The Webflow Alternative We’ve Been Waiting For

This article is an account of my first experience using the quietly touted Webflow alternative, an open-source website builder that offers a new take on visual development. I came across The Webflow alternative two months ago on Twitter. Initially, I didn’t pay much attention because new tools pop up daily, and I had made a promise to myself at the start of the year to stop jumping between tools unnecessarily. My focus was to master the ones I already knew well (like Webflow). Why I Tried Webstudio After hitting a few roadblocks with Webflow, I was searching for a leaner, cheaper and more flexible tool. That’s when I decided to try Webstudio, an open-source website builder that’s being quietly touted as a Webflow alternative. I was practicing on Webflow by rebuilding a design from the Relume Design League, and I ran into some issues: Lag and slow performance: Webflow was noticeably laggy, taking time to load the dashboard and apply changes. A quick scroll through Twitter confirmed I wasn’t alone. Custom code restrictions: On the free plan, I couldn’t add custom CSS or JS, not even a link to externally hosted code. A few months ago, this was possible, but that feature had been removed. Affordability: I couldn’t justify upgrading since I was building personal projects, not client work. I pushed through using only Webflow’s native features (proud of that; actually, you can see what I came up with here, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to become very good at using a no-code builder, so I started exploring alternatives. That’s when I remembered Webstudio. Getting Started: My First Impressions I signed up using the "Sign in with GitHub" option. There's also Google login, though I think an email sign-up would be a useful addition. After signing up, I joined the Discord server and introduced myself. A team member was kind enough to share the documentation with me. Webstudio UI & UX As I created my first project, the first thing I noticed was light mode

Apr 21, 2025 - 14:30

The Webflow Alternative We’ve Been Waiting For

This article is an account of my first experience using the quietly touted Webflow alternative, an open-source website builder that offers a new take on visual development.

I came across The Webflow alternative two months ago on Twitter. Initially, I didn’t pay much attention because new tools pop up daily, and I had made a promise to myself at the start of the year to stop jumping between tools unnecessarily. My focus was to master the ones I already knew well (like Webflow).

Why I Tried Webstudio

After hitting a few roadblocks with Webflow, I was searching for a leaner, cheaper and more flexible tool. That’s when I decided to try Webstudio, an open-source website builder that’s being quietly touted as a Webflow alternative. I was practicing on Webflow by rebuilding a design from the Relume Design League, and I ran into some issues:

Lag and slow performance: Webflow was noticeably laggy, taking time to load the dashboard and apply changes. A quick scroll through Twitter confirmed I wasn’t alone.
Custom code restrictions: On the free plan, I couldn’t add custom CSS or JS, not even a link to externally hosted code. A few months ago, this was possible, but that feature had been removed.
Affordability: I couldn’t justify upgrading since I was building personal projects, not client work.

I pushed through using only Webflow’s native features (proud of that; actually, you can see what I came up with here, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to become very good at using a no-code builder, so I started exploring alternatives. That’s when I remembered Webstudio.

Getting Started: My First Impressions

I signed up using the "Sign in with GitHub" option. There's also Google login, though I think an email sign-up would be a useful addition.

After signing up, I joined the Discord server and introduced myself. A team member was kind enough to share the documentation with me.

Webstudio UI & UX

As I created my first project, the first thing I noticed was light mode