What is Webflow
Webflow is a powerful web design and development platform that enables users to build fully responsive and visually stunning websites without writing code. It combines design, CMS (Content Management System), and hosting services into a single, integrated platform, making it a popular choice for designers, developers, and marketers who want more control over their web projects.
Webflow is known for its design-centric approach to no-code web development. 500k websites built with Webflow showcasing widespread adoption among designers and developers alike.
- No-Code Design and Development: Webflow allows users to design and develop websites visually, translating design decisions into clean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code in real-time. This eliminates the need for coding, making it accessible to those without technical skills.
- Full Design Control: Unlike traditional website builders, Webflow offers pixel-perfect design capabilities, enabling designers to create custom animations, interactions, and layouts that match their exact vision.
- Built-In CMS: Webflow’s CMS allows users to create and manage dynamic content without needing external plugins. This is ideal for blogs, portfolios, and any content-driven websites.
- Responsive Design: Webflow provides a highly responsive design process, allowing designers to create layouts that work seamlessly across all devices, from desktops to mobile phones, without additional adjustments.
- Hosting and Security: Webflow offers hosting services on its global infrastructure, providing fast loading times, security, and automatic backups. This all-in-one approach simplifies the website management process.
- Client-Friendly Editor: Webflow includes an intuitive editor that allows clients to easily update their content without disrupting the design, providing a user-friendly way for non-technical users to manage their sites.
- SEO-Friendly: Webflow is built with SEO best practices in mind, offering clean code, customizable meta tags, and fast loading times, which are crucial for search engine optimization.
Differentiators
What you can build with Webflow
Webflow's flexibility and design capabilities make it an excellent choice for a wide range of projects, particularly for those who want to blend creative design with functionality without being constrained by coding limitations.
1. Marketing and Business Websites
Webflow excels at building visually engaging and highly customized marketing and business websites. Whether it's a company homepage, a landing page for a product launch, or a personal portfolio, Webflow’s design capabilities ensure that your website stands out. The platform's responsive design, animation features, and SEO tools make it ideal for creating compelling brand storytelling experiences.
Example: The Sommo team designed a Webflow website for Daynew - a platform that helps people achieve post-traumatic growth.
2. E-Commerce Stores
Webflow’s e-commerce features allow businesses to create fully customized online stores, managing everything from product display to checkout processes without relying on traditional plugins. This flexibility enables brands to design unique shopping experiences that align perfectly with their vision.
Example: Nove store - e-commerce Webflow template to include everything you need to launch your multi-brand retail store and boost sales.
3. Blogs and Content-Driven Sites
For blogs, news sites, or any content-heavy platforms, Webflow’s integrated CMS makes managing dynamic content effortless. You can build custom layouts for articles, categories, and archives while keeping the site fast, visually appealing, and easy to navigate.
Example: The Sommo Blog itself showcases the power of its CMS, providing a clean, user-friendly interface that highlights no-code/low-code updates, tutorials, and industry insights.
4. Portfolio Websites
Professionals like photographers, designers, and artists often turn to Webflow to build stunning portfolios that truly reflect their style. The platform’s rich design tools and interaction features allow for the creation of interactive galleries and media-rich pages that captivate visitors.
Example: Hi-tech - perfect template for a design and development company with a clear structure, consistent content, compelling benefits, usefulness, and reasons to believe.
5. Web Applications and Dashboards
Although primarily a front-end tool, Webflow’s design capabilities are perfect for building web applications and interactive dashboards. Combined with integrations like Zapier or custom APIs, Webflow allows for the creation of sophisticated, data-driven interfaces.
Example: Cardy - trendy and user-friendly Webflow template for a payment service.
6. Healthcare Platforms
Webflow is increasingly used to create platforms that prioritize user experience and accessibility, making it ideal for services like mental health platforms where a clean, intuitive design is crucial.
Example: Clearly, developed by Sommo, is a mental health platform built with Webflow that provides users with a calming and approachable design, reflecting the platform’s mission to support mental wellness.
7. Property Management Platforms
For property management and real estate, Webflow enables the creation of modern, functional platforms that handle complex data while maintaining a user-friendly design.
Example: the Sommo team developed high-performing personalized websites for the property management platform Doorstead.
8. AI-Generated Apps
Webflow is also a great choice for showcasing innovative tech products, such as AI-driven applications, by combining sleek design with interactive elements that engage users.
Example: Dyvo is an AI app platform designed with Webflow, featuring an engaging and futuristic design that aligns perfectly with its technology-focused audience.
