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The world of web development and web design isn't often a simple one. There are numerous technologies, languages, and frameworks to choose from when you're looking for the right tool for the job. And this can make it difficult to decide which technology is best suited for your project, given that many people use different criteria when making their decision.
Thanks to the invention of the content management system, this is no longer the case. These technologies have made it easy for anyone to build completely customized websites with ease and without any coding knowledge as long as they are comfortable editing their site through a web interface.
The question that most people now ask themselves when deciding between one CMS over another isn't whether or not there will be enough features to build their site. The question is now which features are most important for them and how well the CMS fits those needs.
In this blog post, we'll take a deep dive into a Webflow vs. WordPress comparison--what features they offer, ease of use, and their pros and cons to help you find out what's best for your next website project.
The first thing we'll look at is what technologies you can use to develop your websites. Webflow and WordPress are actually very different; WordPress is a blogging platform that uses PHP and MySQL to build your site, while Webflow lets you use HTML, CSS, JavaScript (and soon Python) to create beautiful websites.
When it comes down to ease of use, there are some differences between the two.
WordPress is much easier to use than Webflow if you're just starting and don't have any coding experience.
WordPress offers a very straightforward dashboard that's easy to understand, while many of the features are automated for you by default. This means there isn't as much customization involved with WordPress, which can be good or bad depending on what kind of website you want to build and the level of skill that you have as a web developer.
On the other hand, because Webflow is based entirely around code, it requires some programming language knowledge before you start building your site. That being said, once you've got at least some background knowledge under your belt using an HTML editor like Koding, it can make things simpler. For example, the drag and drop interface for Webflow allows you to select elements on your page easily and change their position.
Since WordPress is a website builder, you will need to find another platform to host your site. Your options for this include:
Webflow has its own hosting option called Webflow Pro Sites that are included in the price of your subscription fee. You just need to enter your domain name, and you're good to go. This hosting option allows for unlimited bandwidth, storage space, and up-time.
WordPress themes are completely free to anyone who wants them, and there's a wide variety of styles available--some more straightforward than others. These free themes can be used on any WordPress website.
Additionally, there are many third-party plugins that you can download for your site. You may also use a theme to develop landing pages with a page builder plugin. These page builders include professionally created templates that you can customize to your liking.
One thing that Webflow is really great at is offering unique designs that aren't available anywhere else. Their CSS tools allow you to create custom layouts by changing things like font size, color, and spacing.
And their library of pre-made templates only increases the possibilities for your website's design--Webflow offers everything from modern blog sites to business websites and e-commerce stores that you can use as a starting point to creating a completely customized design for your page.
Unfortunately, WordPress is not the best choice for SEO.
One of the big issues with WordPress is that it's a blog platform, and Google may penalize you in search results if your site doesn't have enough content on each page or isn't regularly updated.
The other issue lies within how data from plugins are stored in the database. When these records aren't designed well, they can be hurt by duplicate pages and incorrect linking to important keywords throughout your website.
Nonetheless, there are SEO plugins that you can download for WordPress, such as Yoast SEO, All in One SEO Pack, and many others.
On the other hand, Webflow has been built from scratch as a CMS rather than being focused around blogging like WordPress, so there are no such SEO limitations. In fact, it comes with optimal SEO settings as it also comes pre-loaded with industry-standard tools to help you optimize your websites, such as integrated Google Analytics and built-in Schema.org code for better indexing by search engines.
WordPress can be quite slow at times because of how much content it has to load, which affects the performance and speed of your site. So even if you have a fast hosting account with them, your page speed may still be slow.
Page load speeds are crucial for user experience, and Webflow has made it a priority. Webflow does not use any plugins for its CMS, so nothing slows down page loading time or degrades overall website performance. In fact, all of their plans come with unlimited bandwidth and storage space and free SSL certificates, and premium caching options like Varnish Cache that improve server response times by over 500%.
This ensures that every customer gets the fastest possible speeds from their websites no matter what plan they're on--and Webflow offers up some truly.
Since WordPress is open-source software, it means that anyone in the world can see the source code and make edits to it. That being said, this is a double-edged sword because it also means that there are thousands of people reviewing the code for bugs every day.
While WordPress has a feature that offers users the ability to create custom URLs, it doesn't have an SSL option built into its platform. This means you'll need to pay for an SSL certificate from your web host provider or elsewhere to secure your website and ensure all web traffic is encrypted.
In contrast, Webflow offers an editing environment that will only allow you to edit your website as an administrator--which makes security much simpler compared to WordPress, where anyone with access could easily break into your site by changing something in your files or installing malware on your server without you knowing about it.
With Webflow, even if someone has found their way onto one of your pages and changed something, they won't be able to change anything else unless they have admin privileges.
