Webflow and WordPress are both powerful tools for building websites, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to custom development. Webflow offers a drag-and-drop, code-free design environment and excellent visual design capabilities, making it ideal for designers and those who prefer a visual approach. However, it can be more restrictive than WordPress in terms of customization and functionality, and its pricing plans can be expensive for complex websites. WordPress, on the other hand, is open-source and highly customizable, with a vast ecosystem of plugins and themes available. However, its learning curve can be steeper, and it requires additional setup and maintenance compared to Webflow.
WordPress
WordPress is the 800 pound gorilla of website platforms, with over 40% of all websites worldwide being built with WordPress. It has been around for two decades and undergone steady refinement since its inception, but does have some drawbacks, some of which are related to the backwards compatibility requirements. It can be used on any hosting platform, from free shared plans with ads to distributed cloud environments costing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.
Advantages
Open Source and Free: Download and use WordPress for free. Only pay for hosting and a domain name.
Highly Customizable: Customize your website to your exact specifications.
- Choose from a wide range of themes and plugins for nearly anything, from eCommerce to custom forms. or create your own custom theme.
- A developer can directly access the server side code to create custom functionality.
- While not recommended, you can even customize the core WordPress code.
Large and Active Community: Benefit from a vast community of developers and users.
- Easily find help and support online.
- Access numerous resources like tutorials and forums.
Higher Performance: With the right hosting and optimization, a WordPress site will be faster than the same site on Webflow, leading to increased visitor retention and search engine rank.
Integration: Due to its huge user base, almost every Web-related tool from Salesforce to Hubspot has a WordPress-specific integration system, often implemented directly via a WordPress plugin.
Powerful Content Management System: Easily add, edit, and manage website content with WordPress’ CMS.
- Non-technical users can create and update content effortlessly, although maybe not quite as easy as on Webflow.
- Advanced website can be created that use WordPress solely for content management, with the front end using an entirely different technology.
SEO Friendly: WordPress is designed to rank well in search results, and you can optimize your website further with SEO plugins.
Scalable: Grow your website with your business as WordPress is highly scalable. It is limited only by the hosting, which can be upgraded at any time.
Security: WordPress itself is a secure platform, as long as it is kept up to date. There are also several security plugins available for extra peace of mind. If using a managed WordPress host like WP Engine or Kinsta, they will provide additional security features, as well.
Multilingual: There are multiple plugins that will help you create multilingual websites with WordPress.
E-Commerce Functionality: Easily turn your website into an online store with e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce.
Blogging: Easily add blog posts and manage comments. WordPress was originally developed as a blogging platform.
Backup and Restore: Back up and restore your website easily with WordPress using various plugin. In addition, all manged WordPress hosts include backup as one of their services.
No Coding Required: You can build a custom website without coding knowledge thanks to drag-and-drop plugins, although you sacrifice some performance and customizability.
Disadvantages
Design Flexibility: While customizable, achieving a truly unique design might require coding or hiring a developer.
Maintenance:
- WordPress requires regular maintenance and updates to ensure optimal performance and security, while Webflow handles most updates automatically, requiring less maintenance from users.
Plugin Dependence:
- Most advanced functionalities in WordPress rely on plugins if a prefessional developer is not used, which can add complexity and security concerns.
E-commerce Complexity:
- Setting up an online store in WordPress requires additional plugins like WooCommerce, increasing complexity.
Hosting and Security:
- The success of a WordPress site hinges upon the hosting chosen. If utilizing a low cost shared hosting plan, performance will be inferior to Webflow and it will be the user’s responsibility to manage updates and security. In addition, support will usually be lacking. For this reason, AUQ recommends business WordPress users choose high quality managed WordPress hosting.
Webflow
Webflow is the new kid on the block. It was designed to take the best features of no-code platforms like Wix and Squarespace and integrate them with many of the features of WordPress and Shopify. The result is an all-in-one offering that has become the preferred choice of professional designers.
Advantages
Drag-and-Drop Interface: Build visually with Webflow’s intuitive interface, no coding required.
Faster Development Process for Designers: Visual tools and built-in features allow designers to build websites without requiring a developer.
Animation Tools: Achieve unique designs with Webflow’s powerful animation tools.
Built-in Features: Webflow integrates e-commerce, CMS, and SEO tools natively (at extra cost).
Clean Codebase: Webflow generates optimized code for fast loading times. Performance will generally be faster than “off the shelf” WordPress that has not been optimized by a professional developer.
Hosting Included: Webflow’s paid plans include secure, managed hosting.
Easier E-commerce: Webflow’s integrated e-commerce features simplify online store setup, but come at an added cost.
Disadvantages
Cost: Webflow’s paid plans make it less accessible than the free WordPress core software. Ongoing subscription costs can be high for complex websites.
Closed Ecosystem: Since Webflow is a proprietary platform, if they do not offer a a desired feature or integration, it is sometimes impossible to add it even with custom coding.
Limited Plugin Ecosystem: Compared to WordPress’ vast plugin library, Webflow offers a smaller selection of plugins.
Vendor Lock-in: Migrating away from Webflow can be challenging due to its proprietary platform. WordPress offers greater flexibility in this area.
Community and Support: WordPress has a larger and more active community than Webflow. Finding help and troubleshooting issues might be easier with WordPress unless you have one of the paid support plans for Webflow.
Customization Limits: While offering significant design flexibility, Webflow might not be suitable for highly customized projects requiring deep code access or integration.
E-commerce Limitations: While Webflow offers built-in e-commerce features, they might not be as comprehensive or customizable as WordPress using WooCommerce.
SEO Optimization: Optimizing Webflow websites for search engines might require more effort than with WordPress, which has built-in SEO features and plugins, and easier custom development.
Limited Developer Resources: The pool of Webflow developers is much smaller than the pool of WordPress developers. Finding skilled Webflow developers for complex projects may be more challenging and expensive.
Content Management: WordPress offers a significantly more robust and mature content management system compared to Webflow.
Blogging: Blogging requires the extra-cost CMS option, and design options for blog posts are quite limited compared to regular pages on Webflow or blog posts on WordPress
Ultimately, the best platform for custom website development depends on the specific project requirements, design preferences, and the skill set of the development team. Inmost cases, we think WordPress is the better choice. However, Webflow is a very good platform and if a company already has a designer on staff who is experienced with Figma, they can often get the site online quicker than if they create the design and then have to hand it often to a development team to implement. Usability is a toss-up. Which platform has the steeper learning curve depends upon a user’s experience and preferences. A user with a design background will usually be more comfortable with WebFlow, while more technical users often find WordPress more natural. WordPress is usually easier to optimize for good search engine ranking, and an optimized WordPress site on fast hosting will outperform a similar Webflow site. Cost is hard to determine—a company will almost always pay more for Webflow than for WordPress hosting, but WordPress needs someone to maintain it (although managed hosts sometimes offer full updating and monitoring for an extra cost). In the end, both are great platforms, but we recommend WordPress more often than Webflow.