Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Handlebars VS Webflow

Compare Handlebars VS Webflow and see what are their differences

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Handlebars logo Handlebars

Handlebars is a JavaScript template library that is, more or less, based on ...

Webflow logo Webflow

Build dynamic, responsive websites in your browser. Launch with a click. Or export your squeaky-clean code to host wherever you'd like. Discover the professional website builder made for designers.
  • Handlebars Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-28
  • Webflow Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-09

Handlebars features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Handlebars provides a straightforward and easy-to-learn syntax for templating, making it accessible for developers with varying levels of experience.
  • Logic-less Templates
    Encourages the separation of logic and design by only allowing minimal logic in templates. This promotes a cleaner code base and separation of concerns.
  • Extensibility
    Handlebars allows for custom helpers and partials which enable extending the templating functionality as needed.
  • Precompilation
    Templates can be precompiled, improving performance by reducing client-side parsing and rendering time.
  • Wide Adoption and Community Support
    As a popular templating engine, Handlebars has a large community of users and contributors, which provides abundant resources, plugins, and support.

Possible disadvantages of Handlebars

  • Limited Logic
    The logic-less nature of Handlebars means it supports only very basic conditionals and loops, which can be limiting for complex scenarios.
  • Verbosity
    Handlebars templates can become verbose, especially when using custom helpers or partials extensively.
  • Initial Learning Curve
    For developers coming from more logic-oriented templating engines, adjusting to Handlebars' logic-less paradigm can take some effort.
  • Dependency Management
    In larger projects, managing dependencies between templates, partials, and helpers can become complex and cumbersome.
  • Lack of Reactivity
    Handlebars does not include built-in support for data reactivity, making it less suitable for dynamic, real-time updates compared to modern frameworks like React or Vue.

Webflow features and specs

  • Design Flexibility
    Webflow provides an intuitive visual interface that allows designers to create highly customized and responsive websites without writing code.
  • Integrated CMS
    Webflow includes a built-in CMS that allows users to easily manage dynamic content, making it ideal for blogs, portfolios, and other content-rich sites.
  • SEO Capabilities
    Webflow offers robust SEO tools, including custom meta tags, alt text for images, and clean code output, which can help improve search engine rankings.
  • E-commerce Support
    Webflow provides comprehensive e-commerce features, including product management, checkout processes, and payment gateways, suitable for small to medium-sized online stores.
  • Hosting and Performance
    Webflow offers high-performance hosting with fast loading times, SSL, and global CDN, ensuring websites are secure and perform well.
  • No-Code Platform
    It empowers non-developers to build and maintain websites, breaking down barriers between design and development through its visual development platform.
  • Custom Interactions and Animations
    Webflow allows the creation of sophisticated animations and interactions directly in the designer, enhancing user experience and engagement.

Possible disadvantages of Webflow

  • Learning Curve
    Although it's a no-code platform, Webflow's extensive feature set can be overwhelming for beginners, requiring a significant amount of time to become proficient.
  • Cost
    Webflow's pricing can be relatively high compared to other website builders, especially for e-commerce plans and sites with large amounts of CMS items.
  • Limited Plugins
    Webflow has fewer third-party plugins and integrations compared to platforms like WordPress, which may be limiting for some users needing specific functionalities.
  • Custom Code Limitation
    While Webflow supports custom code, there are limitations on what can be achieved without full access to backend code, which may hinder more complex customizations.
  • E-commerce Scale
    While suitable for small to medium businesses, Webflow's e-commerce capabilities may not be sufficient for large-scale online stores with extensive requirements.
  • Export Restrictions
    Exported code from Webflow can be difficult to maintain if you choose to leave the platform, as the exported files may not easily integrate with other CMSs or platforms.

Analysis of Webflow

Overall verdict

  • Webflow is a strong platform for those who want to create visually appealing, responsive websites without delving deeply into coding. Its powerful features and intuitive design interface make it particularly appealing to designers who want more control over their creative process. However, it may have a learning curve for those new to web design or those accustomed to more code-heavy development environments.

Why this product is good

  • Webflow is considered a good choice for web design and development because it combines the convenience of a visual design tool with the power of a CMS and the flexibility of custom code. It allows designers to create responsive websites without the need for extensive coding knowledge, while also offering the ability to add custom interactions and animations. The platform provides a comprehensive range of hosting services, SSL, and backups, which simplifies site management. The ease of use, coupled with advanced customization options, makes it a preferred choice for many freelancers, agencies, and businesses.

Recommended for

  • Designers looking to quickly prototype and develop websites.
  • Businesses seeking a platform that combines design flexibility with robust hosting features.
  • Agencies seeking a scalable solution for client projects.
  • Freelancers who want to offer end-to-end web design and hosting services.
  • Individuals or businesses looking for a CMS that supports custom integrations and interactions without extensive back-end development.

