Today on Symfony (PHP)
zfort.com ↗
- Main content visible
- 2.9 s
- First thing on screen
- 1.1 s
- Page visibly complete
- 2.3 s
- Frozen to taps and clicks
- 370 ms
- Layout jumping
- 0.00
The same page on Astro
this demo ↗
- Main content visible
- 1.5 s
- First thing on screen
- 1.4 s
- Page visibly complete
- 1.4 s
- Frozen to taps and clicks
- 0 ms
- Layout jumping
- 0.07
What Astro changes on a phone
+13Performance points
+4Accessibility points
+12Best Practices points
0SEO points
48% fasterMain content visible
39% fasterPage visibly complete
Today on Symfony (PHP)
zfort.com ↗- Main content visible
- 800 ms
- First thing on screen
- 300 ms
- Page visibly complete
- 800 ms
- Frozen to taps and clicks
- 350 ms
- Layout jumping
- 0.00
The same page on Astro
this demo ↗- Main content visible
- 400 ms
- First thing on screen
- 300 ms
- Page visibly complete
- 300 ms
- Frozen to taps and clicks
- 0 ms
- Layout jumping
- 0.03
What Astro changes on a desktop
+15Performance points
+7Accessibility points
+4Best Practices points
0SEO points
50% fasterMain content visible
63% fasterPage visibly complete
Why move
Risk today, and what replaces it
The risk of staying on a custom PHP site
- Every page is built on the server, every visit. The homepage is assembled by a PHP application (the Symfony framework) each time someone opens it, so speed depends on the server, the code and the database behind it.
- Your code, your patching. The framework, the PHP version and every library the page uses (such as jQuery) have to be kept up to date by your own developers, and any update can change how fast pages load.
- Keeping it fast is a permanent job. Holding the scores means re-testing after every release, for as long as the site runs. Without that, speed can slip away unnoticed.
What we saw on zfort.com (30 September 2026)
- The homepage is generated by a PHP application and sets a PHP session cookie on the first visit
- An admin login page is reachable on the public site (zfort.com/admin redirects to /admin/login)
- jQuery and a jQuery slider library load on every visit
- Third-party tools load on every visit, including Google Tag Manager, a live-chat widget and Google reCAPTCHA
Publicly visible facts from the live homepage. They show how much is exposed and maintained, not that the site has been attacked.
What Astro gives you
- Fast by design, not by tuning. Pages are built in advance and send no JavaScript unless a part of the page needs it. The scores above were measured, not promised.
- No plugins, no server code to patch. There is no database, admin login or plugin on the live site for anyone to attack.
- Speed checked before every release. Every change is tested with the same Google Lighthouse and look-alike checks shown on this page before it goes live, so speed cannot drift quietly.
What Cloudflare gives you
- DNS: the foundation. Your domain and email records run on Cloudflare’s DNS, which Cloudflare describes as “consistently measured as one of the fastest” in the world.
- Firewall in front of the site. Cloudflare’s web application firewall is available on all plans; its Free Managed Ruleset gives “protection against high-impact and widely exploited vulnerabilities”.
- Attack and bot protection, always on. DDoS protection is “always on for all Cloudflare plans”, and Bot Fight Mode on the free plan challenges known bad bots.
- One provider for the full service. DNS, firewall, delivery from data centres near every visitor, and hosting (Cloudflare Pages, which runs this demo) in one place.
Sources: Cloudflare DNS · Cloudflare WAF managed rules · Cloudflare security features (checked 30 September 2026).
What we would build for Zfort Group
Three layers, each doing one job
Today one Symfony (PHP) application builds every page on a server, with its own code, database and libraries to keep patched. Here each job goes to a specialist, and the content layer is only added when it earns its place.
- 3. Content, when needed
Content management (CMS), digital assets (DAM) and product information (PIM)- CMS: your team edits the site. An editing workspace built around your content, with live preview: “content teams see changes instantly without waiting for builds or deployments.” Official Astro integration.
