If you have decided to create a new website or update an existing one, you are probably faced with the choice between two popular platforms: WordPress and Webflow. Both solutions are powerful tools for creating websites, but their approach, cost, and maintenance differ significantly. In this in-depth comparison, we review the strengths, weaknesses, and actual costs of both platforms to help you make an informed decision.
What is WordPress and Webflow?
WordPress is the most popular content management software in the world, running over 40% of all web pages. It is an open source platform, which means that the basic software is free, but requires separate hosting and often several add-ons, or plugins, to achieve full functionality. WordPress has been on the market since 2003 and has evolved over the years from a simple blog base to a powerful website creation tool.
Webflow, on the other hand, is a modern visual web design platform that combines design, development and hosting into one comprehensive solution. Webflow was created in 2013 with the aim of enabling designers and companies to create professional websites without programming skills. The main advantage of the platform is that everything you need is already inside - hosting, security, SSL certificate and constant updates.
Cost: Actual price comparison
One of the biggest questions that arise when creating a website is “How much will it cost?” On the surface, WordPress may seem like a cheaper option because the basic software is free, but the reality is much more complicated.
WordPress Costs
In the case of WordPress, the costs start with the hosting service. Quality hosting costs an average of 10-30 euros per month in Estonia, depending on the service provider and the chosen package. Cheaper shared hosting solutions may cost as little as €5-10 per month, but they don't offer enough performance and security for a professional business.
An SSL certificate, which is mandatory for any website today, usually costs 20-100 euros per year, although some hosting providers offer it for free. Domain registration costs about 10-15 euros per year.
But the real cost comes with plugins. The power of WordPress lies in its extensibility through plugins, but high-quality plugins are mostly paid. Let's take a look at some of the essential plugins and their cost:
Security pluginsare absolutely necessary for WordPress. Wordfence or Sucuri security plugins cost $99-299 per year. Without a proper security plugin, your website will be vulnerable to hacker attacks that can cause serious damage to both your business and the trust of your customers.
Backup Pluginssuch as UpdraftPlus Premium or BackupBuddy cost $70-100 per year. Regular backups are essential to protect your content and data from potential technical issues or attacks.
SEO pluginslike Yoast SEO Premium or Rank Math Pro cost $89-99 per year. While the basic versions are free, the paid versions offer significantly more features to help your website perform better on Google.
Page Builderslike Elementor Pro, Divi or WPBakery cost $49-249 per year. They are necessary if you want to create visually attractive pages without coding.
E-commerce pluginslike WooCommerce itself is free, but the necessary extensions (payment options, shipping integrations, advanced features) can cost anywhere from $100 to $500 per year.
Performance Optimization Pluginslike WP Rocket or NitroPack cost $49-99 per year. They are necessary for your website to load quickly, which is important from a user experience point of view as well as SEO.
Forms Pluginslike Gravity Forms or WPForms cost $59-299 per year, depending on the features you need.
In total, you can pay 500-1500 euros per year for high-quality plugins. This is a significant expense that many people do not consider when they decide on WordPress.
Developer and maintenance costs
In the case of WordPress, the cost is not limited to plugins. The platform needs regular maintenance and renewal. WordPress itself, themes and plugins need constant updating to ensure security and functionality. Any update can potentially cause conflicts with other plugins or interrupt the operation of the website.
Many companies hire a special developer for this or pay for a maintenance package, which costs an average of 50-200 euros per month. This means an additional 600-2400 euros per year. The tasks of the developer include:
- Regular updates and testing
- Security monitoring and troubleshooting
- Checking backups
- Performance Optimization
- Solving technical problems
- Resolving Plugin Conflicts
If you decide to do the maintenance yourself, you need to consider the value of your time. Even if you are technically competent, WordPress maintenance can take several hours a month.
Webflow costs
The Webflow pricing model is transparent and simple. The basic cost is a subscription to the platform, which starts at $14 per month (Basic plan) to $39 per month (Business plan) for a business page. A page with CMS features costs $23 per month.
It is important to note that the price of Webflow includes:
- Professional hosting on world-class servers
- SSL Certificate
- Automatic backups
- Continuous platform upgrade and security
- unlimited data traffic
- CDN (Content Delivery Network) service for fast loading
- Automatic optimization
- Technical Support
There are no plugins in Webflow, since all the necessary functionality is already built into the platform. This means that you do not have additional costs for plugins. You also do not need a separate developer for maintenance, as the platform updates automatically and security is guaranteed.
