Astro Website Development LondonAstro websiteszero waste, pure speed.
WebAnts is a London Astro agency. We build custom Astro websites, content-first marketing sites and documentation portals — ships zero JS by default, any component library, blazing fast. No deposit required.
15+
Astro sites shipped in London & UK
100
Google PageSpeed target
2–5 wks
Typical marketing site delivery
£0
Deposit — milestone payments only
4.9★
Average client rating
What is Astro
The web framework built for content-first speed.
Starting from
£2,000
Flat quote · No prepayment · 2–5 wk delivery
Astro is a modern web framework that ships zero JavaScript by default — ideal for content-first marketing sites, blogs, and documentation portals. WebAnts is a London Astro agency building sites that score 100 on Google PageSpeed for SaaS companies, professional services firms, and design agencies needing a white label partner.
Unlike Next.js or Nuxt, Astro does not ship a JavaScript runtime for static content — your marketing pages are pure HTML served from CDN, with JavaScript only where components genuinely need it. Islands architecture means your interactive components are isolated; everything else is blazing fast. We also handle Core Web Vitals optimisation for existing Gatsby and Next.js content sites.
We handle Astro marketing sites, documentation portals, Gatsby migrations, headless CMS integrations, and Next.js to Astro migrations for content-only sites. Flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call.
Why Astro
Six reasons Astro wins for content-first sites.
Zero JavaScript by default. Islands architecture. Any component library. Content Collections. Built-in image optimisation. Consistently 100 on PageSpeed.
01
Sends zero JavaScript by default
Astro's most distinctive feature is that it ships zero JavaScript to the browser by default. HTML and CSS are sent; JavaScript is only included if a component explicitly needs it. The result is dramatically smaller page payloads, faster load times, and Google PageSpeed scores that other frameworks cannot match for content-first sites.
02
Islands architecture — only hydrate what needs it
Astro's islands architecture lets you mark specific components as interactive — everything else is static HTML. A contact form, a pricing toggle, a live search widget — only those components ship JavaScript. The rest of your page is static, cached, and blazing fast. Partial hydration done properly.
03
Use any component library (React, Vue, Svelte, Solid)
Astro is framework-agnostic — you can bring your existing React, Vue, Svelte, or Solid components and use them as islands. There is no need to rewrite your UI library to adopt Astro. This makes migration from Gatsby, Next.js, or Nuxt significantly less disruptive while gaining Astro's performance benefits.
04
Content Collections for type-safe content management
Astro's Content Collections give you a typed, schema-validated API for your Markdown and MDX content — blog posts, documentation, changelogs, and any structured content. Zod schemas validate every entry at build time, so content errors are caught before deployment, not in production.
05
Built-in image optimisation
Astro's Image component optimises images at build time — converting to WebP, generating responsive srcsets, and lazy loading by default. No additional plugin configuration required. Combined with zero JS by default, this makes Astro sites consistently the fastest on Core Web Vitals for image-heavy content sites.
06
Best-in-class performance for content sites and marketing
For content sites, marketing sites, blogs, documentation portals, and landing pages — Astro consistently outperforms React-based frameworks on Core Web Vitals. Where Next.js ships a runtime, React, and your component code, Astro ships HTML. When performance is the primary goal, Astro is the right choice.
What we build
12 Astro services.
From a simple content site to a large documentation portal — all built in-house in London with a 100 PageSpeed target.
01
Custom Astro Marketing Site
Performance-first marketing sites built in Astro — zero JS by default, responsive, SEO-structured, and connected to your headless CMS. Core Web Vitals pass guaranteed. Your content team publishes; your site loads instantly from CDN.
02
Astro + Content Collections (Blog / Docs)
Type-safe content management using Astro Content Collections — Zod-validated schemas for blog posts, documentation, changelogs, and any structured content. MDX support, syntax highlighting, and RSS feeds included. Build-time content validation catches errors before deployment.
03
Astro with React or Vue Islands
Bring your existing React or Vue components into Astro as interactive islands — partial hydration ensures only the components that need JavaScript receive it. Reuse your UI library without rebuilding from scratch and gain Astro's performance advantages on the static parts of your site.
