Webflow vs. WordPress: Which Is Best for SaaS SEO?

If you’re building out a new site for your SaaS business, you probably already know how critical it is to pick the right website builder. Depending on what you’re looking for (and how your business operates), it could mean the difference between a smooth and successful launch and a long, painful process that uncovers more problems than solutions.

Webflow and WordPress are two of the most popular builders — and the ones we see the most. This is because they let businesses create simple and complex sites with little to no technical knowledge. 

Which one is going to work best for your SaaS business? Before you make your decision, let’s compare their features, SEO capabilities, pricing, and user-friendliness. 

Platform overview

Both platforms are great choices for businesses looking for easy-to-use, reliable website builders. It’s not that one platform is necessarily better or worse than the other — they're just different. 

Webflow is a SaaS website builder

Webflow is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform launched in 2013 to help businesses build and launch their websites. It's designed for anyone or any business looking for a low-code or no-code website builder. 

With a SaaS tool, you have instant access to website-building software, hosting services, and site features — for a fee. Basically, everything is pre-made, which means you'll have a straightforward installation process. However, this could mean less customization potential. 

Despite being relatively new, Webflow serves roughly 0.7% of websites globally — including Fivver, Discord, and ResearchGate, which speaks to its abilities. When you choose to host your site with the platform, you get a completely managed solution. This means never having to worry about downtime or applying security patches on your own.

As a Webflow site ourselves, are we a little biased? Probably. But after having tried other builders and worked with countless clients whose builders vary across the board, we can confidently say that this is one of the most effective options available. 

Webflow also stands out from other SaaS builders like Wix and Squarespace. Unlike these platforms, it provides a visual tool that lets you generate your website's Javascript, HTML, and CSS as a backup.  

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WordPress is an open-source website builder

WordPress is what you'd call an industry giant. Launched in 2003, the website builder began as a blogging platform but transformed into a content management system (CMS) catering to all business needs. It serves roughly 43% of websites on the Internet, making it larger than any competitor. 

WordPress is an open-source tool, giving you the ability to edit and fully customize your site. You can opt for a template instead if you don't want (or have the resources) to do all that work, but for brands that want a totally unique, custom-built site, WordPress might be a better option. 

Head-to-head features comparison

Now that you have a general idea of what each platform entails, how do their features compare? Read on to find out:

Templates and themes

Both Webflow and WordPress provide pre-made designs to help users create great-looking websites without too much hassle. Webflow calls these designs “templates,” while WordPress refers to them as “themes.” 

Webflow offers roughly 5,000 templates to help you start the creation process. It also provides a visual editor that lets you modify design elements like headings and images to suit your vision. This feature is good for users looking for headache-free website designs. 

WordPress offers over 12,000 free themes (and even more paid options), which gives users more choices than Webflow. However, modifying these themes isn't as straightforward — you need PHP coding or CSS skills. WordPress may be suitable for tech-savvy businesses with specific design needs. 

Content management system 

WordPress offers CMS capabilities on all plans, meaning anyone can create, publish, and manage content. The builder also offers a rich text editor — Gutenberg block editor — which provides a modular content creation experience. 

However, while this block editor makes it easy to publish content, the WordPress CMS isn't always user-friendly for beginners. It's ideal for developers or businesses with a budget for developers, as you need some technical knowledge to make customizations. 

Webflow doesn't offer a CMS for its lowest plan, meaning you need to upgrade to access the feature. But when you do, you can seamlessly add content pages to your website, thanks to the platform's powerful content delivery network (CDN). 

This network lets you copy and paste content from sources like Google Docs for faster creation. The only downside to the Webflow CMS is that it isn't available for all plans. Otherwise, it's great for users looking for a fast, hassle-free content management solution. 

E-commerce

WordPress’ approach to e-commerce is as simple as it gets, letting you add full e-commerce functionality with just a plugin. Its most popular one is WooCommerce: a free, simple-to-use platform that lets you set up an e-commerce store and sell any kind of product. But — the common theme for WordPress — it requires some technical know-how. 

