Building a website can be a daunting task, especially if you want to add those little extras that make a website Dynamic. It can take years to learn programming to launch your website, luckily, website builders like WordPress and Webflow exist.
We will be examining the Pros and Cons of each to help you decide which is right for you.
What is WordPress?
If you’ve been looking for a way to create a website with no coding required, chances are you have heard of WordPress. That is because over 34% of websites are created using WordPress.
It is the most popular choice for building websites, but does that make it the best website builder? Take a look at these pros and cons to help you decide:
Pros of using WordPress
- It is open-source software, meaning, you can create your website completely for free, all you need to pay for is hosting
- More than 54,000 WordPress plugins available for customization
- The WordPress community is enormous, so there are many resources available
- High-performance websites available
- SEO friendly
- Over 10,000 templates to choose from
Cons of using WordPress
- If you want to completely customize your template, it may be necessary to hire a developer.
- You are responsible for all updates and maintenance of your website, however, WordPress offers managed hosting.
- Some themes are premium themes and can cost between $30-$100 to use.
What is Webflow?
Webflow is also a website builder that is easy to learn and gives you great results. But what separates it from the most popular website builder on the web? For one, Webflow gives you unlimited design freedom, unlike WordPress.
It also produces better code quality, whereas WordPress may become cluttered due to its available plugins. The downside is that it is not free to use as WordPress is, however they offer great plans that won’t affect your budget too much.
Pros of using Webflow
- Publish your work straight to the web
- All templates offered are highly responsive
- Easy to use Drag and Drop editor
- You can add your code
- Scroll-based animations available
Cons of using Webflow
- There is a learning curve to managing all the tools available for editing
- Webflow is a more expensive choice since it is not open source
- At the time of this writing, Webflow’s eCommerce kit is in Beta, so not all features are currently available
Webflow vs WordPress: What’s the difference?
Although they both offer a fast and easy way to design your Website, there are some key differences between the two. The first is WordPress is open source software. You can install the WordPress website builder on your computer.
This comes with a learning curve, as you need to configure and install the website builder. Webflow offers ready-to-deploy templates, once you are ready to publish. It is a little more expensive than WordPress however.
The basic Webflow plan can go for as high as 12 dollars per month if you pay annually, otherwise the fee increases to 15 dollars per month. A little too expensive for my taste. However, they do have an incredibly intuitive designer.
Which one is cheaper: Webflow or WordPress?
There is a clear distinction when it comes to comparing pricing between WordPress and Webflow. While WordPress may be free, considering you can install the editor on your PC, it offers hosting plans as well.
You may incur some charges if you decide to use a premium template. Webflow offers affordable pricing, but it is just a little more elevated than WordPress. That is because you may end up paying $36 a month for the business plan, the most basic CMS costs $16 a month, something WordPress offers completely free.
Does Webflow need hosting?
Yes. Most website builders offer hosting for your website. This will incur extra charges and will need to be renewed every year. Webflow offers certain plans that include your hosting as well, these are known as site plans. You need to pay for this once you are ready to lift the limitations on your free website.
Is Webflow easier than WordPress?
Webflow offers simple and effective tools that can help you launch a website in minutes. There are also, however, more advanced features that can take a little time to learn.
Webflow uses a unique visual coding language that can take some time to get used to if you have zero coding knowledge. However, if you have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, it will be much easier to learn Webflow.
It uses an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that lets you place your elements everywhere on the screen. WordPress does not offer a Drag and Drop editor.
Do professional web designers use Webflow?
Yes! Webflow is a great choice for professional web designers. Webflow offers all the tools needed to fully customize every aspect of your site.
They also offer professionally designed templates that are ready to edit. Webflow takes away from the coding so that the web designer can focus on improving their design.
Is Webflow or WordPress better for SEO?
In terms of SEO, Webflow and WordPress both offer good solutions. Hear us out. Firstly, you don’t need to add any extra plugins to improve your on-page SEO. WordPress does require you to install additional plugins.
The upside of this is that you have access to one of the most popular SEO plugins, Yoast SEO. With over 5 million active installations, it is the solution you need, without sacrificing any performance on your site.
SEO with Webflow requires you to fiddle with things such as title and meta-description tags, this might take some time to learn if you do not know HTML.
The upside is that you don’t have to install an additional plugin, since you don’t have to load it when your site is loaded.
