WordPress websites have ruled the world of no-code/low-code platforms for many years, with over 40% of websites using it. Moreover, if we only consider Content Management Systems, its market share goes up to 64.3%! While some argue it has limitations, some of the largest brands in the world use it to build professional-looking websites. We're talking about Wired, Ted Blog, Vogue, AMC, The World Street Journal, and The White House!
With a fast-growing demand for IT solutions, there are now many development platforms, and Webflow is by far one of the best you can find out there. Webflow has over 3.5 million users, including industry-leading businesses like Hologram and HelloSign. You must have heard cool and bad things about WordPress and Webflow. On top of that, there's considerable overlap between their complex features to design your site. I understand if you want to know which is best for you. In this manner, we've put together their key features and aspects in this blog post to help you decide. Are you ready to choose between Webflow vs Wordpress?
Main Features of WordPress Development
WordPress CMS may be the most popular open-source platform on the planet. Nonetheless, it was launched in 2003 as a website builder and a powerful tool for bloggers to engage with their audiences. Even if you didn't know that, its main features indicate that it was initially a blogging platform. For example, since the beginning, it has allowed you to add categories and tags while also letting you select specific pages for blogging purposes.
However, as the popularity of this builder platform grew, it became a flexible platform where users and businesses can build almost anything, from a simple blog to custom business websites with a wide range of features. One of the most well-known is its eCommerce sites for online stores with the popular plugin WooCommerce. But still, WordPress is an excellent tool that mainly aligns with information-based websites. Since it's so popular, its large community provides many built-in features and video tutorials. Let's explore some of the leading WordPress aspects you should consider!
WordPress Use
Let's begin with ease of use. You can create a WordPress website without technical knowledge, advanced coding skills, or coding experience. Although it takes a bit of time, it continues to be a great choice for beginners. As the world's most popular website builder, most web host providers facilitate its setup. Therefore, having a website up and running is quite easy. Further, its massive community built many templates, themes, and third-party plugins, such as The Divi Builder, to make web designers' processes even more accessible.
WordPress Flexibility
WordPress has a vast ecosystem of themes, a library of plugins, third-party tools, design elements, and page builders, but WordPress only lets you go further. Choosing exactly how you want to arrange and display elements may require HTML and CSS. Since we are assessing WordPress sites from a no-code/low-code point of view, it's fair to say that it could be more flexible. Also, it's worth mentioning its design flexibility, which has to do with the tons of plugins, complex layouts, and heavy themes that will compromise the final performance. That said, certain premium plugins offer powerful no-code customization without slowing things down, like Barn2 Plugins’ WooCommerce Fast Cart or Posts Table Pro.
WordPress SEO
From an SEO perspective, WordPress CMS has a wide range of on-page SEO tools and features for gaining Search Engine visibility. A perfect example of them is the Yoast SEO plugin, which helps a lot with readability and XML sitemaps. Once again, specific themes and plugins can affect speed and performance. So, you're limited to the most efficient ones to ensure your site runs smoothly.
WordPress Support
WordPress's massive active community of developers and users strives to give users high-quality products and offers support for most of the development time. However, WordPress is not known for its assistance if you experience performance issues with the website. You'll have to maintain and update regularly, especially for complex websites. Choosing a reliable hosting provider and picking trustworthy themes and plugins is fundamental. They're the ones who will assist you if you run into problems.
That's why choosing the providers WordPress recommends on its official website is advisable. The hosting list includes Bluehost, SiteGround, and DreamHost, while their recommended themes include Astra, OceanWP, GeneratePress, and more.
WordPress Pricing
Well, there is good and bad news here. WordPress is free, and so are many of its themes and plugins. However, you'll still have to pay for a hosting service (around 5$-10$ for low-traffic sites and 20$ or more for high-traffic sites) and a domain name to launch your website. Plus, if you want a professional look and a secure website, you'll most likely have to pay an extra cost for premium plugins and themes. Moreover, you'll likely have to hire a developer to handle technical issues and maintenance.
Main Features of Webflow Development
On the other hand, Webflow is a SaaS platform that embodies the terms CMS, website builder, design tools, and hosting provider. In other words, it does most of the heavy lifting for you. This popular platform came out ten years ago and has become a preferred choice for developers over the past few years. Like WordPress, it has pre-built solutions for eCommerce solutions and blogs. Webflow goes beyond basic design, making it easy to include after-effects and animation features like Lottie animation elements.
Even though it doesn't have a vast community like WordPress, Webflow has plenty of learning material. Webflow University's platform covers everything you need to know to build a custom website. Its topics include web elements, responsive design, layout, animations, tools for SEO optimization, and interactions. Plus, it also covers accessibility and gives you stunning templates to get you started quickly.
Webflow Use
Unlike WordPress, Webflow CMS is a SaaS product ready to use once you get a plan, so you don't need to worry about finding compatible hosting (primarily based on Amazon Web Services) and domain providers. And, let's face it, it's much better to have it all in the same place. Webflow also makes it easy to get started with many free templates. The visual editor has a drag-and-drop interface that lets you add and remove elements easily. Lastly, its backend dashboard is intuitive and very easy to use.
Webflow Flexibility
The visual editor I just mentioned will let you custom-design every pixel of your website. Also, you don't have to worry about positioning or styling limitations: you can bring your idea to life exactly how you want it. You can use free or paid templates, but you can also start from a completely blank canvas. This way, it's much easier to implement a user-centered responsive website designed on Figma or Adobe. That streamlines the editing process and gives the design teams complete control over the website.
Webflow SEO
Like WordPress, Webflow has several features that help you with the Search Engine Optimization of your online presence. However, Webflow's SEO benefits come with the plan you choose. That means you don't need to install plugins that may slow down your site to improve SEO. Regarding speed, Webflow is a hosted product that only uses 100% compatible features. Plus, when you add more visuals and functionality, it doesn't add unnecessary stuff by default. That translates to optimized speed compared to WordPress.
Webflow Support
Webflow also has a large collaborative and cooperative community to answer any questions. Plus, you can contact the customer support team directly if you run into an error. But remember, everything you add to your site will be fully compatible. Thus, you’re much less likely to need support. Moreover, Webflow offers customer support in various channels. That includes email, forums, live chat, community, courses, and lessons.
Webflow Pricing
For business and marketing purposes, Webflow doesn't have any free plan. It offers different types of plans you can use according to your site needs, ranging from free to $39 a month, billed annually. Considering that it is a complete platform that includes hosting, security, maintenance, and support, that's a very affordable option. Also, its learning material and basic plan are free. So, you can start learning how to use it without spending anything and get a paid plan when you feel comfortable.
Conclusion
Now, you should have a good understanding of the ins and outs of website-building platforms. Nonetheless, it wouldn't be fair to say that one platform is better for creating consistent User Experiences. As a Full-Cycle Digital agency, we have extensive experience building a website. We've relied on Webflow for the last few years to provide seamless User Experiences. Our rockstar team can go the extra mile and implement perfect-pixel designs with it! Plus, we've experienced massive improvements in speed and troubleshooting time.
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