Why Webflow over WordPress?

Let's look at why you should consider Webflow over WordPress

You read the title and may already have guessed the conclusion. And yes, you are right. When compared directly to WordPress, Webflow appears to be the superior product. Nevertheless, there could be situations where WordPress makes sense to use. Let's have a look at some of the scenarios.

First and foremost, it's not too much to say that people have different opinions and preferences. The same holds true when asking people which methods they like to utilize when creating and maintaining websites. In fact, there are many other options out there than Webflow and WordPress. Thus, complicating the choice for the general public.

Creating a website is like building a house. You can construct a house in multiple ways using various techniques. While the result may differ, there is no right or wrong way.

Before we move into the motivations why you should consider one or the other, let's briefly summarize what Webflow and WordPress are.

What is Webflow?

"The Webflow Designer lets you build any website you can imagine with the full power of HTML, CSS, and Javascript in a visual canvas."

Webflow is a visual design software to build websites in a modern way. Looking beyond that, Webflow offers multiple features and services built into its product offerings.

For example, easy access to implementing CMS collections, e-commerce functionality, hosting service, and more.

The platform is used by more than 3,500,000 designers and teams — bringing them into the conversation as a potential market leader of the future, if not present.

What is WordPress?

"WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app."

According to WordPress, around 43% of all websites on the internet are built with WordPress — making it the most popular website software today. Consequently, it has also developed in many directions and with more than 50.000 plugins available to be installed.

Anything is possible with WordPress, but does that make it the right tool for you?

Ok, we now understand that they both offer software solutions to build websites, and at first,  not entirely different — so what sets Webflow and WordPress apart?

Consistency:

WordPress requires a few steps to be set up at first, and there is a wide range of themes to install from — some are great and come with builder tools allowing you to make various designs using elements with little or no knowledge of coding.

The problem with WordPress is that it quickly becomes challenging to maintain in terms of consistency. Especially when it comes to plugins and updating routines.

With WordPress, you can find developers who can build fancy and customized solutions to help you to restrict your design and layout. As well as helping to integrate plugins and custom code. Nevertheless, this comes with a cost of a complex setup demanding other services. Thus, the advantages of fancy solutions with WordPress often become the disadvantage of the platform.

Webflow, on the other hand, gives you an easy setup solution with none to little setup required, as well as the option to start from a theme of preference.

The CMS collection workflow in Webflow helps you keep your site maintained, and once tied to the design, you can create powerful things at no time.

To build websites in Webflow, you must spend some time learning the designer tool (where you design your website). To be fair, it has a learning curve to it, while you will be achieving the best results if you have some basic understanding of web structuring and CSS.

In many aspects, the dynamics of Webflow and its CMS structure set it apart from WordPress as an effective tool. A blog post, for example, is composed of dynamic content. Various blog posts are loaded from a database into a custom-made blog page design with the benefit of sharing identical design and functionality. WordPress does this well, but Webflow does it better.

Why? With Webflow, you can easily create database collections with other content. Examples could be; info about team members, case stories, events, products, and other elements you want to add without creating a new page each time. Yes, there is a workaround to do the same with WordPress. But it requires a lot of custom code and working with a more complex setup, whereas it comes out of the box in one seamless working environment in Webflow.

Old school WordPress

It's safe to say that few people actually enjoy maintaining a WordPress website. In comparison to Webflow, you need to click here and there, finding the right place where the settings are hidden — Is it under the Widget section, and where is that again? — Is it in some setting section? — Is it in a form? — Where is the field I'm looking for? If you are a WordPress user, you have most likely experienced these kinds of situations when updating your site. When compared to Webflow, for instance, you are most likely encountering a better user experience, where you can maintain your site faster, and in general, just enjoy the process better.

Clients enjoy the Webflow Editor

Another really great thing about Webflow is the built-in Editor functionality. Directly from the browser window, people with granted access can easily add or change elements on the website without breaking the design. This means that if your site has been developed by a web designer or established by yourself, it will be minimal work for you to maintain the site continuously.

Using the Editor without having to code and risking messing up the site is genius. Clients love it and value the user experience due to its simple structure, making updates an easy task.

As a final note, we also deem the speed of our workflow to play a crucial role when working with websites. It's a simple equation: productivity equals profitability — not only for developers but also for businesses and individuals looking to spend their resources wisely.

