Growth & Strategy

My 7-Year Journey: From WordPress Loyalists to No-Code Converts (Webflow vs Framer Reality Check)


Personas

SaaS & Startup

Time to ROI

Medium-term (3-6 months)

I've sat through countless meetings where CTOs insisted on keeping WordPress while marketing teams desperately needed faster deployment. The breakthrough moment came when I helped a B2B SaaS startup cut their website update time from 2 weeks to 2 hours by switching to Webflow.

After 7 years building websites as a freelancer, I've migrated dozens of company websites from traditional platforms to no-code solutions. The reality? Most businesses are stuck debating the wrong questions about Webflow vs Framer while their competitors ship landing pages daily.

Here's what you'll learn from my real migration experiences:

  • Why the "which platform is better" question is backwards

  • My decision framework after building on both platforms

  • When each platform actually makes sense (with real examples)

  • The migration playbook that saved clients thousands in developer costs

  • Why most comparison articles miss the point entirely

This isn't another feature comparison chart. It's a reality check based on what actually happens when you need to build websites that marketing teams can control.

Reality Check

What every founder has already heard

Every comparison article follows the same pattern: feature tables, pricing breakdowns, and theoretical pros and cons. The industry advice usually sounds like this:

  • "Webflow is better for complex sites" - Based on CMS capabilities and interactions

  • "Framer is better for design" - Because of its Figma-like interface

  • "Consider your team's skills" - Webflow for developers, Framer for designers

  • "Evaluate your budget" - Detailed pricing comparison charts

  • "Think about scalability" - Enterprise features and limitations

This conventional wisdom exists because it's easy to measure and compare. Features are concrete, pricing is clear, and skill requirements seem logical. Most agencies and consultants default to this approach because it feels comprehensive and professional.

But here's where it falls short: these comparisons ignore the real problem most businesses face. It's not about which platform has better animations or cheaper hosting. It's about ownership, velocity, and control.

I've watched teams spend months debating platform features while their WordPress site sits unchanged because every update requires developer intervention. The feature comparison approach misses the fundamental question: who actually needs to use this tool, and what are they trying to accomplish?

The truth is, most businesses don't need the "best" platform. They need the right platform for their specific situation and team dynamics.

Who am I

Consider me as your business complice.

7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.

The turning point came during a project with a B2B SaaS startup. Their CTO was adamant about keeping their WordPress site because "we have full control." Meanwhile, their marketing team was filing tickets for simple copy changes and waiting weeks for updates.

I'd seen this pattern repeatedly: engineering teams treating marketing websites like product infrastructure. Every change required sprints, deployment windows, and code reviews. While they debated the technical merits of different platforms, competitors were shipping landing pages daily.

The client's frustration was palpable. They needed to test new messaging, launch campaign pages, and iterate based on feedback. But their "technically superior" setup was actually slowing them down. That's when I realized the platform debate was backwards.

This wasn't an isolated case. Throughout my freelance career, I'd migrated sites to both Webflow and Framer, and I started noticing patterns that had nothing to do with feature comparisons:

  • Teams that succeeded were those where the platform matched their workflow, not their technical requirements

  • Projects that failed usually involved choosing platforms based on feature lists rather than daily usage reality

  • Migration success depended more on team adoption than platform capabilities

The breakthrough insight came when I realized we were solving the wrong problem. The question isn't "which platform is better?" It's "where should this website live so the people who need to update it can actually do so?"

Your website is a marketing asset, not a product asset. It should live where the velocity is needed most: with the marketing team.

My experiments

Here's my playbook

What I ended up doing and the results.

