Why We Chose Astro — and How We Achieved Perfect Lighthouse Scores
How we built a website that scores 100/100 on every Google Lighthouse category, why we chose Astro over WordPress, and what it means for our clients.
100 points across all four categories — no tricks
Run a Google Lighthouse test on anhis.fi and you’ll see four perfect scores: Performance 100, Accessibility 100, Best Practices 100, SEO 100. That’s not a fluke and it’s not a trick. It’s the result of deliberate technology choices and careful optimization work.
In this article, I’ll explain why we chose Astro as the foundation for our website, how we achieved these results, and why it matters to you — especially if you’re thinking about your own company’s online presence.
What is Astro and why is it different?
Astro is a modern web framework that approaches websites with a fundamentally different philosophy from WordPress, Next.js, or Wix.
The core idea is simple: send as little JavaScript to the browser as possible. Most business websites are essentially static content — text, images, contact information. Why should the browser download hundreds of kilobytes of JavaScript just to display a phone number?
Astro solves this with what’s called the “islands” architecture. Pages are pre-rendered on the server as ready-made HTML, and JavaScript is loaded only where it’s actually needed — like a contact form or an interactive chatbot widget. The result is a page that loads lightning fast.
What Lighthouse scores actually measure
Google Lighthouse evaluates websites across four categories:
| Category | What it measures | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Load speed, interactivity, visual stability | Slow pages drive visitors away — Google penalizes them in search |
| Accessibility | Usability for screen readers, keyboard navigation | It’s the law in many countries, but above all it’s the right thing to do |
| Best Practices | Security, HTTPS, modern standards | Outdated practices expose you to vulnerabilities |
| SEO | Search engine optimization fundamentals | Discoverability on Google determines your visibility |
Many websites score 60–80 in the Performance category. WordPress sites with heavy themes and dozens of plugins often fall below 50 on mobile.
How we achieved 100/100
Perfect scores don’t come from framework choice alone. Here are the specific things we did:
Minimal JavaScript
Astro sends zero JavaScript to the browser by default. We use React components only where interactivity is essential: the contact form and chatbot widget. Everything else — navigation, content sections, blog — is pure HTML and CSS.
Automatic image optimization
Astro’s built-in astro:assets handles converting images to WebP/AVIF formats, generating correctly sized variants, and adding lazy loading attributes. We don’t need to remember to optimize a single image manually.
HTML and JavaScript compression
We use the @playform/compress integration, which automatically minifies HTML and JavaScript during the build step. Every unnecessary byte is removed.
Font optimization
We use two fonts: Archivo Black for headings and Inter Variable for body text. Both are loaded with font-display: swap so text appears immediately — no waiting for fonts to download.
Accessibility built into the architecture
Semantic HTML, proper ARIA attributes, sufficient color contrasts using the oklch color space, and keyboard navigation. Accessibility isn’t a feature bolted on afterwards — it’s part of the architecture.
Vercel Edge Network
The site is served from Vercel’s edge network, which delivers content from the nearest server. In Finland, load times are typically under 200 milliseconds.
What does this mean in practice?
Numbers are nice, but what do they mean for a real visitor?
Speed translates to money. According to Google’s research, every additional second of load time increases bounce rate by 32%. If your site gets 1,000 visitors per month and your page takes 5 seconds to load instead of 2, you’re losing an estimated 100–300 potential contacts per year.
Google favors fast websites. Core Web Vitals — loading speed, interactivity, visual stability — are a direct search ranking factor. Perfect Lighthouse scores mean Google sees your site as technically first-class.
Mobile decides. Over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. Slow, heavy websites suffer most on mobile — and the visitors you lose there are often the ones who needed your service in a hurry.
Why we don’t use WordPress
WordPress is the world’s most popular publishing platform, and it works well for many use cases. But for businesses where performance, security, and maintainability matter, it has structural problems:
Performance requires constant work. Keeping a WordPress site fast requires caching plugins, CDN configuration, and ongoing optimization. Astro is fast by default — nothing needs to be specially optimized.
Security is an ongoing concern. WordPress is the world’s most common attack target. Plugins and themes require updates, and every unpatched plugin is a potential security risk. A static site built with Astro offers no attack surface — there’s no database on the server and no login page.
Maintenance eats time. WordPress requires regular updates, backups, and compatibility testing. An Astro site is essentially maintenance-free — you update the content, the technology just works.
What about our clients?
This isn’t just navel-gazing. We apply the same expertise and principles to our clients’ projects.
When we build an AI chatbot or automation solution, optimization is part of the process. Our Aihio AI chatbot widget weighs 40 kilobytes — competitors are often 200–800 kilobytes. That means adding the chatbot to your site doesn’t ruin its performance.
If you need a website that loads instantly, ranks well on Google, and works flawlessly on mobile — we know how. If you need an AI chatbot that doesn’t slow your site down — we know that too.
Want to see for yourself?
Run a Lighthouse test on anhis.fi and see the results with your own eyes. Open Chrome DevTools (F12), select the Lighthouse tab, and click “Analyze page load.”
If you’d like to discuss how similar performance could be achieved for your own site:
Tuomas Piirainen is the founder of Anhis Smart Innovations and a full-stack developer with over 20 years of software development experience. He has built three production-grade SaaS products and specializes in AI solutions and performance optimization.