Website speed:

Typically, website speed is determined by a combination of factors:

1. First, the amount of code and how well it's optimized.
2. Second, the number of media files and the size to be loaded.
3. Third, how far and fast is the server from the user's location.
4. Fourth, and finally, the connection of the user affects loading time.

As a rule of thumb, we always want to make our site as clean and fast as possible. For example, this can be achieved by writing things with optimized code and implementing best practices considering media files. A solid hosting provider can further optimize the data flow between devices and servers. Since the user's internet connection is out of our control, we should focus on the first three.

Following our overview of the factors affecting website speed, Webflow products have some advantages that help them outperform WordPress and other hosting services.

First of all, when you use Webflow and their hosting service, some built-in features help make your website blazing fast. Some of these features you will need to pay extra for with WordPress. A neat feature is a clean code generated using the Webflow Designer tool – it's optimized to help browsers load the site with speed and responsiveness. With WordPress, you are not guaranteed that as standard because the themes are made by people who code differently.

Personally, I don't think the optimized code is the best thing about Webflow, but it's definitely a valuable feature.

The real advantages come with the services tied to the hosting product, whereas you will need to pay extra to get the same features with WordPress. The built-in lazyload, for example, enables images to load when users scroll on your site. Thus, improving your load time significantly. In WordPress, you will need to pay for a plugin to take advantage of that.

When hosting on Webflow, you also benefit from an intelligent infrastructure based on the fastest CDN on the planet (AWS Cloudfront). This means that users will enjoy nearly instant page load times no matter their location. With AWS Cloudfront, static assets (images and video) are loaded efficiently worldwide. If that was not enough, Webflow went further by delivering HTML documents via an additional CDN solution (Fastly). Thus, having two CDN's working together gives Webflow users an ideal setup with the lowest TTFB (time to first byte). Hence, increasing user experience and ranking better on search engines like Google.

"With over 50 data centers and thousands of servers around the world serving your website, we're certain every single one of your users will have a responsive, snappy experience."

CDN's are the cornerstone of the modern internet and explain why we can load websites fast no matter our geographical location. They also help distribute traffic so the servers can run without being overloaded.

Obviously, this is not a technology developed by Webflow, hence also available to be utilized with WordPress — by installing a specialized plugin or using a hosting service where you pay a monthly fee or based on how much data you use. Personally, I would pick the built-in solution any day over the trouble of dealing with extra code from a third-party provider installed to my setup — or with the struggle of having to manage an FTP server and updating it manually. The option to control these features as default is truly a gift. Thus, minimizing your setup so you can focus on making powerful websites instead of managing a variety of plugins and external solutions.

Security:

"As a developer myself, I like to make sure our client's websites are secure and safe — which is why I always recommend paying a little extra for a setup that is solid and investing in a valuable hosting service."

The security service you get with Webflow is another selling point that makes you want to host through Webflow. Clearly, WordPress also claims they are secure and safe. Here is my take on that: Remember the debate about the difference between the Mac and Windows computers? How virus and malware more often were an issue on Windows but rarely affected the Mac?

In comparison, Webflow and WordPress would be the exact difference between macOS and the Windows alternative. Webflow would be the controlled macOS environment known for its design and secure environment — working efficiently almost every time.

On the other hand, WordPress would be the Windows structure — a software solution based on many years of establishment and development. And with its open-source fundament also expanded with tons of integrations and solutions made by third parties.

Due to this, we have to accept more things can go wrong, and with all the options available to install and maintain, we have a higher risk of security issues. It's not too much to say that hackers have easily been able to find the backdoor to access WordPress sites. As a consequence, you will have to update your WordPress system, as well as all your plugins regularly. In this process, there is an extra step to worry about. Namely, the backup setup that you must have in place. Because some plugins and themes may not work correctly across each other after being updated.

SEO:

"Hey Google, who does SEO best — Webflow or WordPress?"

Many people assume that Google loves WordPress, and they will rank high since their concept of being a blog is supported. Not sure if this actually holds true in any way. However, it will definitely be right that if a website has good content relevant to what people search, it will have a higher chance to be seen on google.

With WordPress, a popular SEO plugin to install is Yoast. If not mistaken, there is also a premium version of Yoast. This allows you to dive into advanced settings to increase your chances of being ranked on Google. It can be overwhelming for many at first — and to really make use of it, you would need to calculate some extra time to maintain all the input fields. Nothing is automated and joyful to use.