04
Astro + Headless CMS (Sanity / Contentful / Storyblok)
Astro frontends wired to your choice of headless CMS — Sanity, Contentful, or Storyblok. Content schemas defined, CMS configured for your editors, live preview set up, and incremental builds configured so your CMS updates are reflected in minutes without a full rebuild.
05
Astro Documentation Portal
Technical documentation portals built in Astro — file-based routing, search (Pagefind or Algolia), versioning, sidebar navigation, syntax-highlighted code blocks, and MDX for interactive examples. Deployed to Vercel or Cloudflare Pages with automatic preview deployments on every PR.
06
Astro SSR (Server-Side Rendering)
Astro supports server-side rendering via adapters for Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Workers, and Node.js. We configure SSR for dynamic routes — authenticated pages, API-driven content, personalisation, and A/B testing — while keeping static routes pre-rendered for performance.
07
Gatsby / Next.js to Astro Migration
If your Gatsby or Next.js site is sluggish, over-engineered for its content, or failing Core Web Vitals, we migrate it to Astro. All content, images, blog posts, and structured data migrated. Every URL gets a 301 redirect. You gain 100 PageSpeed scores without rewriting your content.
08
Astro SEO Optimisation
SEO configuration for Astro sites — meta tags per page and per collection item, Open Graph and Twitter Cards, JSON-LD structured data (Organization, WebPage, Article, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList), XML sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags, and hreflang for multi-language sites.
09
Astro with Tailwind CSS
All WebAnts Astro builds use Tailwind CSS for styling — responsive, utility-first, and purged to minimal CSS at build time. We set up your design tokens (colours, typography, spacing) as Tailwind config so your entire site is consistent and your team can extend styles without breaking existing pages.
10
Astro Performance Audit & Rebuild
If your existing Gatsby, Hugo, or Next.js content site is failing Core Web Vitals, we audit the performance issues and rebuild in Astro. Audit report included — we show you exactly what is causing the low scores and why Astro solves them before we start the rebuild.
11
Astro MDX Blog Setup
Full blog setup in Astro with MDX — rich text content, custom components embedded in posts, syntax highlighting, reading time, author pages, tag filtering, RSS feed, and sitemap. Connected to your headless CMS or managed as Content Collections in the repository.
12
Astro Maintenance & Retainers
Monthly retainers covering Astro dependency updates, content migrations, new page builds, performance monitoring, and CMS configuration. Block-of-hours or fixed monthly scope — response within one business day on all plans.
How we work
Four phases. No mystery.
Milestone payments — you see progress every week and own every deliverable the moment it lands.
01
Discovery
A free 30-min call to scope your Astro project — content type, CMS requirements, interactive components, migration needs, and budget. You leave with a flat written quote and a clear scope document. No hourly estimates, no surprises.
02
Design
Wireframes, then polished Figma designs in your brand. Islands architecture planned before a line of Astro is written — interactive components identified and scoped so your JavaScript budget is agreed upfront. Mobile-first, accessibility-considered throughout.
03
Build
Weekly staging updates on Vercel or Netlify. Content Collections configured, CMS integrated, island components built, SEO wired. Core Web Vitals profiled at every deploy — 100 PageSpeed is the target, not a hope.
04
Launch & Handover
Deploy to Vercel or Cloudflare Pages, DNS cutover, Search Console submission, 301 redirects verified. Source code, Content Collections schema, and CMS documentation handed over in full. Optional retainer from there.
Transparent pricing
What does an Astro website cost in London?
Every project is scoped individually — but here are real ranges based on scope. All prices are flat fees, not hourly estimates. Written quote after a free 30-min discovery call.
Starter
£2,000 – £4,000
2–3 weeks
Content site or blog with CMS.
- ✓Astro 5 with Content Collections
- ✓Up to 8 pages
- ✓Headless CMS or MDX blog
- ✓Core Web Vitals pass
- ✓SEO setup (meta, OG, sitemap)
- ✓GA4 + Search Console
Best for: Startups, personal brands, small businesses
Growth
£4,000 – £8,000
3–5 weeks
Full marketing site + CMS + integrations.
