What is Framer, and is it right for your website?

When people ask what our own website is built with, the answer is Framer. It's also one of the two platforms we design Brand Sites in, next to WordPress. So you know where we stand: we like it, and we use it.

That's exactly why I want to be clear about what it is and what it isn't. Framer is very good at turning a design into a fast website that you can keep updating yourself. It's less good at things it was never built for, like running a store. If you know that before you start, you choose it for the right reasons, and you don't end up rebuilding a year later.

What is Framer?

Framer is a platform for designing and publishing websites. You work on a visual canvas, and what you see there is what visitors see in their browser. You design the desktop and phone versions side by side, add text, images, animations and forms, and press Publish. A few seconds later, the site is live.

Framer launched in 2014, started by two founders who had been building software together in Amsterdam, as a tool for designers. It grew into a full website platform, with hosting, a CMS, SEO settings, analytics and languages built in. That history shows: you're designing a page, not filling in a template.

The technical part is taken care of. Framer hosts your site on Amazon Web Services, delivers it through a worldwide network so it loads fast everywhere, and renews the SSL certificate (the padlock in the browser) for you. There are no plugins to update and no server to secure, because you don't have one.

What is a Framer website good for, and when isn't it?

A Framer website works best when its job is to show who you are, explain what you do and help the right people take the next step. That's often:

• Creative studios and agencies, who want their site to feel as considered as their work.

• Coaches, therapists and consultants, whose site has to build trust before the first call.

• Service businesses, like architects or salons, with a few clear service pages and a contact form.

• Portfolios and launch pages, where the images do the talking and the page has to go live quickly.

It's not the right fit when the business depends on something Framer wasn't made for: a product store with a cart and checkout (more on that below, and in What is Shopify and how does it work?), a content site with thousands of articles, or a site that leans on many plugins, like a members area or an online course.

How much does Framer cost?

Framer has a free plan to try it, and two paid site plans for a real website with your own domain. You pay per site, in US dollars, and Framer adds any tax for your country at checkout. These are the prices with yearly billing, as Framer shows them:

Source: framer.com/pricing, checked October 2026. Prices per site, with yearly billing; paying month to month costs more. Extra editors are $20 a month, content editors $10. Framer's own WordPress migration guide confirms that Basic doesn't include redirects.

Basic or Pro comes down to three questions. Are you moving from an old site and need redirects to keep its Google traffic? Do you want a staging version to check changes first? Will your content grow past 1,000 items? If all three are no, Basic is usually enough, and you can upgrade later.

For all the running costs, domain and cookie tool included, see How much does a website cost in 2026?

The Framer CMS: blogs and case studies

The CMS is where you keep content that repeats: articles, case studies, services or events. You design one layout, for example "case study", and every item you add gets its own page in that layout, with its own address that Google can find. Each item can have its own title and description for search.

Basic includes two collections (say, Articles and Projects) and 1,000 items, which covers what most Brand Sites need. Pro has ten collections and 2,500 items. If you plan a big content site from day one, compare those limits with your plans before you choose a platform, not after.

Is Framer good for SEO?

Yes, for the things that matter most. Google doesn't prefer one platform. It prefers pages that load fast and say clearly what they're about. Framer handles the technical basics, and leaves the content to you:

• Done for you: sitemap.xml and robots.txt are generated automatically, images are optimized and SSL is always on.

• Yours to set: a title and description for every page and CMS item, one clear H1 per page, and alt text for your images.

• Languages: with a second language, Framer sets the language tags (hreflang), so Google shows the Dutch page to Dutch searchers.

• Redirects need Pro. Moving from an old website? Every old address should send people and Google to its new page, which keeps the rankings you've built. On Framer, that needs the Pro plan.

What Framer can't do is write the page. A fast site that doesn't say what you do, for whom and where, still won't be found for it.

Framer templates: a good start, not the whole job

Framer's marketplace has free and paid templates for portfolios, studios and coaches, and you can change every part of them. That's a good, quick start. Just remember a template was designed for someone else's story. It decides what comes first and where the button sits, so if your business doesn't follow that order, you end up shaping your story to fit the template, instead of the other way around.

