At a Glance

Webflow is built on a powerful platform that combines a full content management system (CMS) a la Drupal, Magento, a design tool, and a hosting solution. The platform is based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are the core technologies used for building websites and web applications.  It offers a visual drag-and-drop editor combined with a powerful code editor, allowing users to create highly customizable and responsive websites. Webflow is particularly suitable for designers and developers who want more control over the design and code of their websites. It also offers hosting services and supports e-commerce functionality.

WordPress is a leading website builder and an open-source content management system (CMS). It is built on PHP and MySQL or MariaDB database, and licensed under the GPLv2. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system, referred to within WordPress as “Themes”. It is a popular tool for individuals without any coding experience who want to build websites and blogs. It is also the platform of choice for over 43% of all sites across the web. The WordPress open source project has evolved in progressive ways over time -supported by skilled, enthusiastic developers, designers, scientists, bloggers, and more. WordPress has one of the largest plugin libraries in the world with more than 59,000 plugins available.

Overview

WordPress

• Ease of Use: WordPress is known for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible to beginners. It offers a wide range of themes and plugins to customize your website’s appearance and functionality.
• Flexibility: WordPress is highly flexible and allows for extensive customization. You have control over the design, layout, and features of your website, thanks to its vast library of themes and plugins.
• Content Management: WordPress was initially developed as a blogging platform, so it excels in content management. It provides a robust system for organizing and publishing blog posts, making it ideal for content-heavy websites.
• Community and Support: WordPress has a large and active community of users and developers. This means you can find plenty of resources, tutorials, and support to assist you with any challenges you may face.

Webflow

• Design Control: Webflow is a visual web design tool that offers a pixel-perfect design experience. It allows you to create custom designs using its intuitive drag-and-drop interface without the need for coding.
• Responsive Design: Webflow has built-in responsive design capabilities, making it easy to create websites that adapt well to different screen sizes and devices.
• Hosting and CMS: Webflow provides an all-in-one solution that includes hosting and a content management system (CMS). This can simplify the website management process, as everything is integrated into a single platform.
• Code Export: Webflow allows you to export clean, semantic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. This can be beneficial if you want full control over your website’s codebase or if you have developers who prefer working with custom code.

Webflow vs WordPress : Pros

WordPress:

• Customizable: It is Highly customizable. with thousand of plugins and extensions give you complete control over design and functionality.

• SEO friendly: ‍It has the best plugins for checking your content for SEO and also boosting the ranking for your website. Yoast and Elementor are the best of the lot.

• Open source: Free to download and use, with a vast community offering support and solutions.

• Scalable: Can handle complex websites with high traffic and extensive features.

• Community: ‍It is an open-source platform with contributions from a plethora of developers. Any issue you run into, there will be someone to solve it. You can tap into the community and hire a developer to customize your website as well!

• Integrations: ‍WordPress has enjoyed a monopoly in the CMS field for a while and as a result has several 3rd party integrations, which are bound to make the job easier for the user.

Webflow:

• High Site Speed: Firstly, the code is clean and easy to understand, which directly causes the page speed to go up. This helps the website to shoot up to the top of the Google SERPs and also provides a smooth and satisfactory user experience.
  • Minifying: It natively gets rid of unnecessary code.‍
  • Caching: Webflow automatically prevents the user from downloading the same file from the website time and again.
  • CDN (Content Delivery Network): Super, super helpful if you are catering to a global audience! Webflow uses Amazon Cloudfront CDN which serves website content to the reader from the nearest server.