- ✓Astro + Headless CMS (Sanity/Storyblok)
- ✓Up to 20 pages
- ✓React or Vue islands (if required)
- ✓100 PageSpeed target
- ✓JSON-LD schema + structured data
- ✓2 weeks post-launch support
Best for: SaaS marketing sites, agencies, consultancies
Scale
£8,000 – £16,000
5–8 weeks
Documentation portal or large content site.
- ✓Astro documentation site
- ✓Pagefind or Algolia search
- ✓MDX with custom components
- ✓Versioning & sidebar nav
- ✓Multi-environment CI/CD
- ✓Dedicated support month
Best for: Developer tools, SaaS docs, large blogs
Enterprise
From £16,000
8–14 weeks
Enterprise docs + multi-language + custom components.
- ✓Multi-language (hreflang)
- ✓Custom component library
- ✓Algolia DocSearch
- ✓SSR + static hybrid routes
- ✓Full design system documentation
- ✓Ongoing retainer available
Best for: Enterprises, developer platforms, media brands
Not sure which tier fits? Book a free 30-min call and we will scope it →
Platform migrations
Moving to Astro from another platform?
We migrate Gatsby, Next.js, WordPress, and Docusaurus sites to Astro — all content, SEO equity, and 301 redirects handled. You keep your Google rankings and gain a site that scores 100 on PageSpeed.
Gatsby to Astro
Gatsby's plugin ecosystem and GraphQL data layer add significant complexity for what are often straightforward content sites. We migrate Gatsby sites to Astro — exporting all content, rebuilding the component structure, configuring Content Collections or a headless CMS, and handling every URL redirect. The result is typically a 100 PageSpeed score versus Gatsby's 60-70.
Next.js to Astro (content-only sites)
Next.js is excellent for web applications but adds unnecessary JavaScript overhead for content-first marketing sites and blogs. We migrate Next.js marketing sites and blogs to Astro — preserving all content, restructuring into Content Collections, and configuring the same headless CMS. Your marketing team keeps their CMS; your site gains 30+ PageSpeed points.
WordPress to Astro (headless)
WordPress as a headless CMS with an Astro frontend gives you the best of both: your editors keep the familiar WordPress dashboard, while your visitors get a dramatically faster experience served from a CDN. We export all posts, pages, and media, configure the WordPress REST API or WPGraphQL, and handle all 301 redirects.
Docusaurus to Astro (documentation)
Docusaurus is a capable documentation framework but is React-bound and ships a heavier JavaScript bundle than necessary for documentation. Astro's zero-JS default and built-in MDX support make it an excellent Docusaurus alternative. We migrate your docs structure, sidebar navigation, search, and versioning to Astro — typically resulting in a faster, lighter documentation site.
What you get
Everything included.
No hidden extras.
Every Astro build ships with the full stack — 100 PageSpeed, CMS setup, SEO, and a proper handover your team can actually use.
- ✓Astro site deployed to Vercel or Cloudflare Pages
- ✓Content Collections configured and documented
- ✓Headless CMS integrated (if applicable)
- ✓100 Google PageSpeed score
- ✓SEO: meta, OG, JSON-LD schema, sitemap, robots.txt
- ✓GA4 + Search Console setup
- ✓Image optimisation (Astro Image component)
- ✓MDX blog setup (if applicable)
- ✓Two weeks post-launch support included
From £2,000 for a content site or blog. Full marketing site from £4,000. Flat quote after a free 30-min call.
Framework comparison
Astro vs the alternatives.
We build on multiple frameworks. Here is an honest four-way comparison — Next.js, Gatsby, Nuxt, SvelteKit — so you can make the right call for your project.
