Even though WordPress is the most well-known CMS in the world, Webflow continues to promote itself as a formidable option for existing and rising companies. We’ll take a close look at both WordPress and Webflow in this post to help you decide which is best for you.
This isn’t a dry feature-by-feature comparison of WordPress and Webflow, Depending on your needs and the sort of business you run, both offer advantages and downsides. However, depending on your resources and team, both make a compelling argument for becoming your business’s CMS.
Webflow vs. WordPress four things to ponder
1. Price
WordPress is less costly than Webflow in terms of the sheer cost. All you need for WordPress is a name and hosting, both of which can be had for less than $100 a year. Webflow, on the other hand, offers several price options based on your demands, but it is often more expensive, especially if you want to build up many sites.
However, with WordPress, you’ll almost certainly need to invest in a premium theme as well as a variety of plugins to make your business function smoothly. WebFlow’s advantage is that it handles all of your hostings; there’s no need to look for hosting elsewhere.
Furthermore, because Webflow can be adjusted without the use of code, you won’t need to budget for a huge dev staff to make the modifications you require, as is often the case with WordPress.
2. Plugins
WordPress also outnumbers Webflow in terms of the sheer quantity of plugins and integrations, since it has hundreds of them that have been tried and proven through time. Because they’ve been around for two decades, they’ve developed partnerships with many of the industry’s top plugin and application developers.
The majority of developers and apps begin with WordPress in mind. Webflow has worked hard to collaborate with apps to guarantee your favourite integrations work with them as well, despite being a newer business than WordPress. You may also put together several connectors that aren’t yet publicly accessible using tools like Zapier.
WordPress is a free and open-source platform, and every WordPress developer has already created several useful themes and plugins that make our jobs easier.
Webflow presently does not have an integration with Yoast, which is problematic for SEOs that rely on it substantially. Webflow, on the other hand, has asserted that its sites are SEO optimised right out of the box.
Even though WordPress has more plugins than ever before, relying on them too heavily might expose your site to security risks and cause it to slow down needlessly.
Unless you make a conscious effort to clean up your WordPress site, it will be sluggish. All of the plugins, varied tools, and jumbled theme files pile up, and a WordPress site’s code rapidly becomes fat.
Despite years of adjustments, the sites I was working on in Webflow loaded FAST, far quicker than my site, so that was a significant draw.” As Nat Eliason, an entrepreneur put it:
3.Guidance and instruction
WordPress is not only the most popular CMS on the planet, but it also boasts one of the most active and involved developer communities. You may quickly ask questions and troubleshoot on one of their forums if you need assistance.
While WordPress provides help, relying on the community is frequently the best option. Furthermore, because WordPress is so popular, there are hundreds of blogs and YouTube channels dedicated to helping people get the most out of it.
On the other side, Webflow offers a dedicated support team that can assist you with any difficulties or obstacles you may have. They’ve also put a lot of money into Webflow University to assist you to get started quickly. Both communities are welcoming and open, and if you have a specific question, you may receive answers simply by email or a post.
Even non-technical marketers can grasp the essentials of each platform with a few concentrated hours of study so they can start dealing with them.
4.Curve of learning
In general, WordPress is simple to set up, but sophisticated customization does need some extra code and programming experience. While Webflow may be utilised by both technical and non-technical marketers, it is best suited for marketers and designers who have some coding experience.
For non-technical marketers, Webflow is extremely straightforward and simple to use. It allows you to add, edit, and alter the material in real-time. Because Webflow makes it so simple to accomplish, you essentially have the creative licence to design whatever you can dream of… You don’t need a developer since Webflow allows you to be the developer.
WordPress is well-known for its plugins, which are essentially plug-and-play modules that don’t require any coding knowledge to use. Custom code, on the other hand, necessitates a solid grasp of web development. Creating a custom WordPress theme is a chore for me.
Webflow is designed for designers who are also coders. This means you have complete control over how things appear from the ground up. This is ideal for independent designers that prefer a visual approach to development. You’re at a loss for further functionality and will have to look for bespoke libraries because you can’t just instal a plugin as you can on WordPress. ” Designer Emil Villumsen explains.
Though Webflow makes it simple to drag and drop and construct your site graphically, WordPress’s recent release of Guttenberg demonstrates its commitment to a more visual approach to design and content creation. On that front, Webflow still offers greater capabilities, but WordPress is making progress in making it easier to produce without coding.
While WordPress is more user-friendly for non-technical marketers when they first get started, significant modification nearly always necessitates the use of code. Webflow has a steep learning curve, although knowing how to code is generally a bonus rather than a need. Webflow is also fantastic for quickly creating prototypes that can subsequently be handed on to designers and developers to complete.
If you believe in the future of no-code, understanding Webflow and getting familiar with it might be a good use of your time and resources. Given that WordPress is still widely used as a content management system, you can expect continuing development of Webflow’s drag-and-drop functionalities.
WordPress’s quick summary
WordPress, which was first released in 2003, is the most popular content management system, powering 35% of the internet. WordPress is the platform of choice for global businesses like the BBC, Sony, MTV, and the New York Times to host and show their content. Because they’ve been around for almost two decades, they have a thriving community, and many developers and tools utilise WordPress as a foundation for their work.
WordPress, though being designed as a blogging platform, has enough capabilities and capability to power even the most complicated enterprises. It’s relatively simple to sell items and services online using plugins like WooCommerce. WordPress offers dozens of themes to select from in addition to a large number of plugins to help you easily develop and design a site to your taste.
WordPress is also quite configurable, however, hosting need to enlist the help of a developer for the finishing touches.
As Kinsta A popular blog points out, that WordPress is by far the cleanest, fastest method to compose and publish blog entries, and it comes with everything you need right out of the box. Some website builders prioritise design and applications first, then add a blogging interface as a last-minute addition. That isn’t the case with WordPress, so you may build a stunning eCommerce site while also knowing that the blog is an important part of the process.
A quick overview of Webflow
Webflow, which was released about a decade after WordPress, has grown in popularity because of its emphasis on visual design and development without the usage of code.
Mayank Sharma from toptal shares:
“Designers had to rely on front-end developers to do everything until code design tools came along. Changing the font size of a piece of text on a webpage might take days. Designers would send over ideas for even a modest marketing website or a basic landing page, sit back, cross their fingers, and pray that everything will come back pixel-perfect. It was like watching paint dry.”
Webflow makes it simple to quickly build prototypes and mockups, allowing organisations to accelerate the development process. While there is a learning curve, their Webflow academy is invaluable in assisting marketers in getting the most out of their platform.
While Webflow’s capability may be expanded by designers and developers, even non-technical marketers may easily become familiar with it. While Webflow’s capability may be expanded by designers and developers, even non-technical marketers may easily become familiar with it.”
Final thoughts
While WordPress is the most popular content management system, more and more marketers are using Webflow to swiftly construct websites and test their ideas. Webflow can be the ideal solution if you’re more design-oriented from the start.
WordPress might be a wonderful alternative if you value the two decades of development and the robust WordPress community to turn to for support.
When thinking on why he eventually converted from WordPress to Webflow, Nat Eliason expressed it best.
Here’s who we’d recommend switching to:
People that seek complete control over their website
Who knows their way around HTML and CSS?
And who doesn’t mind having to think outside the box to get beyond certain constraints?
If you choose those items, we strongly advise you to use Webflow. It’s fantastic, and I believe you’ll enjoy the flexibility it provides.
You wouldn’t change if:
– You’re afraid of working with code.
– You’re an occasional blogger.
– You don’t want to invest money (Webflow costs more than other WordPress hosting options)”
