Framer vs Wordpress (best website builder for small business and startups)
Introduction
Small businesses and growing startups share a few things in common:
- They are smaller in size
- They have less resources
- They are more flexible with their decision making
- They move with speed and intention
Which is why their website should support their momentum, with as little friction as possible.
In this article, we will compare Wordpress and Framer, to help small businesses and growing startups decide which platform is best for their website and business growth.
To make this comparison, we will evaluate four important factors:
1) Design Freedom
2) Ease of Use
3) SEO and Performance
4) Ongoing Cost
These are the most important factors that reflect a small business/growing startup's needs in a website.
TL;DR
Feature | Framer | Wordpress |
|---|---|---|
Design Freedom | High design freedom (little to no coding required) | Wordpress themes lack customization features. |
Ease of Use | Small learning curve and clean visual interface. | Themes have a smaller learning curve, but are still difficult to manage. |
SEO & Performance | SEO features are all included. | Requires plugins to manage SEO and performance |
Maintenance | Little to no maintenance required | Must deal with hosting and updates yourself |
Ongoing Cost | Lower Ongoing Cost | Higher due to constant maintenance. |
Best Suited For | Small businesses and startups that desire speed, simplicity and minimal tech friction | Wordpress's flexibility and robust nature is best suited for custom coded websites with complex needs. |
1) Design Freedom
Wordpress:
Designing in Wordpress typically means one of two things - using Wordpress themes or going full custom code.
If you use themes, designing can feel faster at the beginning. However, the downside is that there's limited room for customization, and themes are notorious for being infested with bugs and require constant maintenance.
On the other end of the spectrum is full custom code.
A fully custom coded website can offer more design freedom.
However, the tradeoff is that you have to hire developer(s) for builds and updates, which means higher costs, longer turnaround and more work for the website.
For small business and growing startups with limited resources, this means unnecessary friction and more obstacles to deal with.
Framer:
The appeal for Framer has always been 'high design freedom without having to code.'
By default, Framer comes with powerful design features and animation presets that enable you to build the website of your dreams without relying on lots of plugins, installing page builders, coding or doing anything extra.
This means you don't need to hire multiple designers/developers to build your website.
It also means your website will have better performance, as you're not installing extra plugins, bloated themes or unnecessary junk on top of it.
For small business and growing startups, this means a better website with faster turnaround, less friction and more peace of mind.
2) Ease of Use
Wordpress:
For your WP website to work, at the very least, you will have to install a WP theme, install external plugins, manage your own hosting and deal with maintenance and updates yourself.
If you don't like WP themes, then you'll have to deal with custom code, meaning that you'll have to hire developers or face the steep learning curve by yourself.
All of this shows that Wordpress websites are not easy to manage.
Framer:
Instead of making you deal with plugins, hosting, updates and maintenance, Framer takes all the work off your plate.
Design, development, hosting, publishing, animations, CMS, SEO and performance - all live inside Framer's platform. This means you're not constantly juggling different tools or paying additional fees just to keep your website working.
Also, Framer comes with a modern, visual interface that's relatively simple to use and easy on the eyes.
Yes, you have to pay for these features.
But, for the convienence, speed and simplicity you get, Framer is a no-brainer for businesses that want to move fast with less friction.
3) SEO & Performance
Wordpress
If you want proper SEO work done for your Wordpress website, you must use plugins.
- You need a plugin for meta titles/description
- You need a plugin for redirects
- You need a plugin for schema
- You need a plugin for caching
- You need a plugin for image optimization
Sure, Wordpress has great SEO plugins, but you're adding more to your already growing list of plugins and tools that needs to be managed for your website.
This adds more junk to your website, jeapordizes its performance and makes it harder to manage.
Framer
Once again, Framer takes a cleaner and simpler approach to SEO and performance.
Instead of making you rely on plugins and external tools, Framer provides you with all your SEO essentials - built in their platform.
On top of that, Framer websites by default, come with global CDN hosting, automatic image optimization, lazy loading and performance focused publishing - everything necessary to maintain high performance for your website.
4) Ongoing Cost
Wordpress
Wordpress itself is free but most people will need plugins, hosting and a Wordpress theme to get started.
These features don't necessarily come free.
And if your website is custom coded, you may have to hire developers to build, update and fix parts of your website.
So, while Wordpress may seem cheaper at the beginning, these long term costs can add up quickly.
Framer
In Framer, you pay a predictable fee to use the platform and you have everything you need for your website (hosting, performance, design, development and SEO).
For most users, this means no extra work and no stitching together multiple tools.
If you want advanced functionality on your website, you may have to hire some developers.
But, for most people, Framer's native features is more than enough for their website needs.
Verdict
When it comes to a website, small businesses and growing startups need a combination of speed, simplicity and design freedom.
Despite WordPress being a versatile and robust platform, its complexity and high maintenance make it less practical for smaller businesses with limited resources and time.
Framer is the better option because it offers high design freedom, built-in SEO and performance and its much easier to manage.
For businesses that want to move fast, reduce friction and elevate their marketing (without unnecessary friction and complexity), Framer is the clear winner.
Framer is the best website builder for small business and growing startups.
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