Last year, I launched several websites using WordPress, one of which was a Community Events site. On that site, I wanted to implement Event Booking functionality. I spent four months purchasing a variety of plugins to:

• Optimize the site
• Enhance SEO
• Generate sitemaps
• Log site activity
• Add and manage events
• Enable booking
• Create a newsletter system
• Optimize images
• Track visitor data
• Showcase a gallery

While I was able to accomplish all of this, it came at a high cost—not just financially, but in terms of time and effort. Managing and maintaining multiple plugins, ensuring compatibility, and customizing them to meet my exact needs was a daunting task. In the end, I had spent over $2,000 on plugins and subscriptions alone!

That experience led me to search for a better solution. As a PHP developer with over 1,800 hours of Laravel experience, I felt frustrated using such a slow, resource-heavy platform like WordPress. It felt like an expensive, opaque black box where the inner workings were a mystery.

This summer, I made the switch to Statamic, a flat-file-based content management system built on top of Laravel. Unlike WordPress, Statamic doesn't rely on a database, which makes it faster, more secure, and easier to manage. It’s built with modern development in mind, giving developers full control over their site's functionality without the need for bloated plugins.

Statamic simplifies complex tasks with its intuitive control panel, while offering the flexibility of using Laravel’s robust framework. No more hunting down and maintaining dozens of plugins just to make the site function. Everything, from creating events to managing content and optimizing performance, is much easier and more streamlined.

So far, I’m loving the switch, and I'll continue updating this post with more insights into my journey with Statamic.