Content export
Everything worth keeping comes out of WordPress: pages, posts, images, titles and metadata. Audited first, so the junk stays behind.
WordPress to Astro Migration
Your site is not slow. Your platform is.
WordPress got you online. Now it is holding you back. We migrate NZ sites to Astro: same content, every URL redirected, a fraction of the weight. We did it to our own brand, redirects and all.
The maintenance came free with the website.
Astro is a modern way to build websites. Instead of assembling each page from PHP and a database on every visit, it builds the site ahead of time and serves plain, fast HTML. No plugin stack, no admin login to hack, almost nothing to patch. The visitor just gets the page, instantly.
Most agencies still sell WordPress because it is what they know, and the maintenance retainer is the business model. We build on Astro because it removes the problems the retainer exists to manage. This page is Astro: run it through Lighthouse, then run your WordPress site. That gap is the product.
- Plugin update roulette
- Slow on mobile
- Security patches, again
- Page builder bloat
- Hosting bill creep
One site runs. The other needs running.
Stay on WordPress and you are on a treadmill: updates, patches, plugin conflicts, a site that gets heavier every year. Go static-first and the treadmill is simply not there. The site sits cold and solid until you choose to change it.
Your site on WordPress
- Twenty plugins, each one a moving part
- Updates and patches every week, forever
- A database between visitors and every page
- Page builder code Google has to wade through
Your site on Astro
- Plain, fast HTML built ahead of time
- Nothing to patch, almost nothing to hack
- Pages served instantly from a global CDN
- Clean markup search engines read easily
We moved our own business off WordPress first.
Spruce is our home cleaning brand: a real business with real customers that could not afford a broken move. It ran on WordPress at WP Engine, theme, plugin stack, hosting bill and all. We rebuilt it on Astro, moved every page, image and piece of metadata, and mapped every old URL to its new home with a 301 redirect before the switch was flicked.
That redirect map is the whole game. Google ranks URLs, not websites, and a redirect tells it exactly where each one went. Cloudflare now forwards every old URL to the Astro site: same content, none of the weight. You can see the build on our work page.
Six moves. Nothing gets dropped.
Every migration follows the sequence we used on our own site: methodical, checked and reversible at every step. Many clients pair the move with a redesign through our web design service.
Redirect mapping
Every old URL matched to its new address with a 301, then tested. This is the step that keeps your rankings through the move.
Design port or refresh
Your current design rebuilt faithfully in Astro, or sharpened on the way through. Either way it comes out lighter than it went in.
Forms & integrations
Contact forms, booking, analytics and email tools rebuilt directly into the site, without the plugins that used to carry them.
Launch & cutover
DNS switches at Cloudflare with the redirect layer live from the first second. Staged, checked, and reversible if anything looks off.
Watch & verify
Weeks of monitoring in Search Console after launch: crawl status, redirect hits and index coverage, with fixes as they surface.
Will I lose my Google rankings?
Not if the migration is done properly, and doing it properly is most of the job. Rankings attach to URLs and the content behind them. Move the content, tell Google where every URL went with a 301 redirect, and your authority follows the site to its new home. Skip that step and you can lose years of SEO in a weekend, which is why the redirect map is the first thing we build, not the last.
We also carry over titles, meta descriptions and structured data, then improve them on the way through, because a migration is the cheapest moment to fix old SEO problems. If search drives your business, our SEO services pick up where the migration finishes.
Can I still edit my own content?
Yes. There are three honest answers, depending on how often you edit. If your team lives in the WordPress editor, we run WordPress headless: you keep the admin you know while Astro serves visitors a far faster site. If you edit occasionally, your content lives in simple structured files with a clean workflow. And if you would rather never touch it, we make the edits for you.
You give up the plugin catalogue. You get back a site that cannot be broken by an update you did not ask for.
WordPress alternatives for NZ businesses
Astro is our default answer, but not the only honest one. For content and marketing sites it is hard to beat: the fastest pages, search-ready structure, no maintenance overhead. For stores the usual path is WooCommerce to Shopify, or a custom Astro storefront when speed and design freedom matter more, ground covered by our ecommerce website design service.
