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CMS (content management system) software · 11 alternatives

Webflow alternatives: 11 compared

Sebastiaan Smits By Sebastiaan Smits · Published October 8, 2026 · Updated October 8, 2026

Teams look past Webflow when pricing stacks per site, when the CMS ceiling or the export limits start to matter, or when developers want content in their own stack. Most go to WordPress for an open system, to Sanity, Strapi or Contentful for a headless model, and to Wix or Squarespace for a simpler builder.

Short answer: The closest replacements for Webflow in our CMS (content management system) software ranking are WordPress, Wix and Squarespace. Choose WordPress if you want an open-source CMS you can host anywhere with a large plugin market. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best CMS (Content Management System) Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Webflow and when Webflow is still the better choice.

Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. How it works: placement disclosure · editorial process.

Webflow at a glance

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Pricing model: Per site + per seat / month
  • Pricing: Site plans are billed per site on a published table: a free Starter on a webflow.io domain, Basic without the CMS and Premium with it; ecommerce plans and Workspace seats are priced separately.
  • Free option: Free plan
  • Built for: Design-led marketing teams and agencies
  • Wrong for: A non-technical solo blogger who just wants to write posts will find WordPress or Ghost faster to use daily; Webflow's design power is wasted on a purely text-driven site.
  • Place in our ranking: #1 of 14
  • Website: webflow.com

Facts from our CMS (content management system) software ranking, last checked October 8, 2026.

Why buyers look past Webflow

  1. Pricing comes in three layers

    Webflow sells a site plan per site, a Workspace plan for staging and seats, and a separate ecommerce plan. Basic is described as for sites that do not need a CMS, so adding a CMS means moving to Premium, and Standard ecommerce carries a 2% transaction fee.

  2. The CMS has fixed ceilings

    The pricing table lists 50 CMS items on Starter and 20,000 CMS items and 40 collections on Premium. Ecommerce items are counted separately, at 500, 5,000 and 15,000 on the three store plans. Large content libraries hit these limits.

  3. Export gives code, not content

    Code export returns HTML and CSS files for a development team and requires a paid Workspace plan from Core upward. Webflow states that dynamic content, meaning CMS items and pages, cannot be exported this way, so the content has to leave by another route.

11 alternatives at a glance

Closest replacement first. The last column is our place in the full 14-product ranking.

#AlternativeHeadquartersPricingKey differenceSwitch ifOur rank
1WordPressUnited StatesOpen source + paid tiers; open sourceOpen-source CMS powering a large share of the entire webyou want an open-source CMS you can host anywhere with a large plugin market#4
2WixIsraelPer site / month; free planAll-in-one, AI-assisted website builder with CMS featuresyou want a simpler visual builder with a free tier and bundled hosting#10
3SquarespaceUnited StatesPer site / month; free trialDesign-forward, template-based website and content platformyou want managed templates and a built-in store rather than a design canvas#11
4SanityNorwayPer seat / month; free planCustomizable, open-source headless CMS studio with real-time editingdevelopers will build the front end and you want structured, real-time content#5
5StrapiFranceOpen source + paid tiers; open sourceOpen-source, self-hostable headless CMS with a Node.js coreyou want a self-hostable headless CMS and own the database and front end#3
6GhostSingaporeOpen source + paid hosting; open sourceOpen-source publishing platform with built-in newsletters and membershipsyour site is mainly a publication with newsletters and paid members#8
7HubSpot CMS (Content Hub)United StatesPer seat / month; free planCMS built into the HubSpot CRM and marketing platformmarketing owns the site and you already run HubSpot as your CRM#12
8UmbracoDenmarkOpen source + paid tiers; open sourceOpen-source .NET CMS with a friendly editing experienceyour developers work in .NET and want a CMS they can host on Azure#7
9DrupalUnited StatesOpen source + paid hosting/support; open sourceOpen-source CMS built for complex, high-governance sitesyou run a complex, governance-heavy site with developers who know Drupal#6
10JoomlaUnited StatesOpen source + paid extensions; open sourceOpen-source, community-governed CMS between WordPress and Drupalyou want a free, multilingual, self-hosted CMS with different user permission levels#9
11ContentfulGermanyPer API usage / month; free planAPI-first headless CMS built for multi-channel contentyou need one content source feeding several apps and sites through an API#2

What each alternative does differently

1. WordPress

Open-source CMS powering a large share of the entire web · United States

Open-source software under GPL version 2 or later that you host yourself, so there is no per-site platform fee, only hosting, themes and plugins. The editing model is block and plugin based rather than visual canvas. You take on updates, security and performance tuning that Webflow handles.

