Finding the best website builder is not an easy task. Both Webflow and WordPress are popular platforms for building websites with little or no technical knowledge. At the time of writing, over 38.5 million live websites out there are built with WordPress, and that number only continues to grow.
Webflow is a newer platform but according to Weblow usage statistics, it is already used by 0.6% of all websites. And while it’s hard to predict which platform is going to be more popular in the future, it is fairly simple to pick the right platform when you know what you are looking for.
By the end of this post, you should be able to make the right decision and pick the best system for your needs.
Before we begin, please keep in mind that there is no perfect website builder out there. No matter which platform you choose, there will always be tradeoffs. Thus, our main task is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms and pick the right tool for the job.
To make things easier for you, we have prepared a list of important questions to ask yourself before you commit to one particular platform, be it WordPress or Webflow.
How much are you willing to spend on your new website? And how much do you really need to spend in order to get the website of your dreams?
WordPress offers free plans and plugins. To be completely honest, it has the potential to be cheaper than Webflow. Still, at the very least you’ll need to spend money on both hosting and a domain.
Fortunately, a lot of the top WordPress hosting services feature affordable plans for WordPress websites. Some shared plans start at only $5 a month!
But since free WordPress websites don’t look very professional, you’ll need to spend around $15 or so a month on a PRO subscription. Then, you’ll probably want a professionally-looking WordPress theme and a paid plugin or two. So while a WordPress website can be completely free, there are a lot of hidden costs that you need to be aware of.
Tip: WordPress is a free and open-source platform. However, it will cost you $150 or more per year if you also count premium plugins, themes, and hosting.
The Webflow platform also offers both free and paid plans. As of today, its most expensive plan will cost you $39 a month (not counting the Enterprise plan), billed yearly. However, you get a lot of add-ons and integrations for free. Granted, you still have to pay for a custom domain, but the main advantage is that you get a lot of functionality right out of the box.
Just keep in mind that WordPress has more, way more plugins to offer than Webflow. With Webflow, you also get complete design freedom and nice templates, while with WordPress, you need to buy expensive themes and WordPress design builders or design everything from scratch.
Tip: A basic static Webflow site will cost you at least $144 per year. However, a more realistic price is $300+ if you add a premium template and dynamic functionality.
Once you figure out the costs, it’s time to think about another important aspect – how easy is this platform? How long is it going to take to build a website? How hard is it to maintain and upgrade this website in the future?
Overall, Webflow has a cleaner UI. Since the entire website builder was built by one group of people, it’s naturally easier to use and understand. WordPress code, on the other hand, can quickly become cluttered due to the extensive need for plugins. WordPress is like a patchwork made of different elements that sometimes don’t match or don’t work well together.
With that said, Webflow’s ease of use makes it difficult for it to perform complex tasks that you can easily code into WordPress. For example, setting up recurring payments on Webflow can be a nightmare, even with coding experience. Its simplicity makes it difficult for you to get exactly what you want from the website builder.
Generally speaking, WordPress is a good platform for more advanced users just because it allows endless possibilities for customization. But in order to make an advanced WordPress website, you have to know some PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. WordPress users also have to handle important aspects such as website performance and security by themselves.
Webflow users, on the other hand, have hosting, website security, and performance figured out for them. So if you are an aspiring web designer who is looking for a nice visual tool, choose Webflow. If you love to fiddle with code or if you are looking for a certain level of independence, WordPress is the perfect platform for you.
Are you looking to build a static website, landing page, or complex portal for your clients? Do you plan to have a blog?
Generally speaking, WordPress is a better platform for blogging. This platform gives you all the tools for creating visually appealing blog posts and articles. Then, you can use any number of free and paid tools to optimize, promote, and advertise your content.
You can also use Webflow CMS to create a blog or e-commerce store. However, Webflow isn’t quite as strong as WordPress when it comes to integrations.
So again, if you are looking to build something way more complex, WordPress is the platform to go because you can find plugins for pretty much any integration imaginable. But if you plan to build just a simple page or two, it’s easier to get started with Webflow.
Who is your main audience? How many active users are you planning to have? Is it a public-facing or an internal website?
Think about all those people who are going to use your website. Does your website need to be pretty easy-to-use, fast, functional, or all of the above?
