Small Business Owner Quickly Priced Out

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1

I came to webflow from WIX about 6 months ago. Based on what is advertised, it seems like a little increase in cost, but felt worth it. Then came the surprise costs that I felt were hidden when I was first researching this:

  • I assumed buying a plan with more seats would come with those seats, instead I have to pay for each seat, essentially doubling the cost.
  • I as the owner take up a seat even though I am not a designer. By hiring a freelancer, I now have to buy an additional seat when I am not even using mine. Why can’t I move seats around? Why do I need a seat to just manage billing and permissions?
  • Because I pay annually, it forces me to pay for the seat for the entire year, even though I only need about a month’s of work. Absolutely ridiculous and infuriating…
  • The three freelancers I have hired have had to sign up with their own freelancer plan (on top of my seat cost) that I was asked to reimburse in each case. This feels like triple-dipping at this point.
  • Not till launching the site did I realize there was a separate hosting fee that wasn’t mentioned anywhere when I first signed up so I assumed it was included (like it is with wix, sitebuilder, and all the other ones I researched).

I am now paying 4x what I did for Wix for a marginal increase in my case. It all just feels dishonest to me, like buying a Vegas hotel only to find out the resort fees at checkout exceed the price of the room.

2

Hi Michael,

I feel like you misunderstand workspace plans and site plans. It sounds like (a) you have only one site, (b) you are the owner of that site, and (c) you need to invite freelancers to assist with certain aspects on occasion.

If that’s right, you want;

  • A site plan for hosting your site
  • NO workspace plan, just the plain starter workspace. You do not need a workspace plan unless you are building other sites, and need full capabilities during the development process before you host the sites. Your site plan gives you full designer access on your current hosted site.
  • Your Freelancers pay for their own Freelancer workspace, and you invite them to your workspace as Agency/Freelancer guests. You can invite up to 2, at no cost, and they have full access. You should not be buying a seat for them- Freelancers should have their own Freelancer plan.

Webflow is a premium site-building platform, however you shouldn’t be paying much in your configuration. Seems like you’re paying for a lot of things you don’t need.

Regarding site plans, Wix also charges per-site, and the price range is $17 - $159/mo depending on the plan.