.
Migrating from Next.js
One of my biggest concerns was the migration process. I had already built a solid foundation with Next.js, and I was worried about rewriting everything. Surprisingly, the transition was incredibly smooth.
Astro’s support for JSX and React components meant I could reuse a lot of my existing code. The file-based routing felt familiar, but simpler. I didn’t have to wrestle with complex configurations; I just moved my components over, tweaked a few imports, and it just worked. It felt less like a migration and more like a natural evolution of my codebase.
Asset Optimization Made Easy
With my previous setup, optimizing images and assets often felt like a chore—something I had to configure manually or rely on external plugins for. Astro changed that completely.
Asset optimization is baked right into the framework. The built-in <Image /> component handles resizing, formatting, and loading strategies automatically. I didn’t have to spend hours fine-tuning configuration files to get good Core Web Vitals. It just works out of the box, ensuring that my portfolio loads instantly for every visitor, regardless of their device.
Performance by Default
The speed difference was noticeable immediately. Because Astro ships zero JavaScript by default (unless you explicitly ask for it), the initial load times are blazing fast.
For a portfolio site, where you want to showcase your work without making the user wait, this is a game-changer. I didn’t have to spend time manually code-splitting or optimizing bundles—Astro’s architecture handles the heavy lifting. The result is a website that feels snappy, lightweight, and incredibly responsive.
Conclusion
Switching to Astro for my portfolio has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It removed the headaches of performance tuning and asset optimization, allowing me to focus on what matters: creating content and showcasing my work.
If you’re on the fence about migrating from Next.js for a content-focused site, I highly recommend giving Astro a try. The learning curve is minimal, but the performance gains are massive.