| vs Framework | Astro wins on | They win on | Choose Astro when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next.js | Zero JS by default for static content, 100 PageSpeed on content sites, simpler mental model for non-app content, no React runtime overhead | App Router + RSC for complex web apps, Vercel native integration, API routes, auth, database — full-stack capability | Your site is primarily content — marketing site, blog, documentation, or landing pages — with minimal interactive JavaScript requirements |
| Gatsby | No GraphQL data layer to maintain, simpler architecture, faster builds, 100 PageSpeed vs Gatsby's typical 60-70, actively maintained | Larger historical plugin ecosystem, Gatsby Cloud (though now deprecated), GraphQL data layer for complex multi-source content | You are starting a new content site or migrating from Gatsby — Astro's performance advantage is significant and the migration is straightforward |
| Nuxt | Zero JS default for static pages, purpose-built for content (Content Collections, MDX), superior performance for non-interactive pages | Full Vue 3 application capability, Pinia, SSR for dynamic apps, Nuxt Modules ecosystem, better fit for interactive web apps | Your project is content-first with minimal application logic — Nuxt is the better choice once you need significant user interaction or application state |
| SvelteKit | Framework-agnostic (use React, Vue, Svelte together), Content Collections for type-safe content, better ecosystem for content sites | Smaller Svelte runtime, excellent for applications needing reactivity without a virtual DOM, Svelte stores for state management | You are building a content site and want to keep component library flexibility — or your team already uses React or Vue and does not want to learn Svelte |
“WebAnts built something better than I’d ever imagined — shipped faster than any agency I’ve worked with.”
LaTisha Ebanks
Marketing Director, North Pointe Marketing
Start a project
Free 30-min call.
Flat written quote.
No prepayment.
Tell us about your Astro project — what you need built, your current platform, your budget and your timeline. We’ll review it and send a flat quote within 24 hours.
★★★★★ 4.9 on Google
★★★★★ 5.0 on Clutch
★★★★★ 5.0 on Upwork
Top Web Designers 2025 — DesignRush
FAQ
Astro questions, answered directly.
What is Astro?
Astro is a modern web framework designed for content-first websites — marketing sites, blogs, documentation portals, and landing pages. Its defining feature is that it ships zero JavaScript to the browser by default. HTML and CSS are rendered at build time; JavaScript is only included for components that explicitly need interactivity (called islands). The result is dramatically faster load times and Google PageSpeed scores of 100 that React-based frameworks cannot achieve for comparable content sites.
How much does an Astro website cost in London?
A simple Astro content site or blog from WebAnts starts from £2,000–£4,000 (2–3 weeks). A full marketing site with headless CMS and integrations typically costs £4,000–£8,000 (3–5 weeks). A documentation portal costs £8,000–£16,000 (5–8 weeks). Enterprise documentation with multi-language and custom components starts from £16,000. Every project receives a flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call — no hourly estimates, no deposit.
What is Astro islands architecture?
Astro's islands architecture means that interactive components are isolated 'islands' of JavaScript in an otherwise static HTML page. Only the interactive islands are hydrated with JavaScript — the rest of your page is served as static HTML with no runtime overhead. This is the key reason Astro sites achieve 100 PageSpeed scores: the vast majority of your page is HTML that loads instantly, with JavaScript only where it is genuinely needed (a form, a carousel, a search widget).
Astro vs Next.js — which should I choose?
Choose Astro if your site is primarily content — a marketing site, blog, documentation portal, or collection of landing pages — with minimal interactive JavaScript requirements. Astro will score 100 on PageSpeed where an equivalent Next.js site scores 70-85, because Astro ships zero JavaScript for static content. Choose Next.js if you are building a web application — anything with user authentication, real-time data, a dashboard, or complex user interactions. WebAnts builds in both — we recommend based on your actual use case.
Astro vs Gatsby — what is the difference?
Gatsby was the leading static site generator of the 2018-2021 era, built on React with a GraphQL data layer. Astro replaces Gatsby for most content-first use cases — it is simpler (no GraphQL required), faster to build, faster at runtime (zero JS vs Gatsby's React runtime), and more actively maintained. Gatsby was acquired by Netlify and has seen reduced development velocity. For new content sites we recommend Astro over Gatsby without reservation.
Can Astro use React components?
Yes. Astro is framework-agnostic — you can use React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, or Preact components as islands within an Astro page. The @astrojs/react integration adds React support; components are rendered server-side by default and only hydrated client-side when you add a client directive (client:load, client:idle, client:visible). This means you can reuse your existing React UI library without rebuilding from scratch and still gain Astro's performance advantages for all static content.
Does Astro support server-side rendering (SSR)?