If you think that your website is going to be used by a lot of people, Webflow will help you to build a fast website that scales well. And even though it’s possible to speed up a WordPress website, it’s going to be way harder to support and update it when you have a lot of active users.
How fast can you learn this platform? Is it easy to find answers to your questions? Are there a lot of learning resources, tutorials, and helpful guides out there?
Unless you are planning to build a complicated WordPress portal with dozens of integrations, WordPress has a lower learning curve than Webflow. Since WordPress is an older and more widely used platform, there are a lot of learning resources out there.
As a free and open-source platform, WordPress has a strong community. When you need help, you can almost always find it online.
Webflow, on the other hand, has a very powerful visual editor, so you won’t need a lot of help to figure things out. Most of the time, designers love Webflow more because a lot of its features are self-explanatory.
This platform also gives you everything you need to build a basic website – no need to install plugins or integrate anything. Since its functionality is not as vast, Webflow can be easier to learn and use. You will find tons of valuable learning materials at Webflow University.
What’s your 10-year plan? Do you have time to support this website? How often do you plan to change the content and add new features?
It’s important that you think ahead. With WordPress, you can’t just set the website and forget about it – it needs maintenance, constant updates, etc. Webflow websites are generally easier to maintain but again, a lot depends on what kind of functionality and integrations your website has. The easier the website, the easier it is to support it.
To sum it up, Webflow is a perfect platform if you need a basic website and don’t want to mess with hosting, plugins, security, etc. yourself. To build a more complex solution, you will need WordPress.
WordPress is a real powerhouse when it comes to building interactive custom websites. However, be ready to invest your time, effort, and money if you decide to go that route.
| Pros | Cons |
| Free and open-source | Hidden costs |
| Endless possibilities for customization | Needs constant support, maintenance, and updates. You’ll also be responsible for security and performance. |
| Lower learning curve if all you need is a basic website | Need to know HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP for more advanced customizations. |
| A lot of plugins and themes | WordPress websites can become pretty cluttered and slow once you add all the plugins and extra functionality |
| Since it’s a very popular platform, it’s easy to find learning resources and answers to your questions online | No direct customer support |
| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful visual editor | Less creative freedom, working with an editor can be challenging at times if you don’t know basic HTML and CSS |
| Straightforward pricing model | Premium templates and more complicated integrations will cost you extra |
| Direct customer support | Native functionality is pretty limited |
| Has everything you need to build a functional website, no need to install plugins |
Now that you know about the main distinctions between the two platforms, let’s dive a bit deeper and take a look at an example of their practical application – a project that we did using both Webflow and WordPress for comparison purposes.
That should give you some valuable insights regarding the cost and content management capabilities of both systems.
First, let’s take a look at the WordPress version of the website. Watch this video to see what it is like working in WordPress.
Overall, it took us 28 business hours to get the job done using WP. That included:
Total price: $1,038
We built a custom theme from scratch, using ACF blocks for Gutenberg and splitting the design into reusable components that you can edit, drag around, and convert into new components as needed.
Whenever you want to make a change, you just need to switch to the edit mode and find the corresponding field. The editor is quite intuitive, and there is basically no way you can break anything.
You can easily find all your modules here:
Thus, if we develop all the modules that you designed, building new pages based on those modules and editing their content will be as easy as ABC.
Now to the Webflow version. Watch this video to see what it’s like creating and editing pages and content in Webflow.
Compared to WordPress, it took us less time to complete the project: only 23 business hours against 28. The breakdown:
The total cost turned out to be lower as well: $749 against $1,038.
When you land in the Webflow admin panel it feels like you are working in a designer’s tool. On the left, you have the main navigation bar that allows you to add new elements, create pages, quickly run through the page structure, and work with the CMS and reusable blocks.
When you need to edit a specific element, all you have to do is click it to activate the editor mode:
On the right, you will also see a panel with styling properties for spacing, color, font etc.
No matter which of these wonderful platforms you ultimately choose, GetDevDone can help you make your website visually attractive, feature-rich, fast, and secure.
We offer all kinds of Webflow development services:
Visit our Webflow Profile page for more information about our capabilities and expertise.
We’re also experts at WordPress development. With 17+ years of industry experience and thousands of successfully completed WordPress projects, we know everything about the world’s most popular CMS.
Get in touch with us for any WordPress development project, from crafting a unique theme or tweaking an existing one to creating plugins and optimizing Core Web Vitals.
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