Webflow - The Ultime Web Design Suite
Updated · Oct 19, 2022
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- You can avoid coding entirely
- Very versatile and powerful
- Easy to host sites
- Useful templates
- Quite expensive
- Steep learning curve
Website builders are all the rage these days and for good reason. They let newcomers create websites without writing a line of code, while still leaving more than enough room for veteran web designers to show their worth.
So, is Webflow any good? We can assure you that it most definitely is, but we’d still suggest that you join us in this Webflow review and see for yourself.
What Is Webflow?
Webflow is a visual website maker that resembles Wix but is harder to use and more powerful. Because of that, it is ideal for designers who already handle the frontend nicely, but don’t want to go too deep into the backend.
How Does Webflow Work?
Webflow utilizes CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, so you don’t have to. Unless you really want to code, you can get a Photoshop-like designer that relies on HTML principles. This is a very diverse program that also offers a content management system of its own. Its special ecommerce and hosting tools will get you on the market even quicker. On top of that, the Enterprise plan will boost your Webflow websites as much as possible.
Ease of Use
It requires that you put out time in order to learn it, but it will help you all the way through. If you’re a new user, you can watch the great site building tutorial Webflow offers when you start it for the first time.
Still, given its capabilities, it is worth it. Better yet, with its numerous courses, Webflow University will lead you all the way to becoming a great Webflow designer.
Webflow Designer Review
This is where most Webflow websites get created. The Designer itself resembles Photoshop, but is tougher to use. Its toolbar on the left groups some of the most important functionalities that Webflow can provide.
Web design elements
You can add site elements and layouts by using the Add Elements option, which is at the core of Webflow Designer reviews.
Symbols
You can use nearly all elements in a website as symbols. Once you create a symbol out of a certain element, you can effortlessly duplicate it with a single click, or edit its contents to change them everywhere.
Navigator
This is an equivalent of Photoshop’s layers. Use this feature to group or ungroup objects, or to move parts of the page up or down.
Page
With Webflow you can adjust basic SEO options for each page, sort pages, create new pages and page folders.
Interactions
These include all sorts of animations that CSS and JavaScript provide. You can easily set up parallax with Webflow, as well as hover, click, and other scroll animations. On top of that, Adobe After Effects integrations can further make for a great interactive design.
Templates
If you don’t feel like making a website from scratch, you can use one of the numerous paid or free Webflow templates. These are absolutely stunning and make work much more enjoyable, but it is highly advised that you change all of their pre-made elements.
The Webflow templates site is great! It wisely follows web design trends. It can sort templates in numerous ways, show you their key elements, or let you preview a template from the comfort of your browser.
Webflow CMS Review
Webflow isn’t just a content management system, but that is one of its biggest uses. It’s so big that it is best if multiple people work on it.
Design
Designers can contribute to a good CMS by setting up layouts that follow the latest design trends, connecting elements to them, creating search bars, and showing or hiding options.
Editing
While a person designs the layout in Webflow, another can make reviews of its content whenever necessary, or invite other teammates or clients to do so. Similar to symbols, elements, such as headlines, can be changed everywhere by changing just a single instance.
Collection management
You can also import, export, or connect multiple collections. HTML embedding is enabled too.
Developing
If you are a developer, you can manage all of the above by using code, working on the CMS API, and exporting it as JSON.
Zapier
Another way to avoid coding is by using Zapier which lets you integrate more than 750 apps into your Webflow project.
Webflow Ecommerce Review
The first time you open the ecommerce menu, the software will automatically create some elementary pages for you. Both this and the setup guide make it easier to use.
Just like the CMS, you can approach this part of the website in plenty of ways.
Design
You can use layouts, match all pages, or use custom colors, animations, and interactions for your web store. What’s more, Webflow has a CSS grid that is highly customizable.
You also get to decide how notification emails that go to buyers will look.
Selling options
The advanced on-site and email delivery options allow you to sell both online and physical products. Webflow takes care of payment and shipping options for you. Its services are available for over 200 countries, which makes it easier to create a full-blown sales funnel. Webflow plugins, such as Shopify and MailChimp, further improve this experience.
Scaling
If your business is growing, Webflow still has your back. From discounts to SEO and Google Analytics integrations, there are plenty of methods to keep up with the ever-increasing business size.
Webflow Hosting Review
Webflow is especially known for its very quick and easy hosting system. Not only will it take you through all the steps, but it also does not take a lot of time to host a website. On top of that, Webflow supports GoDaddy and other domain registrars.
Site management
After hosting the site, the changes you make will be immediate. The hosting options that the Webflow software provides support scaling, SEO management, custom forms, and backups too.
Webflow for Agencies
Whether you are the owner of an agency, or an agency happens to be your client, Webflow has many collaboration options to help you out. For example, real-time collaboration allows multiple people to work on any site section simultaneously in the Designer.
Editor
The Editor resembles the Designer, but only allows content changes. What makes it crucial here is the option to add teammates and clients as collaborators, giving them access to edit and review Webflow projects’ products or collections.
Client billing
As long as your country is supported by Webflow for billing, you can create a Client Billing account. With it, you can charge your clients for site updates, and the software will calculate the amount of money you receive.
Webflow SEO Review
Last, but not least, Webflow has good SEO management options. You can access most of them from the editor, but more specific ones are located in other sections. For example, CMS search engine optimization options are in the CMS menu.
Webflow Pricing
The bane of each Webflow review for 2022 is listing all the pricing plans. They can be very confusing, but luckily, we’re here to make things clear.
Site Plans
You can create up to two Webflow websites for free, but only with basic features and the Webflow domain. They can only have a maximum of ten static pages.
For this price, you get to host a website with up to 100 static pages and a Webflow custom domain. The limits for unique monthly visits and form submissions are 25,000 and 500, respectively. There’s also a content delivery network with a bandwidth of 50 GB.