- DAM: one home for images and files. Sanity Media Library lets teams “manage assets in a centralized place… then use them across your entire organization.”
- PIM: one source for product data. Holds products, variants and their images together, and can “connect all product information from all your sources like ERPs, MDM, PLMs and unify all information in one place.”
When: Add it only when you need it: CMS if your team edits pages often; DAM for a large image and document library; PIM for a product catalogue.
- 2. WebsiteThe pages your visitors see
- Ready-made pages. Every page is built in advance, so there is nothing to assemble when a visitor arrives. That is where the scores above come from.
- No code visitors don’t need. Astro sends no JavaScript to the browser unless a part of the page needs it.
- Nothing to hack on the server. No login page, database or server code sit behind the Zfort Group site.
When: Always. It replaces the Symfony (PHP) application for the pages.
- 1. Foundation
CloudflareDNS, global network, security and hosting- Your domain’s address book (DNS). Cloudflare runs the DNS that points your domain and email to the right places. Cloudflare describes its DNS as “consistently measured as one of the fastest” in the world, and it is free.
- Served close to every visitor. Pages are delivered from a Cloudflare data centre near each visitor, not from one server in one building.
- Firewall and attack protection. A web application firewall filters attacks before they reach the site, and DDoS protection (against floods of fake traffic) is always on.
- Hosting. This demo already runs on Cloudflare Pages: no web server, database or server code to patch.
When: Always. Every site starts here.
Vendor statements quoted from: Cloudflare DNS · Sanity and Astro · Sanity Media Library · Sanity for PIM (checked 30 September 2026).
How we measured, and exactly what is different on the Astro version
- Tool: Google PageSpeed Insights (Google's hosted Lighthouse). Each site tested 5 times per device, alternating, in the same time window; the middle result (median) is shown. Ranges: mobile 66–87 on Symfony (PHP), 99–100 on Astro.
- Test conditions: PageSpeed Insights defaults: mobile = simulated mid-range phone on slow 4G; desktop = simulated desktop on a fast connection. 5 fresh runs per URL per device (a unique #fragment on each request stops PageSpeed returning a cached result; fragments are never sent to the web server), alternating original and copy in the same time window.
- Visitor: First visit, no cookie consent given, no scrolling or clicking during the test (the same for both sites).
- Built natively in Astro: one component per page section, styles and scripts produced by Astro, every photo resized and converted by Astro's image tool. No PHP, Symfony, server session, jQuery or Slick slider code.
- Same content: every heading, paragraph, image, case study, testimonial, award and certification is taken from the live homepage, in the same order, with the same brand colours and fonts (Inter and Archivo Black, served from the demo itself).
- Third-party tools not loaded: live chat, Google reCAPTCHA, analytics and advertising tags are left out so demo visits never reach Zfort's analytics.
- Links and buttons are inert: this demo is the homepage only, and the 'Let's Talk' contact form is not included because it collects personal data.
- Cookie notice: shown as on the live site; the demo sets no cookies, so Agree simply closes it.
- Sliders: case studies, testimonials and expertise are rebuilt with a few lines of native script and CSS instead of the jQuery Slick library.
- Accessibility: Zfort's bright blue buttons and links, and the green case-study button, are shown a shade darker so white text passes the contrast standard Lighthouse checks. The brand look is otherwise unchanged.
- Look-alike check: Checked automatically against the live page at phone, tablet and desktop widths: every text string, image and heading (level and order) must match, with any difference listed with its reason.
- What this does not show: these are lab tests, not measurements of real visitors, search rankings or sales.
Raw results: mobile Symfony (PHP): 1 2 3 4 5 · mobile Astro: 1 2 3 4 5 · desktop Symfony (PHP): 1 2 3 4 5 · desktop Astro: 1 2 3 4 5 · Re-run yourself: Symfony (PHP) site · Astro version