Webflow vs The Best Alternatives – Detailed List with Comparisons, FAQs & More

While Webflow is definitely a great option to go for as far as website builders go, it does have some drawbacks which could hinder you. 

Luckily, there are several alternatives available that you can consider for your needs as an online course creator who wants to build a website. 

In this post, we’ll go over everything that Webflow has to offer and also, provide you with some alternatives to consider. 

Quick Summary of the Main Product

Webflow is not your average website builder as it combines the features of a site builder with a CMS (Content Management System). 

Unlike most site builders, Webflow allows you to customize the mobile versions of your website and make them dynamic and responsive. 

You can make changes across your site using its editor without needing to install any additional plugins. 

Unlike WordPress, you don’t have to look for a third-party web hosting service in order to host the website you created using Webflow. Webflow offers hosting and domain solutions as part of its package. 

Webflow also boasts responsive and helpful customer support with tons of resources to get the most out of the builder such as Webflow University, video tutorials, and a community forum. 

Features and Benefits

Visual Editor 

Webflow’s editor is one of the main reasons why the platform has become so popular. 

It allows you to create elegant and engaging websites without having to know anything about HTML, CSS or coding in general. 

Furthermore, while you don’t need to have coding knowledge to create a great website using the Webflow designer, if you do have it and wish to include custom code of your own, Webflow gives you the option to do so. 

Most website builders that feature a visual editor tend to be quite restrictive and if you want to make a website with a unique layout, you may find it difficult to do so. 

However, that’s not the case with Webflow as it allows you to let your imagination run wild and build your website according to your needs. 

It does this through its CMS. 

Webflow CMS

As mentioned above, the Webflow Designer is extremely flexible to begin with and great for static website creation. 

However, if you want to take your website to the next level, then Webflow will allow you to do so by integrating CMS and e-commerce features with the designer. 

The CMS within Webflow enables you to create collections. You can think of collections as custom content types that can contain any type of field you want such as plain text, dates, colors, images, video, etc. 

Flowbase

Flowbase is the largest resource for Webflow assets, templates, guides, and videos. 

When you first get a subscription to Webflow, it’s a good idea to go over to Flowbase and check out the different templates they have to offer. 

You may find something that is exactly suited to your needs or you may just find a good starting point for your website.

Moreover, you can customize it to create the most engaging site for your online course(s). 

E-commerce

In addition to Webflow CMS, you also get integration with e-commerce tools with Webflow. 

Similar to Webflow CMS, e-commerce enables two new types of collection within the Webflow editor called products and categories. 

Both of them work similar to the collection content type in the CMS but they have special fields which you would require for e-commerce. 

Once you create a few products (in your case, these would be online courses), you can then use these products to place them on certain pages (for example, landing pages that you’d create with the Webflow editor). 

The e-commerce tools within Webflow also provide you with checkout and shopping cart pages that you can style and customize according to the needs of your personal brand. 

Domain and Hosting Solutions

As part of its basic plan that costs $12 per month, you get your own custom domain and a hosting provider to host it with Webflow. 

An SSL security certificate is also included and Webflow guarantees 99.99% uptime via their Service Level Agreement (SLA). 

This agreement means that if you can prove your website does not have an uptime of 99.99%, you’ll be fully refunded. 

The site speed with their hosting provider is also quite commendable with little to no lag when we switch between pages, even ones that are loaded with tons of assets. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Webflow

Pricing

Webflow features highly competitive pricing as its basic plan costs just $12 per month.

As an online course creator, the features you get as part of their basic plan are pretty much all you need to get started with your website as well as to maintain it. 

Not only do you get an easy-to-use editor that you can utilize to build an elegant website, but you also get a hosting platform with SSL security. 

Ease of Use

It’s true that Webflow features a visual editor as well as extensive e-commerce and CMS tools. 

That being said, it can definitely take you a while to fully understand how Webflow works until you start to get maximum value out of it. 

Webflow does have a learning curve which you’ll have to get over before you can build your website exactly the way you want. 

We think that Webflow’s learning curve is certainly steeper than other website-building platforms.

As an online course creator, this is something you should be wary of as the time you spend learning the page builder should be spent refining your course content and developing its marketing campaigns.