Comparison of costs
Now let's look at a concrete comparison over a three-year period:
WordPress:
- Hosting: 20€/month × 36 months = 720€
- Plugins: 1000€/year × 3 years = 3000€
- Maintenance: 100€/month × 36 months = 3600€
- SSL and domain: 30€/year × 3 years = 90€
- Total: 7410€
Webflow:
- Platform (CMS plan): 23$/month × 36 months ≈ 750€
- Domain: 15€/year × 3 years = 45€
- Total: 795€
The difference is striking — Webflow is almost 10 times cheaper than WordPress in three years with all the necessary plugins and maintenance. Even if you take the cheaper options for WordPress, Webflow will still be significantly more affordable in the long run.
Security and maintenance
Security is one of the most important aspects to consider when choosing a website. A hacked website can damage your company's reputation, cause data loss and lead to financial damage.
WordPress Security
WordPress is a popular target for hackers precisely because of its wide spread. Thousands of WordPress websites are attacked every day. The main security risks arise from:
- Outdated plugins and themes
- About weak passwords
- Security holes in plugins
- Insufficient server configuration
- About incomplete backup
To keep WordPress secure, you must:
- Regularly update WordPress core, themes and plugins
- Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication
- Install security plugins
- Make regular backups
- Monitor website activity for suspicious activity
- Limit login attempts
- Use the firewall
Even with the implementation of all these measures, there is no guarantee that your website will remain secure. Plugin conflicts can create security holes that are difficult to detect. Many companies have experienced situations where, after updating the plugin, a website stops working or security holes occur.
Webflow security
Webflow takes full responsibility for security. The platform is built with security in mind and uses the best infrastructure in the world (Amazon AWS and Fastly CDN). Benefits of WebFlow Security:
- Automatic security updates without your intervention
- SSL certificate is included by default
- DDoS Protection
- Automatic backups
- Professional Security Team
- Compliance with the requirements of the GDPR
- SOC 2 Type II Certificate
Your only task is to keep your account password safe. Everything else is guaranteed by WebFlow. This means that you can focus on developing your business without worrying about website security.
SEO friendliness
Search engine optimization is critical if you want your website to perform well on Google. Both platforms offer SEO capabilities, but their approach is different.
WordPress SEO
WordPress is powerful from an SEO point of view thanks to its flexibility and plugins. Yoast SEO and Rank Math are popular plugins that help optimize content, metadata, and technical aspects. Advantages of WordPress SEO:
- Wide range of SEO plugins
- Flexible URL structure
- Good content management capabilities
- Wide range of integration options
But WordPress SEO challenges:
- Slow loading speed without optimization
- Plugin conflicts can affect performance
- Requires technical knowledge for optimal setup
- Mobile friendliness depends on the topic
- Needs constant maintenance and optimization
WordPress websites are often slow if not optimized properly. Slow loading speed is one of the main negative SEO factors. Many WordPress websites score low on the Google PageSpeed Insights test, which affects their positions in search engines.
Webflow SEO
Webflow is built with SEO in mind and offers great capabilities without additional plugins. Advantages of Webflow SEO:
- Fast charging speed by default
- Clean and optimized code
- Automatic image optimization
- Responsive design by default
- Easy Metadata Management
- Automatic XML sitemap
- 301 redirects
- Structured data support
- Fast CDN
Webflow websites usually get high scores (90-100 points) in the Google PageSpeed Insights test without additional optimization. This is an important competitive advantage, as Google values fast web pages higher.
Webflow automatically generates clean and semantic HTML code, which is ideal for search engines. The platform also makes sure that all technical SEO aspects are in order — structured data, canonical URLs, hreflang tags, and more.
Responsiveness and mobile friendliness
Over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, so mobile friendliness is critical. Google uses the mobile version as the main source for evaluating web pages.
Responsive WordPress
The responsiveness of WordPress depends entirely on the theme you choose. Some themes are well optimized for mobile devices, others are not. Problems:
- Topics may be poorly coded
- Plugins can affect mobile performance
- Often needs additional CSS customization
- Different behavior on different devices
- Slow charging on mobile devices
While many WordPress themes look good on a desktop computer, mobile devices can experience issues — slow loading, misplaced elements, too small buttons, or illegible text.
