From WordPress to Custom Code: Why I Started Building Web Apps

For the first year and a half of my web journey, WordPress was everything. It's how I built The Turtle Hub, Acuario Pets, Giftlytic, and most of my content sites. And honestly? WordPress is incredible for what it does. It got me from zero to 50,000+ monthly visitors without writing a single line of JavaScript.

But at some point, I hit a ceiling. Not a traffic ceiling — a capabilities ceiling. There were things I wanted to build that WordPress plugins couldn't do. That's when I started learning to code for real.

The WordPress Ceiling

WordPress handles blogs and content sites brilliantly. But the moment you want to build something interactive — a comparison tool, a data-driven app, or a custom utility — you're fighting against its architecture.

I wanted to build Host Duel, a hosting comparison platform that analyzes 56+ providers across 355+ data points. In theory, you could build this with WordPress and custom post types. In practice, the queries would be absurdly slow, the admin interface would be painful, and every customization would require hacking around themes and plugins.

I also wanted to build AI Metadata Cleaner — a tool that processes images in the browser and strips EXIF/metadata. That's pure frontend JavaScript. WordPress adds nothing to that equation except overhead.

The breaking point was performance. My WordPress sites, even optimized, loaded in 2-3 seconds. Custom-built sites on modern frameworks load in under a second. In SEO, page speed is a ranking factor. In user experience, it's the difference between someone staying and someone bouncing.

What I Learned (and How)

My background is in electronics engineering and business (BSc from KUET, MBA from IBA, University of Dhaka). Not computer science. I didn't come into this knowing JavaScript, React, or how servers work beyond clicking "Install WordPress" in cPanel.

The learning path wasn't linear. Here's roughly how it went:

• HTML & CSS first. I already knew basic HTML from customizing WordPress themes. Tailwind CSS was the catalyst that made styling enjoyable instead of tedious. Writing utility classes feels closer to designing than coding.
• JavaScript fundamentals. DOM manipulation, fetch API, event listeners, async/await. Not a framework — the actual language. This took about two months of daily practice.
• Astro for static sites. This portfolio site is built with Astro. It generates static HTML at build time, ships zero JavaScript by default, and is blisteringly fast. For content-heavy sites that don't need client-side interactivity, Astro is arguably the best framework available today.
• React/Next.js for apps. For interactive tools like AI Metadata Cleaner, I use React. The component model clicks once you understand state and props. Next.js adds routing and server-side rendering on top.
• AI-assisted development. This deserves its own callout. AI coding assistants have compressed the learning curve dramatically. I can describe what I want, get working code, understand it, and modify it. It's not a replacement for understanding — it's an accelerator.

What WordPress Still Does Better

I haven't abandoned WordPress. Most of my content sites still run on it, and that's the right call for them. Here's where WordPress genuinely excels:

• Content management. The Gutenberg editor, custom post types, and taxonomy system are mature and battle-tested. Writing and managing 100+ articles is easier in WordPress than in any static site generator.
• Plugin ecosystem. Need SEO tools? Yoast or Rank Math. Need caching? WP Rocket. Need forms? Gravity Forms. The plugin ecosystem solves 90% of content site needs out of the box.
• Non-technical scaling. If I hire a content writer, they can log into WordPress and publish without touching code. That's not true for Astro or Next.js.

The Hybrid Approach

My portfolio is now a mix: 7 WordPress content sites and 4 custom-built web apps. The content sites generate the traffic and revenue. The custom tools generate authority, backlinks, and user engagement.

Tourfo (Bangladesh tourism platform) is a good example of the hybrid value. It's a custom-built site with interactive maps, district-level exploration, and dynamic filtering — none of which would work well in WordPress. But it also has SEO-optimized content pages that rank for location-based queries. The platform and the content work together.

This portfolio site is another example. It's built with Astro 5, Tailwind CSS 4, and deployed on Netlify. The build time is under 2 seconds. The page load is sub-second. Every page scores 95+ on Lighthouse. None of that would be achievable with WordPress without significant compromises.

What I'd Do Differently

If I started over today:

• Learn JavaScript earlier. I waited too long because I thought you needed a CS degree to code. You don't. You need patience and practice.
• Start with Astro, not WordPress, for simple sites. For sites that don't need a CMS or regular content updates from non-technical people, Astro is faster, cheaper to host, and easier to maintain.
• Build a tool in every niche. The best content sites have interactive tools that attract backlinks naturally. A calorie calculator for a pet food site, a size comparison tool for a breed guide — these tools bring traffic and authority that pure content can't match.

The Takeaway

WordPress is a tool. Custom code is a tool. Neither is inherently better — they solve different problems. The mistake is thinking you have to choose one. Use WordPress for what it's good at (content management, rapid deployment, non-technical teams) and custom code for what it's good at (interactive tools, performance-critical applications, unique user experiences).

The real unlock isn't the technology. It's understanding what you're building and picking the right tool for the job. Sometimes that's a WordPress plugin. Sometimes it's 200 lines of JavaScript. The ability to do both is the advantage.