We're reverting Simple Hosting back to $5 per site for Personal, Pro, and Team plans

Publishing help General
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Hey everyone, thank you for the honest feedback around our pricing changes that went live yesterday with our CMS launch.

We heard you loud and clear, and we’re making this change immediately (will roll out later today):

  • For everyone who has a Webflow subscription (Personal, Pro, or Team plans), Basic Hosting with a custom domain will cost $5/month per site instead of the currently-listed $10/month per site.

We’re also working hard on making our pricing structure much easier to understand on our main website and on the Webflow Dashboard, since it’s clear that there has been a lot of confusion. (Especially around subdomain hosting on webflow.io, which is always free - even if you are taking advantage of the new CMS functionality.)

I personally apologize for such a surprise in doubling the basic hosting price without getting a lot of feedback from our community ahead of time - we’re learning and we’ll do much better in the future! We’re extremely lucky to have such a passionate and caring community, and we want to build a lasting company with you all by our side.

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Great to hear and thanks @callmevlad for listening to us; loving webflowers!!

Your respond gives your users a regain of faith and confidence in you and your team.

Full Support Over Here!!

Keep up the good work!! :smiley:

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Thanks @callmevlad - you have a dedicated and passionate base of users. Thank you for listening. We feel vested in the product and want to see it continue to grow and develop. I am sure other users would agree that we want to ensure that Webflow has the advantage over other alternatives… both in terms of products/features but also price.

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Thank you for listening. That is really great news.

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Hi guys, the new Basic Hosting discounts have just been deployed! Now anyone on a Personal, Professional or Team plan will get a $5 discount applied to their site subscription invoices. :smiley:

Note - we will be releasing whitelabeling features later this month to make it easy for you to set up CMS hosting using your clients’ credit cards. We hope this makes it even easier for you to manage your payments & clients with Webflow.

If you have any questions, feel free to message us at support@webflow.com or send me a DM.

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Thank you for hearing our voice! This really shows that the Webflow team really does care about us (the customers)!

Again - Thank you guys!

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The whitelabel feature is great news !

But 20$ is still too much, especially for those of us who are not in the US.

I’d still rather pay a lisence to use the CMS and then use it in as many websites as I want.

The whole “per site” concept is flawed when it comes to agencies.

Adam

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Thanks for the feedback @RegAdam - we’re certainly considering bulk pricing for agencies and designers that host lots of sites. Are you thinking something inline with what the most popular WP hosts charge, like FlyWheel and WPEngine?

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Hi team Webflow.

I was glad the appearance of the long-awaited update.
But I’m shocked by the new pricing

I need to take a very important decision to use webflow, but I can not understand so much I have to pay , and that eventually I 'll get over it .

  1. If I use a personal plan and functionality of the CMS how much should I pay ?
  2. Does the cost of the user domain, or do I need to pay an extra $ 10 for the domain?
  3. What is the maximum Number of pages I can create , if I use the CMS with a personal plan?

Please help me to find answers to these questions.
Thanks!

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Exactly !

The more you host, the less you pay (per site) !

Adam

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First thank you all for your hard work in creating an awesome service, wonderful community and allowing me to be a part of its growth.

I would like to give you my thought on the pricing structure, food for thought.

The Problem

What I see as the issue, that pricing needs to address, is providing the design tool and the hosting service in a way that is clear and flexible.

I think this is why you’ve separated out the prices the way you have. A price for the tool, a price for basic hosting, a price for CMS hosting.

So how do we make a pricing structure that clearly separates the design tool from the hosting service and meets user needs?

The Photoshop of Web Design tools

For me it makes perfect sense to have a design tool cost $35 a month. It’s a design tool first and foremost. It gives me access to all the features and all future features. It gives me 50 projects to work on and export. Amazing, Perfect!

Under the previous structure we could add custom domains for $5/mo. That was cool but for me it wasn’t the real value that Webflow created.

I use the export function to take my design integrate it into Modx. I then set my client up with $10/mo hosting that gives them unlimited websites, unlimited storage and bandwidth, unlimited email accounts, a free domain, and 10 free data bases.

If I wanted to host client sites myself I would do it through a re-seller account and offer something very similar to what I just described.

The reason I don’t is because I don’t have the knowledge or time to manage and maintain the server.

This is where Webflow can add value.

Webflow Re-sellers

I always thought that this would be the perfect bridge for webflow to attract professional designers and keep site hosted with Webflow.

The structure could work like this.

FOR THE DESIGN TOOL

  • Keep the pricing for the design tool the same.
  • Change the wording from number a websites to number of projects (this
    in combination with exporting is a huge value)
  • Add a point to the design tool plans that all projects can be
    published to a Webflow sub-domains for free at any time. (perfect
    for prototyping, or low budget clients)
  • Keep the ability to add custom domains to single projects for $10
    (this wouldn’t include re-seller features like future white labeling)

This would allow single website users to host their websites on the free design tool plan. I think this would also incentives users who want to sell their clients on hosting to opt for a re-seller upgrade.