Yes. Astro supports SSR via adapters for Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Workers, and Node.js. In SSR mode, Astro pages are rendered on the server per request rather than at build time — enabling dynamic content, authentication, personalisation, and API-driven pages. Astro also supports hybrid rendering, where some routes are statically generated and others are server-rendered, giving you the best of both for mixed content sites.
What are Astro Content Collections?
Astro Content Collections are a built-in, type-safe content management API for Markdown and MDX files. You define a schema using Zod for each collection (blog posts, documentation, team members) and Astro validates every content entry against the schema at build time — catching content errors before deployment. Collections generate typed query functions so you get full TypeScript autocompletion when accessing content data. It is the cleanest, most reliable way to manage file-based content in a static site.
Is Astro good for SEO?
Yes. Astro generates clean semantic HTML with no client-side hydration for static content — search engines receive fully-rendered HTML on the first request, with no JavaScript required to see the content. WebAnts adds JSON-LD structured data, Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards, XML sitemap, robots.txt, and canonical tags as standard on every Astro build. Combined with 100 PageSpeed scores, Astro sites typically rank significantly faster than React-based sites for equivalent content.
Can Astro work with a headless CMS?
Yes. Astro integrates with all major headless CMS platforms — Sanity, Contentful, Storyblok, Prismic, and DatoCMS. Content is fetched at build time (SSG) or per request (SSR), depending on how frequently it changes. We configure the CMS, define content schemas, map content types to Astro pages, and set up webhook-triggered rebuilds so your site updates within minutes of a CMS publish. Your editors work in their familiar CMS interface; visitors get static HTML from CDN.
Does Astro support MDX?
Yes. Astro has first-class MDX support via the @astrojs/mdx integration — you can use Astro or React components directly inside Markdown files. This is ideal for documentation sites (interactive code examples, custom callout components, live demos) and technical blogs (embedded demos, custom syntax highlighting, interactive diagrams). MDX files work seamlessly with Content Collections, giving you type-safe schema validation and TypeScript autocompletion.
What is zero JS by default in Astro?
Zero JS by default means that Astro does not send any JavaScript to the browser unless a component explicitly requires it. In contrast, Next.js and Nuxt ship a React/Vue runtime plus your component JavaScript for every page, even if the page is entirely static content. For a blog post or a marketing page with no interactive elements, Astro sends only HTML and CSS — typically 80-95% less JavaScript than an equivalent React-based page. This is the primary reason Astro sites score 100 on Google PageSpeed.
Can you migrate from Gatsby to Astro?
Yes. Gatsby to Astro migration is one of our standard services. We export all content from Gatsby's GraphQL layer, rebuild the page structure in Astro using Content Collections or a headless CMS, migrate your React components as Astro components or React islands, and configure 301 redirects for every existing URL. Post-migration you typically see PageSpeed scores improve from 60-70 to 95-100 and build times drop from several minutes to under 30 seconds.
Can Astro handle a documentation site?
Yes. Astro is an excellent choice for technical documentation — it powers several major open-source documentation sites. Features relevant to docs: file-based routing, MDX with custom components, syntax-highlighted code blocks, Pagefind for offline search, Algolia DocSearch integration, sidebar navigation from a config file, versioning via collections, and RSS feed. We build documentation portals on Astro as a standard service, typically deployed to Vercel or Cloudflare Pages.
How fast is Astro compared to Next.js?
For content-first sites, Astro consistently outperforms Next.js on Core Web Vitals. A typical Astro marketing site scores 100 on Google PageSpeed Mobile; an equivalent Next.js site typically scores 70-85. The gap is widest on mobile — where JavaScript parse time is most impactful — and for content-heavy pages with large amounts of static text and images. For web applications with significant interactivity, the gap narrows significantly as JavaScript is required regardless of framework.
Can Astro handle dynamic pages or is it only static?
Astro supports both static generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR). Static generation is the default — pages are pre-rendered at build time and served from CDN. SSR is enabled via platform adapters (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Workers) and renders pages on the server per request — enabling dynamic content, authentication, and personalisation. Hybrid rendering mixes both approaches per route, so your marketing pages are static while your dashboard routes are server-rendered.
