Wix v. Wordpress v. Webflow (for non-technical folks)
Lots of people write reviews of no-code website builders, but I could not find a crisp guide specifically for folks without ANY technical background and that wasn't filled with promotional links/content. This is my summary.
My goal was to create a nice-looking landing page for a tech product quickly with options for dynamic functions in the future (user interactivity, dashboard) and that could be easily updated. I have ZERO technical skills/BG, and really did not want to hire a developer or no-code agency pre-PMF (also...isn't that the whole point of a no-code product?). Because I'm experimenting with a few ideas, it was critical for me to use a no-code builder that was beginner friendly and did not require too much fuss/time.
Wix
- great for personal service businesses (content creators, consulting, photographers). Very beginner-friendly because most of the functions are similar to programs non-technical people use (like Microsoft Office/Google). E.g. drag & drop, template-driven.
- would not recommend Wix for a tech product that eventually will have dynamic functions. I did have to learn how to code a bit to set up dynamic pages on Wix, which was annoying because the coding function of Wix (Velo) is separate from Wix, and it felt impossible to get customer support.
- working outside of a template takes too much time/fuss (lots of customization options, not a lot of auto-alignment). Templates tend to learn towards personal websites rather than products.
- difficult to find good-quality visual tutorials. Lots of tutorials on YouTube and written blog posts, but very inconsistent quality, and many of the Wix-authorized "how tos" felt incomplete to me. Customer support was mediocre (long wait times, clearly outsourced, but did help out here and there)
- Wix was slow to update and often crashed, so would not use it for a site that you are constantly playing with, updating etc.
Wordpress
- way too many customizations/options for someone without a technical BG. People love Wordpress, so I may have missed something here but I found it a bit overwhelming to use as a novice.
- also found wordpress a bit slow (e.g. updates took several minutes to load, multiple crashes)
- did not find high-quality support
Webflow
- really like Webflow so far. Would recommend it for non-technical folks looking to build simple landing pages quickly for tech products. I did not need to hire a developer or no-code agency to learn how to use it.
- Unlike Wix/Wordpress, Webflow's formatting is all rectangles/boxes, so it's not template-based and it's not drag & drop. This takes a while to get used to but is sooo much better because you don't need to spend a ton of time aligning and making custom choices. If customization is very important to you, then probably not the best starting solution.
- I thought the Webflow university tutorials were great learning tools. I watched a 2 hour Webflow tutorial and then was able to build my landing page within a few hours. The tutorials are thoughtfully created and avoid the need for you to surf through a bunch of dubious quality content on Youtube.
- Unlike Wix, Webflow feels more integration-friendly. Still testing this out, so will report back.
- Webflow did not crash as much as Wix and Wordpress did as I was updating it and I generally found it to be a faster builder
- I would say for a personal website, Webflow doesn't seem like a great option. Wix has a lot of pretty, free templates for personal sites, whereas I think you have to pay for a lot of Webflow's templates.
Would love to hear thoughts on your experiences with these tools.
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I've built in all of three and it comes down to the best tool for your needs.
Wix is ideal for simple sites as it's easy to use but very limited with those simple soulutions.
Wordpress, man you can build pretty much anything with it. But far more difficult to learn.
Webflow lies somewhere in between. If you know fundamentals of HTML, you can create wonders with little effort.
So, it depends what are you trying to build and the level of your skill.
agree, altho I would say you DONT need fundamentals of HTML to build on Webflow based on my experience if you spend time some time watching their educational content.
What made you commit to spending 2 hours learning Webflow?
Also would love your feedback on https://versoly.com/ and the building exp, we have customers who swapped from WP and Webflow.
I just thought the Webflow tutorial was really high-quality and well-made. The online how-tos for Wix and WP were way lower quality. Versoly looks great! Hadn't heard of it, but looks like it fits a gap. My only suggestion is the landing page is really overwhelming with lots of "stuff" going on, which may turn off people like me who care a lot about simple, minimalist UI.
Thanks, plan on a redesign!
I would definetely recommend WP with Elementor or Beaver Builder. Elementor must be easier to learn because it's more popular. You can find videos online on how to build basically any website. It's not very easy, tho, but in a week you get the ropes and can start to build anything super fast!
The nice part about using WP is that you have a lot of freedom and on your own VPS hosting, with Elementor, you can build different versions of your landing page to run tests. In Brazil (where I'm from) we have a lot of hosting companies who offer premium plugins like elementor pro and WP Rocket. If you wanna check it out, I recommend Turbo Cloud, they have servers in the US, just don't know about the payment. Also, brazilian currency is cheap as hell whem compared to dollars, so you may save some good cash and have a great high speed hosting!
Don't recommend Wix tho... Too slow and limited, not great for high traffic (aka, ads)
Interesting! Altho always hard to convince people to learn multiple tools at one time. I think it's easy to find videos online, but a lot of them are low-quality. I think offering high-quality education for software tools can be a really big differentiator for a certain customer.