The Webflow website builder may not be as recognizable as comparable platforms offered by Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress. But we believe this is one site builder you should know about, and our experts are here to set out why.
From its core features, benefits, and pricing to its configuration settings and hosting solutions, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide and review to the Webflow platform. And to make sure you choose the right site builder for your needs, we’ve also included five Webflow alternatives that you may like to consider.
| 5 Stars |
|
0% |
| 4 Stars |
|
0% |
| 3 Stars |
|
0% |
| 2 Stars |
|
0% |
| 1 Star |
|
0% |
Webflow is a hidden gem in the world of website builders, often overshadowed by more well-known platforms. However, it has earned its place among the best hosting providers and site builders due to its stellar performance and dedication to providing a 'no-code' operation, catering to users without coding knowledge.
What sets Webflow apart is its collection of high-quality templates and design tools, rivaling even the most sought-after platforms in the industry. Setting up a website on Webflow is incredibly simple right out of the box, leaving a great first impression. Unlike some other platforms, there are no complicated configurations or installations required. Webflow offers a seamless experience as it is fully hosted on a cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis, making website building hassle-free and accessible to users of all levels.
Webflow revolutionizes website building by empowering users to take full control of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript through a visual canvas. This unique approach allows users to design custom sites with unparalleled control over the user experience while staying true to their brand identity. The best part is that Webflow generates clean, semantic code automatically, eliminating the need for manual coding or the expertise of developers. Businesses can now go live faster, build, launch, and update sites swiftly, without the hassle of hiring more developers.
By offering the power of code without the associated costs of developers, infrastructure management, or additional plug-ins, Webflow provides an efficient and cost-effective solution. With streamlined website development, businesses can focus on shipping high-impact campaigns, optimizing for conversions, and achieving better KPIs. Whether it's fully custom layouts or complex animations, Webflow brings your design ideas to life, generating the code seamlessly and efficiently.
Since cost is the biggest deciding factor for most webmasters, a platform’s pricing plans are always the next thing we look over. Whether it’s a Wix website builder guide or a Webflow hosting review – pricing options take precedence.
We’d recommend a site builder with a handful of premium plans, that way you can upgrade to a higher-spec tier should you need to scale at a later date. Remember, too, that many platforms offer free plans and trial periods – perfect for trying a system out before parting with your cash.
| Plan | Starter | Basic | CMS | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | Free | $14 | $23 | $39 | Contact Webflow |
| Best for | Learning how to use Webflow | Launching a simple site | A blog or other content-driven site | A high-traffic marketing site | Bring enterprise-level security, compliance, and scalability to your website |
| Custom domain | webflow.io domain | Custom domain | Custom domain | Custom domain | Custom domain |
| CMS items | 50 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 10,000+ |
| Form submissions (monthly) | 50 (lifetime) | 500 | 1,000 | 2,500 | Custom |
| Bandwidth | 1 GB | 50 GB | 200 GB | 400 GB | Custom |
| Content editors | N/A | N/A | 3 | 10 | Custom |
| Form file upload | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerated speed | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime SLAs | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes |
Webflow offers a comprehensive set of features that empowers users to create stunning websites with ease. The Designer tool gives users the freedom to work with CSS, HTML, and Javascript in a visual canvas, unleashing the power of code without the need for technical expertise. The CMS (Content Management System) allows users to define their own content structure and design with real data, enabling seamless management of website content.
For those looking to venture into e-commerce, Webflow's Ecommerce feature allows for visually designing online stores without the need for templates or code. Creating engaging user experiences is a breeze with the Interactions tool, enabling the building of website interactions and animations visually. With User Accounts, users can create gated content experiences for their audience, enhancing engagement. The Editor feature facilitates easy content editing and updates directly on the page, streamlining website management.
Moreover, Logic empowers users to create custom automated workflows and connect to third-party apps, adding versatility to website functionality. Webflow's SEO tools provide the flexibility and control needed to optimize websites effectively. Additionally, the platform offers lightning-fast managed hosting with just a few clicks, ensuring reliable performance.
Webflow's Grid feature allows users to build smart, responsive, CSS grid-powered layouts visually, offering greater design flexibility for websites. With this impressive array of features, Webflow provides a powerful and user-friendly website builder solution.
Looking to build a transactional website? Be sure to review a site’s e-commerce features as a priority. Most sites, including Webflow, have dedicated business and e-commerce plans, so make sure you compare the features and inclusions to find the best one for your requirements.
