This article was originally published at:
https://www.blog.duomly.com/webflow-vs-wordpress-2021-which-is-better-for-your-project/
Intro to Webflow vs WordPress 2021
Welcome to the Webflow vs WordPress 2021 comparison, and let's see which one is better for your needs.
In today's comparison, we'll analyze two of the most popular software people use when they want to build a website, blog, or e-commerce without coding.
I'll go through points like how they work, how much they cost, what additional plugins or integrations offer both of them, and if they're suitable for e-commerce solutions.
Let's start!
And if you prefer video, here is the youtube version:
Will Webflow replace web developers
Webflow is an excellent no-code platform that helps people build websites, e-commerce, or apps without code.
That has many benefits, like shortening UI development time or cutting costs a lot, or even the fact that no-code developer doesn't have to have years of experience to provide a product.
Anyway, there are cons as well. As I told you, it's a no-code, and it's a platform, so it means you are dependent on the platform and its own mechanisms.
That fact is very important, especially for bigger startups and enterprise-level companies, and these will probably prefer to have their own solutions.
In this case, Webflow can be an excellent platform for quick MVPs or smaller projects, but even if smaller agencies move from developers to no-code operators, there will still be tons of need for developers to build large, custom projects.
What is Webflow built on
Looks like Webflow's frontend is built with a Javascript library named Knockout.js, Angular, and even React.JS.
If you'll look at what type of engineers a company looks for, there are technologies like Javascript, Node.JS, AWS Lambda, Python, Ruby, GraphQL, and even techs like Docker, Kubernetes, or Terraform.
What is Webflow used for
Webflow is an excellent platform for creating quick UI without coding. It can be a great tool for building many cases of websites, e-commerce projects, blogs, landing pages, and even smaller startup MVP projects.
Wordpress blog
WordPress is still great, and because of its SEO optimization and many of the features, maybe even the most popular blogging platform, but not only blogging.
It's true, the first products built on WordPress were blogs, and even after years, WordPress is still a great decision when you think about what use for your blog.
It has many implemented features that support blogging, for example, the great editor, friendly URLs, categories, or taxonomy.
What more important, managing one or multiple WordPress blogs are very easy.
How WordPress works
WordPress is a blogging platform and fully working CMS, Website builder, E-commerce builder, and even app builder.
You can install many of the available plugins to change your WordPress into drag & drop website builder.
After building your website without coding, you can install a plugin that will change your website into AMP, PWA, or mobile app with a few clicks.
Next, you can add a blog that will care about your marketing, select template, translates, and even add payments for your products, all of that possible without a line of code.
Webflow templates
If you visit Webflow's website, there are tons of beautiful templates.
These are designed for various business types, so I'm sure you will find something for the blog, e-commerce, and even restaurant.
Prices look like templates are from about $30 up to $150.
Webflow free templates
Not all of the templates are paid.
So if you do not want to pay for the Webflow templates, more than 40 templates are offered for free.
There are free templates in various categories dedicated to different websites or blogs and have a lovely design.
I'd say these look very good.
Wordpress templates
Templates for WordPress is a huge topic. There are thousands of them.
I'd say it's enough to build a very profitable business specializing in building templates for WordPress.
There are thousands of WordPress templates and thousands of agencies that are building ready WordPress templates for sale.
You can probably imagine almost everything, and there is a huge probability, somewhere exists a template with content from your idea.
Wordpress themes free
With free WordPress, templates are almost the same as with the paid ones.
There are tons of them, and you can find almost everything.
Some of them look mediocre, but still, you can find great ones.
Even companies like elegant themes give tens of beautiful templates for free if you use their website builder.
More about Divi website and e-commerce builder you can find in that article:
https://www.blog.duomly.com/divi-theme-review/
Webflow e-commerce
Webflow is a fantastic idea when you think about quick-setup e-commerce.
Especially when you do not code, don't want to spend money on the development team, and would like to set up a relatively small online store.
Only on Webflow's website, you can select one of almost 100 e-commerce templates and configure that in a few clicks.
You do not need to care about payment gateways as well because Webflow offers integration with Stripe, which gives you the possibility of using Credit Cards, Paypal, Apple, or Google Pay.
Wordpress WooCommerce
WooCommerce for WordPress is one of the most popular and used e-commerce platforms in the world.
What more important, WooCommerce is open-source, which means you can use it for free!
Same with WordPress, there are tons of ready templates, many plugins, and payment gateways.
Anyway, there is one crucial difference when you compare WooCommerce with Webflow.
With WooCommerce, you need to care about installing all of the plugins, payments, etc.
Because of that, WooCommerce can be challenging to set up than Webflow when you don't know so much about this platform.
Webflow integrations
Webflow is not only a page builder, but it's a whole eco-system, and if you'd like to build a bigger application, it's not a problem at all.