Can you sell products with Framer?

Not on its own. Framer has no cart, checkout or stock management built in. Marketplace plugins can add payments or connect a Shopify store, but the store always runs somewhere else. Here's how we look at it:

• You sell a few things next to your services, like a workbook or a gift card. A payment link or buy button on your Framer site is often enough.

• You want a Framer site and a store. Keep the brand site in Framer and link to your Shopify store for the shopping. Shopify's Buy Button, included in every Shopify plan, can also place products on a page outside Shopify.

• Products are the heart of the business. Then the whole site belongs on Shopify, with the checkout, iDEAL, stock and shipping in one place. A Shopify store can tell your brand story just as well.

Not sure which side you're on?

Ask where your revenue will come from in a year. If most of it is products in a cart, start with Shopify. If most of it is clients who contact you first, start with Framer, and add a store when the products are ready.

Framer vs WordPress, Webflow, Wix and Squarespace

Here is how Framer compares with four platforms you will likely come across. They can all make a good website. The real difference is who looks after it, how much freedom the design has and what happens when you want to sell.

Yearly billing, checked October 2026: framer.com/pricing; TransIP WordPress hosting Core, regular price excluding BTW; squarespace.com/pricing (Basic €12, or €17 billed monthly, 2% fee on store sales); webflow.com/pricing (Basic $15 without CMS, the CMS plan $25, ecommerce from $29 with a 2% transaction fee). Wix sets prices per country, see wix.com/plans.

Framer when design and a looked-after site matter most, WordPress for lots of content with someone to maintain it, a builder to make it yourself, Webflow for more technical control. We compare each pair in WordPress, Framer, Webflow or Wix?

TOOL: PLATFORM FINDER

Can you edit a Framer website yourself?

Yes, and for many founders that's the main reason to choose it. You change texts and images right on the page, add an article or project in the CMS, and publish when you're ready, without any code. Every publish is saved, so you can go back to an earlier version. Extra people cost a seat: content editors who update texts and the CMS are $10 a month, editors who can also design $20.

Design changes take more care, because that's where a designed site slowly starts to look less designed. A good handover shows you what's safe to change.

Our own website is built in Framer

We built designbykarina.com in Framer, so you can see what it does in practice. The huge headline, the colors and the spacing were designed on the canvas, and the phone version sits in the same file as the desktop one.

designbykarina.com, our own site, built in Framer. The layout was designed on the canvas and published as it is.

The phone version, designed in the same file.

It also showed us the limits first-hand: our redirects need the Pro plan, and a Dutch version needs the languages add-on. Those are the running costs worth knowing before you choose a plan.

Good to know in the Netherlands

Good to know in the Netherlands

Framer gives you the website. A few Dutch rules are still yours to cover:

• Cookies and the AVG. Framer's own analytics doesn't use cookies, so it needs no banner. Add Google Analytics, a Meta pixel or YouTube videos, and you need a banner that asks for consent first. Framer has a cookie banner component that works with Google's Consent Mode.

• Who's behind the site. Show your business name, address, email address and KVK number, and your BTW number if you charge BTW.

• A privacy statement that says what you do with what people send through your contact form.

• Dutch and English. With the languages add-on, each extra language is $20 a month, and the language tags for Google are set for you.

Your business is in Belgium?

You show your ondernemingsnummer from the KBO instead of a KVK number. Clients in Brussels or Wallonia? A French version is often worth it, one more language add-on.

Website laten maken in Framer: yourself or with a designer?

Framer is easy to start with, and plenty of people build a good first site on it themselves. Whether you should depends less on the tool and more on what the site has to do. Build it yourself when you're testing a new offer and the main thing is to be online. Use a template with some help when you know exactly what to say. Work with a designer when the site has to bring in clients and you're not sure yet what it should say first, or to whom.

I've seen €15K websites that don't convert, and simple ones that work because they clearly say who they help. So when you look for a Framer designer in the Netherlands, ask to see live Framer sites they've built, who writes the structure and the words, and what you'll be able to change yourself afterwards.

NOT A TOOL