Webflow stands out as an excellent choice for SEO due to its robust features that provide users with precise control over their website's SEO markup, indexing rules, and redirects. With Webflow, users can effortlessly define meta titles and descriptions using fields in their CMS Collections, streamlining the process of optimizing content for search engines.
The platform's seamless management of 301 redirects allows for worry-free URL migrations and updates without the need for engineering assistance. Moreover, Webflow ensures that image metadata is indexed by Google, enhancing search engine visibility, while also prioritizing accessibility by making images screen reader-friendly. With globally-distributed, AWS powered hosting, Webflow keeps websites running smoothly, resulting in happy site visitors and search engines alike.
Notably, Webflow's commitment to clean, semantic code ensures that search engine indexing bots can easily parse and understand the website's content, promoting better search engine rankings. Thanks to its visual development tools rooted in HTML and CSS, Webflow delivers a final product with clean, semantic markup, satisfying both developers and search engines, making it an exceptional platform for achieving SEO success.
Next on our website builder review checklist come security, scalability, and uptime. This is all about how a tool performs, how safe it is, and how usable it will be in the longer term should you ever wish to scale up and grow your website.
At Webflow, security is taken very seriously. The company adheres to industry standards such as ISO 27001 and the CIS Critical Security Controls to ensure the highest level of protection. Not only is security a priority for their product, but it also governs their daily business practices. Even as a distributed team, Webflow ensures that every employee is aware of their role in maintaining the platform's security. They employ various tools to enforce compliance with their internal security policies.
Webflow provides transparency by making their SOC 2 Type II Report available to customers, detailing their security practices. This report is updated annually, demonstrating their commitment to maintaining strong security measures. As an additional layer of security, Webflow's payment processor, Stripe, is a certified Level 1 Service Provider, ensuring that sensitive payment information remains safe.
Moreover, Webflow complies with essential data protection regulations like CCPA and GDPR, highlighting their dedication to safeguarding user data and privacy. Overall, Webflow's stringent security measures and commitment to compliance make it a reliable and secure platform for users to build and manage their websites.
When we first start testing a platform like the Webflow website builder, we’re looking to see how easy it is to set up and use. After all, many people value ease of use above anything else, so the simplest platforms always earn a thumbs up from our experts.
The good news is, lots of platforms seem to agree with us and have made a conscious effort to make their sites as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. With drag-and-functionality and no coding required, the likes of Webflow are perfect if you’re looking for a platform with a minimal learning curve required.
Webflow offers a wide array of responsive website templates suitable for designers, businesses, and personal use. With a selection of over 2,000 templates, users can find the perfect match for their needs, whether it's for a professional business website, a creative portfolio, or a personal blog.
These templates are designed to be easily customizable using Webflow's intuitive, code-free design tools, allowing users to create their dream websites without any coding expertise. The diverse range of templates ensures that every user can find a design that aligns with their vision and brand, making Webflow an excellent choice for anyone looking to build a stunning and functional website with ease.
Regardless of how savvy you are at building and designing websites, there are always times when you may need help and advice in using different functions of your chosen site builder. That’s why we always review the customer support provision offered by different website solutions platforms.
At Webflow, customer care is a top priority, and their expert support team is available globally, always eager to assist users. They provide responsive email support from Monday to Friday, ensuring that users' inquiries are addressed promptly. Within 24-48 business hours, users can expect personalized replies to their queries, reflecting the dedication of the Webflow team in delivering exceptional customer service.
To ensure security and privacy, users may be required to verify ownership of their accounts, which may involve providing the read-only link to their project and the associated email address. With their commitment to helping users succeed, Webflow's customer care exemplifies their dedication to providing a seamless and satisfying user experience for everyone using their platform.
Billed as a ‘no-code development tool’, Webflow has earned a solid reputation for simplicity and ease of use. But since many of the best website builders also place an emphasis on minimal coding, how can you be sure Webflow is the right platform for you?
To help make your decision a little easier, our experts have pulled together four alternatives that you may like to consider alongside Webflow. While these platforms are comparable, they offer unique features, benefits, and price points which may, ultimately, steer your search in a new direction.
Webflow may not be as well known as the likes of Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, but it’s earned a place among the best hosting providers and site builders. That’s thanks to its solid performance and commitment to ‘no-code’ operation, not to mention its high-quality templates and design tools which rival even the most sought-after platforms out there.
