Webflow vs WordPress: Which One to Use for Your Digital Agency?

Webflow vs WordPress: game on!

 

Website builders have opened web development for the public. Practically anyone can build a beautiful website in a matter of hours with no coding skills. 

Most website builders offer enough functionality to cover the needs of individual web designers. Yet, digital agencies require specific functionalities and advanced features to create websites for their clients. 

Webflow vs WordPress: Functionalities, Integrations and More

In this Webflow vs. WordPress review, we’re going to compare these two content management systems (CMSs) based on their functionalities, design options, speed, and other crucial aspects. After reading, you’ll have enough information to decide for yourself which platform is best for your digital agency.

 

Webflow: websites from scratch with no code 

Image Source: https://webflow.com/

Originally launched back in 2013, Webflow is a cloud-based website builder that allows users to design fully functioning websites with no coding knowledge. 

Although the platform is relatively young, it has become popular among web developers because it carries a decent level of customization. 

 

WordPress: powering 42% of the world’s websites 

Image Source: https://wordpress.com/

WordPress.com is a powerful and flexible website builder that offers a high level of power and flexibility. Initially introduced in 2003, WordPress is a content management system that currently powers 42% of the internet. 

Now, as you’ve learned the basic information about the two content management systems, let’s compare WordPress and Webflow based on the following criteria: 

• Functionality 
• Templates and themes 
• SEO 
• Customer support 
• Pricing 

 

1. Functionality 

Webflow offers many built-in functionalities, including a drag-and-drop page builder, intuitive editor, and responsive design capabilities. 

On the other side, WordPress is built on themes, templates, plugins, and builders (we’ll deal with these later on).

Now, let’s take a look at the main differences between the two:

• Webflow lets you make edits on-page. In WordPress, you usually need to mix a theme and the built-in WordPress customizer. Some builders out there help you skip the WordPress customizer (see Colibri) and build everything in one place.
• Webflow can be more expensive (even if you consider that they include free hosting, and in the WordPress case you need to buy it separately, after getting your website domain).
• WordPress websites need various plugins, which can raise the overall costs.
• WordPress has a huge community of developers and many free resources available.
• Lots of integrations are available for WordPress (you might need those for marketing purposes, for example).

Both Webflow and WordPress:

• Have lots of pre-made templates available
• Make use of customizable designs 
• Provide mobile responsiveness features
• Can help with the design of an e-commerce website
• Ensure media management
• Need some extra-coding if you want a fancier website, with more complex functionalities.

 

2. Templates and themes 

Just like many other website builders, Webflow uses templates as a foundation. There are over 100 templates to choose from, including 40 free templates.

You can filter templates by industry, or look for premium vs free templates. Also, Webflow allows you to preview designs before making the final decision. 

Image Source: https://webflow.com/templates/new 

 

You will find a brief description of each template that tells you the type of website the template is best suited for. 

All of the templates are customizable and responsive which means that they automatically adapt to fit the size of the user device.  A great range of templates are suitable for dynamic content. 

For WordPress you have both themes and templates. Now, let’s be clear, in WordPress a theme ensures the design of your whole website, while the template deals with the layout of a single page on your site.

It’s helpful to use a VPN service to access plugins and themes that may be blocked in your country. According to PrivacyJournal, it’s helpful to use a VPN service to access plugins and themes that may be blocked in your country.

 

3. SEO: built-in features vs plugins

Webflow comes with built-in SEO features, and you don’t need to install any additional software to start using them. 

You can add and edit metadata, create image alt text, and target keywords. Besides these core SEO functionalities, there is an automatic sitemap generation feature and customizable 301 redirects.  

WordPress allows you to optimize your website for search engines with specific plugins. Here is a list of the most popular SEO plugins that will help you accomplish your SEO tasks: 

• All in One SEO Pack 
• WP Rocket 
• Yoast SEO 
• MathRank
• Autoptimize 
• W3 Total Cache 

 

4. Third-party integrations

Third-party integrations with WordPress or Webflow websites are needed when you want to sync another platform or account with your website, allowing an open data exchange (eg: push emails to your email marketing software).

They can enhance your websites and unlock all kinds of functionalities. Many of them come in the shape of plugins and widgets.

Let’s look at some categories:

• SEO (already mentioned above)
• Email
• Social media
• Forms & Surveys
• Landing pages
• Security
• Performance

And many more.

Because of a huge community, there are tons of plugins available out there for WordPress, see here.

In the Webflow case, there are fewer integrations available, if you want a different one than the listed ones, you will need to do some manual developer work (not funny, I’m telling you).

 

5. Customer support 

Webflow offers a quick email and live chat support services for subscribers. There is a free help center called Webflow University, where you can search for topics, tutorials, questions, and other educational materials.  

Also, there is a Webflow community forum where users post their questions and help others solve issues. 

Source: https://university.webflow.com 

WordPress offers customer support options for customers, as well as support forums and community support forums. Because the WordPress community is so big, you will find a lot of useful information in the WordPress community forums. 

 

6. Pricing 

Webflow’s pricing options can be a little confusing. There are two types of plans, Site plans and Account plans. Site plans start from $12 per month and include special eCommerce plans starting from $29 per month.  

If you’re a digital agency, you can check all Webflow’s pricing options here. 

Also, Webflow offers free individual plans under the Account subscription option. 

The WordPress website builder offers five subscription options.

You can choose a free version, but it’s fairly limited and doesn’t include any advanced features. Note that even though there is a free plan, you will have to purchase a domain, theme, plugins, and other services not included in the default WordPress builder. 

You can find the full WordPress pricing comparison here. 

Image Source: https://wordpress.com/pricing/ 

 

Wrap up: Webflow vs WordPress

Which One to Use for Your Digital Agency?

Now, I don’t want to be biased. Both Webflow and WordPress are amazing tools (more info on the subject in this thorough video).

In certain situations, one tool would fit an audience better than the other one.

For example, the e-commerce settings aren’t yet bulletproof in Webflow, so, I would definitely recommend WordPress for starting your online shop.

If you are a designer or developer, you might feel more at home using Webflow..somehow it might remind you of Photoshop.

In terms of resources, there is a whole more knowledge put there about WordPress, and tons of plugins and integrations.

In the end, it’s your choice, it all depends on your background and the complexity of your project.

Now, more bloggers, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies use WordPress than all other options combined. That says a lot, doesn’t it?

The Webflow vs WordPress battle ain’t over yet. Each product is evolving, the communities are evolving. We’ll be here to watch, but also evolve. Wanna find out about our past and future projects? Check out this article from HostingAdvice about our projects: Extend Themes and Colibri.

 

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