I Moved My Website From Squarespace to Webflow. Here’s What I Learned.

1. Webflow really is amazing.

Here’s some more clarity on why I decided to go with Webflow. Out of the aforementioned platforms I compared with Squarespace, Webflow and Wordpress seemed to be the only two real options with the performance I was looking for. But, with countless horror stories from friends about Wordpress sites being hacked or having plugin issues, Wordpress was out of the question for me. Here's a quick list of some things I loved about Webflow:

• Webflow University — This bank of videos, articles, courses, and how-to's makes learning the platform a breeze. It also has insanely high production value, so you know they actually value users being equipped for success.

• Customization — If Squarespace is a nice bike that rides pretty well, Webflow is a rocket ship. What takes dozens of lines of CSS in Squarespace can take just seconds to implement in Webflow (without a single line of code). If you can visualize it, you can make it in Webflow.

• Innovation — Webflow is constantly adding new features that users have been requesting, and some they didn't even know they needed! Squarespace could really take a hint from Webflow in this department, since many user-requested features from years prior still haven’t seen the light of day.

• Community — On their website, Webflow features a Showcase area to feature users' work, a Designers page to list freelancers looking for work, a Forum, a link to their Facebook Group, an Affiliate Program, and more. Again, they really seem to care.

• Accessibility — The web is a place for everyone, and Webflow's commitment to including tools to help make websites more accessible is incredibly necessary. Once again, Squarespace really needs to step up their game in this arena.

2. The simplicity of Squarespace is unmatched.

Now, having swooned about Webflow… Squarespace is incredible in an entirely different way that often goes under-appreciated. A common gripe I hear is, “I don’t want my website to look like a template”, referring to Squarespace’s template-based design system. After all, everyone wants their website to be unique, interesting, and one-of-a-kind online.

But here’s the funny thing: If you ONLY used Squarespace’s pre-designed templates, sections, and blocks to create the layout of a site, I guarantee it will look better than about 95% of sites on "more customizable” platforms. Why? Because those templates are designed to make great websites! In contrast, starting a new site on Webflow means an entirely blank canvas… no templates, no pre-designed grid layout, and no formatting to build a design from.

Personally, after years of using the beautifully simple, drag-and-drop, template-based designer in Squarespace, the pressure of an entirely blank, white screen in Webflow felt insurmountable. Even with plenty of design inspiration, ideas of my own, and clear business positioning, I felt paralyzed by the possibilities.

Which is why so many websites turn out so badly: The desire for a “unique” design clashes with the implementation of simple design fundamentals, resulting in a site that’s neither visually interesting or effective from a user standpoint. In other words, “no limits” website builders often hurt the final result more than empower creativity.

Squarespace templates act as a firm foundation to build from. That’s the part that many designers miss: A template is the starting point, not the final deliverable. The real work of a Squarespace web designer is curating pages that flow naturally and effectively, customizing the existing platform with touches that make the experience feel bespoke.

What Squarespace lacks in flexibility, it makes up in beautiful simplicity.

3. Content > Performance

Google wants your website to perform well because it wants real people to have a great browsing experience, and find what they’re searching for.

Here’s the thing: Even if a site’s performance is at or below average, but the content is stellar, people will have a great experience and search rankings will reflect that. An ultra-fast website that lacks useful content is not a good website in Google’s (or anyone’s) eyes.

Being nitty-gritty about performance is a losing game. As long as you’re doing the fundamentals (things like optimizing images and fonts, reducing unused scripts, creating proper heading hierarchy, and designing for mobile), users will have a perfectly speedy visiting experience.

I neglected this reality in pursuit of the best-performing website builder, and essentially wasted weeks of time that could’ve been spent making more content for my existing site. But, c’est la vie.

Bottom line: Squarespace sites have just as much ranking potential as competitors, regardless of technical speed performance.

4. The platform really doesn’t matter

In my experience, clients couldn’t really care less about what platform their website is built on. Just as long as it performs well, looks the way they want it to, and isn’t a total pain to update.

Newsflash: (Almost) every website builder is capable of these simple requirements!

On Squarespace in particular, clients are able to dynamically update ANY part of their website, at any time, without hiring a developer — this flexibility and ease of updating is crucial for many budding businesses! Webflow offers a client-facing Editor, but it’s pretty lackluster since the purpose is solely for adding blog content and not changing the design.

This is probably my biggest qualm with Webflow, since I often make sites for very independent brands that want full control of their sites. Perhaps this is intentional though, since Webflow allows designers to bill clients for hosting and maintenance retainers directly from the platform, with the ability to even add profit on the top.

What I’ve found in my research of the current selection of website building platforms, is that the tool often gets more attention than it should. The only meaningful differentiator in the ever-growing list of platforms is… you, the one designing the website. Clients will receive their final website and be on their merry way — you will have to work within the tools of your choosing every single day!

There is no perfect platform for every client, every project, or every requirement. You must choose what’s most important to you, and prioritize that over what people on Reddit have to say about it. Any platform worth their salt offers a free trial — try your hand at as many as you’d like, and see which one feels the most natural. Best case, you discover a new way to level-up your design business… worst case, you end up writing an insanely long article about what you learned.