• SEO: While WordPress has undoubtedly THE BEST plugins for SEO (Yoast and Elementor), it doesn’t help SEO natively, which Webflow does. The following 3 factors detail why Webflow is great for SEO too:
  • Meta Description: We typically use the Yoast plugin in WordPress to edit the meta description to our liking. But there is no hassle at all with Webflow in this department! Because it will inherently ask you to do so.
  • Permalink structure: WordPress inherently uses web URLs with the date and name of the domain on them. This can especially be harmful from the ranking point of view because Google frowns upon outdated posts. You have to manually change the settings. But Webflow will let up only what is needed in the URL- domain and topic name.
  • Google Analytics and Search Console: For both of these, you need external plugins in WordPress. However, in Webflow, you can just paste the Google Analytics ID or the Google Site Verification ID and voila, your job is done!

• Visually intuitive: Drag-and-drop interface makes design easy, even for beginners.

• Clean code: Websites built with native HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for optimal performance.

• Hosted platform: No need for separate hosting or security updates.

• Built-in CMS: Easy content management with no plugin dependency.

• Previewing your webpage: Hit the Toggle Preview button on top of the webpage. Done.

• Autosave: Huge, huge relief!  You need not worry about the system or network malfunctioning. Your work is getting autosaved instantly.

• Making changes: Webflow provides you with a whole different webpage for you to review and update changes- the yourdomain.webflow.io page. Make all your changes here and directly publish them in the main domain.

• Customization: The sole purpose of using content management systems is so that you can work with zero code. Webflow allows you to customize your website using only the drag-and-drop facility!

Webflow vs WordPress : Cons

WordPress:

• Code needed for complex designs: For complex and customized designs, you will definitely need to hire a developer (in case you are not one), because that entails a good lot of coding.
• Ads popping up: Most of the plugins and extensions on WordPress are free and of great use. The catch run ads on the backend of the website. If they’re offering services for free, this is the least they can expect out of the deal! However, these ads may cause the site to slow down or lead to poor UX.
• Compatibility: WordPress is an open-source platform and even though it has a large developer community, it doesn’t have dedicated customer support. Since all the plugins and extensions are made by 3rd party developers, they may not be compatible. In this case, solving the issue might be a problem.
• Steeper learning curve: Requires some technical knowledge for customization and security.
• Performance concerns: Plugins can slow down your website if not managed properly.
• Security vulnerabilities: Regular maintenance and updates are crucial to prevent hacking.
• Costlier in the long run: Hosting, themes, and plugins can add up.

Webflow

• Less customizable: It has complex features.
• Costlier overall: Monthly subscription fees can be higher to hosting.
• No community support: A smaller user base makes a smaller community.
• SEO optimization: Requires more effort with built-in tools.
• Getting the hang of it: If you are new to web development, it might be a steep learning curve for you. However, they have been trying to mitigate this issue by providing a series of video tutorials for users.
• Pricing: Webflow is not open-source, so the website building and design cost plenty expensive. It does—the cheapest version starts at $14 a month.

Webflow vs WordPress : Key Comparisons

WordPress

• Ease of Use:
  • Purchase web hosting to install the WordPress software. It is easy to install and configure the WordPress software by oneself.
  • Easily can manage entire site from the WordPress dashboard. Using a WordPress theme, can control your site’s design.
  • If anyone want further design control, install a visual-related plugin (such as drag-and-drop editing).
  • Different screens are available within the dashboard to help control and manage site’s content, user comments, users, settings, etc.
  • The wide range of themes and plugins available in WordPress makes it possible to add any feature to website. However, must have a clear understanding of these add-ons.

• Customization options:
  • When using WordPress, will have to first choose and install a theme, and then customize its elements, such as colors, fonts, images, etc. To develop a completely customized website, need to develop it from the scratch or hire a developer.

• Templates:
  • When it comes to templates, WordPress is definitely the winner. WordPress comes with over 4,200 free templates and more than 10,000 premium templates.

• Ecommerce functionality:
  • WooCommerce is one of the most preferred options for setting up online stores in WordPress. WooCommerce is free; however, will be charged for credit cards, payment portals, etc.

• Search engine optimization:
  • Using the several add-ons, such as Yoast SEO, available in WordPress, can improve site’s rankings. From enhancing site’s rankings to adding metadata, can use these tools to optimize site’s content as well. 

