Wordpress is dead... All rise for Webflow.
Why is Webflow better the Wordpress in 2023
August 21, 2024
As a design agency, we have worked with both WordPress and Webflow for several years. Both platforms have their unique features, however there are key benefits that separates Webflow from Wordpress. Even if we are writing with a slight bais. Let's dive in.
What is Webflow and how does it differ from WordPress?
Webflow is a website builder that allows designers and developers to create websites without coding, although you do need to understand the fundamentals of code and web development to produce assets of any worth. It is an all-in-one platform that combines content management, design, and development. Webflow is different from WordPress in that it is a cloud-based platform, meaning you do not need to install any software on your computer. Webflow's drag-and-drop interface allows you to create responsive designs for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. That is all good stuff for users the curates of an asset, but for you the client, Webflow is a streamlines plateform that has dual editing dashboards. That allows clients and collaborates alike to easily edit content, while seperating all the complicated developer stuff into a stand along designer portal.
On the other hand, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage websites. WordPress is a self-hosted platform, meaning you have to download and install it on your server. WordPress is a more popular platform than Webflow, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. But let's be honest most digital assets are crap and 40% of those crap website are built on Wordpress.
The holy grail that Wordpress stands by is its blogging capabilities. WordPress was initially designed as a blogging platform, and it still remains one of the most preferred platforms for blogging. WordPress has built-in blogging functionalities such as categories, tags, and archives. In theory this attrabute sound great, however beyond the creatation of Wordpress in the early days of the internet, the dail on it's capabilities have not move much at all. Great for a basic blog, and not much else. Not for a dynmic marketing assets, not for an e-com stores or for a stylish content sharing plateform. Not to mention if you need to perform any function that falls out of the realm of blogging you need to add a dosen third party plug-ins that Wordpress have limited control over. Leaving users with crashed websites all over the web and no answers to why. Webflow, on the other hand, does not have built-in blogging functionalities like WordPress. It has it's own super charged CMS tool that is dripping with capabilites that reach well beyond... blogging. You can create a collection for your blog posts, and each post can have its own category, tags, and author.
Both WordPress and Webflow have their pros and cons. WordPress legacy is still kicking and in theory it is more popular than Webflow, and it has a vast community of users and developers. WordPress is also free and open-source, meaning you can modify it to suit your needs. However, WordPress has a steep learning curve, and it requires some technical knowledge to set up and manage. A learning curve that is only useful to Wordpress's system and structure. There is limited flexibility to move your asset or design away from Wordpress and the knowledge base stop at Wordpress.
Webflow, on the other hand, is built with best practise coding in mind and allows developer to export the code off webflow and on to other systems. You do have to learn the fundamentals of Web design to effectively use Webflow, other wise you will likely make a dogs breakfast of development structure of an asset. the up side is, Wbflow is built for developers as well and follows all the best practise process, structures and laungae of web development. Meaning any skills you do develop will be fundamental knowledge you can utilise in other ares of your work and life. For you the client, you don't even have to stress about these items as Webflow has a client editor tool that just allows content edits with all the complicated stuff located in a different design portal.
Webflow offers several pricing plans, including a free plan, a basic plan, a CMS plan, and an eCommerce plan. The basic plan costs $12 per month, while the CMS plan and eCommerce plan cost $16 and $36 per month, respectively. Your largely play for the stream lining maual work, with capabilities to test development instantly, combined with a high powered server for faster load times and the time you save navigating a well design product. WordPress is free to use, but you will need to purchase a domain name and web hosting to create your website. The cost of web hosting can vary depending on the hosting provider you choose. Followed by a never ending list of plug-in costs that you will need to pay to form an quality function on your digital asset.
Both WordPress and Webflow are SEO-friendly platforms. WordPress has several SEO plugins that can help you optimize your website's content for search engines. Webflow, on the other hand, has built-in SEO functionalities that allow you to optimize your website's content for search engines. It always comes down to content and structure with SEO, the platform realistically needs to funcation as a tool not the solution for SEO.
Webflow has a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to customize your website's design without coding. Webflow also has a vast collection of templates and components that you can use to create websites. For us, the creative it has limits potentail to create designs, moment and engaments that wow users.
While Wordpress user experience is..... less the desirable. For example if a designer is in the an editing plug-in (that I have had to purchase separately to Wordpress costs, and learn how to use) and they want to edits a slider elements that is being created by a different plug-in. They need to navigate out of the design plug-in they are currently in, locate the other plug-in. Open that dashboard, remeber how the hell to use this plug-in with it's own unquie user experience. Then go back to the design tool to check how it looks, followed the design throwing their laptop out the window as something that should have taken 3 steps took 25 and they have lost the while to live.
In conclusion, Webflow is the winner in 2023 when compared to WordPress. Webflow's drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create websites without coding, and its built-in CMS makes it easy to manage your website's content. Although WordPress is more popular than Webflow, Webflow has several advantages over WordPress, including ease of use and design customization. If you are looking for a platform to create your website, I recommend giving Webflow a try.
And if your agency is using Wordpress or present solutions that include Wordpress, run for the hills because they are likely out sourcing development and design to a kid in India. Any edits beyond the first presentation will cost you 100's and 1000's of dollars and the internal structure of the site likely looks like the insides of a 80 year old person who have heavily drank and smopked their whole life... pretty fucked up.
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