Why I Don’t Use CMS Platforms Like WordPress for My Site

When I started planning my personal website, one of the first decisions I made was to avoid traditional content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. While these platforms are widely used and well-supported, they weren’t the right fit for what I needed. My site isn’t meant to be flashy, constantly changing, or dependent on third-party plug-ins. It’s meant to be simple, fast, minimal, and under my complete control.

Simplicity Over Features

WordPress offers a lot, but most of it isn’t necessary for me. I don’t need drag-and-drop builders, theme marketplaces, or a plugin for every small function. What I need is a static site with clean content, fast load times, and minimal attack surface. WordPress does too much for what I’m trying to do, and in doing so, it adds complexity I don't want to manage.

Full Control

CMS platforms lock you into their ecosystem. Even with open-source systems like WordPress, you're working within their assumptions: how content is structured, how themes are applied, how updates are handled. I prefer writing and structuring my content manually, using the tools I’m comfortable with. That means I can customize every part of the site without fighting with a backend UI or PHP template system.

Security and Overhead

WordPress has a massive attack surface. Its popularity and plugin architecture make it a constant target for exploits. I don’t want to spend time managing updates, patching vulnerabilities, or setting up firewalls for something as simple as a blog. A static site generated with tools I trust and hosted on a minimal server architecture is harder to compromise and easier to audit.

Portability and Longevity

I write my content in plain text. It lives in Git. That means it's portable, version-controlled, and completely separated from any proprietary format or CMS schema. If I want to change how the site works, I change the generator or templates—not the content. If I want to move hosts, I push to a new server. No database exports, no admin panels.

Conclusion

WordPress is useful if you're building a site for someone who needs a UI to manage posts, or if you're spinning up something fast with non-technical collaborators. That’s not me. I don’t need a CMS. I need a site that stays out of the way and gives me exactly what I ask for—nothing more.