Framer vs WordPress: Why I Switched and Never Looked Back

WordPress made sense for a long time. And then it didn't. I used it for nearly a decade before switching to Framer, and the only thing I regret is not making the switch sooner.

I've since generated over $422K selling Framer templates and haven't touched WordPress once since making the move. So this isn't a theoretical Framer vs WordPress comparison, it's what I actually experienced.

Why I'm Comparing These Two

I'll keep this brief because the rest of the post is the real comparison, but context matters.

I started building WordPress websites in 2014. Learned it inside out over the years, built sites for myself and for clients, and genuinely thought it was the best option available. It was the default. Everyone used WordPress, so I used WordPress.

Then one day on a sales call, a potential client asked me to build their site on a platform I'd never heard of. I brushed it off and convinced them WordPress was the way to go. But after that call, curiosity got the better of me. I looked up this platform, saw what it could do, and something clicked.

That platform was Framer. And once I started using it, everything I'd accepted as "normal" about building websites suddenly felt unnecessarily painful.

Framer vs WordPress at a Glance

Before I get into the detail, here's a quick side-by-side:

That table tells you the headlines. But the real differences only make sense when you've lived with both platforms day to day.

Getting Started and Ease of Use

The WordPress Setup Tax

With WordPress, you don't just "start building." You pick a hosting provider, install WordPress, choose a theme, install your essential plugins, configure settings, set up SSL, and then maybe you can start thinking about the actual design. That whole process used to take me the better part of a day, and I knew exactly what I was doing after years of practice.

For someone new to it, that setup phase is genuinely intimidating. And it never really ends, because every new feature you want usually means finding, installing, and configuring another plugin.

Framer's Learning Curve

When I first opened Framer, I had zero experience with the platform. I learned it by picking apart existing Framer templates, reverse-engineering how each component worked, then rebuilding sections from scratch. I went from knowing nothing to being genuinely competent in about two to three weeks.

The interface is visual and intuitive, and everything lives in one place. You don't need to configure hosting or install plugins or dig through theme files. You open it, you start designing, and what you see is what your visitors get. That simplicity isn't a limitation, it's the entire point.

Design and Customisation

This is where the gap between Framer and WordPress felt the widest to me.

With WordPress, I was always compromising. You'd pick a theme that was close to what you wanted, then spend hours trying to bend it into your actual vision. And when the theme couldn't do what you needed, you'd write custom CSS or PHP to force it. The design was never fully yours, it was always a negotiation between what you wanted and what the theme allowed.

Framer is a freeform canvas. You design exactly what you envision, pixel by pixel, without writing a single line of code. There's no theme sitting between you and the final product. If you can design it, you can build it.

And from a freelancing perspective, this changes everything. When I was building client sites on WordPress, the post-launch support was a nightmare. Plugin conflicts, theme compatibility issues, PHP version mismatches, hosting configurations breaking layouts. With Framer, what the client sees in the preview is exactly what goes live. It just works, because there's nothing to conflict with.

Performance and SEO

WordPress out of the box is slow. That's not an opinion, it's just the reality of how the platform works. You need a caching plugin, an image optimisation plugin, a minification plugin, and probably a CDN setup just to get decent page speed scores. Then you need Yoast or Rank Math for basic SEO. That's at least four or five plugins before your site performs the way it should.

Framer handles all of that natively. Server-side rendering, lazy loading, automatic image optimisation, clean code output, auto-generated sitemaps. I consistently get 90+ Lighthouse scores on my Framer sites without touching a single setting. If you wanna go deeper on how SEO works in Framer, I wrote a full guide on setting up Framer SEO.

The difference in performance isn't marginal. It's the difference between a platform where speed is an afterthought you bolt on later and a platform where it's baked in from the start.

Pricing and Maintenance

WordPress is technically free to download. But that "free" label is misleading, because the real costs stack up quickly. Hosting runs you anywhere from a few quid a month to significantly more depending on traffic. Then you're paying for premium themes, premium plugins, SSL certificates, backup tools, and whatever else you need to bolt on. It adds up, and you're managing all of it yourself.

With Framer, you pay a subscription and everything is included. Hosting, SSL, performance optimisation, the CMS, all of it. My fixed business costs are about $145 a month total, and that covers everything, not just Framer. The profit margin sits at roughly 94%. If you want a full breakdown of what each Framer plan includes, check out my Framer pricing breakdown.

And then there's maintenance. WordPress sites need constant attention. Something always needs updating, whether it's the core software, your plugins, your theme, or some security patch you didn't know about. If you ignore it, things break. If you stay on top of it, it eats your time. Framer doesn't have any of that. You build the site, it runs, and you focus on your actual business instead. If you're evaluating Framer and want to get started, you can try it here.

Where WordPress Still Wins

I'm not here to bash WordPress. It powers over 40% of the internet, and it's earned that position for good reason.

If you're building a large-scale ecommerce store where you need full control over how your products are managed and sold, WooCommerce on WordPress is still the stronger option. Framer's ecommerce capabilities are limited in comparison.

If you need very specific functionality that only exists as a WordPress plugin, that ecosystem is unmatched. Over 59,000 free plugins covering just about anything you can think of. Framer's plugin library is growing but it's not there yet.

And if you're running a massive content operation with dozens of authors and thousands of posts that need complex editorial workflows, WordPress was built for exactly that.

But here's what I've found: most people comparing Framer vs WordPress aren't building any of those things. They're building a business website, a portfolio, a landing page, or a marketing site. And for that, Framer is the better tool by a wide margin.

So Which One Should You Pick?

If you need a website that looks professional and actually performs well without you having to babysit it, go with Framer. Especially if you're a business owner, freelancer, founder, or creative who just wants a site that works without the technical overhead.

If you need heavy ecommerce with WooCommerce or very niche plugin functionality that only exists in the WordPress ecosystem, WordPress is still the right call.

For me, the switch was one of the best decisions I've made. My workflow got faster, my sites got better, and I stopped spending time on maintenance that wasn't moving my business forward. If you're curious about what Framer actually is and what it can do, I wrote a full explainer on what Framer is and how it works.

And if you already know you wanna build on Framer but aren't sure where to start, take the free 60-second quiz to find the right template for your business and get 30% off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Framer better than WordPress for small businesses?

For most small businesses, yes. Framer is faster to get running and easier to maintain, and it generally costs less once you factor in everything WordPress needs to run properly. Unless you need heavy ecommerce or very specific plugin functionality, Framer gives you a more polished result with far less effort.

Can you migrate from WordPress to Framer?

There's no one-click migration tool. You'll need to rebuild the site in Framer, which honestly isn't as painful as it sounds. Framer's learning curve is quick, and most business websites can be rebuilt in a few days. Your content (text, images) transfers manually, but the rebuild itself is straightforward.

Is Framer good for blogging?

Framer has a built-in CMS that works well for blogs. It's not as feature-rich as WordPress for massive content operations, but for most business blogs and personal sites, it does everything you need without any plugins.

Does Framer have SEO?

Yes. Framer includes built-in SEO features like server-side rendering, automatic sitemaps, meta tag management, clean URLs, and auto image optimisation. You don't need any plugins to get strong SEO foundations, which is a big shift from the WordPress approach of relying on Yoast or Rank Math.

Is Framer free to use?

Framer has a free plan that lets you build and publish a basic site. Paid plans start at around $10/month and include custom domains, more CMS collections, and additional features. Even at the paid tier, it's typically cheaper than a WordPress setup once you add up hosting, themes, plugins, and all the ongoing maintenance costs.