Webflow pros
Webflow offers numerous advantages beyond its design capabilities and flexible development features.
1. SEO Optimization and Control
Webflow is built with SEO in mind, offering features that help websites rank better in search engines. You can easily customize meta titles, descriptions, and alt text for images, and manage on-page SEO settings without relying on third-party plugins. The platform also allows for clean, semantic code generation, which is crucial for search engine crawlers to understand your site’s content. Additionally, Webflow’s fast loading speeds and automatic responsive design improve overall site performance, which are critical factors for SEO.
2. Clean, Responsive Code
Unlike many other website builders, Webflow produces clean, semantic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that adhere to modern web standards. This clean codebase not only makes websites faster and more efficient but also enhances the site’s SEO, accessibility, and maintainability. Developers can also export code from Webflow, making it adaptable for further customization outside the platform.
3. Scalability for Growing Businesses
Webflow’s infrastructure supports projects of varying sizes, from small personal websites to large, complex platforms. As your business grows, Webflow’s built-in tools allow you to easily scale your site without requiring a complete overhaul. This scalability includes adding more CMS collections, integrating third-party tools, or expanding design capabilities, all of which can be done without disrupting your existing setup.
4. Security and Hosting
Webflow offers secure hosting on a global Content Delivery Network (CDN), ensuring fast loading times and protection against threats like DDoS attacks. SSL certificates are automatically included, enhancing security and boosting SEO by securing your site’s data. Webflow also provides automatic backups and version control, giving you peace of mind that your content is always protected.
5. Seamless Integrations
Webflow integrates smoothly with a variety of tools and platforms, including Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Zapier, and many others, allowing businesses to extend their website’s functionality without complex setup processes. This adaptability makes Webflow a versatile platform that can fit into any tech stack, supporting marketing, CRM, e-commerce, and other essential business functions.
6. Fast Prototyping and Iteration
Webflow’s no-code approach makes it an excellent tool for rapidly prototyping and iterating on designs. This capability is invaluable for startups and businesses that need to test ideas quickly, refine user interfaces, and launch MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) without heavy development costs. The visual development interface accelerates the feedback loop between design and implementation, leading to faster project completion.
7. Client-Friendly Editor
One of Webflow’s standout features is its intuitive client editor, which allows users to update content directly on the website without altering the design. This empowers non-technical team members or clients to manage their site’s content with minimal training, reducing maintenance costs and making content management more efficient.
8. Advanced Animation and Interaction Capabilities
Beyond basic animations, Webflow offers advanced interactions that can be customized to create immersive user experiences. These interactions are not just limited to aesthetics; they can be used to guide users through the website, highlight important content, and enhance overall engagement. This capability helps brands differentiate themselves by providing unique, memorable web experiences.
9. Accessibility Features
Webflow supports building accessible websites that comply with standards such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Designers can add ARIA labels, ensure keyboard navigability, and test site accessibility within the platform. These features are essential for reaching a broader audience, including those with disabilities, and also positively impact SEO.
10. Community and Resources
Webflow has a vibrant and supportive community of designers, developers, and educators. The Webflow University offers extensive resources, tutorials, and courses that make learning the platform accessible to everyone, from beginners to advanced users. The active forums, showcase of projects, and template marketplace further enhance the user experience, providing inspiration and practical guidance.
11. Customizable 404 Pages and Structured Data
Webflow allows you to create custom 404 pages, ensuring users have a consistent experience even when they land on a broken link. Additionally, Webflow supports structured data (schema markup), which helps search engines understand the content of your pages more accurately, enhancing the visibility of rich results like featured snippets.
12. Multi-language Website Support
Webflow’s flexibility allows for the creation of multi-language websites, making it easier to reach global audiences. You can set up language-specific URLs, implement hreflang tags, and customize each language’s SEO settings, all of which are critical for international SEO.
Areas for improvement
While Webflow is a powerful platform with many advantages, it also has some disadvantages that users should consider before committing to it.
1. Steep Learning Curve for Beginners
Webflow’s advanced design and development capabilities can be overwhelming for beginners, especially those without a background in design or web development. Unlike simpler website builders like Wix or Squarespace, Webflow’s interface resembles professional design tools, which can be intimidating. Mastering features like animations, interactions, and CMS setup requires time and effort, making it less suitable for those looking for a quick, out-of-the-box solution.