Webflow is more limited in the e-commerce department. It does offer some built-in e-comm features (if you pay for the e-commerce plan), but they're still in beta, so you may have some bugs to work out along the way. 

For a straightforward, no-frills e-commerce solution, Webflow is the way to go. But, if you want to create a large, fully functioning store with features like multiple payment gateways, WordPress may be a better solution. 

Plugins

To get the most out of your site, you may need to use plugins within your website builder to add the features you want. The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress is a popular one, making it easy to optimize your site for a few SEO basics — even if you’re not an expert. (But if you do decide to pull in the experts, here’s how to choose the right SEO agency for your SaaS business.)  

WordPress offers a ton of built-in plugins and plugins from third-party developers alike. This gives you plenty of flexibility to enhance your site's functionality and can be helpful for businesses that need extensions to make their sites work effectively. 

Webflow doesn't offer an integrated plugin marketplace like WordPress, so you can't add plugins directly into the Webflow interface. However, it does have an API that lets you build integrations with your favorite systems. As you can already tell, this requires technical expertise— but if you have access to that expertise, Webflow can pack even more versatility. 

Integrations

Like plugins, integrations can help you get more out of your website by streamlining tasks. While they may sound similar on the surface, plugins and integrations have two very different functions: Plugins are more of a customization tool that needs to be installed, while integrations enhance automation and workflow functionality by sharing a piece of code with your software (your web builder of choice, in this instance).

WordPress allows you to integrate your site with many tools. Whether you want a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, social media platforms, or email marketing tools, you can easily add them using Wordpress's native solutions or by creating custom automation rules. 

Webflow doesn't provide as many in-built integrations as WordPress. While you can integrate your site with other tools, you'll likely need to separate interfaces and use code embeds. 

If you need advanced integrations to make your site fully functional, WordPress may be a better alternative. 

SEO capabilities

Both WordPress and Webflow are suitable options for any business looking to increase site traffic and enhance its online presence. However, it's important to note that you’ve got to put in the work outside the platform to improve search engine optimization efforts — you need to do keyword research, create high-quality long and short-form content, and find external and internal linking opportunities. 

The right website builder should help you streamline matters like technical SEO and on-site SEO optimization — not complicate it. Here's a deeper look at how Webflow and WordPress stack up in terms of SEO capabilities:

Webflow 

Webflow is a great solution for SEO. It provides responsive, fast-loading designs from the get-go, meaning you can sidestep a lot of the common technical SEO issues that crop up after a site’s been online for a while. 

The website builder also offers some complex SEO capabilities, like adding HTML hreflangs and schema markup to make it easier for search engines to crawl your site. It also lets you customize and edit on-page elements like meta and title tags to help drive organic traffic.

WordPress

WordPress also offers similar SEO capabilities — you can do everything from edit your metadata and optimize site speed to increase traffic and enhance user experiences. However, unlike with Webflow, these functionalities aren't built-in. As a WordPress user, you'll need to install SEO plugins like Rank Math and Yoast SEO to make your site more SEO-friendly. 

Remember: Your SEO success is more about how you use your tools and what you do outside the platform than on the website builder itself. 

Pricing

Let’s be honest — you don't want a tool that’s so expensive that it tanks your bottom line. But that said, much like with any business tool, how much you pay will largely depend on what you need out of your platform. Here’s a breakdown of what it costs to build your website on the two platforms:

Webflow

Webflow has a tiered pricing model, meaning you typically pay more to access advanced features and capabilities. 

There are two major types of plans: Site plans and Workspace plans. You need a Site plan for any site you want to build with Webflow and a Workspace plan if you want to collaborate with other members of your team to build on the platform.

Workspace plan pricing differs based on the number of seats and unhosted sites you want. For example, the Workspace Starter plan offers one seat and two unhosted sites for free, the Core Plan ($19/month per seat billed annually) offers three seats and ten unhosted sites, and the Growth Plan ($49/month per seat billed annually) offers nine seats and unlimited unhosted sites. 

