Webflow aims to be a powerful platform for building websites. But is it really? As of now, what can you create with Webflow and what are the limitations of the "no-code" website builder?
Discover our detailed opinion on the matter.
Why use Webflow?
Webflow is a website building tool, renowned for its visual interface called "the designer," which offers advanced design features. But in what specific situations might one choose to use Webflow?
- Marketing website: a showcase for a company, presentation of services, etc.
- Landing page creation: quickly create a landing page to test a product or a new market.
- (Small) E-commerce site: you can create a functional online store with Webflow if you sell a limited number of products.
- Blog: the platform has a powerful CMS for content management with the ability to integrate multiple editors.
Webflow's interface is highly advanced and allows you to create websites with stunning layouts. The CMS feature helps you manage your online stores dynamically, or your SEO-optimized blogs without technical complexity.
Example of a project created with Webflow!
Here is an example of a project with advanced features developed using Webflow and Make. We created a form for Greenly to calculate their clients' carbon footprint in real-time by answering a multi-step questionnaire. Depending on your answers, a score calculation is performed, directing you to a personalized landing page with your evaluation.
Limitations of using Webflow
Webflow is certainly not lagging in terms of front-end capabilities, quite the opposite. However, it still has numerous limitations on the back-end. For instance...
- A limit of 10,000 collection items: this cap is a hindrance to creating large e-commerce sites, for example.
- "Next-generation" image formats are not supported: images in WebP formats, for instance, cannot be integrated into your Webflow projects.
How to go further?
There are several ways to circumvent the native limitations of Webflow:
- By integrating tools like Airtable, Zapier, Make (Integromat), or Memberstack.
- By incorporating "custom code": if you know how to code, you can add your own scripts; if you're unsure how to do something, search forums or specialized blogs, and you will find code snippets shared by the "no-code" community.😉
- Be patient! Webflow frequently rolls out new features for their tools and has a strong inclination toward innovation. An example? Here are two major releases that are expected soon:
- Logic: an automation system integrated into your site that will allow you to send form data directly into a database.
- Membership: create a members-only area on your site without needing additional tools like Memberstack. This will enable you to build your own marketplace with private pages, for instance (coming soon!).
Webflow has its own limitations, which is understandable, and fortunately, they can be mitigated by using third-party applications. Note: The disadvantages of integrating tools like Airtable are that the content may not be optimized for SEO and will require extensive configuration to function properly. This is quite far from the "no-code" mentality if you want your website to be accessible and manageable by your teams from a single interface!
Conclusion
Webflow is a comprehensive tool and highly optimized for front-end development. It is perfectly suited for a website with marketing goals and highly customized design.
The tool still has some limitations on the back-end, but Webflow is a rapidly growing software that invests heavily in the development of its tool and community. Therefore, you can expect to see the current limitations disappear soon. We are convinced of it!