FOR RE-SELLING

  • Create tiers of re-seller accounts that provide x number of domain
    connections and CMS connections.
  • For example Tier 1 $25mo (5 domains and 5 CMS connections) Tier 2
    $70mo (15 domains and 15 CMS connections).

This type of division I think creates two distinctly different services. That users can choose from as their needs change.

It shows potential users a clear way they can manage their website design business with your awesome technology.

It turns every re-seller into an advocate for your hosting. I personally wouldn’t use a future white label option because I think it adds an un-necessary deception to the client relationship. I am proud to let my clients know that I use Webflow to design their sites and I would be proud to re-sell your hosting.

All of this is just food for thought.
You guys are great, your work is awesome!

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@callmevlad

We need a solution for designers who already host their own websites but wish to use the CMS feature.

As well as being white labeled, provide us this and my Christmas has come early.

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Thats huge! Should make it a much easier sell to clients who want the CMS features. Nice work!

@Daniel_Ace If you look at the webflow pricing page, it clearly explains what you get with each plan. CMS capabilities are add ons that are part of the private domain usage and hosting. You will have to secure your domain from another registrar like godaddy or namecheap.

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I like the idea of a bulk discount but then how would we bill our clients individually? Perhaps when we reach 5 sites that have CMS enabled and billed to our clients, half of that amount could be subtracted from our webflow plans? If we have already sold $20 a month to our clients it’s going to make us seem like we ripped them off at first if we say, oh yeah, CMS is now only 10 a month. Additionally, If bulk plans would have to be purchased ahead of time, we would have to eat that cost until we have clients willing to pay for it. I’m interested in some out of the box thinking for this problem and I’m optimistic that you guys are considering something.

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Thanks for the feedback @AlexN! Will definitely bookmark this for future reference as we build out new ways of working with Webflow Experts.

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Thanks for listening and for responding quickly to user feedback.

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I didn’t really think the move to $10 was a big deal. It’s still a great value.

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The fee doesn’t really affect me…

  • but it’s a good step to help the smaller designers here.

I wish you would address / fix the CMS cost issue though.

  • It is an issue.
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@ Revolution Can you explain? I’m having a difficult time understanding why the Webflow hosting price is an issue for some.

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I feel… sometimes I have to be careful with what I say on here

  • and that’s why I’ve mostly stayed out of this CMS discussion.

The price is not an issue for me. I can afford it… if I chose to use the service.

It’s not “an issue” because:

  1. I plan for price reasonable price fluctuations.

  2. I don’t have to accept work. I reject more work than I accept. The work I reject is generally because of a lack of time (which is most often), or a lack of profit (there are a lot of cheap people out there… some who don’t understand the quality of product I provide. They are trying to compare a $2000 - $4000 website / application that I create… to a free piece-of-junk Wix website.).

I don’t reject work due to a lack of motivation… Raising two little kids is Motivation enough for me.

  • That’s why I work 7 days a week. 12 to 18 hours a day.
  1. And most importantly; I offer an end-to-end solution which includes web hosting, domain names, web design, application and database development, seo, local seo, sem, microsoft exchange… and more.

I offer more services than most Designers (on Webflow and elsewhere)…

  • and therefore I can spread the cost out further / to other areas.
  • where-as most Designers are not in that situation.

For me… if I wanted to use Webflow Hosting service and it adversely affected me…
I would / could:

  1. Be smart and Factor the cost into the (new) customer
  2. If that didn’t work… I could provide a no-cost Microsoft Exchange Email Address (much more reliable and private than GMail or Linux Mail)
  3. Offer another year of no-cost hosting
  4. Provide SEO services
  5. Offer lower hourly update fees
  6. or several other customer-retaining services…

The higher price is a real issue for most of the smaller Designers

  • because they don’t have flexibility to spread the cost out to (in most cases) an already “taxed” customer.

Like myself… if the cost is not an issues with you (or others in that boat)…

  • then Great. Fantastic. Something is working right for you (and others).

Most Designers on Webflow (and in General)… are small businesses… working with small business.

Small Business need to control costs and be able to predict future costs.

I replied to @callmevlad 's post in appreciation… as well as in support of the smaller Designers.

Granted… in some cases - it’s their (Designers) own fault. Some didn’t price in adequate up-charges / price fluctuations.

At worse case scenarios… some Design didn’t even factor in a decent profit.

For many (including myself)…

  • this economy really sucks - and selling a website is not as easy some say or pretend it is.

I was more stating an issue the price of the CMS… not with the Web Hosting or Custom Domain Service…

  • though I have my own opinions there as well.

I don’t think - that Webflow thinks…

  • there is a pricing issue with the CMS service.

And, there may not be. It may only me… not many have offered a different pricing structure for the CMS feature.

They have addressed the Custom Domain issue though.

I hope I answered your question.

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