Webflow
Webflow is a cloud-based no-code website development and hosting platform now valued at $2.1 billion which has raised $140 million in a series B round of funding co-led by Accel and Silversmith. Alphabet’s CapitalG growth fund also participated in the round as a new investor. Webflow is used by major enterprises such as Allianz, Rakuten, Zendesk, and Dell. Their new enterprise product features single sign-on support, security audit compliance, AWS-powered advanced DDoS protection, uptime monitoring, and more features allowing customers to move beyond website development and into more powerful web applications.
One of the biggest selling points is that Webflow doesn’t rely on templates, but rather allows any kind of professional website to be designed from the ground up. One of Webflow’s goals is to enable everyone to build truly interactive applications or membership sites with a logged-in experience, spanning paid membership services, subscriptions, and even enterprise intranets.
“Webflow is more than just a no code development platform, but a greater community.”
Webflow’s visual canvas provides a simple gateway to creating and maintaining any type of website. Add in elements like flexboxes and CSS grids, div blocks, and buttons. Pop in headings, text blocks, and text links. Create and update CMS collections. Place images, embed video, and integrate visuals. It all happens through Webflow’s visual web development platform.
Webflow lets you go even further than standard design elements. Through Webflow’s designer, you also can build rich animations, microinteractions, and eye-catching transitions. Create parallax scrolling, put into place scroll-triggered effects that morph and change elements, roll out sophisticated multi-step animations, and craft a variety of hover effects that will bring your designs to life. You can keep your design as minimal or filled with action as you want. Webflow gives you complete creative control.
Webflow also offers in its no code solutions a visually driven CMS. Through the dashboard, you can create, update, and link together CMS collections. For those more technically inclined Webflow also offers a JSON-based API for building and updating CMS collections and entries. Creating complex CMS collections is no longer the domain of developers. Whether you’re a content writer, web designer, marketer, or anyone else, you can take advantage of Webflow’s CMS and its intuitive user interface.
While you’re crafting your design, Webflow automates the generation of code, outputting all of the HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript that can be directly published, or sent off to developers.
Custom Code
Webflow also allows for custom code, although much happens through a visual user interface. You can use use third-party extensions like Bodymovin from Adobe that lets you integrate Lottie animations, Mailchimp for embedding forms, or even popping in an Instagram feed through a widget from Elfsight.
You’re never boxed in by limitations, but rather have an expanse of options to choose from in creating a custom website.
Webflow Templates
Whether you want to start with a blank screen or choose from the many fully responsive HTML5 templates available, Webflow gives a simple starting point.
If you want to launch an ecommerce store, a company website, or want to whip up some specialized landing pages, there’s a variety of types and styles of templates for any sort of website you need to build.
Webflow never obscures what’s running beneath its designs. You have the option to see all of the HTML and CSS that’s the framework holding everything together. Any change you make to the layout is reflected in the code that’s generated in real time. If you’re interested in how code works, Webflow gives you a peek behind the curtain in gaining understanding.
Webflow Hosting
Webflow also provides lightning-fast, ultra-reliable hosting powered by Amazon Web Services & Fastly. Enjoy the fastest, most scalable hosting technology for your business — without all the hassles of domain setup, FTP, cPanel, and other annoying acronyms. Plus an entire website management platform that meets new HTTP/2 standards out of the box, ensuring your site loads as quickly as possible.
See this comparison chart to see how Webflow’s Hosting offer stacks up against the competition.
You don’t need to use the Webflow Hosting if you don’t want to. On the Lite, Professional, and Team plans, you can export your website and host it anywhere you’d like. No attribution required.
Custom Domains on Webflow
If you don’t already have a domain you can buy your domain right inside Webflow, through GoDaddy or Google Domains.
Webflow Pricing
Webflow is completely free until you’re ready to launch. Build your site for free and take as long as you need. Just add a site plan for more pages, and a custom domain when you’re ready for the world. Webflow offers two different pricing plans: Site Plans and Account Plans.
The Webflow Basic Site Plan starts at $12USD per month, paid annually, or $15 paid monthly.
Ecommerce Plans that enable ecommerce features such as checkout and payment on your site start at $29USD per month billed annually, or $42 billed monthly.
The Basic Webflow Account Plan is free and allows you to experiment with 2 projects. Your unhosted projects will have a two-page limit, but you can purchase a site plan on a per-project basis to unlock up to 100 static pages and additional CMS pages. Paid account plans starts at $16USD per month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly for 10 projects. Unlimited projects come with the Pro Account Plan and are $35USD per month billed annually, or $42 billed monthly.