The threshold for unique monthly visitors and form submissions go up to 100,000 and 1,000 respectively, and the new CDN bandwidth is 200 GB. You can also create a special search engine for your site and let up to three people adjust site content in the Editor. But most importantly, you can set up a CMS with up to 2,000 collection items. It can take up to 60 API requests per minute.
With this plan, you can have up to a million unique monthly visits and an unlimited amount of form submissions. The CDN becomes global and has a 400 GB bandwidth. Up to ten people can edit the site, and the site’s search engine offers more common indexing. You can have up to 10,000 collection items and up to 120 API requests per minute.
This set of Webflow plans is custom-made for businesses and offers many benefits. First of all, you receive plenty of additional support, as well as training for all team members. On top of that, you get access to custom billing methods and 99,99% of uptime. Finally, the allowed numbers of content editors, API requests, unique monthly visits, and the CDN bandwidth can all be customized for the needs of your company. Naturally, the rest of the features are the same as in the business plan, but you have to contact Webflow to negotiate the price for the plan.
Ecommerce Plans
It has all features from the CMS plan, while also setting the number of available items, such as ecommerce products and CMS items, to 500. Many advanced store design, payment, and marketing options (e.g., email marketing integrations like MailChimp) become available to you. You can also define where exactly your products can be shipped and the rates for each country. The yearly sales volume is $50,000, and up to three persons can be invited to manage your webstore. The two limitations unique to this plan are a 2% transaction fee and the Webflow logo at the end of the email.
It allows for a maximum of 1,000 items and borrows other features from the Business plan. It doesn’t include the limitations of the previous plan, raises the number of staff accounts to 10, and sets the yearly sales volume limit to $200,000.
It increases the maximum number of items to 3,000, the number of staff accounts to 15, and removes the yearly sales volume limit.
Workplace Plans
Webflow's free plan lets you publish up to two unhosted websites with up to two static pages to a webflow.io subdomain. They also allow client billing and can handle a maximum of 50 CMS items.
The maximum number of websites you can publish is 10, all of which can have up to 100 static pages. This plan allows you to invite three people to collaborate with you while also letting you control who can access billing details.
For this price, you can add nine colleagues to your Workspace and assing publishing permissions. Additionally, you can publish an unlimited number of websites.
With this option, you get to set up your own seat limits. You also get unlimited unhosted sites, publishing permissions, as well as advanced security.
Webflow Support
Webflow may not be the easiest to use, but it makes up for that with Webflow University, a FAQ section that’s filled with various courses. An automated chatbot is also available at any time, and so is the ticketing system. However, the waiting time for a reply is up to 24-48 hours. The only complaint we at Web Tribunal have here is the lack of a phone number.
Webflow User Reviews
Despite its difficulty, the only users that are not satisfied with Webflow are those not in the target audience. The only real complaint that active users have is the price, which is what every Webflow review, especially on Reddit, mentions at least once.
Other than that, people frequently call Webflow intuitive, fun, stable, and flexible. They all praise its CMS and hosting capabilities, as well as its online tutorials.
When to Use Webflow
This website design and hosting manager sure has a narrow niche. Webflow users with working CSS, HTML, and JavaScript experience will benefit from it the most. It has to be the best DIY website builder for people that actually want to use backend features with just frontend knowledge.
Other than that, it’s best for business owners that are willing to pay for an enterprise plan and get that much-needed additional support.
Webflow Alternatives
Even unique web design tools such as Webflow have serious competitors. We have reviewed how the likes of Adobe XD and Dreamweaver help the creation of websites but here are a few popular Webflow alternatives that are worth considering
Webflow vs Wix
Wix has lower prices and doesn’t rely on HTML/CSS/JS, so it is much simpler, but it doesn’t offer as much designing freedom as Webflow does. This is one of the most similar Dreamweaver alternatives to Webflow, so you can’t really go wrong with either.
Webflow vs WordPress
Even though WordPress is generally simpler than Webflow, using it to build a website from scratch is considerably harder. Also, it doesn’t offer hosting options by itself, but on the flip side, it’s much more established and has many more themes. If you don’t want to code, but don’t know HTML or CSS either, WordPress is for you, especially since it can basically be used for free.
Webflow vs Squarespace
While Webflow is much better suited for big businesses, Squarespace is easier to use and may be better for small to medium businesses. Their fees are similar, so it is up to you to decide. If you already know how to use HTML and CSS, Webflow is the better choice.
Final Verdict
While Webflow has a specific target audience, its reviews show that it’s worth learning. It’s a powerful tool that lets you create and host websites in a pinch without typing a single line of code.
Webflow may be pricey and tough to learn, but these are its only limitations. If you can get over these, you will be pleasantly surprised, as everything else is great and just keeps astonishing us. Too bad its Designer doesn’t support Firefox.
It does have a free plan, but it’s rather limited and serves as a training ground.
You can build websites from scratch, code, or edit one of the many premade templates. There are also numerous tutorials and courses to help you out.
Webflow is quite tough to use if you don’t have experience with HTML or CSS, but thanks to Webflow University, it gets easier. There are also short tutorials that appear every time you use an unused feature.
Webflow has a hosting option and it’s easier to create a site from scratch with it, but WordPress has more themes, is cheaper and otherwise easier to use. Since both are some of the best alternatives to Dreamweaver on the market, it all comes down to your preference.
It’s pretty expensive overall, but there are lots of plans to choose from. Check the pricing section of this Webflow review for more info.
Branko is a round-the-clock tech geek and loving it. His ideal vacation destination is the Akihabara District (or really any place he can take his computer). If there’s a server out there, count on him to find out what it’s made of… and tell you all about it.
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