And sometimes the right call is staying put. If your site leans on a plugin that has no equal and the budget is tight, a tune-up beats a migration. If speed is your only real problem, website speed optimisation may fix it without a replatform. We will tell you which one you need in the first conversation.
Carve. Build. Weather.
One method, three moves. A safe migration is decided before it starts, in how carefully the old site is mapped.
01
Carve the map
Every URL on the old site is audited and given a fate: move, merge or redirect. What Google knows about you is written down before anything changes.
02
Build the replacement
The site rebuilt on Astro: content in, forms working, metadata carried and improved. Ported faithfully, or redesigned if the old design was holding you back.
03
Weather the cutover
Launch is staged and watched. Redirects verified, Search Console monitored, loose ends fixed in the weeks after. We stay until the graphs settle.
Fluent in the platform you are leaving.
We know WordPress well enough to unpick it, and Astro well enough to make the destination worth the trip.
- 01 WordPress We know the platform you are leaving, including where its weight comes from.
- 02 Headless WordPress Keep WordPress editing while a faster front end serves the visitors.
- 03 Astro The lean front end your content moves to: fast, stable and SEO-ready.
- 04 Vercel Modern hosting with preview deployments replacing the old server.
- 05 Cloudflare DNS cutover, caching and the redirect layer for a safe switch.
- 06 Redirect mapping Every old URL mapped and redirected before the switch is flipped.
- 07 Migration SEO Metadata, schema and internal links carried over and improved.
- 08 Image optimisation Media libraries converted to modern formats and correct sizes.
- 09 Core Web Vitals The point of the move: scores your WordPress theme could never reach.
WP Engineto Astro: our own Spruce migration, done in-house
Every URLmapped and 301 redirected before cutover
Astrono plugin stack left to patch since the switch
No surprise invoices.
Nobody should have to book a call just to hear what a migration costs. These are the ranges the work usually lands in. Your figure comes down to the size of the site and whether we port or redesign, agreed in writing before we start.
Straight port
from $2,500
2 to 3 weeks
Your current design rebuilt on Astro as it stands. Content, forms and the full redirect map included.
Migrate + refresh
$5k to $10k
3 to 5 weeks
The move plus a design sharpen: cleaner layout, better copy structure, and SEO improved on the way through.
Migrate + redesign
from $12k
6 to 10 weeks
A full redesign on the new platform, with the migration handled underneath it. New site, every URL redirected.
Indicative ranges, not a quote. We scope the exact number with you up front, in writing, before anything begins.
The things people ask first.
Will migrating off WordPress hurt my Google rankings?
No, not if the redirects are done properly, and they are the core of how we work. Every old URL is mapped to its new address with a 301 redirect before launch, so Google follows your site to its new home instead of losing it. We migrated our own brand, Spruce, off WordPress the same way.
How do I edit my content without WordPress admin?
You have options. Keep WordPress as a headless editor while Astro serves the fast front end, move to simple structured content files, or have us make the edits for you. We match the setup to how often your team actually edits.
How long does a WordPress to Astro migration take?
A straight port of a typical business site is two to three weeks. Add a redesign and it is six to ten, depending on scope. We agree the timeline in writing before we start.
What happens to my contact forms and plugins?
Most plugins exist to patch things WordPress cannot do on its own: forms, SEO tags, caching, galleries, backups. On Astro those jobs are either built in or rebuilt directly into the site, so the plugins simply retire. Anything genuinely custom gets a lighter, dedicated replacement, confirmed with you during the audit.
How much does it cost to move off WordPress in NZ?
It depends on the size of the site and whether the design moves as it stands or gets redesigned. The ranges on this page are where most projects land. We scope the exact figure in writing before anything begins.
Where a migration usually leads.
Let’s take the weight off.
Start with the free option: a free migration assessment of your WordPress site. Send us the URL and we will show you what would move, where the weight is and what it would cost. No retainer pitch, no hot air. Just the plan.
Start a projector email hello@igloostudio.co.nz