Web Design
4 min read
Framer vs WordPress: Which Fits a Small Business Site?
We build on both, and this site runs on Framer. The right choice has less to do with the platform than with who will edit the site and what it has to do two years from now.
The short answer
Choose Framer if your site is mostly marketing pages and a blog, design and speed matter, and a small team wants to edit pages visually without managing plugins. Choose WordPress if you publish a lot of content, need complex features such as memberships, bookings or deep integrations, or want full control over hosting and code. Both can rank well. SEO depends far more on content and structure than on the platform.
Where Framer wins
Design and editing without a developer for every change. You edit the actual page, not a form that hopes to look like the page. Hosting, SSL and updates are handled for you, and there are no plugins to update, conflict or get hacked. Pages are fast out of the box.
For a service business whose site is a home page, service pages, a few town pages and a blog, that covers almost everything it needs to do.
Where WordPress wins
Volume and functionality. If you publish several articles a week with multiple editors, need memberships, online booking, courses or a deep CRM integration, WordPress has a plugin or a developer for it. You own the hosting and the code, so you can move the site anywhere. The pool of people who can work on it is enormous.
The costs nobody mentions
WordPress: plugin, theme and security updates every month, plus someone to fix it when an update breaks the layout. Skipped updates are how most small business WordPress sites get hacked.
Framer: plan limits on pages and CMS items, and your site lives on Framer’s hosting. Check the limits against the number of pages you plan to have in two years, especially if you want a page for every town or service.
What about SEO?
Both give you control over titles, meta descriptions, URLs, redirects and sitemaps. WordPress has more plugin options for structured data; Framer covers the basics and lets you add custom code. Neither will rank a thin site. We covered what actually moves rankings in Does Website Design Affect SEO?, and if you’re switching platforms, use our website redesign SEO checklist so you don’t lose traffic in the move.
How we decide for a client
Who edits the site, and how often? A busy owner changing a few things a month leans Framer. A content team publishing weekly leans WordPress.
What does it need to do besides explain and capture leads? Bookings, memberships or custom integrations lean WordPress.
How many pages will it have in two years? Count them before you pick.
Selling products is a different question. For a store, we usually start with Shopify or WooCommerce; see ecommerce marketing.
For most of the contractors, practices and firms we meet around Red Bank and the rest of Monmouth County, the honest answer is the platform the owner will actually keep up to date. That’s how we approach web design: build the site you’ll maintain first, then send traffic to it.
Not sure which fits? Book a Call and we’ll tell you what we’d build and why.
Related reading
We build and maintain sites on WordPress, Framer, Shopify and WooCommerce. Call 732-398-6700 if you want help choosing.
Follow-up questions
Yes, for most small business sites. You control titles, meta descriptions, URLs, redirects and the sitemap, and pages load quickly. Rankings still come down to content, structure and your Google Business Profile.
Usually, if you keep URLs where you can, set permanent redirects for the ones that change, carry over titles and content, and watch Search Console for a few weeks after launch.
It depends on the site. WordPress hosting can be cheap, but someone has to keep plugins and themes updated and fix what breaks. Framer bundles hosting and updates into a plan with limits. Compare two years of total cost, including people’s time, not the monthly fee.
Let’s build something.
Twenty minutes on the phone and you’ll know whether we’re the right fit. Either way you’ll leave with something useful.