On the contrary, Webflow has all these features built-in for speedy workflow on creating best practices for SEO. This makes the process more intuitive and enjoyable to maintain.

You probably begin to see the pattern of how Webflow has solved the struggle of how to do these things in comparison to WordPress. Perhaps, also convinced about its value.

So, how much does it cost?

Price:

Webflow offers different price points and is scalable depending on your situation and needs. They have a pricing system where you both have to pay to use the software (account plan) and the hosting service for people to access your site.

Will I have to pay twice for one website?

The short answer is no.

If you want to develop your website yourself to test Webflow, you can start with a free account plan with limitations and a complimentary free staging plan. However, it comes with some restrictions like a small number of website visits, disablement of custom code, tieing a custom domain, in addition to using custom embeds like iframes.

Honestly speaking, Webflow shines for web designers and agencies building websites for clients. In this situation, the website developer would be paying for the software account plan — creating and managing the website. The only expense from here is the hosting fee, which of course, varies depending on your needs.

Webflow account pricing plans 2022:

Webflow hosting prices 2022:

WordPress is free, right?

Even though WordPress is "free" to use, you would also have to couple it with a hosting service that comes at different price points. Many apps are free as a strategy to lure you in. To take advantage of the premium functionalities — which often are needed. To upgrade additional costs quickly adds up.

Let's say you are the type of person/company who wants to get the cheapest solution, then your choice would probably be to go ahead with a WordPress setup combined with a budget hosting service. If you choose to do so, please do yourself a favor and consider the future ahead before you make your choice. The decisions you make now could affect your business/project later on. It's about understanding the investment and how much time and struggle there can be in maintaining a website.

Even I do not recommend it, it's also worth mentioning that you can export your website code from Webflow and host it somewhere else. This allows you to save a bit of money if you have an alternative hosting solution. Although, it would be wise to consider the ease and benefits of hosting with Webflow and take all the added features into account. Perhaps, the export functionality of Webflow is best suitable if you have a larger and more complex situation and would like to create designs using the visual tools without programming with code only.

Is it a good idea to use Webflow?

"By asking the right questions, one can figure out what they need."

Here are a few questions you could ask yourself to figure out if Webflow is better suited for you:

Can I build and maintain the website myself?

If you can and have plenty of time to build and maintain your own website, you can go with either platform. You can find free and paid themes ready to be installed with WordPress and Webflow. Both will get you started quickly, perhaps an edge to Webflow as there is less setup to be made. Customizing and making changes does, however, come with a learning curve. You will at some point need to have a good understanding of HTML, CSS, and other coding languages to advance your project the way you want. Webflow has the advantage as a design tool thinking deeply about the user experience.

How much time do I have to deal with plugins and updates?

Plugins for WordPress give you the power to do things that otherwise would be impossible without the help of a developer and some custom code. As mentioned, these plugins come with updates and are prone to issues. In other words, you need to accept the fact that the WordPress setup requires some extra handling time.

Do I want to save a little money and make compromises?

WordPress as a software tool is indeed free to use, but if you plan to hire a developer anyway and need a customized solution to help your site stand out, and know that a good hosting service can add value, then Webflow should be high on your list. The results you can achieve with Webflow without coding every line are effective, and updating becomes effortless either by using the designer functionalities or the editor viewer.

Do I plan to sell things on my website?

If your answer is yes, the next thing you should ask yourself is if it's only going to be a few products or a shop full of items? Consider a Shopify Store instead if you're looking to create a focused e-commerce site with numerous SKU's and customer interactions. In the case of an e-commerce integration as a small side thing to your website, Webflow can handle it as well as WordPress. Webflow e-commerce is rapidly developing and could be applicable if you care about the design experience. WordPress has plugins such as the popular Woo-commerce, where extensions are needed and come with an added cost.

Is it important for me to have a site with an appealing design?

Go with Webflow — it's easier to create beautiful things and implement interaction and animations, Lottie files, and the like. Additionally, if you like to design in programs such as Figma, there's a better workflow to transform your mock-up into a website.

Have you learned about the value of Webflow?

Hopefully, this post has helped you in the direction to understand more about the power of Webflow and how it stands up to the popular WordPress solution.

Remember, whatever you decide on for your future website project, the choice is yours!