2. Higher Cost Compared to Other Builders
Webflow’s pricing is relatively high compared to other no-code platforms, especially for businesses requiring advanced features like CMS collections, e-commerce functionality, or team collaboration tools. While the value is there for what you get, smaller businesses or individuals on tight budgets may find it challenging to justify the cost, particularly when comparing it to cheaper alternatives that offer basic functionalities.
3. Limited E-Commerce Capabilities
Although Webflow supports e-commerce, it lacks some advanced features found in dedicated e-commerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. For example, Webflow’s e-commerce options are somewhat limited in areas like multi-currency support, complex product variants, and advanced inventory management. Scaling an e-commerce site on Webflow can also be costly due to plan limitations on the number of items, making it less ideal for large stores.
4. Complex CMS Limitations
Webflow’s CMS is powerful but not as flexible as traditional CMS platforms like WordPress. For instance, it lacks robust relational database capabilities, which can make managing more complex data structures challenging. The CMS also has limitations on the number of items you can have per collection, which can be restrictive for content-heavy sites like large blogs or data-driven applications.
5. No Native User Authentication
Webflow does not have built-in support for user authentication or login systems beyond simple membership gating. This limitation makes it difficult to build platforms that require users to create accounts, log in, or access personalized content. While third-party integrations can solve this issue to some extent, they add complexity and additional costs, and the setup is not as seamless as platforms that natively support these features. With Webflow User Accounts, you can add users, login functionality, and control access to pages with access groups to build gated-content experiences for your audience.
6. Limited Third-Party Plugin Ecosystem
Unlike WordPress or other open-source platforms, Webflow has a limited plugin ecosystem. While it integrates well with external tools through custom code and APIs, it doesn’t offer the same vast range of plugins or extensions that can easily add functionality to your site. This lack of plugins can be restrictive, especially if you need features that Webflow does not natively support.
7. Limited Back-End Functionality
Webflow is primarily a front-end design tool, and while it integrates well with some back-end services, it doesn’t provide native server-side logic or database management capabilities. This limitation makes it less suitable for complex web applications that require custom server-side processing or intricate database interactions.
8. Exporting Issues and Vendor Lock-In
Webflow allows you to export HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, but the exported code does not include dynamic CMS functionality, e-commerce features, or site interactions. This limitation means that if you decide to leave Webflow, you lose a significant amount of the site’s functionality, making it challenging to migrate to another platform without significant redevelopment.
9. Limited Access to Analytics and A/B Testing
Webflow lacks built-in advanced analytics and A/B testing capabilities. While you can integrate Google Analytics or other third-party tools, the platform doesn’t provide native solutions for testing different page versions or tracking in-depth user behavior, which can be a limitation for data-driven businesses.
10. Hosting Tied to Webflow’s Infrastructure
Webflow requires you to host your site on its own servers, which means you don’t have the flexibility to choose alternative hosting providers. This can be a drawback for users who want more control over their hosting environment, need specialized server configurations, or prefer a provider with specific performance or security features.
At Sommo, we overcome these limitations by using custom code solutions.
Webflow pricing
Webflow offers flexible pricing options to suit a wide range of users, from individuals and freelancers to businesses and enterprises.
Site Plans
General Site Plans are perfect for personal websites, blogs, and business sites. The Free Plan is great for getting started, while the Basic Plan ($18/month) offers more bandwidth and custom domains. The CMS Plan ($29/month) is ideal for content-driven sites with advanced CMS capabilities, and the Business Plan ($49/month) supports high-traffic needs with increased CMS limits and bandwidth. For large-scale sites, the Enterprise Plan offers custom solutions with advanced security and dedicated support.
E-Commerce Plans cater to online stores. The Standard Plan ($42/month) is designed for new businesses, while the Plus Plan ($84/month) supports growing stores with no transaction fees. The Advanced Plan ($235/month) is tailored for established businesses with unlimited sales capacity.
Workspace Plans
Designed for teams, these plans include the Core Plan ($19/month per seat) for small teams and freelancers, offering basic collaboration features. The Growth Plan ($49/month per seat) adds advanced permissions and unlimited guest editors. For large teams, the Enterprise Plan provides custom options, enhanced security, and priority support.
Freelancer & Agency Plans
Freelancers can opt for the Freelancer Plan ($16/month), which supports up to 10 unhosted projects. Agencies managing multiple clients can access custom pricing with advanced management tools and support.
In any case, check the current pricing on the Webflow website.
