Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From Craft CMS to Webflow
We are the Craft CMS to Webflow migration experts
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Challenges with Craft CMS
Key pain points
The elephant in the room is PHP. Craft requires a traditional LAMP-style hosting setup with PHP 8.2+ and MySQL or Postgres, which immediately rules out the serverless and edge-first hosting that modern JavaScript frameworks thrive on. You're managing servers, configuring OPcache, tuning database connections, and dealing with all the operational overhead that comes with self-hosted PHP applications. For teams already working in the JavaScript ecosystem, this is a hard sell.
Major version upgrades are genuinely painful. Craft doesn't support skipping major versions, so migrating from Craft 2 to 5 means stepping through every version in between. Each jump brings breaking changes to Twig templates, PHP requirements, and plugin compatibility. We've seen agencies spend weeks on upgrades that should have been straightforward. The Team tier starts at $279 per project and the Pro tier costs $399, plus $99 annual renewals for both. A free Solo tier exists for single-user projects, but costs still add up for agencies, especially when you factor in plugins and the recent trend toward stricter licence enforcement in the control panel.
The community, while passionate, is relatively small compared to WordPress or even newer headless CMS platforms. When you hit an edge case or need help with a niche plugin, you may find yourself digging through GitHub issues rather than finding a ready answer. And while Craft Cloud exists as a managed hosting option, it's still maturing and doesn't yet match the deployment experience you'd get with platforms like Vercel or Netlify.
PHP hosting requirements
You need a traditional server with PHP 8.2+, MySQL or Postgres, and proper configuration. No serverless, no edge deployment, no modern hosting shortcuts.
Painful major version upgrades
You can't skip major versions, so upgrades mean stepping through each release with breaking Twig, PHP, and plugin changes along the way.
Smaller community and ecosystem
The community is dedicated but small. Finding answers to niche problems often means digging through GitHub issues or waiting on forum responses.
Licence costs add up
The Team tier is $279 per project and Pro is $399, both with $99 annual renewals, plus paid plugins on top. A free Solo tier exists for single-user projects, but costs add up quickly for agencies managing multiple client sites.
Learning curve for non-developers
Craft assumes your team includes developers. Content editors coming from WordPress or simpler tools will need time to adjust to the more structured interface.
Twig templating limitations
Twig is clean but limited compared to modern component frameworks. Complex UI logic gets awkward, and you're locked into whatever Twig version Craft supports.
Benefits of Webflow
Key advantages
We're really trying to think of a good reason to love Webflow, and if you’re building a simple marketing site, a portfolio, or a 10-page brochure site, it works. Designers get pixel-perfect layouts without touching code, the HTML it spits out is clean, hosting is included, and nobody has to panic over plugin updates or random server outages. In that world, Webflow is for you.
One of the Reddit users who likes Webflow states that it has global CDN, SSL handling, and 99.99% uptime without touching a server or updating a single plugin. But to be real, Webflow isn't a platform to build on top of, it's a "one and done" kind of thing. Honestly just go to fiverr and find somebody who's designs don't suck.
But if you are dead set on it, connect with us, and we will try to develop the best solution for you.
Visual design without coding
Designers can build the site they see in their heads without waiting on a dev or translating Figma to HTML. You just drag, drop, animate, and publish. If you can design it, Webflow will render it.
Global CDN infrastructure
Your site gets served fast everywhere, without you configuring servers or worrying about uptime charts. Webflow handles delivery at scale, and pages load like they’ve had three shots of espresso.
Automatic SSL management
You don't need any certificates, renewals, or late-night expiration scares. SSL is handled out of the box, so security stops being a chore and starts being standard.
Clean semantic HTML output
Unlike many no-code builders, Webflow doesn’t produce spaghetti markup. The code it generates is tidy, semantic, and Google-friendly, which is why performance is generally strong.
Built-in SEO optimization
Webflow gives you proper SEO controls with meta titles, descriptions, alt text, structured data, and Open Graph. You don't need plugins or setup. It has native tools that keep your site search-friendly.
Plugin-free architecture
Webflow ships with most essentials built in, so you’re not babysitting 12 plugins just to keep the lights on. Fewer moving parts means fewer things blowing up.
Common questions
Craft CMS to Webflow migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Craft CMS to Webflow migration
How much does Craft CMS cost for an agency managing multiple sites?
