Starting in January 2025, Webflow will reportedly change its pricing and plan structure. One key alteration is that CMS plan holders will lose the “guest” editing feature unless they purchase an additional plan, estimated to cost around $28 per month. This extra fee could significantly impact small freelancers and their clients.
By removing a previously included feature and tying it to an additional monthly cost, Webflow seems to be shifting towards a more enterprise-focused model. While larger agencies can likely absorb this expense, smaller businesses and freelancers may find it increasingly difficult to justify staying with the platform. Over time, such pricing moves risk alienating the core user base that helped Webflow grow in the first place.
Yep, wholeheartedly agree. I’m exploreing alternatives over the holidays.
I love Webflow, and built my business around them. However, it was always a hard sell to justify the hosting costs, and now the steep hill has become a mountain.
I’m definitly going to have to have alternatives up my sleeve.
In the your CMS-plan site there are two workspace scenarios just like before;
SCENARIO 1 - STARTER-WORKSPACE
The site is hosted in a client-owned Starter/free workspace.
Either it was built by them, or it was transferred there by a freelancer/agency after it was completed.
CMS site owner would have full designer access to the site since they are the workspace owner
Plus 1 free client seat once the site is hosted on the CMS plan
SCENARIO 2 - AGENCY/FREELANCER WORKSPACE
The site was built by an agency / freelancer, and is hosted in their workspace.
If it’s a freelancer workspace, CMS site owner gets 1 included client seat
If it’s an agency workspace, CMS site owner gets 3 included client seats
RESULT
In all cases, the site owner gets at least 1 editor / client seat
If it’s in their own starter workspace, they get 2
If it’s in an agency workspace, they get 3
Previously CMS plans had 3 legacy content editor seats tied to the plan itself so yes there’s a change here. But, any existing CMS plans with existing legacy-editor seats setup ( as of mid 2025 ), get preserved and converted to client seats too, so existing clients don’t lose a thing.
My assessment is this is an awesome step forward, with a huge amount of value for both clients and for freelancers & agencies;
Existing clients don’t lose any editor seats
All clients, current and new, get full editor-mode access through the designer, which is easily 10x better. Localization, Quick search, component properties are my top 3.
Freelancers & Agencies can now invite clients to edit client content during the site build before the site plan is added.
Pretty freakin’ cool. I can see a lot of people panicking because there are a lot of changes and it’s a complex document to read- but so far I still haven’t found a scenario where any of my clients are impacted negatively.
Actually it’s kind of a dream-come-true situation on the editor change.
Hey @memetican Thats fine, and I am on Agency, so for some projects nothing changes. But not all clients want me to host. I often have clients who want ‘the keys’ so to speak, so they have full ownership. How can I build them a shiny new Webflow site, transfer to them, and say, “oh and to have three seats its going to cost you $29/m for CMS site plan + $19/m limited seats (x2) = $67/m / $444/y” They’re gonna go with an alternative agency unless I can offer something else.
For me that’s an exceptional case, I host all of my clients, which gets even easier once client payments is released.
In your example, the client would have two seats automatically-
1 x full designer seat because they own the workspace
1 x client seat because they have a paid site plan ( see the diagram above )
So if they needed a third in their own non-agency workspace then yes they’d need to pay for one additional seat.
I feel like the factors that would pull me into that client-owned workspace situation are massively reduced in this new setup though, esp since they’ll be able to work with localized content and fully use components.
You’re making things quite complicated. So if I understand correctly, here’s how it will work in the future:
As a freelancer, I have an Agency plan and build a website for a client.
The client opens their own Webflow account with a CMS plan.
Once the website is ready, I transfer the website to the client’s account.
Under their CMS plan, the client has the ability to invite one guest (that would be me) to make future updates and changes to things like the layout, etc.
From what I’ve gathered, in the new situation, this “guest” role will no longer be available. If my client still wants to make use of my services, they’ll have to pay $28 per month for this functionality.
Am I understanding this correctly, or have I completely misunderstood?
Hey@HGWeb - Complicated doesn’t even begin to describe this.
The fact that so many of us are all scratching our heads and the Webflow Socials team are firefighting says it all. They’ve made an already confusing pricing model considerably more complex and lost an awful lot of customer goodwill in the process. Who on earth signed this off?
I think you have misunderstood. This is how I read this…
As someone with an Agency Plan, ALL your sites have the option to invite 3 seats to the new Editor. (This includes non-CMS plans, and even free .webflow.io staging domains). So for that, these changes are good.