Webflow templates
Webflow templates are professionally designed, customizable website layouts that serve as a starting point for building websites on Webflow. These templates come fully equipped with responsive designs, ready-made pages, and elements tailored for various needs, such as portfolios, business sites, blogs, and e-commerce stores. Each template is fully customizable, allowing users to modify layouts, styles, and interactions to fit their brand.
Webflow templates are categorized based on the type of website they’re designed for, catering to a wide range of industries and purposes. Here are the most popular categories and their typical price ranges.
- Business & Corporate ($49-$149). Templates for company websites, consulting firms, agencies, and professional services with modern designs, service pages, team sections, and contact forms.
- Portfolio & Personal ($24 - $79). Ideal for designers, artists, photographers, and freelancers to showcase their work using visual galleries, project showcases, about pages, and customizable layouts.
- E-Commerce ($49 - $179). Templates specifically designed for online stores, product showcases, and retail with product pages, shopping carts, checkout flows, and integrated payment options.
- Blog & Magazine ($34 - $79).Templates for content-heavy sites such as blogs, news, and online magazines with dynamic CMS integration, customizable blog layouts, category pages, and SEO optimization.
- Startup & SaaS ($49 - $129). Geared towards tech companies, app landing pages, and SaaS platforms featured with showcases, pricing sections, call-to-action buttons, and testimonials.
- Creative & Design ($34 - $99). Templates for creative agencies, studios, and designers looking for bold, artistic layouts using unique animations, custom interactions, and visually engaging design elements.
- Events & Conferences ($39 - $89). Perfect for promoting events, conferences, webinars, and meetups with schedule pages, speaker profiles, registration forms, and ticketing options.
- Nonprofit & Charity ($34 - $89). Templates designed for charities, foundations, and community organizations with donation forms, mission statements, volunteer signup pages, and impact sections.
- Education & Courses($39 - $99). Tailored for schools, online courses, and educational resources with course listings, instructor profiles, student testimonials, and learning management integration.
Templates are optimized for performance, SEO-friendly, and integrate seamlessly with Webflow’s CMS and e-commerce features, making them easy to manage and scale. The Webflow Template Marketplace offers a wide variety of options across different industries, providing a quick and efficient way to create stunning, professional websites without starting from scratch.
Webflow + Figma
Webflow + Figma is a feature that allows designers to seamlessly integrate their Figma designs into Webflow, enhancing the web development process by bridging the gap between design and development. This integration streamlines the workflow by enabling designers to directly bring Figma assets into Webflow, making it easier to turn static designs into fully interactive, responsive websites without losing the visual fidelity of the original design.
The integration process involves exporting frames and elements from Figma and importing them into Webflow, where they can be further refined and made interactive. Webflow automatically translates Figma’s layout, typography, and style properties, creating a direct path from design to a fully functioning website.
Webflow + Figma is ideal for teams looking to streamline their design-to-development pipeline, improve accuracy, and enhance collaboration, making it a powerful combination for creating visually stunning and interactive websites.
Webflow for enterprise
Webflow for Enterprise is a customized solution designed for large businesses that need a powerful, scalable web development platform. It combines Webflow’s design and development tools with enhanced security, advanced performance, and dedicated support to meet the needs of high-traffic websites and complex web applications.
Key features include robust scalability, advanced security with compliance standards like SOC 2 and GDPR, and priority support with a dedicated customer success manager. Enterprise users benefit from custom workspaces, advanced permissions, and Single Sign-On (SSO) for secure team access. Webflow for Enterprise also offers custom API integrations, enabling seamless connections with other business tools, and advanced SEO controls to optimize site performance and search engine rankings.
This makes Webflow for Enterprise an ideal choice for organizations looking to leverage no-code development while ensuring top-tier security, performance, and flexibility tailored to their specific needs.
Webflow University
Webflow University is an online learning platform that offers a wealth of resources, including video tutorials, courses, guides, and documentation to help users master Webflow and web design. From beginners to seasoned professionals, Webflow University covers everything from the basics of site building to advanced animations and CMS management, all through engaging, project-based learning.
Webflow University’s videos and humor are truly an art form of their own, and we absolutely love their content!
The platform stands out for its unique, entertaining approach to education—its videos are not just informative but infused with humor, turning complex web design lessons into a delightful experience that many, including us, absolutely adore. With clear step-by-step instructions, design tips, and a vibrant community, Webflow University makes learning web design accessible, fun, and downright inspiring, proving that education can be a separate art form in itself.
Learn more about Webflow on Sommo blog.