Webflow's integrations directory contains many ready integrations like Airtable, Zapier, LiveChat, or even Shopify.
Anyway, you need to remember that even if Webflow's integration is free, there could be additional payments on the 3rd party service's side.
Wordpress plugins
WordPress is fantastic about their possibilities of customization, templates, and 3rd party plugins.
You can edit template code, write own plugins, or install one of the prepared plugins.
If you want to add things like e-commerce, payments, website builder, additional SEO, or even auto-posting, you can just install a ready plugin, and that's it.
How many plugins are there
More than 55 000 WordPress plugins in their free plugins directory, but it's only one place where you can find them.
Many companies sell plugins, like Envato, so we are sure there is much more than 55 thousand WordPress plugins.
Are WordPress plugins free
Yes, and no. Many of the WordPress plugins, I mean 55 000, you can download for free.
Some of the free plugins are, in reality, "freemium", which means you can download them, install, and use only part of the features until you buy the pro version.
Still, there are tons of paid plugins on the marketplaces like Envato, and I'd say, very often, you'll need to pay for the plugins if you have special requirements for the project.
Is Webflow free
Yes, you can use the free Webflow plan.
Still, you need to care about the fact, if you decide to use the free plan, it's limited somehow, and if you have bigger requirements or would like to use all of the features, you'll need to use the paid plan.
Webflow pricing
Webflow has various different plans.
Pricing is in the range from free, through standard plans $12-35 up to $200+ for the e-commerce ones.
There is the possibility of tailored plans, but you need to contact Webflow to get the custom pricing.
Is WordPress free
Yes, you can use WordPress for free. Both of them open-source self-hosted CMS, and the hosted by WordPress as well.
Anyway, you need to know a few essential things.
If you use open-source self-hosted WordPress CMS, you will need your own domain and hosting that cost some money per year/month, and definitely, you'll need to know how to set up all of that.
If you go with the version hosted by WordPress, you have some pricing plans, and you have a bit limited customization possibilities.
How much does WordPress cost
Pricing of the version hosted by WordPress ranges from free up to $8 for personal usage.
The second plan type is business and e-commerce, and plans range from $8 to $45.
Still, you'll probably need your own domain that costs something around $8, this time not per month, but per year.
Webflow hosting
Webflow has its own hosting, and it's not a self-hosted platform.
That means you do not need to care about setting up and managing custom hosting for Webflow.
WordPress Hosting
Only self-hosted WordPress CMS needs its own hosting and database.
Still, because it's PHP and MySQL, you need nothing very sophisticated and can use simple shared hosting.
Anyway, it's good to find fast, SSD hosting dedicated to WordPress.
For example, you can take a look at the Namecheap.
Webflow tutorial
We work on the Webflow tutorial, and here you'll find a link to it.
Wordpress tutorial
We have created a few WordPress courses.
It's interesting, especially for the No-Code lovers, because we use Divi builder to don't need strong coding knowledge to set up projects.
How to install WordPress step by step:
https://www.duomly.com/course/how-to-install-wordpress-course/
How to create WordPress websites without coding:
https://www.duomly.com/course/how-to-create-website/
How to create WordPress e-commerce without coding:
https://www.duomly.com/course/how-to-create-e-commerce/
Is Webflow worth it
Definitely, but not for everything!
Webflow has some limitations, and it's probably not the best way to go with massive projects, but it's an excellent choice for the smaller ones because of its features.
It's a perfect idea to set up a quick blog, business website, e-commerce, or even startup MVP.
With Webflow, you will definitely save a lot of money that you should spend on development, and keep a lot of the time, because you can get your own product in hours, not weeks.
What else? It's a perfect way for non-tech people because you do not need to care about maintaining, hosting, and time-consuming setups.
Is WordPress good
Yes it, is, but not for everything.
With WordPress, you can build much more advanced projects than with Webflow and have much bigger customization possibilities, but you need to have a bit bigger knowledge.
You need to have knowledge at least for installation, setup, and building the project. In many cases maintaining or building the next pages, you can do even without tech-knowledge.
Even if large projects are running on WordPress, it's still not the best way to run huge projects, and you'll need a team of expensive developers for the huge custom solution.
Anyway, with WordPress, you can still cut costs, development time and build much more custom things than Webflow.
Summary of Webflow vs WordPress 2021
Now you know what the main benefits and cons of WordPress and Webflow are.
You know which one is better for small projects, and which is better for the custom ones.
I hope your decision will be much easier now, and you'll be able to build fantastic things!
Cannot wait to see your project, and feel free to write in the comments if you still have any concerns.
Thanks for reading,
Radek from Duomly
Top comments (1)
I think you forgot to link the best place to learn Webflow is in the Webflow university university.webflow.com/?utm_source...
EDIT:
Also, you can export your code in Webflow and use Netlify to host it.
Cheers!