1. Name the actual job
Choose between a marketing site, portfolio, documentation hub, store, or application shell. Webflow can shorten visual publishing; custom React can justify itself when product behavior is the main problem.
Website stack decision
Webflow or custom React? Check the exit path first.
The fastest first draft is not always the easiest system to own. Use these questions to compare a visual site platform with a custom React build before the domain, content, forms, and handoff become expensive to move.
Disclosure: there is no active paid Webflow referral link on this page currently. Webflow’s official affiliate materials describe a 50% revenue share on a qualified new customer’s first eligible subscription for up to 12 months, with a stated 90-day cookie window; applications are reviewed and terms can change. Read the official affiliate program page and program overview before relying on any current offer.
2. Write down what you must own
Confirm control of the domain, content, analytics, forms, images, redirects, user accounts, and billing. Make the owner of every account explicit before launch.
3. Test the exit path
Ask what can be exported, what must be rebuilt, what happens to CMS content, and whether a cancellation leaves you with a usable site or only a design reference.
4. Compare the editing workflow
Who will change headlines, collections, navigation, and SEO fields after launch? Test the real editor with the person who will maintain the site, not only the person who built it.
5. Price the full year
Include the required site or workspace plan, domain, seats, forms, bandwidth, localization, analytics, add-ons, renewals, and the cost of developer time when the visual tool reaches its boundary.
6. Prove the conversion path
Submit forms from a phone, check notifications and spam handling, verify redirects and analytics, and test the thank-you state before calling the site ready.
7. Check quality beyond the canvas
Review keyboard navigation, labels, contrast, headings, canonical URLs, structured data, performance, image behavior, and third-party scripts. A polished canvas is not the same as a finished website.
8. Separate public referrals from client work
Webflow says its affiliate program is for promoting to a digital audience and does not pay one-to-one client referrals. Freelancers and agencies should review the separate Partner Program instead, and never use a referral link for your own purchase.