Handlebars videos

MTB Handlebars: Our Top 5 Picks for 2018!

More videos:

  • Review - Roland Sands Handlebars Review at RevZilla.com
  • Review - KST Kustoms Handlebars Review

Webflow videos

Webflow Review: Excellent Custom Design Tool

More videos:

  • Review - Building a site in Webflow - First impressions review!
  • Review - Squarespace VS Webflow: Website Building Platform Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Handlebars and Webflow)
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
Website Builder
0 0%
100% 100
Development
100 100%
0% 0
CMS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Handlebars and Webflow

Handlebars Reviews

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Webflow Reviews

  1. Amazing

    Designing websites with Webflow has been an absolute delight. Its visual interface makes the design process intuitive and efficient. The drag-and-drop functionality for elements is a real time-saver, and the real-time preview allows for instant feedback. Customizing designs to be responsive for different devices is a breeze. Webflow's ability to handle complex animations without code is impressive. All in all, Webflow has made website creation a smooth and enjoyable process. Definitely a game-changer for web design!

    🏁 Competitors: Tilda

Comparing 9 WordPress alternatives & competitors in 2024
Webflow’s visual, composable CMS is feature-complete right out of the box. With native integrations, optimization tools, and managed hosting, you can build, launch, and iterate your website at scale. Webflow also vets Apps built by our community, so you can trust apps that you install — with no need to update software or manage outdated plugins.
Source: webflow.com
19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025
Webflow offers more advanced design and animation capabilities than WordPress, allowing for custom-built websites without coding. Pixpa and Squarespace offer advanced portfolio management, e-commerce, and client gallery features tailored for creatives.
Source: www.pixpa.com
The 17 Best Wix Alternatives (2024) Who Else Can You Build Your Website With?
Webflow isn’t for everyone. It’s focused on designers and developers, so the user interface can be overwhelming to beginners. However, their designs are slick and they’re not afraid to show off their website builder: NASA uses it, and Webflow built their own website with the platform.
Top 10 Web Content Management Systems
Webflow is another unique CMS option based on the fact that it does not feature a single line of code anywhere for the user to bother with. Instead, it takes it upon itself to fully cover every single modification that a user may need as part of its preconfigured content management options. The UI is also designed with utility in mind. Whereas Wix also does not feature codes...
Source: cloudzy.com
Top No Code Website Builders in 2023
Webflow is an ideal option for designers and developers wanting to create custom websites with no code. Users can build a website while maintaining complete design control, leveraging advanced customization options, such as CSS and HTML editing.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Webflow should be more popular than Handlebars. It has been mentiond 137 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Handlebars mentions (65)

  • Chapter 7: HTML part two
    For a more robust approach, we'd probably need to install a templating language of some kind, such as Twig, EJS, Handlebars, Pug or Mustache (this is not a complete list!). Reading the documentation for posthtml-modules, you'll notice it doesn't mention package.json or any of the approaches we've used in this guide. Instead, the examples are in JavaScript and we've advised to add this to our Node application. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • How to send emails using Express and NodeJS
    As suggested by a teammate, I found out that I'll need to create the template in a different file and then replace the variables in it using some utility. So, again after searching for some packages, I figured that Handlebars would be the best solution for our problem. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • The Features of Front-end UI Components
    In dynamic web pages, especially when using template engines such as Mustache and Handlebars or libraries/frameworks such as React and Vue, the final content structure is basically generated by JS, which strengthens JS and weakens the control of HTML over the content structure. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Make Custom Handlebar Helpers in Ghost!
    In this variable, we have the response from the Ghost instance as the full HTML of the page. Imagine that this response is the homepage of your Ghost instance. The HTML content will also include our plain text {{hello_world}}, which is displayed as plain text. If our custom helper is in this form, we can compile it using Handlebars.js (https://handlebarsjs.com/) in our middleware. Remember to install the library... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • htmx and ExpressJS
    It is a novel experience to say the least for me. I mean yes I have been using Handlebars, pug, and other templating engines but this is novel in how it changed my perspective about HTML (Just read their motivation in htmx.org). - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
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Webflow mentions (137)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Handlebars and Webflow, you can also consider the following products

EJS - An open source JavaScript Template library.

WiX - Create a free website with Wix.com. Customize with Wix' website builder, no coding skills needed. Choose a design, begin customizing and be online today

Pug - Pug is a robust, elegant, feature rich template engine for Node.js

SquareSpace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

Jinja2 - Jinja2 is a template engine written in Python.

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.