Making an informed choice between WordPress & Webflow
The two most sturdy ships available are WordPress and Webflow, each with its’ own unique strengths and weaknesses. Although it is arguably currently the most popular website builder, WordPress has some clear disadvantages and Webflow has quickly gained ground as a sophisticated alternative.
Webflow is a responsive website builder (meaning it will automatically adapt to fit different screen sizes) and its’ core strength is the broad scope for customisation. It essentially offers a toolkit combining a fully customisable CMS (Content Management System) offering more flexibility than WordPress, with the visual design elements you would expect from a content coded website.
With Webflow it is possible to start with a blank canvas, as you would with a content coded site, or use their ready-made structures. This enables you to build your site around the unique content and needs of your business, as opposed to trying to fit everything into a WordPress template.
As with WordPress, Webflow also has its’ Cons, so you do need to consider the whole structure of your ship before you set sail. Webflow is not open source software, as is the case with WordPress. It is positioned as a more sophisticated website builder with more creative control and this will naturally be reflected in the price tag.
Linking your page to Facebook and Twitter is straightforward, but embedding a live feed can be more difficult. This means that where Webflow offers greater flexibility than WordPress, it also requires more expertise to craft. Luckily, that is where our passion and experience will help you to build a vessel that will not only visually match the grandeur of the Titanic, but also make sure you steer clear of all the numerous icebergs often lurking beneath the surface of the waters in the world wide web.
WEBFLOW | WORDPRESS |
|
---|---|---|
Design freedom | You start with a blank canvas or a choice of fully customisable templates and customise everything visually – thus not using code. | You are restricted by the use of available templates. For any customising, you will need additional plugins or you will need to know how to code. |
Code quality | All code, including add-ons and plugins, is written by in-house web designers, so you are ensured that it is clean and secure. | The code is open source and thus anybody can write code for a WordPress site and plugin – this can compromise the quality and security of the code. |
Page speed | Websites are hosted on Tier 1 Content Delivery Network, Amazon CloudFront, and Fastly and the code is also no larger than it needs to be, so it improves loading time. | The page speed depends on various factors, but because of the reliance on plugins WordPress sites are known for slower loading time. |
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) | The SEO settings of Webflow sites are built-in, fully customisable, and easy to setup. It also offers mobile-friendly design and performance. | Although it is easy to customise, you will need to install plugins to perform many of the most common SEO tasks. |
Site security (SSL) SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layers. This is the standard technology needed for keeping your internet connection secure and making sure sensitive data sent between two systems is kept safe. | Webflow offers free SSL on all sites, backed by constant threat monitoring and automatic back-ups to Amazon web servers. | Free SSL, but WordPress sites are unfortunately known for their security vulnerabilities, due to plugins and open-source nature, when they are not properly maintained. |
User-friendliness of CMS | Simple on-page editing and great customisation. | Simple and easy to use, but lacks on-page editing. |
eCommerce | The biggest advantage of running your eCommerce business via Webflow is the ability to customise and brand all elements of the buying experience. It ensures a simpler web store design approach and offers a broad set of integrated tools. | WordPress allows for external plugin integration options to boost your eCommerce project functionality, the most popular being WooCommerce. |
Animations and interactions | Webflow has built-in tools that allow you to add motion and interactions to almost any element on your website through a mouse click, mouse hover, mouse move over element, or scroll into view. | With WordPress templates, you will need to custom code any animations or interactions, with built-in tools usually being limited to scrolling into view – such as fade, slide or zoom. |
WEBFLOW | WORDPRESS |
|
---|---|---|
Design freedom | Webflow You start with a blank canvas or a choice of fully customisable templates and customise everything visually – thus not using code. | Wordpress You are restricted by the use of available templates. For any customising, you will need additional plugins or you will need to know how to code. |
Code quality | Webflow All code, including add-ons and plugins, is written by in-house web designers, so you are ensured that it is clean and secure. | Wordpress The code is open source and thus anybody can write code for a WordPress site and plugin – this can compromise the quality and security of the code. |
Page speed | Webflow Websites are hosted on Tier 1 Content Delivery Network, Amazon CloudFront, and Fastly and the code is also no larger than it needs to be, so it improves loading time. | Wordpress The page speed depends on various factors, but because of the reliance on plugins WordPress sites are known for slower loading time. |
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) | Webflow The SEO settings of Webflow sites are built-in, fully customisable, and easy to setup. It also offers mobile-friendly design and performance. | Wordpress Although it is easy to customise, you will need to install plugins to perform many of the most common SEO tasks. |
Site security (SSL) SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layers. This is the standard technology needed for keeping your internet connection secure and making sure sensitive data sent between two systems is kept safe. | Webflow Webflow offers free SSL on all sites, backed by constant threat monitoring and automatic back-ups to Amazon web servers. | Wordpress Free SSL, but WordPress sites are unfortunately known for their security vulnerabilities, due to plugins and open-source nature, when they are not properly maintained. |
User-friendliness of CMS | Webflow Simple on-page editing and great customisation. | Wordpress Simple and easy to use, but lacks on-page editing. |
eCommerce | Webflow The biggest advantage of running your eCommerce business via Webflow is the ability to customise and brand all elements of the buying experience. It ensures a simpler web store design approach and offers a broad set of integrated tools. | Wordpress WordPress allows for external plugin integration options to boost your eCommerce project functionality, the most popular being WooCommerce. |
Animations and interactions | Webflow Webflow has built-in tools that allow you to add motion and interactions to almost any element on your website through a mouse click, mouse hover, mouse move over element, or scroll into view. | Wordpress With WordPress templates, you will need to custom code any animations or interactions, with built-in tools usually being limited to scrolling into view – such as fade, slide or zoom. |
Sources
https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/website-builders/webflow-review/
https://www.getapp.za.com/reviews/101619/webflow
https://www.aawebmasters.com/webflow-review/
https://satoristudio.net/webflow-review/#pricing
https://thedigitalmerchant.com/website/webflow-vs-wordpress/
https://superbwebsitebuilders.com/webflow-vs-wordpress/