Cloudflare has acquired the team behind Astro, a popular open-source JavaScript framework known for building fast, content-driven websites. The move signals Cloudflare’s growing focus on developer tools and web performance as competition intensifies around how modern websites are built and delivered.
The Astro team, formerly operating as The Astro Technology Company, will now join Cloudflare. While financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, both companies confirmed that Astro will remain open source and continue to support deployment across multiple hosting platforms.
Why Astro Matters
Astro has gained widespread adoption because of its performance-first design. Unlike traditional JavaScript frameworks that ship large amounts of code to the browser, Astro only sends the JavaScript required to render and interact with a page. This significantly reduces page weight and improves load times.
As search engines increasingly prioritise site speed and users demand instant experiences, this approach has made Astro attractive to media companies, marketing teams, and content-heavy platforms. Today, Astro is used by global brands such as Unilever, Visa, and NBC News, as well as by hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide.
How the Deal Fits Cloudflare’s Strategy
For Cloudflare, the acquisition aligns with its broader ambition to become a full-stack platform for developers. Beyond its core business in connectivity and security, the company has expanded into tools such as Cloudflare Workers, Pages, D1, and R2, allowing developers to build and deploy applications closer to users at the network edge.
By bringing Astro in-house, Cloudflare strengthens its position at the framework layer — where key decisions about performance, rendering, and content delivery are made. However, the company has stressed that Astro will remain hosting-agnostic and will not be locked into Cloudflare’s infrastructure.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince described the move as part of the company’s commitment to protecting open-source software, which he said is essential to maintaining a free and competitive internet.
What Changes for Developers
Astro’s leadership believes the acquisition will accelerate the framework’s development without compromising its independence. Fred Schott, CEO of The Astro Technology Company, said joining Cloudflare gives the team access to greater resources and global infrastructure, enabling faster innovation and long-term stability.
The announcement follows the recent beta release of Astro 6, which introduces support for additional JavaScript runtimes, faster build times, and further performance improvements. These updates reinforce Astro’s focus on speed and flexibility as web requirements continue to evolve.
Ecosystem Support Continues
Cloudflare has also confirmed ongoing support for the Astro Ecosystem Fund, which helps finance community projects, integrations, and tooling. The fund is backed by partners including Webflow, Netlify, Wix, and Sentry — platforms that already rely on Astro and Cloudflare infrastructure.
This commitment is likely to reassure developers concerned about vendor lock-in or the future of Astro as an independent open-source project.
What This Means for the Web
The acquisition highlights a broader shift in web development priorities. Performance is no longer a technical nice-to-have but a business requirement, particularly for content platforms operating in competitive or bandwidth-constrained markets.
By combining Astro’s framework-level optimisations with Cloudflare’s global network, the companies are betting on a future where faster, leaner websites become the standard rather than the exception.
For developers, publishers, and businesses, the deal reflects a growing convergence between infrastructure and frameworks — and a renewed focus on building a web that is faster, more efficient, and easier to maintain at scale.
