Revamping My Website: From React.js to WordPress

After years of running a React.js version of my personal website, originally built as a learning project (but also I had to have company page), I finally decided it was time for a complete rebuild. Not because the old site was bad, but because maintaining and updating it had become more work than it needed to be. I wanted something simpler, faster to update, and far more flexible, especially now that I’m planning to publish blog posts on a (kinda) regular basis.

And so began the journey of moving everything over to WordPress… and honestly, I was surprised by how smooth the transition was.

My old React.js site was a great sandbox. It taught me a lot, helped me practice modern web development, and allowed me to deploy a custom-made website completely for free using Netlify. If you’re experimenting with front-end development, Netlify is still something I wholeheartedly recommend. Fantastic platform, zero cost, extremely developer-friendly.

But React.js comes with a cost that isn’t financial…it’s time.
Even a simple text tweak required a code change, a rebuild, and a redeploy. And when you’re juggling family, projects, clients, content creation and overall entrepreneur stuff, that friction really adds up.

WordPress, on the other hand, offered exactly what I needed right now:

• A visual interface
• Quick edits without touching code
• Easy content publishing
• A huge ecosystem of plugins and themes
• Massive flexibility for future ideas

After not touching WordPress for years, I somewhat expected a learning curve… but it was shockingly simple to use (still). The ecosystem has matured even more, interfaces are clean, and modern themes give you a lot of design power without having to write a single line of code (I know I didn’t with this page, if you don’t count couple API integrations).

One of my priorities was to keep the entire rebuild as budget-friendly as possible. Since I was doing all the work myself, the only real cost should ideally be the domain—just like before.

Here’s the full stack of tools and services I used:

Hosting: Wasmer.io

I deployed the new WordPress site to Wasmer, which offers free hosting and 150GB of monthly bandwidth. More than enough for a personal website.

Contact Form: MailJet

For the contact form, I integrated MailJet.
Completely free.
Up to 6,000 emails per month.
Simple setup.
Works perfectly.

Newsletter Signup: Sender.net

For the newsletter, I needed something reliable, modern, and free for early growth.
Sender.net fit the description exactly:

• Up to 2,500 subscribers
• Up to 15,000 emails per month
• Free

And it integrates beautifully into WordPress. Actually, I could have skipped this one as Mailjet could handle this… but wanted to have it separated.

This surprised even me.
Setting up the React site originally took longer, mostly because it was a coding project. But this WordPress version took one day, including:

• Installing WordPress
• Setting up the theme
• Configuring plugins
• Integrating MailJet
• Integrating Sender.net
• Importing content
• Redesigning the layout

Everything just worked. And that alone made the switch worth it.

Both approaches are valid, but they serve different purposes.

React.js

Great for:

• Learning front-end development
• Building custom experiences
• Full control over the UI
• Projects where coding is the point

Not so great for:

• Frequent non-technical updates
• Rapid content publishing
• People who don’t want to dig into code every time

WordPress

Great for:

• Websites where content comes first
• Easy updates and redesigns
• Integrations without coding
• Speed of deployment
• SEO and blogging

Not so great for:

• Highly custom, interactive front-ends (not needed on this one)
• Complex, app-like experiences

For my website, WordPress was the obvious winner.

I had to pay only the domain (which I already have).
The same as before.

Everything else, hosting, email delivery, newsletter system, plugins… was completely free.

And for a small site that I can update in minutes, that’s a huge win.

If you’re running a hand-coded site and feel the maintenance friction growing, or you want to start publishing content more frequently, consider giving WordPress another try. It’s come a long way.

Since you’ve come this far… guess you liked this post. I plan to add more of blog posts here, so maybe you’d like to put yourself on newsletter list?