Switch from Webflow if you want an open-source CMS you can host anywhere with a large plugin market.

Pricing: The core software is free and open source to self-host; hosting, premium themes and plugins are paid separately, and WordPress.com offers a separate managed hosting product with its own free and paid tiers. (open source)

Full review: #4 of 14 in our ranking · Visit WordPress →

2. Wix

All-in-one, AI-assisted website builder with CMS features · Israel

All-in-one builder with a free plan on a Wix subdomain with branding. Paid tiers run Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, scaling storage and collaborators from 2 to 100. Easier to start than Webflow, with less control over structure and generated code.

Switch from Webflow if you want a simpler visual builder with a free tier and bundled hosting.

Pricing: A free plan is available with Wix branding and a Wix subdomain; paid Premium plans are billed per site on a published table, adding a custom domain, storage and removing ads. (free plan)

Full review: #10 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Wix →

3. Squarespace

Design-forward, template-based website and content platform · United States

Template-based platform with a store on every plan and a 14-day trial but no permanent free tier. Its export covers WordPress format only and leaves out products, video and style settings. It suits small content sites more than layouts that designers build from scratch.

Switch from Webflow if you want managed templates and a built-in store rather than a design canvas.

Pricing: Published plans are billed per site with no permanent free tier, only a 14-day trial; every plan includes a store, with a 2% store fee on Basic that Core and higher plans remove. (free trial)

Full review: #11 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Squarespace →

4. Sanity

Customizable, open-source headless CMS studio with real-time editing · Norway

Headless content platform with a hosted real-time content database, live previews and visual editing. Free covers up to 20 user seats and Growth is billed per seat, up to 50. You build the front end yourself, which Webflow does for you.

Switch from Webflow if developers will build the front end and you want structured, real-time content.

Pricing: A free plan covers up to 20 seats with document, API and bandwidth quotas; Growth is billed per paid seat on a published table with pay-as-you-go overages, and Enterprise is quoted. (free plan)

Full review: #5 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Sanity →

5. Strapi

Open-source, self-hostable headless CMS with a Node.js core · France

Headless CMS with an MIT-licensed Community edition you host yourself, with unlimited entries and API calls. Self-hosted Growth adds three seats, Live Preview and Releases, while Strapi Cloud sells hosted projects. It needs a Node.js team and offers no visual page designer.

Switch from Webflow if you want a self-hostable headless CMS and own the database and front end.

Pricing: The core is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; paid self-hosted Growth and Enterprise plans add features, and Strapi Cloud sells managed hosting per project on a published table. (open source)

Full review: #3 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Strapi →

6. Ghost

Open-source publishing platform with built-in newsletters and memberships · Singapore

Open-source publishing platform focused on blogs, newsletters and paid memberships, with no transaction fees from Ghost on payments (processor fees still apply). Ghost(Pro) hosting starts at a yearly Starter plan. Narrower than Webflow, since it is not a general site designer.

Switch from Webflow if your site is mainly a publication with newsletters and paid members.

Pricing: The core software is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; Ghost(Pro) managed hosting is priced by number of members and staff users on a published table, from the Starter plan billed yearly, and takes no transaction fee. (open source)

Full review: #8 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Ghost →

7. HubSpot CMS (Content Hub)

CMS built into the HubSpot CRM and marketing platform · United States

Content Hub inside the HubSpot CRM, with a free plan for up to 2 users. Professional adds up to 50 languages and A/B testing on landing pages, and paid tiers include HubSpot Credits. Aimed at marketing teams already on HubSpot.

Switch from Webflow if marketing owns the site and you already run HubSpot as your CRM.

Pricing: A free plan covers up to two users; paid Starter, Professional and Enterprise tiers on Content Hub are billed per seat or per core seat on a published table, with included HubSpot Credits. (free plan)

Full review: #12 of 14 in our ranking · Visit HubSpot CMS (Content Hub) →

8. Umbraco

Open-source .NET CMS with a friendly editing experience · Denmark

MIT-licensed .NET CMS that you host yourself, or on Umbraco Cloud, which runs on Azure across 5 regions with unlimited team members. Tiers run Starter, Standard, Professional and Enterprise. A good match for .NET teams, and a poor one without .NET skills.