Domain and Hosting Solutions

As mentioned earlier, you get your free domain as part of Webflow’s basic plan. 

This isn’t something you can get with many other popular site builders such as WordPress. 

It’s very beneficial because you won’t have to look for a third-party hosting service that is fully compatible with your site builder and you won’t have to pay separately to that hosting service either.

The hosting solution that Webflow provides is quite decent. The site speed is respectable thanks to Webflow having 100+ data centers worldwide. 

It’s also very secure with built-in SSL for all websites created with Webflow. 

SEO and E-commerce Tools

You will create this website as an online course creator in order to boost your online presence and attract potential customers to your brand. 

Naturally, SEO will play a part in that and Webflow has extensive SEO settings that can help you achieve that. 

It allows you to add schema markups, edit meta titles and descriptions, edit alt tags for images, and also features robust management for 301 redirects. 

We’ve already discussed the e-commerce tools above and how you can use them to host your online courses on your website. 

Customer Support

Not only is Webflow’s customer support extremely responsive and helpful, but it also comes with a ton of helpful resources. 

These resources include 

• Webflow University contains lessons on how to properly utilize the different features within Webflow. 
• Video tutorials.
• Instructional posts.
• A community forum.

Pros and Cons

What we liked	What we didn’t like
• Extensive SEO settings • Comes with a hosting solution • Affordable • Access to free plugins as well as premium plugins for extra functionality • Great site speed and performance • Completely visual canvas for easy editing  • Minimal dashboard UI for easy navigation	• Relatively difficult to use compared to other builders such as Wix or Squarespace

Social Proof

When it comes to Webflow, people love how it’s built both for people with no technical knowledge of web design as well as for people who know how to code. 

The CMS aspect of it is especially popular among users as it eases the process of creating websites that are custom-made to serve specific purposes. 

The extensive SEO settings, as well as e-commerce options, are also something that its users love. 

Here are some reviews that we read online: 

Similar to Webflow (Recommendations)

#1: Best User-Friendly Site Builder – Wix Review 

Wix has gained extreme popularity in recent years and it’s not unwarranted: the ease of use that Wix provides to its customers with its drag-and-drop editor is almost unparalleled. 

People love the Wix editor and how it guides beginners but also gives veterans the liberty to run wild and build a website exactly how they want. 

While Wix also has a visual editor, it does have a steep learning curve. Wix’s editor, on the other hand, is extremely intuitive to use thanks to its neat menus, intuitive controls, and easy guidelines. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Wix

Pricing:

Wix offers 4 different plans with the unlimited plan being the one that would be most suitable for online course creators. 

The unlimited plan costs $12.50 per month which is comparable to Webflow’s $12 per month. 

For these $12.50, you get: 

• A custom domain with an SSL security certificate 
• Unlimited bandwidth 
• 10 GB of storage space 
• 1 video hours 
• Free access to their site booster app
• Free access to their visitor analytics app 

We feel that for $12.50 per month, the amount of value you get is definitely worth it. 

Ease of Use: 

As mentioned above, Wix is much easier to use compared to Webflow. 

That being said, this ease of use comes at the cost of reduced functionality and customization options for your website. 

Domain and Hosting Solutions: You get your own custom domain to either host your online courses or promote your personal brand (or both) as part of Wix’s unlimited plan. 

The performance and speed of the hosting solution are also respectable with a 99.9% uptime. 

SEO and e-commerce Tools: Wix boasts extensive options for customizing metadata and adding schemas to make your website more SEO-friendly. 

Furthermore, it gives you access to its Site Booster app which helps you rank better on search engines as well as access to its visitor analytics app that gives you detailed metrics on your website visitors. 

These analytics can help you make better decisions on how to reach a wider audience. 

Furthermore, Wix has extensive options and templates for you to build an e-commerce page for your online course or an e-commerce site.

Customer Support: Wix’s customer support is extremely helpful and responsive. They’ve provided clear and detailed solutions to us every time we ran into any issue. 

What we liked	What we didn’t like
• Extensive SEO and e-commerce tools • Huge template library  • Helpful widgets to choose from • Easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor • Helpful customer support	• Templates are not interchangeable

Best User-Friendly Site Builder 

The best user-friendly site builder is Wix thanks to its intuitive editor and a vast library of customizable templates that you can start from. The hosting solution it provides also means that it’s an all-in-one solution to get your website off the ground. 

