So, you’re planning a new website. You’ve got the vision, the brand, maybe even a Figma file—but now comes the big question: Webflow or Framer? Both are powerful. Both promise pixel-perfect design, performance, and ease of use. But they’re not built the same—and choosing the wrong one can limit your flexibility or tank your search rankings.Here’s our honest breakdown, based on real-world builds and what we’re seeing from the front lines at edesigns.
Quick Snapshot: What’s the Difference?
- Webflow is the go-to for complex, SEO-driven websites with CMS needs and long-term scalability.
- Framer is unbeatable for lightning-fast design-to-launch workflows, landing pages, and visual storytelling.
Now let’s dig deeper into the three things that really matter: Performance, SEO, and Flexibility.
1. Performance ⚡
Let’s start with speed. Because even the most beautiful site won’t convert if it loads like it’s stuck in 2007.
✅ Framer: Native Speed with a Modern Engine
Framer is built on React and optimized for motion. It’s fast by design—especially on mobile.
- Lazy loads images
- Auto-optimizes assets
- Animations feel buttery smooth
- Ideal for campaigns and marketing sites that need to pop.
✅ Webflow: Strong, But Needs Tweaks
Webflow sites perform well—if you know what you’re doing.
- CDN-powered hosting (AWS Fastly)
- Full control over HTML/CSS
- But you’ll need to watch for bloated animations and unused code
🧠 Our verdict:
If you’re going for speed out-of-the-box, Framer wins. But Webflow can match it with some TLC.
2. SEO 🔍
If people need to find you on Google, this section matters—a lot.
✅ Webflow: A Proven SEO Workhorse
Webflow gives you everything serious SEO needs:
- Custom meta titles/descriptions
- Semantic HTML
- Clean URLs
- Schema, 301 redirects, canonical tags
- Full sitemap and robots.txt control
It’s ideal for companies that publish regularly, target keywords, and care about long-term visibility.
✅ Framer: Clean, Simple, But Less Customizable
Framer covers the basics:
- Titles, descriptions, alt tags
- Simple sitemap generation
- Fast performance = good Core Web Vitals
But it lacks deeper control. No native schema. Limited handling of canonicals or dynamic SEO fields.
🧠 Our verdict:
Webflow is the clear winner for SEO-intensive websites. Framer is fine for lightweight, one-page sites—but not (yet) for serious content strategies.