However, if the client wants full ownership of their new website, they’ll be expecting the project to be transferred to them. They won’t have an Agency Workspace, so when transferred, the only ‘seat’ they have is the Webflow account holder.
If the Webflow account owner wants his marketing team to have Edit roles, it will cost him $19 per person month on top of any hosting plan.
Utter greed. Especially if they are already paying for CMS hosting (which previously had 3 seats).
For you to have access to the website after the transfer, the client will have two Workspace Seats available to invite you (as an Agency) to their Workspace. This is free and is entirely separate from any Editor seats. (The same as it currently is).
I will now be advising my clients to have me host their sites in my Workspace. Otherwise Webflow gets way too expensive for small businesses.
I use the same general setup- Agency workspace building sites for clients.
Let me see if I can clarify a few things for you in your post-
Hosting client sites in client-owned workspaces was a popular approach in the past 2 years, mostly because of the deprecation of the original client billing feature, and the lack of localization support in the legacy editor.
Both of those are fixed, with the pending release of Client Payments and this new announcement regarding the legacy editor → client seats change.
The way Webflow has organized these changes, there is an increasing distinction between service providers ( Agencies / Freelancers ) and other types of companies ( Starter / Core / Growth workspaces ).
One of those big distinctions is client seats. These are a variation of the new “limited seat”, which is;
Only available to Agency / Freelancer workspaces
Given to clients when the Agency / Freelancer wants to give that client edit-only access to their hosted site.
Free- no added cost to the Agency, Freelancer, or Client
Limited - Edit-only and site-specific. Freelancers have one client seat per hosted site. Agencies have three per hosted site.
So the “old way” that you’re describing above was;
Build the site in your Agency workspace
The client sets up a client-owned workspace
The client invites you as a Freelancer / Agency guest. They have two invites available in their Starter workspace, even though they have no sites yet
You accept the invite, and now have full access to their Workspace
You transfer the finished site to them
You help them setup a hosting plan and launch the site
Final testing & review
That approach will still be possible after the migration mid-2025, however it’s not 100% clear to me what the client will have in terms of user seats for their site. Based on the docs, they will have 1 x full seat, with full designer access, since they own the workspace, plus most likely 1 x client seat ( site-specific ) or partial seat ( workspace-specific ) since they are affiliated with your Agency. According to Webflow you’ll have a way to “link” their Starter workspace to your Agency workspace.
Going forward, I’d only use that setup if the client really needs designer access, and I’m “handing over” responsibility for the site for them to self-manage.
Otherwise I’d go with the new Agency-hosted approach;
Build the site in your Agency workspace
When the site is structurally build, invite the client using the new client seats, so that they can contribute to the content while the site is being built. This costs nothing.
When the site is ready to be released, setup a Site Plan within the Agency workspace. Setup Client Payments to bill the client.
Here the client doesn’t have any complexities around setting up the workspace, or setting up the hosting plan, which were a pain for non-techie users.
The client has up to 3 x full editors who can admin the site. Only you, the Agency, have designer access so there is no risk of them damaging the site structurally, or breaking brand guidelines.
With the new designer-based editor, they have full access to localization, CMS item publishing, scheduling, the asset manager, quick find, component properties… pretty slick. They no longer need designer access to work with these features, and as a result it’s just a smarter/safer setup for most clients unless they have their own inhouse Webflow design staff.
We are returning to the ‘old’ method where the agency has full responsibility and access to the client’s website.
Previously, Webflow advised against this approach, recommending that ownership of the site be fully transferred to the client. This allowed clients to control payments and manage access to their website themselves. Now, Webflow is reversing this policy, placing the responsibility back with the agency.
This brings new challenges, especially for clients who are already managing their websites independently. If they want to invite me for access, they will now need to purchase an additional seat, costing over $200 per year, on top of the already increased CMS subscription fees.
What was previously included in the standard CMS plan is now being charged separately, forcing clients to pay significantly more. This shift seems to disadvantage small business owners and freelancers while benefiting larger agencies and bureaus.
With this change, Webflow is leaving small users out in the cold and shifting its focus towards the bigger players in the market.