Site plans fall under two categories — General Site plans for standard websites and Ecommerce Site plans for online commerce stores. Here's a pricing breakdown:

General:

• Starter (Free): Suitable if you just want to explore Webflow. You can build a site under this plan, but you have to upgrade to make it accessible to other people. 
• Basic ($18/month): Offers basic features like a custom domain but lacks CMS features, making it suitable for static, simple sites
• CMS ($29/month): Provides a custom domain, CMS features, and three content editors, making it ideal for blogs or small businesses
• Business ($49/month): Offers more extensive features (e.g., 10,000 CMS items and ten content editors), which suit large companies
• Enterprise: Gives access to more extensive features but has custom pricing

Ecommerce Site Plans

• Standard ($42/month): Supports up to 500 e-commerce items, which is suitable for small businesses
• Plus ($84/month): Up to 5,000 e-commerce items, making it ideal for higher-volume businesses
• Advanced ($235/month): Up to 15,000 e-commerce items, which may be a requirement for large businesses

WordPress

We know what you're thinking: “Isn't WordPress free?” 

The answer is yes. Sort of. 

Since it's an open-source platform, you don't need to pay anything to build your site. That said, there are various costs associated with customizing, running, and maintaining your site on the platform: theme costs, web hosting costs, WordPress plugin licenses, and domain name registration costs. 

Because WordPress websites are so customizable, we can’t put an exact price tag on the total cost of running one. However, here’s a look at the base costs of their core plans:

• Free plan: $0/month (limited features)
• Personal: $4/month
• Premium: $8/month
• Business: $25/month
• Commerce: $45/month
• Enterprise: Starts at $25,000/year

Implementation process and learning curve

Webflow and WordPress are both relatively easy to use, but they do have some learning curves to consider: 

Webflow

As a no-code platform, Webflow has a pretty shallow learning curve. It's not only intuitive but also has a drag-and-drop feature that enables you to build your site without prior coding knowledge. 

When you sign up for the platform, you get a short survey geared at helping the platform understand your needs. You then receive a guide that explores some essential concepts to know when using Webflow. When you're done, you can choose whether to use the builder's preset templates or start from a blank slate. 

Granted, as with any software, using Webflow can be a little challenging if you've never used a website builder before. But with the free templates and tutorials, you'll quickly get a handle on it. 

WordPress 

While easier to use than many website builders on the market, WordPress has a steeper learning curve than Webflow, as it requires some prior coding knowledge and HTML experience. You also need to choose a hosting provider, install WordPress themes and plugins, and find a domain registrar to get your website up and running. 

WordPress users also need to configure many settings to make their sites functional. While these processes are relatively straightforward for developers, they can be challenging for people without technical experience. 

Webflow vs. WordPress: Bottom line, which is right for you?

Much as we'd like to offer a definitive answer on which builder would win, the truth is, the best platform ultimately depends on your business, its needs, and the skills your team members have. 

If you want an easy-to-use solution with built-in features like SEO tools, Webflow is the best solution. The platform comes with everything you need to build and run your site, eliminating the need for coding or installing plugins. 

But, if you're tech-savvy and need extensive features and customization capabilities, WordPress may be a better bet. This builder integrates with many third-party tools and has a vast plugin library, which gives you greater control over your site's look and functionality. 

Partner with SEO experts who know the ins and outs of your CMS

Both WordPress and Webflow can be great choices for different businesses. Make your choice based on your needs and level of expertise. But keep in mind that the work doesn't end once you pick a platform — you have to maintain your website and optimize it for SEO to enhance your online presence. 

These tasks require a lot of effort, and to maximize your results, you may decide to partner with an experienced team. 

Ten Speed can help with all SEO and content needs for Webflow, WordPress, and beyond. Whether you want on-page or technical SEO guidance, or full-scale content creation and management (from concept to publishing, maintenance, and repurposing), our team of experts has just the right skills. 

Ready to optimize your WordPress or Webflow website for better rankings? Contact us today!