Ernie.SG 
Moving to Cloudflare Pages with Astro
Would you like to write Markdown, enjoy version control and auto-deploy, attain lightning-fast SEO and setup, use your own domain with SSL and unlimited bandwidth for your personal site - all for FREE? Then read on!
Making the switch to Cloudflare Pages for hosting my website was driven by several compelling factors. Here’s why I made this decision:
Why Astro?
Astro has become my framework of choice for several compelling reasons:
Lightning-Fast SEO
- Zero JavaScript by default, resulting in blazing-fast page loads
- 99/100 Lighthouse scores out of the box
- Automated meta tags and structured data
Content-Driven
- First-class Markdown/MDX support so you can easily re-render your content as desired
- Native LaTeX support for math
- Rich syntax highlighting for 100+ languages
Flexible Developer Experience
- Framework-agnostic: Use React, Vue, Svelte, or HTMX where needed
- Static output means hosting anywhere, no vendor lock-in
The Benefits of Cloudflare Pages
Unlimited Bandwidth
One of the main reasons I switched was Cloudflare Pages’ generous free tier offering unlimited bandwidth. This means no surprise bills just in case I become famous!
Automated CI/CD
The development workflow is seamless with:
- Automatic deployments from Git
- Preview deployments for pull requests
- Easy rollbacks
Custom Domains and More
- Global CDN with edge caching
- Automatic asset optimization
- Custom domains with easy setup (you have to pay for this yourself of course)
- Built-in SSL certificates
- Built-in analytics
- Great documentation
The Migration Process
To do so, here’s what I did:
-
Cloned the astro-erudite template
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Customized and pushed to GitHub
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Set up Cloudflare Pages and deployed:
- Navigated to Cloudflare dashboard > Compute (Workers)
- Connected GitHub repository
- Selected main branch for deployment
- Selected Astro as the framework
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Connected custom domain and let Cloudflare take care of the rest from hereon
The entire process was as easy as it gets. I get free version control and the site automatically redeploys when I push to main.
Conclusion
The combination of Astro’s performance-first approach and Cloudflare’s robust infrastructure provides an excellent foundation for developers looking for a quick home on the internet. The best part? It’s all available for free, making it an ideal choice for personal projects and blogs.