Webflow Review

What Is Webflow?

Webflow is a software as a service (SaaS) application that allows designers and web developers to build websites with minimal programming work. It is a visual tool with a drag-and-drop interface to build fully responsive sites with creative layouts. 

The target audience for Webflow is designers or general laymen who lack programming skills. This audience is pretty large.

Designers will love the visual editing software, which immediately generates corresponding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript codes. Users with technical skills can further customize their websites with various programming languages (Python, Ruby, HTML5, XHTML, etc.).

According to Webflow user reviews online, the extensive features it provides are great for all levels. The solution is an all-in-one content management system that does not require external plugins to function.

Websites built with Webflow are hosted on Fastly and distributed by the Amazon CloudFront content delivery network (CDN). 

The company is based in San Francisco, USA. 

Features

Webflow isn’t just a basic website builder; it has many functionalities. Here are the ones that caught our attention:

Webflow Website Builder

The Website Builder has a drag-and-drop interface that lets you drag “blocks” of content you like into your website. For example, you can add a blog or an e-commerce checkout page.

With regular practice, you can get familiar with the website builder quickly. Its visual interface may seem complex, but the company provides tutorials to first-time users. Webflow also provides help in the form of FAQs, and customer support if you hit a roadblock. 

If some features you need are not made available by Webflow, you can connect to external plugins and integrations via a marketplace.

Webflow Domain Hosting

Webflow allows custom domain name hosting for the sites you build with its website builder. You can either buy a new domain from one of the partner providers (e.g. GoDaddy) or point an existing one you own to the platform. Custom domains make you look professional, and it’s essential to get one for this reason.

You can also use Webflow subdomains, often when your site is a mockup rather than a full product.

Webflow E-mail Hosting

Webflow lets you host custom emails on your domain names. You can do this by signing up for an account with a provider like Zoho and Google’s Gsuite. All you need is to point your domain’s MX records to their service to connect it. 

Having custom emails helps make you look professional and presentable to your clients.

Webflow Templates

Be it a blog, e-commerce site, or portfolio website, there are a variety of free and premium templates to select. 

Webflow has over 1,000 available templates. They cost as low as $49 to as high as $149 or more. There are options for:

• hospitals 
• schools 
• startups
• freelance journalists 
• news websites 
• photographers 
• political campaigns

And more!

Webflow eCommerce

The web builder contains many tools to help you set up a professional, functional e-commerce site. They include:

• Payment gateways (e.g., Stripe and PayPal) 
• Email marketing tools
• Customizable store templates.

You may have a brick-and-mortar store and want to move it online, but your lack of technical expertise is limiting. Webflow is an ideal solution for you

Webflow CMS

Webflow provides a content management system (CMS) that gives complete control over your content structure without the need to code. It’s where all the dynamic content serving a website is stored and maintained. 

The website then references that dynamic content on different pages. Hence, anytime you make changes to the CMS, it reflects instantly on the whole website.

Webflow CDN

Webflow lets you distribute your site files through a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure fast load times for visitors.

Instead of having your site files stored on a single server in a single location, you can spread them worldwide. This way, people visiting your site from anywhere can access the ones closest to them. A CDN ensures that your website loads fast for your users.

Amazon’s CloudFront content delivery service powers the Webflow CDN. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s biggest cloud provider, with 84 availability zones worldwide. 

Webflow Analytics

Webflow allows you to obtain and analyze web visitor data. It allows integrations with external analytics services such as Google Analytics and Optimizely. 

Getting accurate data on your visitors’ is a helpful tool to serve them better. Webflow makes this simple to do. 

Webflow Security

Webflow has many in-built security features to help protect your website from external threats. They include;

• Free SSL certificates
• Two-factor authentication
• Backups and versioning
• Role-based authentication
• DDOS protection
• Single sign-on
• Password-protected pages.

Security is paramount to any website, especially those run by people with little technical expertise. Webflow handles that for you and gives you time to focus more on the non-technical aspects of managing a website.

Webflow Forms

You can insert forms on your Webflow website to collect information from customers. This is a good feature for people looking to generate sales through their site. For example, you can insert a contact form to let visitors reach out for inquiries.

Webflow Integrations

Webflow lets you integrate your site with external tools performing various functions. For example, you can link up to Google Analytics to get visitors’ data . You can also use Mailchimp for a newsletter.

Some other common integrations include;

• Zoho for email
• AddThis for social sharing
• Pixabay for free images
• Shopify for e-commerce

Webflow Pros and Cons

As with all things, Webflow has its advantages and disadvantages. 

Pros

Design Freedom

Webflow is a tool built by designers for designers. It lets users take control of the website-building process. The tools available on its platform are vast.

While testing the solution for this Weblflow review, we were amazed at how much freedom we had.