Responsiveness of Webflow
Webflow allows you to design a fully customized responsive design for any screen size. The platform uses a visual approach where you can see exactly how a web page looks on different devices:
- Full control over every screen size
- Visual design tool
- Automatic optimization
- Fast charging on all devices
- Consistent user experience
In Webflow, you can design separate versions for desktop, tablet and mobile, ensuring an optimal user experience on any device. The platform automatically optimizes images and resources according to the device screen.
Design quality and flexibility
The visual aspect of a website is the first thing that visitors notice. Professional design builds trust and leaves a positive impression.
WordPress Design
WordPress offers thousands of ready-made themes, both free and paid. However, this brings with it a number of challenges:
- Themes are often overloaded with features
- Thousands of other websites use the same theme
- Customization requires technical knowledge
- The quality of the themes varies greatly
- Plugin conflicts can affect the appearance
Quality themes cost $50-100, but even then there is no guarantee that you will get exactly the design you want. Customization often requires the help of the developer, which entails additional costs.
Webflow design
Webflow provides complete design freedom without coding. The platform uses a visual design tool that automatically generates clean code:
- Complete freedom of design
- Professional visual editor
- Clean and optimized code
- Unique design
- Easy Customization
In Webflow, you can create exactly the design you want without having to worry about technical limitations. The platform is popular among professional designers precisely because of its flexibility.
Performance and speed
The speed of the web page affects both the user experience and the SEO results. Studies show that if a web page loads for more than 3 seconds, 40% of visitors leave.
WordPress Performance
The performance of WordPress depends on many factors:
- Quality of hosting
- Number and quality of plugins
- Theme optimization
- Image Optimization
- Cache setting
Without proper optimization, WordPress websites can be slow. Each plugin adds an additional load that slows down the page. Many WordPress websites take 5-10 seconds or even longer to load.
Webflow performance
Webflow is optimized for speed:
- Fast CDN (Fastly and Amazon CloudFront)
- Automatic image optimization
- Clean code without overloading
- Automatic Cache
- HTTP/2 support
Webflow web pages typically load in 1-2 seconds, which is significantly faster than most WordPress web pages.
Scalability and future-proofing
When choosing a website, you also need to think about the future. How does the platform support the growth of your business?
WordPress Scalability
WordPress is a powerful platform that can handle large web pages, but it requires:
- More powerful hosting
- More optimization
- Professional care
- Additional plugins
For large websites, WordPress costs can grow exponentially.
Webflow Scalability
Webflow grows with your business:
- Auto Scaling
- Sustained performance
- Fixed costs
- Professional infrastructure
The WebFlow platform is built with scalability in mind and can handle millions of visits without additional setup.
User-friendliness
How easy is it to use the platform and manage the content?
WordPress User Friendly
WordPress is relatively simple at a basic level, but:
- Needs learning
- Plugin management is difficult
- Technical issues require expert help
- Innovations can break something
Webflow user friendliness
Webflow is intuitive and visual:
- Visual editor
- Easy content management
- Does not require technical knowledge
- Secure Updating
Why Choose Webflow?
All in all, Webflow offers significant advantages over WordPress:
Costs:Webflow is significantly cheaper in the long run because it does not require plugins or constant maintenance.
Security:Webflow takes full responsibility for security, does not require your intervention.
Performance:Webflow web pages are fast and optimized by default.
THIS:Webflow offers great SEO capabilities without additional plugins.
Maintenance:Webflow requires no maintenance — everything is done automatically.
Design:Webflow provides complete design freedom without coding.
Responsiveness:Webflow ensures a great user experience on all devices.
PartsDesign — your Webflow partner in Estonia
If you decide on Webflow, it is important to find a reliable partner who can help you take advantage of the full potential of the platform. PartsDesign is one of the few Estonian companies specializing in the creation and development of Webflow websites.
Our team has deep knowledge of the Webflow platform and will help you create a professional, fast and SEO-optimized website that supports the growth of your business. We understand the Estonian market and can create solutions that meet the needs of local businesses.
With PartsDesign you can:
- Professional Webflow website design and development
- SEO optimization already in development
- Training so that you can manage the content yourself
- Ongoing support and advice
- Service and communication in Estonian
Webflow is the future of web design — a platform that combines design freedom, technical power and user friendliness. If you want a website that is fast, secure, SEO-friendly and does not require constant maintenance, Webflow is the perfect choice.
Contact us and we will start creating your new WebFlow website together. Invest in the future and choose a solution that will grow with your business without the hidden costs and technical worries of it.