TL;DR
We compare WordPress vs Webflow vs Framer features for SEO as well as for general usage and scalability. Webflow and Framer have out of the box SEO controls without any external configuration required, on the other hand WordPress will give you a more granual control with plugins, custom fields, SEO schema modification and even integration with Google Search Console, however requires on-going maintenance and WordPress expertise. Depending on business requirement and technical knowledge, you should choose the platform that best aligns with your SEO goals.
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Choosing the right CMS and website page builder isn't just about features anymore. It's about which platform will actually help your website rank better and drive more organic traffic and suits your business needs best, especially if scalability and features are important to your business. All three platforms, Webflow, Framer and WordPress have their strengths, but when it comes to SEO features and performance in 2025 the differences are more significant.
Why considering SEO features is important when choosing a CMS
Your CMS is the foundation of your entire SEO strategy. Pick the wrong one, and you'll spend months fighting technical limitations instead of focusing on content and growth.
Google's ranking factors have evolved. Core Web Vitals, mobile-first indexing, and E-A-T signals now heavily influence search performance and play a big role in overall SEO strategy. Your CMS needs to handle these requirements so your website can go full-throttle when it comes to searchability.
The reality is simple: if your website loads slowly, ranks poorly, or requires fails in technical SEO, your content marketing efforts won't matter and even your ad spent and marketing budgets will go to waste. The platform you choose today will either accelerate your SEO success or become a constant bottleneck.
A good web development platform will allow:
- Your website to load fast
- You the control to customise, add and edit your SEO keywords and parameters
- Ease of publishing regular content with mulitple publishers (if you have a team)
- Allow you full control on heading types, meta-data, image SEO and more
A quick overview and differences between Webflow vs Framer vs WordPress
Webflow is a visual web design platform that generates clean, semantic HTML and CSS. It's hosted on AWS and includes built-in CDN, SSL, and performance optimization. Think of it as a professional website builder that doesn't compromise on code quality.
Framer similar to Webflow is a visual web design tool that lets you build interactive, high-performance websites without writing code. It combines a drag-and-drop interface with powerful customization, making it popular for designers and startups creating landing pages, prototypes, and full sites. It is also more popular for animation and its Figma-alike workflow. Designers love Framer as it has tight integration with Figma to translate designs to working websites.
WordPress powers 43% of all websites but requires separate hosting, themes, plugins, and ongoing maintenance. WordPress is not a page builder by nature, even though it supports multiple page builders as an integration. WordPress is a customisable CMS platform on top of which you can use multiple tools, integrations and technologies to build a webiste you want. It's incredibly flexible but needs the right setup to perform well for SEO. With the right setup, it can surpass many large platforms in terms of both features and performance.
Webflow | Framer | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|---|
Web hosting | Built-in web hosting on AWS with CDN enabled | Built-in web hosting on AWS and Cloudfront CDN enabled | Self hosting required. Flexbility to choose any kind of web hosting, server and pricing tier |
SEO Tools | Built-in basic SEO tools withou any external plugins or installations | Built-in | Requires a plugin to add SEO features. Plugins come with advanved SEO features and integration which super-powers WordPress, however plugin installation and updates are required |
Performance and speed | Managed by Webflow, great performance by default | Great performance by defaul and managed by Framer | Depends on how well the website is built, plugins, code optimisation and hosting. Can match cloud-based (Webflow, Framer) performance if done by professional WordPress developers as it requires extra optmisation |
Feature flexibility | Limited to Webflow features. No custom features can be added. Enterprise plans allow development of custom features but prices can go up to $10K. Some paid extensions may allow additional features | Limited to Framer features, no custom features can be added. | Completely customisable to any features with one of world's largest eco-system of tools, plugins and communities |
Integration with external tools such as Google Shopping | No | No | Yes with plugins or custom code |
Pricing model | Fixed monthly pricing + Per user pricing | Fixed monthly price + per user price | Only pay for hosting which can be bought for different price ranges, make unlimited user accounts |
Design flexibility | Limited to Webflow features however very flexibile with drag and drop interfaace | Limited to what Framer allows but highly flexible | Core WordPress has very limited design flexibility but installing a page builder gives advanced feature and design flexibility |
Offline backups | No | No | Yes |
Host anywhere | No | No | Yes |
Ease of use | Medium learning curve | Small learning curve with very intuitive UX and well designed back-end | Steep learning curve |
Ecommerce Support | Basic | Integrate with Shopify via plugins | Advanced. Use WooCommerce or Shopify Integration |
Great for | Campaign and marketing sites or small scale business websites | Campaign and marketing sites or small scale business websites | Small or medium scale websites with heavy customizations and feature requirements |
1. Website Performance and load time
Sites built on Webflow and Framer typically score ~90+ on Google PageSpeed Insights without any optimization effort. The platform automatically compresses images, minifies code, and serves content through a global CDN.
