How to convert a WordPress site to a static site

In October 2026 I converted my own site from WordPress to plain HTML and CSS. The case study tells that story and the numbers behind it. This post is the practical version: how to convert a WordPress site to a static site, the decisions that matter, and how to tell whether your site should make the move at all.

Static site vs WordPress: should you convert?

Start here, because the answer is often no. A static site is a set of finished HTML files. There’s no database, no plugins, and no login. That makes it fast, secure, and nearly maintenance-free, and it also means anything interactive has to come from somewhere else.

• Convert if you sell a service, your site’s job is to explain what you do and bring in leads, and you (or your AI assistant) are happy editing content as files instead of in a dashboard.
• Stay on WordPress if you sell physical products, need member logins or bookings, or have several people publishing through an editorial workflow.

Forms and payments are not deal-breakers. A small form handler covers contact and quote forms, and payment links from Stripe or a similar service handle invoices, deposits, and packages without a store.

Two ways to convert WordPress to a static site

1. Export it with a plugin

Plugins such as Simply Static crawl your WordPress site and save every page as HTML. It’s the fastest route, and the result looks exactly like your current site. The catch is that it is your current site: the same page-builder markup, the same scripts, the same layout shifts, frozen in place. You also keep WordPress around to make changes, then export again.

2. Rebuild it as a clean static site

This is what I did. You keep every URL and every word of content, but rebuild the design once as a small, consistent system: one stylesheet, a handful of reusable components, and a simple script that assembles the pages. It takes longer up front. In return, you get a site that is genuinely fast and much easier to change, especially with an AI assistant, because every page is built from the same parts.

How I convert a WordPress site, step by step

What changed when I converted my own site

On Google PageSpeed Insights for mobile, my home page went from 78 on Divi 5 to 98–100, and layout shift dropped to zero. I went from 24 plugins to update to none, and the login page, the database, and everything attackers go after simply stopped existing. The bigger change is how fast I can add to the site now. A new page or post is a conversation with my AI assistant, not an afternoon in a page builder. The full case study has the details.

Thinking about converting your site?

I’ll look at what your site does today and tell you honestly whether a static rebuild makes sense. If it does, you get a site you can run with your own AI assistant. If it doesn’t, I’ll say so. Here’s how my static website service works.