WordPress Vs Webflow: Which platform to choose?

October 14, 2022
Creative Hustlers

Article Summary

Are you having a hard time choosing between Webflow and WordPress to build your website?

WordPress and Webflow are both website-building programs. But no two websites are similar, each possesses a different set of approaches for creating a website. So it's essential to have a comparison between them and choose wisely what's best for your website.

The primary difference is that WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that you'll install on your hosting server, while Webflow is a software as a service (SaaS) application that can deal with everything for you.

But there are many more features that make the two programs differ from one another, and in this blog, we'll be covering the pros and cons along with what makes each of them unique from one another. And in the end, put together your query about what's best for you.

Before getting to know what’s the best platform for you let’s dig into the basics of WordPress and Webflow.

Overview: What is WordPress?

WordPress is one of the most promising content management software and is used by 62.4% users; this is nearly 43% of all websites. Anyone can download it for free and use it to create a website.

WordPress was initially started as a blogging platform and later on expanded its grounds by adding full service for creating a website, selling services and products online, blogging etc.

Key Features of WordPress?

After you've gathered the idea about what is WordPress let's put the lights on the unique element of WordPress:

WordPress is an Open source network.

It gives a pocket-friendly solution. In case you don't want a lot of upfront costing and need a website to be super quick it’s your one-stop solution.

Easy to update for both tech-friendly and non-tech-friendly people.

With a legacy of more than 15 years it gained such goodwill and trust that over one-third of the website are built using WordPress.

It started as a blogging platform and then I created its grounds. Thus it can surely be stated that it’s Best for blogging and offers a ton of plugins, themes, widgets and more. The procedure is as modest as it can be.

WordPress is very well known for its plugins. By using plugins you can customize and alter the site and add features to it.

SEO Friendly as it delivers the action and super user-friendly and that's the reason most people come up to start a blog or a website on it.

Comes with a vast range of themes and templates. With both a variety of free as well as premium templates.

WordPress is mobile-friendly, so it’s an incredible option for anyone who wants their website to rank big on Google.

Overview: What is Webflow?

Webflow is a cloud-based website building platform with a vision of creating the most powerful no-coding platform for the designers and users to save them from all the hassle.

Webflow is used by more than 3,500,000 designers and teams to build, collaborate on, and scale beautiful websites in an entirely visual canvas and the best part no coding is needed. It is highly customizable which captivates the designers and saves their time and cost as they don't have to hire a load of developers for coding and processing.

Key Features of Webflow?

After you've gathered the idea about what is Webflow let's put the lights on the unique element of Webflow:

Webflow is a software as a service (SaaS) application that can deal with everything for you.

It has a super-powerful visual editor which is the most likeable point for web designers.

No coding is needed which makes the work hassle-free for both tech-friendly and non-tech-friendly people without hiring a lot of manforce.

It offers direct customer support to its users.

Webflow provides you everything you expect to create a basic site in the beginning package — no requirement for several plugins.

It Helps Directly with CMS data and provides a drag and drop page builder function.

Invite editors, bloggers and collaborators to write reviews on your website.

SSL Certificate included.

Websites made with Webflow are SEO friendly.

Edits are directly seen on your page so that you can directly have an idea of how’d your website interface would look like before the publishing of it.

Major points of differentiation: WordPress vs Webflow.

Both WordPress and Webflow deliver everything you expect to build a website, there are additional feature differences, which you'll see in the sections below helping you out with the brainstorming question: what to choose?

Ease of installation

WordPress has become very famous for being installed in less than 5 minutes. You just have to purchase web hosting and install your WordPress software.

Because WordPress is the real talk of the town, most web hosts give simple installer tools that allow you to install and configure the WordPress software with just a few clicks.

First comes the automatic installation process which is mostly planned by the beginners but is not precise.  For example, it does not often help the latest version of WordPress.

Then more much more control over the installation process there comes the second step which is a little complicated and is usually preferred by the skilled users that sum up with:

Downloading WordPress.org.

Create a database at your host.

Send the files to your hosting server or acquire them from your server.

Run installation.

Now, when it comes to Webflow it can be enabled to use in less than a minute. It is a ready to use tool which doesn't require installation and is online. You simply just have to create your account on WebFlow and you can start with the web development process.

Giving Webflow a clear edge over WordPress it comes up with super easy installation and is beginner friendly.

Usability

The WordPress management interface has the advantage of being understandable and not excessively overloaded. Shortcuts to each menu are mentioned in the left column to enable you to make adjustments.

While talking about the Webflow interface it is complex for a beginner to handle. Although the features are quick and responsive, to understand them a good knowledge of usability is required.

It would be fair to claim that webflow isn't beginner-friendly.  beginners will constantly have to go through their video tutorials to come to be knowledgeable about the tool.

Themes and templates

To help you create a beautiful website WordPress and Webflow both come up with pre-designs for your website without the hassle of creating a design.

However, if we look at the figures WordPress has a broader theme marketplace of over 4200+ free themes and 10000+ premium or paid themes and Webflow stands to have 45+ free and 500+ paid templates.

If you want broad flexibility in terms of discovering an off-the-rack layout for your website WordPress surely has an edge over webflow in these terms.