I’ve never seen that guidance. In the past, I think it was probably recommended by support in two situations-
If you do not want to bill clients yourself for hosting
If your clients need direct access to Localization features, which were not accessible in the legacy editor
For me I’ve always had all client sites hosted in my Agency workspace and most other Agencies I know do the same. I haven’t seen stats but I suspect Freelancers might prefer the client-owned-workspace hosting arrangement, just as a safety.
However it really doesn’t matter. The cost is the same in either setup- the client only needs a Starter workspace + Site plan either way, and you only need your Agency / Freelancer workspace. The capabilities are very similar, but slightly different since the client owns their own workspace and has a full designer account. Could be good, could be risky, depending on the client.
I think you might be missing a key feature- the point of Freelancer / Agency guest invites is that anyone in any workspace - including a free Starter workspace - can invite you in with full access since you have a Freelancer / Agency account.
There is no cost to them at all for that. For you, it’s just your normal Freelancer / Agency workspace. It’s very powerful.
If you look at the pricing, it’s exactly the opposite.
Workspace seats are now half price for editor / reviewer / marketer roles.
There is no limit to the number of seats you can purchase- no forced upgrade to the next workspace plan level, and no forced workspace upgrade to Enterprise when you need more than 9 users. Seats are totally independent now, which gives you much cheaper workspace plan options.
All site owners now get 3 full client seats with full designer access, without paying for any designer seats.
Webflow’s given more capabilities to everyone, and protected the entry point pricing so it’s the same as before. Now costs are better tied to utilization- you pay for additional seats, and for advanced features ( Analyze, Optimize ). I much prefer this approach since those features are there if a client needs them- but otherwise I’m not paying anything for features I don’t use.
The concern here is that many clients may hesitate, and understandably so, to hand over ownership. They’re left wondering: What happens if the freelancer is involved in an accident? Currently, there’s no mechanism in place for worst-case scenarios.
If I was a client investing significant money into a website, I would want to own the access to it. Relying solely on a freelancer introduces real risks, such as extended unavailability due to unforeseen circumstances., or even death.
It seems Webflow either doesn’t fully understand the needs of its freelance user base or is prioritizing revenue over usability. This approach will backfire, as freelancers will gradually move away from the platform in search of better alternatives.
A CMS plan currently includes up to 3 legacy editor users who can edit content.
Future Situation (after mid-2025):
The legacy editor will be replaced by “client seats” or “limited seats.”
These client seats will depend on the type of workspace hosting the site. For CMS plans, this feature will no longer be included in the same way it is today.
If a site is hosted in a Freelancer workspace, only 1 client seat will be available. In an Agency workspace, up to 3 client seats will be included.
Implication:
New CMS plans created after the migration will no longer offer the same editor access as today. To provide additional users with access, extra “limited seats” will need to be purchased at $15 per month per user.
Transition Period:
Existing customers will retain their current legacy editor users, as these will be converted to client seats at no additional cost. However, for new setups after mid-2025, this may change.
Conclusion:
If your current site is under a CMS plan and includes legacy editor users, you will keep these without additional costs for now. However, if you want to add new users or create new plans after mid-2025, you might incur additional costs.
This is an excellent thought- I understand that Webflow does have internal processes for this purpose, but it’s very case-by-case, rather like account lockouts. There are a lot of complexities, like legalities of ownership, copyright etc. it’s not necessarily obvious from a legal perspective who owns site X.
So you’re right to see it as a “possession is 9/10 of the law” situation. Whoever owns the account the site is in sort of defacto owns the site.
I suppose it’s possible that will change with client payments, when it’s used, since the client can prove “ownership” in a sense as the CC owner.
It would be nice if this were more explicit, and that a Freelancer / Agency could designate contacts, transfer rights, etc. for each site so that there’s some basic insurance against an HBAB [ hit by a bus ] situation.
That said, I’ve never seen this concern raised by my clients. Their sites have always been in my account, and that works for them, less to worry about. It would likely be less comfortable for a client to see a site transferred from their client-owned account back to an account where they no longer fully control it.
This is the primary reason for migrating my clients to their personal Webflow accounts.
The pricing should be readily understandable, avoiding the need for multiple readings and forum discussions to comprehend. Dealing with a used car salesperson is easier than trying to figure out Webflow’s pricing models. I think this is a corporate Webflow strategy, the more they can confuse the customer the more we are at their mercy. They know 90% will just accept it, as it’s less painful to accept than understand.
I’ve never seen that guidance. In the past, I think it was probably recommended by support in two situations-
, really 