Are there any website builders for news sites that handle live updates without slowing page performance?

Yes—there are website builders and CMS platforms that can work well for news sites with live updates without tanking performance, but the key is choosing one that supports static/edge rendering, incremental updates, and careful live-data loading rather than constantly reloading the whole page.

Good options to look at

1. WordPress + a fast host + caching

• Still one of the most common choices for news sites.
• Works well if paired with:
  • a good managed host
  • full-page caching
  • CDN
  • optimized theme
• For live updates, use:
  • polling only in small page regions
  • WebSocket/chat-style plugins only where needed
• Best for teams that want flexibility and editorial tools.

2. Headless CMS + modern front-end

Examples:

• Contentful
• Sanity
• Strapi
• Prismic paired with:
• Next.js
• Nuxt
• Gatsby (less ideal for highly dynamic live feeds)

This is often the best performance approach:

• pages load fast via static generation or server-side rendering
• live updates are inserted into specific sections only
• CDN/edge delivery keeps traffic smooth

3. Webflow

• Great for design and publishing.
• Can be fast if used carefully.
• Less ideal for highly dynamic live news tickers or constantly updating pages.
• Better for magazine/news sites with occasional updates, not minute-by-minute live blogging at scale.

4. Ghost

• Very fast and clean.
• Good for editorial publishing and memberships.
• Not as feature-rich for complex live-update workflows, but excellent for performance and simplicity.

5. Builder.io / similar composable page builders

• More developer-oriented.
• Can be paired with a performant front end.
• Good when you want visual editing but still need custom live-update behavior.

What matters most for performance

If live updates are slowing pages, the issue is usually not the builder itself but:

• too much client-side JavaScript
• constant whole-page refreshes
• unoptimized live feed components
• uncompressed images/media
• no caching/CDN

Best technical patterns for live updates

To keep performance strong:

• Update only a small section of the page, not the full page
• Use WebSockets or SSE only for the live module
• Serve the main article through static or server-rendered pages
• Load live widgets lazily
• Use CDN caching for everything possible
• Keep live data payloads small

Practical recommendation

If you want the best balance of speed + live updates + editorial usability, look at:

• Headless CMS + Next.js
• or WordPress with strong caching/CDN if you want something easier to manage

If you want, I can also give you:

1. the best no-code option,
2. the best low-cost option, or
3. a stack recommendation specifically for live sports/news breaking updates.