Integration with third-party Webflow or WordPress tools

A plugin adds new elements to your WP installation, without a need to code. WordPress gives a wide range of plugins for any integration imaginable to a developer. With a range of 59,460 free plugins no matter what you need to implement there's surely a plugin for it.

On the other hand Webflow plugin compatibility Is way too restricted. In terms of choice, you do not have a vast ground as compared to WordPress.

SEO Friendliness

For any website to be recognized it's essential to work on their search engine optimization (SEO). It allows you to rank higher on Google’s result pages. Or in another language, if high ranking is the lock so SEO is the key to it.

With WordPress, it comes with naturally optimized SEO but you have to take care about the settings or you'll mess up everything. To optimize your SEO you can use the SEO plugin which comes with a huge variety like Yoast SEO, rank math, SEO press etc.

Whereas talking about Webflow you can improve your SEO without using plugins. You can natively edit important tags such as title, description, subject etc. There is no requirement for third-party plugins to prepare necessary adjustments to your on-page SEO, which is still super easy and convenient.

Speed and performance

Speed and performance play a foremost role in the ranking of a website. The slower it is, the more your website visitors and Google may not appreciate it.

WordPress has no prompt settings to handle this trait however you can still use a plugin to fix it i.e WP rocket.

Webflow has an incredibly powerful reputation when it comes to speed and performance. It uses CDN ( content delivery network) for it.

Pricing

The core open-source WordPress software is 100% free. However, This might be a little confusing for a few, but you will still have to pay to bring your site live. The minimum is to pay for a hosting package still, certain services, domains, plugins, and themes will have to be paid for as well if they are required.

For a low-traffic basic site, you can find hosting for a minimum cost of $5-$10 per month and for a high-traffic site you'll need to pay nearly 20$ per month.

This was the unavoidable domain costing. Whereas to make your website more refined and hassle-free you might require themes and plugins which come at a cost of nearly 50-60$ for the premium themes and templates and the plugin cost might vary from 10-100$+.

All in all, to operate a simple website the cost might go between 50-70$ yearly and for a more refined one with better plugins, it might cost between 150-350$ per year which gives an add-on advantage to premium plugins and themes along with an advanced hosting pack.

On the other hand, Webflow also lets you sign up and build your website for Free. But if you want to make it go live you'll have to go for the paid plans. This is similar to WordPress for now. Let's have a closer look at the plans it offers.

If majorly offers two types of Plans :

Site plan- You need a site plan to host every single website on webflow. Here is the rate card for it. If you need an e-commerce store online you’ll need an e-commerce plan for the same.

Account plans- you need an account plan if you want to have more than two website projects. Or in case you want to give access to your designer or any third person.

(Note -The site plan is required per project when you're willing to connect your domain and make it live. The account plan only gives you access to the Designer.)

All in all, you could operate a reasonable stagnant Webflow site for $144 per year. Nevertheless, an additional realistic price is $240-$450 to account for diversified functionality and a premium template.

Whereas the other plan provides you with free service where you can have two websites but you cannot export the database to another webflow account. Thus, the basic paid service of 16$  helps you to export the database. Webflow furthermore gives team strategies that start at $35 per person (with a two-person minimum usage).

If we had a close emphasis on keeping in mind all the features both the CMS platforms offer it would be wise to mention that WordPress is far cheaper than Webflow and offers tons of plugins and themes which are limited in Webflow.

E-commerce site

eCommerce based on a WordPress site is a powerful enterprise with many advantages. With a range of thousands of themes there comes a variety of plugins designed to facilitate andautomate the whole sales and purchase cycle.

WooCommerce is the most effective WordPress e-commerce plugin and is ranked among the top 10 plugins. As soon as it is generated, it automatically modifies your showcase site into an online store with a few adjustments and alterations.

Webflow can also create an eCommerce site and have plans for it. If you go through its 3 Ecommerce Plans (from $29/month to $212/month for a one-year agreement).

It comes with a lot of limitations in terms of additional charges of 2% of the payment made on site through gpay, PayPal etc as well as limiting the sales volume.

But on the design side, it comes with an interesting interface. You can customize your product page, payment page and even the transaction page as per your convenience.

Security and maintenance

WordPress and Webflow are both secure tools.

When it comes to security and maintenance Webflow is a total win-win as it does the work for you and will do everything for you.

Whereas, when it comes to WordPress there's no choice. you'll have to take care of each and everything on your own. Not much assistance is delivered to be precise. Thus, You'll have to apply the best practices.

Final choice: WordPress Vs Webflow?

Eventually in the end, you might be wondering which CMS platform to choose between WordPress and Webflow. As far as we have analysed both come with their advantages and disadvantages and it'll be wise to mention that For a beginner, Webflow also has significant benefits. It can be used without coding, it installs in a few steps, and takes supervision of all the maintenance and safety. In case you do not want to manage the technical part it is the right choice for you.

Whereas if you're comfortable with a little tech part WordPress can do wonders for you with the immense range of plugins and themes. The interface you'll enjoy is exceptionally good. WordPress is also a more detailed tool: you can do everything with it and will not experience any restrictions, which you might witness in the case of Webflow.

In case you have a brainstorming query on the website software, we got your back.

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