One of the best features about Webflow is that you can get a free SSL certificate with every website. This will help your page rank higher in search engines and give users trust when they see the lock icon by your URL or account name.
And since it's so easy to implement, there are very few reasons not to take advantage of this free SSL certificate.
In WordPress, all animations are hard-coded into each page. This means that if you want to change the animation of a header or menu item, you have to edit every page where this element exists--which can be very time-consuming and confusing for people who are not web developers themselves.
With the Webflow CMS, all animations are controlled through the CMS, making it convenient for non-developers to easily create animations and edit content without knowing how HTML or CSS files work.
For example, if you wanted to change the animation on every header in your website (or all of them at once), this can easily be done with a few clicks through the Webflow CMS.
As an open-source website platform, WordPress makes it incredibly easy for third parties to build plugins and integrate with their CMS.
This means that there are thousands of completely free plugins available in the WordPress plugin directory, which can save you a lot of time and money if you're looking to add certain functionality to your website--such as WooCommerce for e-commerce or WPML for multilingual content on your site.
In WebFlow, all integrations have been built right into the interface, so they appear when you need them without additional steps from developers or specialized consultants.
These include things like Google Analytics and SEO tools such as schema markup integration. Webflow also integrates marketing tools like Mailchimp and other email services and third-party e-commerce integrations like Shopify.
For online stores, the best route is to use either WordPress or WooCommerce together. WooCommerce allows you to set up an online store with all the right tools and features that buyers need when looking to purchase products online: payment gateways, inventory management, order tracking capabilities, and more.
However, this only works if you are willing to pay for premium plugins or add-ons which can get expensive depending on how many of these extras your business needs.
Since Webflow is much more focused on design and user experience, they don't offer any built-in e-commerce site functionality as WordPress does (and although WooCommerce can be used with both platforms, it might not provide the level of customization that you would want for your e-commerce site).
However, if you're looking for a simple solution that requires little to no coding experience or extra plugins/modules from third parties, then Webflow is probably the way to go.
Plus, since all of the store pages are built with standard web page elements and can be customized through their CMS system, it's straightforward for non-web developers to add new products and edit prices without having any previous knowledge of HTML or CSS--which makes adding an online shop much more accessible compared to using WordPress templates.
A simple website may take less than a week to build on Webflow, while more complex sites may take up to a few weeks.
The cost of developing your site with Webflow is also much less expensive than WordPress--for example. It costs $18/month for one user to create unlimited websites on the Personal plan.
If you are looking at using WordPress, then be prepared to spend double or triple that amount depending on what features you want and how many users will have access to your site's dashboard. For example, their cheapest Premium package starts at just under $300 per year, which gives you only two small business website licenses (and this doesn't include a hosting provider).
If you want five users or more for your team, these packages can quickly become very expensive, and if you're going to add any features or any premium plugins, you will need one of their more advanced packages.
Since Webflow is much cheaper than WordPress, it means that you can get twice the amount of users for your team--which makes working with multiple people on your website's design and development process incredibly simple compared to using WordPress' many licensing tiers (and confusing site plans).
What's more, is that Webflow has no limits in terms of bandwidth usage or storage space. This way, all members across your entire team will be able to create whatever content they like without worrying about hitting an upload size limit.
Finally, since both payment and hosting are handled through the platform, there aren't any extra costs when it comes to paying for a hosting provider or using payment gateways.
For technical support, WordPress has its own official website dedicated to helping users troubleshoot issues with the platform.
If all else fails, there are also several third-party websites like WPBeginner, which offer step-by-step tutorials for creating new themes or learning how to customize certain aspects of your site. And of course, WordPress users can also rely on YouTube video tutorials and community forums.
Since Webflow is mainly used by web designers and developers (rather than people who use template solutions such as WordPress). They don't have any built-in help center or community forums for technical support.
But they do have Webflow University, which offers several video tutorials on building new pages, editing layouts, and customizing elements. They also have an extensive knowledge base filled with tons of resources for beginners and advanced users alike.
In a nutshell, Webflow is much more suitable for businesses and individuals who want to design their sites without having any knowledge of HTML or CSS. It also allows you to create websites in a fraction of the time it usually takes with WordPress, building your online presence that is much more accessible than using templates from other platforms.
Conversely, WordPress will allow you to add customizations such as page builders and elements when creating your website. Still, if this isn't important, then Webflow offers far greater functionality when it comes down to working with multiple team members at once on a single project which could save you both money and time in the long run.
When it comes to choosing between WordPress and WebFlow, your requirements will play a more important role than anything else. For individuals with considerable web design expertise who want to create completely customized websites, WebFlow is a superior option if you can afford the higher costs.
On the other hand, WordPress's popularity is reflected in its much more affordable pricing plans and the sheer number of templates to choose from, which makes it a popular choice among individual bloggers and business owners with little to no web design experience.