Switch from Webflow if your developers work in .NET and want a CMS they can host on Azure.

Pricing: The core CMS is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; Umbraco Cloud adds managed hosting, and paid support and training are available separately. (open source)

Full review: #7 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Umbraco →

9. Drupal

Open-source CMS built for complex, high-governance sites · United States

GPL software with no licensing fees, maintained with the Drupal Association behind it, and built for structured content and integrations. Thousands of modules extend it. It is a developer project rather than a designer tool and you arrange hosting yourself.

Switch from Webflow if you run a complex, governance-heavy site with developers who know Drupal.

Pricing: The core software is free and open source to self-host; Acquia, its main commercial backer, sells managed cloud hosting and enterprise support on quoted contracts, alongside other Drupal hosting providers. (open source)

Full review: #6 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Drupal →

10. Joomla

Open-source, community-governed CMS between WordPress and Drupal · United States

GPL-licensed system governed by Open Source Matters, with multilingual support built in and thousands of extensions, most free. You host it yourself and handle updates, and the design is theme and extension based rather than visual.

Switch from Webflow if you want a free, multilingual, self-hosted CMS with different user permission levels.

Pricing: The core software is free and open source under GPL to self-host; hosting, extensions and templates are paid separately through a marketplace of third-party developers. (open source)

Full review: #9 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Joomla →

11. Contentful

API-first headless CMS built for multi-channel content · Germany

API-first headless CMS positioned for multi-channel content. We could not load Contentful's site this session because a bot check blocked it, so its plan limits and prices are unverified here. Expect to build the front end yourself, as with other headless systems.

Switch from Webflow if you need one content source feeding several apps and sites through an API.

Pricing: A free Community tier covers a small team and limited API calls and records; paid tiers scale by API request volume, environments and users, with Enterprise quoted separately. (free plan)

Full review: #2 of 14 in our ranking · Visit Contentful →

When Webflow is still the right choice

Webflow remains the right tool when designers own the site, need pixel-level layout with a built-in CMS and hosting, and the content stays within Premium's 20,000 items and 40 collections. Agency and freelancer guests can be added without using seats. If you rarely need to leave, the layered pricing is a fair price for removing the hosting and build chain.

What to expect when you switch from Webflow

  1. Treat content and layout as two jobs

    Code export gives you HTML and CSS but not CMS items or pages. Plan separate steps for the pages and for the collections, and decide which structure of the new CMS each collection maps to before you start.

  2. Count items against the new limits

    Write down your CMS items per collection and your ecommerce items, which Webflow counts separately. Compare them with the target's limits, such as Sanity's seats or Strapi's tiers, before you commit to a model.

  3. Keep the Webflow plan until launch

    Basic has no CMS, so downgrading before the move can remove the dynamic content you still need to copy. Keep the current site plan active until the new site is live and form submissions, which you can download as CSV, are saved.

Questions and answers

Can I export my Webflow site?

Yes, as HTML and CSS files, but only from a paid Workspace plan at Core or above. Webflow's pricing page states that dynamic content, meaning CMS items and pages, cannot be exported this way.

Can I take my CMS content with me?

Not through code export. Webflow's pricing page excludes CMS items and pages from it. We could not load Webflow's help center this session, so check there for any collection export route before you plan the content migration.

What happens to the CMS if I downgrade to Basic?

Basic is described by Webflow as for sites that do not need a CMS, so the CMS belongs to Premium. Do not downgrade until the content has been copied and the new site is live.

Can I keep my form submissions?

Yes. Webflow's pricing table says form submissions can be downloaded as a CSV. Starter keeps 50 submissions per site, while Basic and above list unlimited, so download them before a downgrade.

Will leaving cut my store fees?

Possibly. Webflow's Standard ecommerce plan charges a 2% transaction fee, while Plus and Advanced list 0%. Payment processor fees are separate, so compare the total cost on the new platform, not only the platform fee.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and product facts about Webflow on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on October 8, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.

Who wrote this

Sebastiaan Smits Sebastiaan Smits, Founder, wrote, edited and fact-checked this page. Founder of The Interregnum and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Writes, edits and fact-checks every page here. Last reviewed October 8, 2026. How we review.