E-commerce pricing

Community resources Product feedback
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Broadly, the pricing Webflow have set seem in an ok range.

1 – Clarification please: At webflow.com/ecommerce#compare Webflow say that entry level pricing is $29, same as Shopify. But isn’t it the case that Webflow’s e-commerce plans are on top of CMS plans? That would make it $45/month at the lowest. Could someone please clarify?

2 – Secondly, it’s a shame that Webflow have settled on a pricing model that starts at a price that I cannot sell to some people just starting out. It would be great if you could get a shop going for people that haven’t got any notable amount of sales yet. I know people that don’t yet want to afford the $29 a month for Shopify, simply because they haven’t got the sales yet to justify this. Instead they are stuck with eBay, Etsy and such.

Woudn’t it have been great if Webflow e-commerce had a $0 starting price (by all means do charge something for CSM/hosting) that goes up as sales materialise?

That means that I could sell the amazing Webflow platform to a lot more people. Ok, they are tiny fish, but who knows what some of them could grow into.

In any case, this is the idea I like: A sliding scale that gives you a FREE entry price:
moltin.com/headless-commerce-platform/pricing

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To be clear, ecommerce site plans are not priced in addition to CMS plans - so $29/month is the entry level price, full stop.

As for our overall pricing approach, we aligned ourselves competitively within the existing market, looking at what other platforms charge and the value they provide.

One note on that front though is that unlike other platforms, Webflow doesn’t have a timed free trial — you can build your site for free, then go live only when you want to enable checkout and go live on a custom domain. Our hope is that helps upstart businesses get their store fully ready before they need to officially launch.

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Thank you for clarifying @brjohnson.

Yes, exactly — when you could have come up with something significantly different to attract a lot more people to start out on your platform! I’ve just had a case like this where the person was hesitant even start out on a $12/month platform.

We’d have instantly jumped on to Webflow if there was a no sale, no fee price structure for the e-commerce functionality (still happy to pay for hosting and the CMS)

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I too wish the e-commerce pricing could be adjusted a bit. My biggest concern is that WebFlow E-commerce does not yet have a POS option, yet their pricing is equal to (or in some cases greater than) competitors that do offer this important option.

I am specifically in need of a website that offers static pages, portfolio capabilities and e-commerce combined with a POS that syncs in-person sales with website sales. 12 months ago, there were no solid options that offered all of this. But recently, both Squarespace and Wix have added POS to their offerings. Even WooCommerce now has POS syncing through SquareUp.

WebFlow will soon offer a POS solution, which will make it a great solution for artists and designers that need to showcase their work in a portfolio, but also sell items both online and in-person. However, Wordpress + WooCommerce as well as SquareSpace and Wix still have WebFlow beat in pricing.

WebFlow’s intro e-commerce pricing of $29/month (paid annually) is not super crazy. But dang! I have to give them 2% of every sale on top of it? Combine that with Stripe’s 2.7-2.9% and we’re suddenly giving away nearly 5% of every sale with WebFlow. SquareSpace on the other hand is charging $26/month (annually) and you only pay the Stripe fee, plus you get way more features (POS, customer accounts, unbranded emails, etc). SquareSpace also offers an e-commerce plan with unlimited products for $18/month + 3% transaction fee. Wix offers all that at $23/month with no transaction fees. And of course the WordPress + WooCommerce can be even less, depending on your hosting.

Oh, and the other thing … SquareSpace, WIX and WooCommerce all sync up with order fulfillment companies like Printful.com so I can sell art + design related goods such as shirts and posters with zero investment in inventory while I sleep, which is a great way to make money.

My suggestion would be for WebFlow to consider a plan that at least equals what SquareSpace is offering ($26/month with no transaction fees beyond the merchant fees), and then offer a lower level plan, say $18/month with a limited number of products and the additional 2% transaction fee.

I like the WebFlow platform. I like where their e-commerce roadmap is heading. If they adjusted the pricing just slightly and got the POS in place, they would blow everyone else out of the water for the much-in-demand artist and maker market that needs to showcase their portfolios while also selling online and in-person at craft shows and events.

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@beckman I agree with all of your points, while the base price is high but manageable, decisions such as the 2% fee on each purchase and Webflow branding on emails (base tier) makes it harder to sell to clients.

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While I still think that Webflow’s pricing tiers neglect professionals like me who are out in the field selling accounts and spreading brand awareness through systems and application design, for the average person looking to open up a shop to sell nicknacks, the pricing of 29/MO is fair whether they are just starting out or not.

Every industry has some start-up costs associated with doing business. If there is no confidence behind the product they plan to sell, then eBay, Etsy and the like should be used first anyways as research points to see if there is a market before paying for a full-blown website with eCommerce. Giving a customer Webflow as an option based on a whim to sell nicknacks online is kind of over-complicating things for everyone imho. :slight_smile:

As for use-base pricing, I would love to see something like that for hosting plans. I build a lot of single page landing-pages for affiliate marketing that definitely don’t event come close to using 1/1000th the monthly resources allotted to the 16/mo CMS plans. Pay-per-use would be great in cases like this.

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@WillNeeteson while I can’t comment on the fee being high, I think the Webflow branding in email receipts is rather tacky and don’t understand why it isn’t included in white label professional accounts.

@beckman Just curious but what made you chose Webflow over Squarespace and others?

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I like WebFlow over SquareSpace for the greater creative control for layout and style. For a non-ecommerce site, I think WebFlow has a greater advantage in many ways. I agree that the $29/mo cost for WebFlow e-commerce is totally inline with the market. I’m just surprised that a shop owner would be surrendering nearly 5% of their sales on top of that, and would be getting fewer bells and whistles compared to other e-commerce platforms (especially a POS feature).

For now, I’m sticking with WordPress and WooCommerce as my top choice for e-commerce because it hits all the marks: full design control, no transaction fees except for the merchant fees, POS syncing with Square Register, plus there are numerous options to host free demo sites (i.e. FlyWheel) while building with unlimited static pages, unlike WebFlow.

Plus, in an education environment, SiteGround will provide free hosting to students for the duration of a class, so you can combine that with WordPress and WooCommerce and get unlimited pages, total creative control, portfolio tools, and e-commerce with POS syncing.

If WebFlow got rid of the 2% transaction fee on e-commerce, and raised the limit on static pages for demo sites, I’d be my top choice. Plus, I could then also use it in the classroom. Even though WebFlow provides a student discount, we can only use free options in our classroom and have been able to negotiate free hosting options with other providers to meet this need.

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@beckman I’m brand new to Webflow but have not taken the plunge yet… I’m curious, a year later since your thoughtful comments on Webflow vs Wordpress; are you feeling the same or would you advise as you did on Jan 6? I do have a WP site with Woocommerce. Should I switch or stay?!? Thank you for your thoughts! Sorry to push this to the top for everyone, but I am learning a lot from all the comments!