#2: Best Robust Site Builder with Plugins – WordPress Review 

WordPress is a household name and the world’s most popular site builder. According to an estimate, 39% of websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. 

It’s important not to confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com which is a blog hosting service. 

This section is about the former which is a web development platform. 

WordPress is extremely flexible with its design and the types of website you can create with it are limitless. 

Furthermore, since WordPress is the most popular builder in the world and has been around for a long time, there are countless plugins that you have access to. 

You can find plugins for pretty much every process you can think of and it makes the creation of your WordPress website much easier. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy WordPress

Pricing: WordPress.org is open-source software that is free to use. That’s right, you can get your WordPress site set up completely free of charge. 

Ease of Use:

 While WordPress is definitely the most popular builder out there, it can sometimes seem outdated when compared to its competitors. 

WordPress is fairly easy to use if you want to create static websites but if you want a customized layout, then you’ll have to spend some time learning how WordPress works. 

You can choose to use its built-in editor but it also allows you to insert custom code if you want.

Domain and Hosting Solutions: Unlike the other two builders on this list, WordPress does not provide you with a domain and hosting solution for your WordPress site. 

This means that you’ll have to find a hosting solution separately that is fully compatible with WordPress.org. 

This can often be less than ideal because many hosting services tend to have problems whenever WordPress rolls out any updates to its platform. 

SEO and e-commerce Tools: While WordPress does not inherently have extensive SEO and e-commerce features. 

You can definitely opt to gain access to them for your entire site using WordPress plugins. 

As mentioned earlier, there are a countless number of them available and you can utilize the popular ones to make your website SEO-friendly and add e-commerce options. 

Customer Support: If we talk about Webflow vs WordPress, then the former’s customer support is actually much better. 

This is understandable because the customer base for WordPress.org is much larger. 

That being said, the WordPress community is huge and you can find tons of community forums and helpful articles online that can help you with any issue you may have.

What we liked	What we didn’t like
• Completely free • In-line HTML editing options • Access to tons of plugins • Full customization and flexibility • Complete control	• Does not offer a hosting solution • Does not offer security and backup options

Best Robust Site Builder with WordPress Plugins

The best robust site builder is WordPress.org thanks to its huge library of plugins as well as full compatibility with third-party tools that you can use to push your website to the next level.

Website Builder – Guide to Buy

Pricing 

Naturally, you will want the site builder to be as cheap as possible. 

Check if the free version of a certain builder offers everything you need as an online course creator or not. 

Builders are often very cheap and you can sometimes get away with just using the cheap version. 

We recommend that you don’t go over the price of $15 per month when you choose a builder for your online course website. 

Ease of Use 

Of course, you want your builder to be intuitive to use with an easy-to-understand user interface. 

You don’t want to waste time learning how to perform web design using the builder as this is time that could be spent perfecting your online course. 

Domain and Hosting Solutions 

It’s a good idea to opt for a builder that offers domain and hosting solutions as part of its package. 

That way, you won’t have to look elsewhere for a hosting service that’s fully compatible with your builder and you also won’t have to pay separately to that hosting service. 

SEO and e-commerce Tools

SEO and e-commerce tools are essential in your builder if you want to make one for the purposes of boosting your online course business. 

Don’t sleep on SEO and e-commerce tools as an online course creator.

Naturally, you want your website to reach as many people as possible. Hence, it’s a no-brainer for you to have extensive SEO options within the builder you use for web design. 

Secondly, if you host your online course(s) on your website, then your builder must have e-commerce tools in order to accommodate the purchases from your customers.

Webflow vs The Best Alternatives – Wrapping Things Up…

While open-source software such as WordPress offers complete control, Webflow offers ease of use along with an editor that ensures elegant web design. 

We think Webflow has done an amazing job with their editor and it’s definitely something that can be a considerable option for online course creators. 

You just have to make the decision of whether you favor a higher amount of control or ease of use. 

Webflow and WordPress offer higher amounts of control but are difficult to learn whereas Wix offers lesser control but is much easier to get the hang of.