After dozens of migrations and years of platform experience, I developed a decision framework that actually works in practice. Here's the step-by-step process I use with every client:

Step 1: Audit Current Workflow Reality

Before looking at any platforms, I map out how website updates actually happen:

  • Who requests changes? (Usually marketing)

  • Who implements them? (Usually developers)

  • How long does it take? (Usually weeks)

  • What gets delayed or abandoned? (Usually everything)

Step 2: Define Success Metrics

I focus on business outcomes, not technical features:

  • Time from idea to live page

  • Number of people who can make updates

  • Frequency of website iterations

  • Marketing team autonomy level

Step 3: Apply My Decision Framework

Based on real project experience, here's when I recommend each platform:

Choose Framer when:

  • Design differentiation is your competitive advantage

  • You need to go from concept to live in days, not weeks

  • Your team values animation and interaction over complex functionality

  • You're building 1-10 pages maximum

Choose Webflow when:

  • You're building beyond 20+ pages

  • You need robust CMS capabilities for blogs, resources, or directories

  • Custom integrations and workflows are part of your roadmap

  • SEO performance is critical for your business model

Step 4: The Migration Process

When migrating from WordPress or other platforms:

  1. Content audit - What actually needs to be migrated vs recreated

  2. SEO preservation - URL mapping and redirect strategy

  3. Team training - Hands-on workshops, not just documentation

  4. Gradual handoff - Start with simple updates before complex changes

Step 5: Success Validation

Within 30 days, I measure:

  • How many team members have successfully made updates

  • Average time from request to live change

  • Number of marketing experiments launched

  • Team satisfaction with the new workflow

This framework works because it focuses on the human element that most technical comparisons ignore: who actually uses the tool and what they're trying to accomplish.

Team Velocity

Webflow and Framer both deliver speed, but in different ways. Framer gets you from concept to live faster, while Webflow scales content updates better.

Learning Curve

Despite marketing claims, both platforms require learning time. Success depends more on team commitment to the new workflow than platform simplicity.

SEO Reality

After migrating dozens of sites, SEO performance remained strong on both platforms. The key was proper migration strategy, not platform choice.

Migration Success

The most successful migrations happened when we focused on team adoption first, technical features second. Change management beats feature comparison every time.

The results speak for themselves. That B2B SaaS startup I mentioned? They went from 2-week update cycles to 2-hour turnarounds. Their marketing team could finally test messaging, launch campaign pages, and iterate based on real feedback.

But the transformation went deeper than speed:

  • Marketing autonomy increased - No more developer bottlenecks for content changes

  • Experiment frequency jumped - From quarterly updates to weekly tests

  • Team satisfaction improved - Marketing felt empowered, developers focused on product

  • Business velocity accelerated - Faster iteration meant better conversion optimization

Across all migration projects, the pattern was consistent: teams that got platform ownership right saw 10x improvements in website iteration speed. The specific platform mattered less than matching the tool to the team's actual workflow needs.

The unexpected outcome? Several clients discovered that their website velocity improvement led to better overall marketing performance. When you can test and iterate quickly, you learn faster and optimize better.

Learnings

What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.

Sharing so you don't make them.

Here are the key lessons from 7 years of platform migrations and dozens of client projects:

  1. Ownership trumps features - The best platform is the one your team will actually use daily

  2. Velocity beats perfection - Fast iteration often produces better results than perfect setup

  3. Team fit matters most - Choose based on who uses the tool, not who builds it

  4. Migration is about people - Technical transfer is easy, workflow change is hard

  5. Start simple, scale up - Begin with basic usage before complex implementations

  6. SEO survives platform changes - Proper migration planning preserves rankings

  7. Feature lists lie - What platforms can do matters less than what teams will do

What I'd do differently: I wish I'd focused on change management from day one instead of treating it as an afterthought. The technical migration is the easy part.

When this approach works best: Teams ready to embrace new workflows and commit to learning. When leadership supports the transition with time and training.

When it doesn't work: Organizations with rigid approval processes or teams resistant to change. If you can't commit to new workflows, platform choice won't solve your problems.

How you can adapt this to your Business

My playbook, condensed for your use case.

For your SaaS / Startup

For SaaS startups looking to implement this playbook:

  • Start with Framer for MVP landing pages - Speed to market beats complexity

  • Migrate to Webflow when you hit 20+ pages or need CMS functionality

  • Prioritize marketing team autonomy over developer preferences

  • Plan migration during low-traffic periods to minimize SEO impact

For your Ecommerce store

For ecommerce stores considering the transition:

  • Use Webflow for content pages (blog, resources, landing pages)

  • Keep Shopify for product pages and checkout functionality

  • Focus on campaign page velocity for seasonal promotions

  • Train marketing team on basic updates to reduce dependency

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