One thing to note about Webflow is that it’s super simple to set up right out of the box, which makes for a nice first impression. There are no complicated configuration and installation steps required here, with the complete Webflow platform hosted on a cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis.
If you’re looking to create a professional website that’s a cut above others in your field, Squarespace is worth considering alongside Webflow. So far as designing a beautiful website goes, Squarespace makes this feel effortless, with an unbeatable range of templates and themes that feel decidedly more premium than those on comparable platforms.
And best of all? You can use Squarespace without prior experience, with the platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop site designer affording hassle-free customization. Granted, this is also true of Webflow, but given the calibre of site you can create here, we’d say Squarespace just clinches it in the bespoke design stakes.
What’s also neat about Squarespace is the huge range of complementary web services you can use to grow and scale your website – from logo design to email marketing solutions – a trait shared by Webflow, which has a similarly robust solutions portfolio.
If you don’t want to see a single line of code when designing and building your new website, Wix is worth a look. While our Webflow review began with us praising the simplicity of the site’s design infrastructure, even this can scarcely compete with Wix, which is arguably the easiest place to build a website on the web.
It could be said that Wix is the forefather of the ‘no-code website’, with its intuitive, beginner-friendly drag-and-drop system having been around for close to two decades now. Prior experience in website design simply isn’t necessary when using Wix, so long as you have a clear vision of how you want your site to look.
Of course, simplicity isn’t all that Wix has in its wheelhouse. From clever ecommerce tools to an extensive library of apps and integrations – Wix is certainly one website builder you’ll want to consider.
While Webflow is no slouch when it comes to e-commerce management, Shopify takes things to a whole new level. This laser-focused platform has been built from the ground up with e-commerce in mind, allowing you to manage every aspect of your online store in one place.
What we like most about Shopify is the fact that its developers have clearly poured everything into making this as comprehensive a platform as possible for e-retailers. From managing your inventory to setting up email marketing campaigns, you can do it all and more from the Shopify backend – for easy and hassle-free day-to-day store management.
And what’s perhaps most impressive is that Shopify manages to do all this without ever feeling complicated. Like Webflow, you’ll scarcely encounter a line of code or block of jargon on the Shopify platform, leaving you free to focus on what really matters.
Search for the best free website builders and you’ll find that one name appears more than most: Weebly. That’s right, Weebly is widely viewed as the best site builder you can access for free, with plenty of features and functionality available on its gratis plan. So if you like Webflow but are concerned it could be beyond your price point, the free Weebly plan could certainly be of interest to you.
Don’t get us wrong: Weebly isn’t the best-performing site builder in the world. But if you’re on a budget or simply want to create a personal website that isn’t for commercial use, the service’s low-cost or free plans are absolutely worth considering.
One aspect of Weebly’s platform that we do love is the free SEO guides and tools. It’s clear that the site is pitched at those new to website design, so its library of resources are certainly a welcome inclusion that can help you grow and scale your site.
Not only is Jimdo one of the cheapest premium website builders out there, but it’s also packed with neat features that make it an eye-catching proposition vs the likes of Webflow and Wix. It bucks the trend so far as drag-and-drop site builders are concerned, introducing a new design element that streamlines the process even further. Plus it made the shortlist for being one of the best domain registrars.
As of 2023, Jimdo’s core USP is its AI-powered design platform. This effectively eliminates the need for any manual web design altogether, allowing you to create a fully bespoke website in minutes simply by answering a few questions and letting Jimdo’s AI software do the rest.
Pretty cool, right? And it gets better. Jimdo has some of the cheapest plans we’ve encountered, with even its premium e-commerce tiers markedly more affordable than comparable platforms out there.
Webflow may not be as well-known as the likes of Wix and Squarespace, but it offers similar features at a comparable price point. The question is, is it any good? Our experts have been taking a look.
Looking to get to grips with Webflow’s pricing plans? Our comprehensive review covers everything you need to know about standard, premium, and e-commerce plans at Webflow..
Looking to build an online store? Find out if Webflow is a good e-commerce platform as part of our in-depth review.
Fast speeds, powerful integrations, and code-free drag-and-drop functionality – what’s not to like about Webflow? Granted, this may not be the most affordable website builder on the market, but if you’re looking for the perfect balance of performance, reliability, and price, it’s certainly worth considering. Just be sure you read through the platform’s T&Cs and pricing details carefully, since things can get a tad confusing (though we hope our guide has gone some way to clear things up!)
Go to Wix
English
Português