What is Astro 5 and what is new?
Astro 5 introduced Server Islands — the ability to render parts of a static page dynamically on the server without making the entire page server-rendered. This is ideal for personalised content blocks (logged-in user data, recommendations) on an otherwise static page. Astro 5 also improved Content Collections with a new Content Layer API supporting external data sources (CMS, databases, APIs) alongside local Markdown files, and improved the image pipeline with further optimisations.
Can Astro be deployed to Cloudflare?
Yes. Astro has a first-class Cloudflare adapter that deploys Astro sites to Cloudflare Pages and enables SSR via Cloudflare Workers. Cloudflare's global network (300+ edge locations) makes it the fastest delivery option for Astro sites targeting a global audience. We configure Cloudflare Pages deployments including preview environments, environment variables, and KV store integration for dynamic data when required.
Do you offer Astro maintenance retainers?
Yes. After launch you can take full control yourself — we hand over all source code, Content Collections schemas, CMS documentation, and deployment credentials. Or you can continue with a monthly maintenance retainer covering Astro dependency updates, content migrations, new page builds, CMS configuration, and performance monitoring. Retainers are structured as a fixed monthly scope or a block of hours — response within one business day on all plans.
When should I NOT use Astro?
Astro is designed for content-first sites — it is not the right choice for every project. Do not use Astro if you are building a single-page application (SPA) with heavy client-side state and real-time interactions; a SaaS dashboard with complex data fetching and user sessions; a web application requiring WebSockets or real-time updates throughout; or a project where your team needs React Server Components and the Next.js App Router's full-stack capability. For those use cases, Next.js or a Vue/Nuxt stack is more appropriate — and WebAnts builds those too.
(Related services)
Content-first. Speed-first. Yours. →
Free discovery call. Flat quote. 2–5 week delivery. No prepayment.
About WebAnts — Astro Website Development Agency in London
WebAnts is a London web design and development agency specialising in Astro website development. 4.9★ rated on Google, 5.0 on Clutch, 5.0 on Upwork. Named Top Web Design Agency 2025 by DesignRush. Based in London, serving clients across the UK and 14 countries.
What is Astro?
Astro is a modern web framework designed for content-first websites. It ships zero JavaScript to the browser by default — HTML and CSS are rendered at build time; JavaScript is only included for interactive component islands. The result is Google PageSpeed scores of 100 that React-based frameworks cannot match for equivalent content sites. Astro supports React, Vue, Svelte, and Solid components as islands.
What Astro services does WebAnts offer?
WebAnts offers 12 Astro services: custom Astro marketing sites, Astro with Content Collections for blogs and docs, Astro with React or Vue islands, Astro with headless CMS (Sanity, Contentful, Storyblok), Astro documentation portals, Astro SSR configuration, Gatsby to Astro migration, Astro SEO optimisation, Astro with Tailwind CSS, Astro performance audits and rebuilds, Astro MDX blog setup, and monthly Astro maintenance retainers.
How much does an Astro website cost in London?
A simple Astro content site or blog from WebAnts starts from £2,000 to £4,000 (2 to 3 weeks). A full marketing site with headless CMS costs £4,000 to £8,000 (3 to 5 weeks). A documentation portal costs £8,000 to £16,000 (5 to 8 weeks). Enterprise documentation starts from £16,000. Flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call — no hourly estimates, no deposit.
Why choose Astro over Next.js for a content site?
Astro ships zero JavaScript for static content, while Next.js ships a React runtime plus component code for every page. For marketing sites and blogs with minimal interactivity, Astro consistently achieves Google PageSpeed scores of 100 versus Next.js scores of 70 to 85. For web applications with complex interactivity, auth, and dashboards, Next.js remains the better choice.
What makes WebAnts different from other Astro agencies?
No offshoring. No prepayment. Milestone payments so you own every deliverable as it lands. Direct access to the developer building your site. 100 PageSpeed target on every Astro build. Full source code, Content Collections schema, and CMS documentation handed over as standard.
Dream Algorithm Ltd, trading as WebAnts · London, UK+44 20 3983 9795hello@webants.io