• Pricing:
  • WordPress is an open-source platform that is available and will have to pay for web hosting services. The charges for hosting vary depending on site’s traffic. If require additional features, must pay for a premium WordPress theme or plugin.

• Support:
  • WordPress doesn’t offer any support option officially. This is one of the downsides of WordPress. But can find plenty of resources to learn and improve skills. And the best part of using WordPress is that it is open-source. All the code is publicly available, and can repurpose the code based on requirements. WordPress has a dedicated community and other forums where can connect with others.

• Third-party integrations:
  • Integration is one of the most powerful features offered by the WordPress platform. WordPress offers plugins for any integration required.

• Security:
  • Security is made available through plugins and integrations, which means must be proficient in WordPress to increase security options.

Webflow

•  Ease of Use:
  • Below are three steps to creating a Website in Webflow: The designs in Webflow may seem a bit complex, requiring you to have a deeper understanding of the platform.
    • Register for a Webflow account.
    • Take a short survey (to customize the experience in line with your requirements).
    • Understand the key concepts of Webflow.

• Customization options :
  • Webflow is highly customizable, allowing users to create customized websites without worrying about the code. Webflow lets create customized interactions and animations across site. In addition, can customize every page, transactional emails, and so on.

• Templates :
  • Webflow offers over 45 free templates and more than 500 premium templates.

• Ecommerce functionality :
  • Webflow comes with e-commerce features that are built into its engine. After choosing and paying for a favorable e-commerce plan, can proceed to activate an extension. Then, can integrate this extension with shipping services. In comparison to WordPress, Webflow comes with limited options for payment processing.  

• Search engine optimization :
  • With Webflow’s set of SEO tools, can work on improving site’s ranking in search engines. Webflow takes care of on-page SEO by offering SEO features, such as clean code, sitemap generation, improved page loading speed, and the ability to add meta tags to pages.  

• Pricing :
  • With Webflow, can sign up and build website free of charge. Once decide to make website live, will have to choose a paid plan. Webflow offers the below plans:
    • Site plans: Must choose a site plan for any site are planning to host on Webflow.
    • Account plans: If anyone have multiple website projects, choose an account plan. With account plans, can export site’s code and host it anywhere. Account plans also let transfer site to any other Webflow account of anyone’s choice.

• Support :
  • Webflow’s dedicated forum makes it easy for anyone to connect with other users to help with queries. Can search Webflow University if one’s searching for specific answers. If one is looking for professional support, they can reach out to Webflow’s customer support team. The team will answer all your questions. One can also be a part of a variety of events and groups that the community organizes. Grab the opportunities to stay connected with like-minded people and enhance knowledge.

• Third-party integrations :
  • One can a integrate Webflow website with third party apps using Zapier and Airtable. Webflow provides all relavent resources and supporting document to assist with integration. 

• Security :
  • Webflow comes with security built into site’s foundation. The platform implements the best and latest security practices by being SOC2-compliant, which requires the platform to meet the five trust service criteria:
    • Security
    • Availability 
    • Processing integrity
    • Confidentiality
    • Privacy

• The other advantages of Webflow:
  • Secure hosting services and encryption (AWS hosting and SSL encryption)
  • Doesn’t include vulnerable plugins
  • Offers personal account protection via two-factor authentication
  • Provides automatic backups

Conclusion :

Both WordPress and Webflow can be used to create blogs, portfolios, eCommerce stores, business websites, and landing pages. Both are customizable to a high degree and play a part in perfecting SEO for site. For simple websites, Webflow would be the choice. It is easy and can be customized without coding.

But if the site is complex, It is better to go for WordPress – it has more options and can hire someone from the developer community to do the job and also troubleshoot issues.

Though WordPress is undoubtedly the most tried-and-tested platform, we assure that Webflow won’t disappoint.