The belief that Open-source = free is partially true because it allows free access to the code for use, editing, and distribution. But implementation, operation, management, and support might involve costs. This means you can use a few features for free, but access to specialized aspects needs a license. You will need to invest in expertise, infrastructure, and maintenance of open-source software.
Traditional CMS may appear free initially. However, you will need to spend when registering the domain name, hosting, and using premium themes and plugins. Additionally, ensuring proper maintenance, regular updates, and addressing security vulnerabilities often requires hiring skilled developers or a dedicated technical team.
The blog deep dives into the hidden costs of a CMS platform and how Webflow for startups emerges as a cost-effective alternative. We also present a cost comparison table to give you a better idea of potential savings with Webflow.
Breakdown of Hidden Costs
Plugin updates and compatibility
The CMS platform’s functionalities are limited, so you need to use external themes and plugins. Some are free, but some have premium one-time or annual costs.
These plugins help you with advanced features, more customization, and extended functionality on your website, such as SEO, security, backup, social media links, etc. Moreover, premium licensing of these plugins ensures security, troubleshooting, and additional support, which is uncertain in free options.
Security patches and vulnerability management
CMS maintenance cost (including security and vulnerability management) is another concern. This is important because visitors bounce off the website if it is not secured and there is a risk to their privacy and confidentiality.
A CMS-based website requires a Secure Sockets layer (SSL) certificate for data encryption, which is a cost. If you don’t get it, your site is exposed to phishing scams, data breaches, and other vulnerability attacks, leading to reputational damage and legal implications. This is, again, a hidden cost.
Slow development cycles and dependence on developers
A CMS platform has several tools to help you build a website. But you will need the help of a professional developer to ensure specific technicalities like customizations and integrations. It is an extra cost burden.
Moreover, such content management systems have slow development cycles owing to the following reasons:
Complicated workflows due to which managing content, updates, and integrations drains the platform.
Consistent user experience on different devices and platforms is challenging.
Customization requires investment and slows down the process.
Outdated infrastructure and API limitations affect the performance.
Hosting and performance tuning
A traditional CMS platform also entails the cost of hosting and performance tuning. Hosting can be:
Shared – affordable, ideal for beginners and small websites
Dedicated – high rates, suitable for complex and high-traffic websites; more control and security
Managed – affordable, ensures maintenance, security, and updates
Virtual Private Server – affordable, more control and robustness, suits growing websites with moderate traffic
Due to this hosting issue (if not dedicated), you might face problems in server speed, improper server configurations, and plugin overload, affecting performance.
Lost traffic due to poor UX or speed
Such traditional CMS cannot handle massive traffic, affecting the website speed. This also affects the scalability of the website and consistent performance across different devices and platforms. You might lose customers because of these issues, affecting your revenues.
These CMSs also have limited customization options, leading to the same standard websites that no longer excite visitors. Even the complex user interface leads to poor experience in navigation and use of the website. These are symptoms of a website losing appeal, customers, and zing in the market.
Webflow as a Cost-Effective Alternative
No plugins, visual editor, built-in security
Webflow’s visual editor makes website design and development smoother and easier. You don’t have to write the code; the visual editor gives you complete creative control. You just have to use the drag-and-drop approach to add features and capabilities to your website, making it visually appealing and high-performing.
With built-in CMS and SEO, Webflow also doesn’t require external plugins to use these website competencies. Moreover, in-house hosting on the Webflow platform encompasses quality infrastructure, security, and automatic updating. Thus, it is an all-in-one smart solution that caters to all your needs.
Enterprise-grade hosting included
One benefit of Webflow for startups that attract the most users is its built-in hosting plans. A Webflow-hosted website can handle millions of users and still maintain high speed. Amazon Web Services-powered Webflow websites perform consistently without experiencing a hitch, guaranteeing almost 100% uptime. Even when you see a surge in traffic due to product launches or heavy sales campaigns, Webflow manages with custom traffic scaling.
You can use a free plan (essential features), site plan (custom domain), or workspace plan (for freelancers). Webflow hosting ensures high-level security, faster loading, quality SEO, and smooth user experience. With AWS, the reliability factor also goes up by a few marks.
Empowerment for non-developers = reduced overhead
Webflow’s features of no code, visual editor, and drag-and-drop approach are a blessing for non-coders. You don’t need extensive technical website development experience to build a Webflow website. You can have complete control of the process. It empowers designers who enjoy complete creativity freedom to transform ideas into stunning, functional websites.
This also means you can minimize the hiring costs. This efficiency plus reduced overheads result in higher ROI for Webflow websites.
All these costs, effort, and time savings are enough to give businesses an idea about Webflow’s competitive advantage over other platforms.
In addition to all these benefits, another advantage of Webflow for startups is its pro-startup capabilities explained below:
Faster launch timelines: With its visual editor and no-code feature, you can make websites quickly, improving your go-to-market timelines. Its pre-built components, speed optimization, and minimum need for third-party scripts reduce the development time.
MVP-friendly workflows: Avoiding unnecessary complexity, you can create a basic website with essential features. Its user-friendly and easy testing features allow faster website development with quality outcomes.
Custom CMS without developer dependency: You don’t need technical experts to manage this; website designers can do it with a drag-and-drop approach. This is possible with feature-rich CMS and SEO tools.
Leveraging all these benefits, Lattice – an employee engagement platform – shifted from a CMS to Webflow and saved money used in permanent and freelancing developers. Webflow’s extensive features gave a 280% boost to its organic traffic. of Lattice.
Cost Comparison Table
Feature
Webflow
Traditional CMS
Hosting
Hosting is included in Webflow, so costs are saved.
Extra costs for hosting, depending on the platform selected.
Design and development
Visual editor makes website design and development possible in 5-20 hours.
It takes 20-60 hours to design and develop a website on CMS, including setup, themes, and plugins.
Customization
Customization is faster with built-in plugins and Webflow integrations.
Highly flexible, but customization and plugin setup take time and are costly.
Pricing per site
$168-$504 per year based on the subscription plan selected, including hosting. No domain and backup servers are needed. No need to hire highly technical developers.
$200-$1500 per year, including hosting, domain, themes, plugins, developer hiring cost, maintenance, and security. So, the cost is variable.
Maintenance overhead
Automatic updates, built-in security, and very low maintenance effort, so cost and time are saved.
Needs regular manual updates, plugins for security, and high maintenance effort, so CMS maintenance cost and time are more.
Conclusion
This is how much you save in hours and dollars when using Webflow development for startups instead of a headless CMS. When it is so evident from the table and content above, why not use Webflow as your website development and hosting platform?
Schedule a Webflow consultation to learn how KrishaWeb can help you harness the maximum benefits of the Webflow platform for your business.
Nisarg Pandya
Project Manager
Experienced Project Manager and Scrum Master at KrishaWeb, delivers expertise in Scrum methodologies, Laravel, React.js, UX design, and project management, ensuring efficient project delivery and agile implementation.