WordPress sites require customisation and performance optimisation. However with expert WordPress development teams, it is quite possible to hit 100% scores on Google page speed. This requires perfect font optimisation, assets (images and videos) optimisation, correct embedding techniques, great hosting amongst other tasks.
WordPress requires expert WordPress development agency and technical knowledge to meet the webpage speeds that you can get out of the box with Webflow. In this regard, Webflow and Framer make an obvious and first choice as both platform require minimum configuration.
Why website speed matters
There are no direct reports but it is believed among many SEO experts that Google uses page speed metrics as one of the ranking factors however, a fast loading website provides are better user experiences. Both Framer and Webflow's architecture is built to excel at them. WordPress can achieve similarly good scores, but it requires expert WordPress optimization and experience.
2. SEO tools and features
WordPress has the edge on flexibility. SEO plugins for WordPress provide granular control over every SEO element. You can customize title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup and Open Graph tags with precision. Some plugins also offer features of integration with Google Search console, analytics tools, Ecommerce tools and more. This makes WordPress extremely flexibile with SEO tools and customisation.
Webflow and Framer SEO settings are very basic SEO features that are built-in. You get all the essential controls like title tags, meta descriptions, alt text for images but without the overwhelming options that most businesses never use. However, if you need granular SEO controls for perfect optimization, Webflow and Framer will require a lot of tweaking to get those.
For most companies, Webflow and Framer SEO controls are sufficient. For SEO agencies or businesses with detailed SEO requirements, WordPress offers more advanced options.
3. CMS (Content management system) and publishing experience
WordPress dominates content management. The block editor, custom post types, and publishing workflows are designed for content teams. You can schedule posts, manage drafts, and handle complex content hierarchies with ease.
Webflow's built-in CMS is capable but simpler. It works well for blogs, product pages, and basic content needs, but lacks the advanced publishing features that content-heavy sites require. Framer has built-in CMS as well were you can create multiple collections (Posts, Blogs, categories...) the over-all usability experience of Framer CMS is a lot more refined than Webflow's
Both offer basic SEO features, comparatively WordPress offers advanced SEO customizations
If your SEO strategy relies heavily on frequent content publishing and complex content workflows, WordPress is the better choice.
4. Team workflows and marketing agility
Webflow excels at marketing team efficiency. Designers and marketers can make changes without developer assistance. Landing pages can be built and published quickly, A/B tests can be implemented visually, and updates don't require technical expertise.
WordPress typically requires more technical knowledge for design changes and customizations. While it's powerful, the learning curve is steeper for non-technical team members.
However there is a huge pricing difference. Platforms like Webflow and Framer charge you per user fee, which means if you have a marketing team of 10, you'll need 10 licenses for each team member, plus seperate user licenses for developers and designers. Pricing with Webflow is big con which businesses realise much later when they have already gone too far with their websites.
Webflow developers often skip to mention such details to the clients, hence it is important to assess such needs prior to starting the project.
WordPress lets you add any number of users with various access type for your website.
The bottom line
Framer or Webflow might be the right choice for you if: You want performance and page builder out of the box, have a marketing-focused website, with minimal features required and you do not have resources or budget for ongoing maintenance. Framer and Webflow are ideal for small scale basic websites that do no require any integrations. (Warning: Webflow has been facing a serious downtime at the time of publishing this article in July and August 2025, we recommend using alternatives such as Framer or Webstudio due to both platforms being more reliable with uptime)
Choose WordPress if: You need advanced content management features, require extensive customization options for your website, or have complex integration requirements that demand maximum flexibility. WordPress do require expertise, maintenance so ensure you work with a professional WordPress developer for the project.
Need help choosing the right CMS and platform for your website? Get in touch with us to discuss further.