The costs add up quicker than most agencies expect. The Solo tier is free for single-user projects, Team is $279 per project, and Pro is $399 per project. Both paid tiers carry a $99 annual renewal fee. If you're running 10 client sites on Pro, that's $3,990 upfront plus $990 per year in renewals before you've paid for a single plugin. Popular plugins like SEOmatic, Blitz (caching), and Navigation run $99-$199 each. Factor in PHP hosting ($20-$100/month per site depending on traffic) and the total per-project cost lands between $500 and $1,500 in year one. It's reasonable for individual projects but the aggregate cost across a portfolio is where agencies feel the squeeze.
What are the hidden costs of running Craft CMS?
Beyond licensing, three costs catch teams off guard. First, PHP hosting. Craft needs PHP 8.2+, MySQL or Postgres, and proper server configuration. You can't deploy to Vercel or Netlify like you would with a headless CMS. Budget $20-$100/month per site for decent managed hosting. Second, major version upgrades. Craft doesn't let you skip versions, so going from Craft 3 to 5 means stepping through 3 to 4, then 4 to 5, each with breaking changes to Twig templates and plugin compatibility. We've seen agencies spend 20-40 hours per upgrade. Third, developer dependency. Craft assumes your team has PHP developers on hand. If your agency is moving toward JavaScript stacks, maintaining Craft expertise becomes an overhead.
Should I migrate from Craft CMS to a headless CMS?
It depends on your stack direction. If your team is comfortable with PHP and Twig, and your sites are traditional server-rendered builds, Craft still works well. But if you're building with Next.js, React, or any modern JavaScript framework, Craft becomes friction. Its GraphQL API exists but it's a bolt-on, not a native experience. The content modelling in Craft is genuinely good, and that translates well to headless platforms. We've migrated Craft sites to Sanity where the content structures mapped over almost one-to-one. The frontend rebuild in Next.js typically takes 6-10 weeks, and the result is faster, cheaper to host, and easier to iterate on.
What's the biggest challenge when migrating off Craft CMS?
Twig templates. Every piece of frontend logic in a Craft project lives in Twig, and none of it carries over to a modern JavaScript framework. You're essentially rebuilding every template from scratch. Content migration itself is manageable since Craft's data structures are well-organised, and you can export through the Element API or direct database queries. The other challenge is plugin replacement. If you rely on Craft plugins for forms, SEO, or search, you need to find equivalents in your new stack. We build a dependency audit before any Craft migration so there are no surprises mid-project.
How much does Webflow cost?
Webflow's pricing is layered and confusing. Site plans (billed yearly) start at $14/month for Basic, $23/month for CMS with 2,000 items, and $39/month for Business with up to 20,000 items. Those are per-site. Workspace plans are separate at $19/month (Core) or $49/month (Growth) for teams, plus $16-$35/month for Freelancer or Agency plans. Ecommerce runs $29, $74, or $212/month depending on the tier. Enterprise pricing starts around $60,000/year. The real cost surprise comes from CMS item caps and bandwidth overages, a single CMS site that grows past 2,000 items forces a jump to Business.
How do I migrate from Webflow to a headless CMS?
We export your Webflow content through their API, restructure it for the target CMS (usually Sanity), and rebuild the frontend in Next.js. The content migration itself is straightforward. The tricky part is recreating Webflow's visual design in code, especially custom interactions and animations. Most migrations take 4-6 weeks. The payoff is a faster site, no per-page CMS limits, and a frontend your developers can actually version control.
What are the best Webflow alternatives?
For designers who want visual control, Framer is the closest alternative with better performance. For teams that need a proper CMS backend, Sanity paired with a custom Next.js frontend gives you far more flexibility. If you just need a simple marketing site and don't want to code, Framer or Squarespace will get you there cheaper than Webflow's higher tiers. The right choice depends on whether you're outgrowing Webflow's CMS limits or its pricing.
How do I understand Webflow pricing?
Think of it as two separate bills. First, your Site plan, which covers hosting, CMS items, bandwidth, and form submissions for each individual site. Second, your Workspace plan, which covers team seats, staging sites, and collaboration features. You pay both. A solo freelancer on one site might spend $23/month. A team of five managing three sites easily lands between $300 and $500/month. Always check CMS item limits before launching, because the cap for the CMS plan is 2,000 items and hitting it forces an immediate upgrade to Business.
Can I export my Webflow site and host it elsewhere?
Technically yes, but you lose almost everything that makes Webflow useful. Exported code strips out CMS content, interactions, animations, and form handling. You get static HTML and CSS. For most teams, exporting means rebuilding. That's why we recommend migrating to a headless CMS and custom frontend rather than trying to salvage exported Webflow code. It's cleaner, faster, and you end up with something maintainable.
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