99.9% Uptime guarantee

Thanks to its content delivery network (CDN), Webflow websites are always available 99.9% of the time. 

According to Webflow user reviews, It’s rare to see hosting issues, which is a plus for those running online businesses. 

Lots of tutorials and learning materials

Webflow provides many video tutorials and other learning resources for its users. Due to its vast features, we expect every user to run into difficulties at one point or the other. But the company has got your back.

Ease of Use

The tool is relatively easy to use thanks to its drag-and-drop page builder functionality and intuitive user interface. It’s great for beginners. This is just one of Webflow’s benefits.

Landing Pages

A landing page is very important to people in the e-commerce world or software vendors to attract customers. Having the perfect one will help drive sales. Webflow offers responsive and customizable solutions.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Webflow has tools to optimize websites for major search engines like Google and Bing. Tailoring your sites to rank high on search engines is very important for getting traffic.

Webflow code export

The tool allows you build a proof of concept with the code and export it to another hosting provider. So, you can build attractive websites with Webflow and yet host them in another place you feel is best.

Cons

Expensive

Webflow is a bit expensive for individuals and small businesses, especially for those using it for e-commerce. It starts at $15/month for a basic website plan to $45/month for a business one. A custom enterprise plan costs even more. For e-commerce, it starts at $42/month for a basic subscript into $235/month for an advanced one.

Typically, the Webflow features with the highest demand are available on the more expensive pricing plans.

Learning curve

Webflow has many features, plugins, integrations, and tools that take much time to become well-versed in. If you want to modify your website extensively, you will need some practice.

However, the company makes things easier by aggregating its learning resources into a website called Webflow University. 

Limited code customization

Webflow users with sufficient technical skills might want to customize their websites with their own codes (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). However, the platform is often limited in this area. It’s a tool built primarily for users with little or no technical expertise. 

Basic e-commerce tools

The e-commerce tools on Webflow are somewhat basic and of lower caliber compared to rivals like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. However, Webflow is improving by introducing new features regularly. 

Webflow Customer Support

Customer support is one of the essential criteria to judge a software vendor, and Webflow doesn’t score well here. The support is available via e-mail but not live chat or telephone. It isn’t favorable to customers that want their issues resolved as quickly as possible. 

The average wait time for an e-mail response to Webflow support inquiries is 1-2 business days. Sometimes, it takes longer. It’s one of the few things that customers complain about.

Webflow customer service is available from Monday-Friday. The company also has a Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) page and customer support forum.

What Is Webflow Best for?

Webflow is an ideal tool for designers, freelancers, bloggers, business owners, and even enterprise teams.

Designers

Thanks to its extensive suite of fitting tools, Webflow is ideal for web designers seeking to showcase their prowess. 

For example, you can create user interfaces and proof of concepts to pitch to clients. The extensive customizability on Webflow is a great advantage.

Freelancers

Freelancers can use Webflow to showcase their portfolio in a beautiful, professional way. You can use it to build a responsive website to showcase your talent and get jobs.

Business Owners

You can use the solution to build good-looking websites for your businesses. Software as a service (SaaS) vendors can take advantage of Webflow landing page templates to generate leads. Likewise, people who sell stuff can take advantage of the e-commerce platform to sell their products online.

Bloggers

Webflow has a blogging platform that you can use to build beautiful, professional blogs. It’s a formidable rival to WordPress in this arena.

Enterprise Teams

Webflow can help foster collaboration between employees in a company, especially designers. Teams can set up websites to share information seamlessly and collaborate on work projects. 

Webflow Hosting Pricing

Webflow has free tier with minimal functionality.  It is suitable for testing the different features but not enough to building professional, customizable websites.

The tool has two types of plans Site plans and Account Plans. Site ones are billed per website. Furthermore, they are categorized into Website and Ecommerce.

Account plans are billed per account into Individual and Team plans.

Webflow Site Plans

Website

• Basic - $12 per month, paid annually, or $15 paid monthly
• CMS -  $16 per month, paid annually, or $20 paid monthly
• Business - $36 per month, paid annually, or $45 paid monthly

Ecommerce

• Standard - $29 per month billed annually, or $42 billed monthly
• Plus - $74 per month billed annually, or $84 billed monthly
• Advanced - $212 per month billed annually, or $235 billed monthly

Account Plans

Webflow Individual Plan

• Lite - $16 per month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly
• Pro - $35 per month billed annually, or $42 billed monthly

Webflow Team Plan

• Webflow Teams - $35/person per month billed annually, or $42 billed monthly. Minimum of 2 persons per team.

Comparison Table

Here’s a quick comparison between Webflow and alternative web building and hosting sites. 

Verdict

Webflow is a very useful tool to create professional, good-looking websites even if you’re a beginner.  

Although it’s quite expensive, the tool comes with numerous features that make it worth it.

So, give it a try today. You won’t regret it!