Respect the champ
WordPress runs a huge chunk of the internet. That didn’t happen by accident. Themes, plugins, hosting panels, agencies — an entire economy learned to speak WP.
That ecosystem is also why so many sites feel heavy: update nag, plugin conflict, “which SEO plugin is the real one this year,” and a dashboard that looks like an airport terminal.
Ceremony vs craft
If you need WooCommerce, memberships, and a marketplace of extensions — stay. You’re buying a platform.
If you need pages, a blog, a podcast feed, and a dark admin that doesn’t fight you — you’re buying ceremony you don’t use.
A lighter contract
Forma’s contract is narrower on purpose:
- You can hack HTML/Markdown
- There’s one admin
- The whole site is a file (+ uploads)
- Agents can edit over HTTPS without SSH theater
No theme store. No page-builder prison. You’re expected to touch the code a little — and rewarded for it.
When to leave
Leave when your site’s job is publishing, not being a CMS festival. Leave when your hosting bill is mostly plugin tax. Leave when “quick edit” takes longer than writing the post.