Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
We are the Webflow to Magnolia migration experts
Challenges with Webflow
Now for the part that Webflow doesn’t put on their homepage. The pricing escalates fast. $29/month for a basic CMS plan is already painful, but enterprise plans running into $60,000+ a year for high-traffic sites? The CMS editor is the other pain point everyone loves to hate. Tiny text fields, clunky formatting, random quirks, and in some cases, hitting “save” has accidentally unpublished live articles. Yes, really. Not exactly the confidence you want from a content platform.
Then there are the technical walls. Only one designer can edit at a time. No repeater fields. CMS reference limits that force weird workarounds. And if you ever want to leave Webflow? Good luck. The exported code loses CMS features and animations, so your “no-code” site suddenly needs… code. Everywhere.
Key pain points
Expensive pricing tiers
Webflow starts cheap, but the moment you need CMS items, traffic, or team features, the bill jumps fast. If you want just 10 pages, go ahead. But if you need an enterprise website, we suggest reconsidering.
Outdated CMS editor interface
For all the design polish, the CMS editor feels stuck in another decade. Tiny text fields, formatting quirks, and the occasional “why did that unpublish my live page?” moment doesn't help content teams move fast.
CMS reference limitations
Complex content models often require hacks, workarounds, or custom code anyway, which defeats the “no-code” dream. It doesn't have repeaters or shallow reference depth, and collection limits add friction to what should be simple tasks.
Single-designer collaboration limit
Only one designer can work in the Webflow canvas at a time. On larger projects, this turns teamwork into a queue.
Third-party integration dependency
If you need advanced features, prepare to stitch in custom code or third-party services. The plugin ecosystem is small, so extending Webflow usually means bolting on tools outside the platform.
Limited export functionality
You can export your site, but you lose CMS features, interactions, and animations the moment you do. It’s more like a one-way door than a portable build.
Benefits of Magnolia
Magnolia shines if you’re the kind of organisation that genuinely needs the full DXP kitchen sink. It packs personalisation, workflows, multi-site orchestration, multilingual publishing, DAM, marketing automation hooks, and every enterprise acronym you can think of. If your teams run complex global content operations with strict governance, Magnolia’s mature permission system, stability, and long-standing enterprise reputation make it a safe, compliant option.
To be transparent, we don’t actually prefer or build with Magnolia (or any of the DXP-flavoured headless CMSs). They try to do everything, and like most jack-of-all-trades platforms, they don’t excel at the things modern teams actually need that is speed, flexibility, clean workflows, and sane pricing. We’d happily point you toward modern alternatives like Sanity that give you 10× the agility without the enterprise bloat.
Key advantages
Java-based enterprise integration
Built on Java, Magnolia plugs neatly into large enterprise stacks that already rely on Java systems and legacy infrastructure. If your organisation lives and breathes JVM, Magnolia won’t fight your architecture.
Secure, scalable architecture
Magnolia’s core is engineered for high-security, high-traffic environments, with strong access control, clustering, and enterprise-grade stability. It’s built to survive heavy editorial activity and large content delivery demands.
Real-time page templating
Editors can adjust components and layouts and immediately preview results, making large enterprise content operations faster and less error-prone.
Editable component previews
Magnolia’s component-level previewing gives editors clarity on how complex pages come together, reducing back-and-forth with developers and keeping multi-team workflows sane.
Multi-site management tools
Designed for global brands, Magnolia supports multiple sites, languages, and regional variations under one roof.
Advanced workflow automation
From multi-step approvals to compliance-driven publishing flows, Magnolia handles heavyweight governance. This is the stuff big enterprises actually need when 20 departments want access but only 2 should publish.
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