What is happening with Webflow? Has it lost its magic and stability over the years?
TL;DR
- Stability issues have increased with more frequent bugs, slower performance, and occasional downtime.
- New features are useful but slow to roll out, with enterprise customers getting more focus.
- Pricing has risen, making it less accessible for freelancers, and advanced features often require third-party tools.
- Webflow remains the top no-code design platform with strong community support, though some users feel left behind.
Webflow remains a powerful platform for no-code web design, but its growth has brought challenges related to stability, new features, and scalability. Below is a breakdown of key concerns and improvements over recent years.
1. Stability Issues & Performance
- More frequent bugs and outages: Users have experienced occasional issues with the Designer freezing, slow loading, and publishing delays.
- Increased platform complexity: New features, while useful, have made the platform heavier and sometimes less responsive.
- Hosting reliability: Webflow’s Amazon Web Services (AWS)-based hosting is generally strong, but noticeable downtime incidents have frustrated some users.
2. Feature Development & Priorities
- Slow rollout of long-awaited features: Users have been waiting for native membership functionality, better CMS filtering, and multi-language support (which launched but still has limitations).
- Focus on enterprise customers: Webflow has shifted attention to larger businesses, sometimes making solo designers feel left behind.
3. Pricing & Ecosystem Changes
- Increased Webflow plan costs: Pricing updates have made the platform less accessible to some freelancers and small businesses.
- Third-party integrations are more necessary: Advanced features often require external tools or workarounds.
4. Core Strengths Still Intact
- Visual development leader: No other platform matches Webflow’s blend of design freedom and power.
- Active community & Webflow University: Webflow continues to support an engaged user base with extensive learning resources.
- E-commerce & CMS improvements: While not perfect, Webflow has enhanced these areas with better checkout flows and faster CMS performance.
Summary
Webflow's innovation continues, but growing pains—like stability concerns, pricing shifts, and a focus on enterprise—have caused frustration among some users. Despite this, it remains the most flexible no-code web design tool for professionals.