What if you could get the same features as the best WordPress plugins without having to pay extra or take extra risks? With Webflow, you don't need these plug-ins. Here are five of them.

Forms

If you want people to give you their name and email address on WordPress so they can book a demo or sign up for a newsletter, you'll need a plugin. Plugins are needed for things like forms, which are on almost every modern website. From my point of view, this is like having to go to a well to get water to brush your teeth in the morning. As in, shouldn't there be a simpler way to do something this easy?

To be fair, there is a built-in form builder on WordPress.com. Don't even get me started on the difference between ".com" and ".org" on WordPress. Just know that the non-open-source part of WordPress holds the user's hand a little bit more. 

To be fair, you can "technically" make a form without a plugin on WordPress, just like I "technically" know how to play the guitar. I don't know, but I think I could figure it out with enough time, anger, and swearing. Don't believe me? Check out how much fun it is to make your own form!

So, there are a lot of plugins to choose from, since this is such an important feature and the other options aren't that great. Some of the most popular plugins in the plugins directory are Jetpack, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Formidable, and Contact Form 7, whose name is sure to get your attention.

Askimet

To filter spam on WordPress, you have to install a special plugin. If you don't, bots will fill up your forms and comment sections like ants at a picnic. You'll remember that you needed another plugin to build the forms. That seems like a lot of work for something that your website should already be able to do for you. And it's not free; protecting enterprise sites from spam will cost you $50 per month.

You don't have to install anything else to use reCAPTCHA for free on Webflow. To stop spam, just add it as a field to your forms. Then, use the money you saved for any other business purpose that helps your bottom line.

WooCommerce

If you want to sell something on your website, you need a safe way to list the items you want to sell and collect payment information. WooCommerce is an open-source plugin that can be added to WordPress sites to turn them into custom online shops. It's free to set up, but a small fee is taken out of each payment.

Though you would need to use a webflow app for abandoned cart recovery, affiliates, reviews, CRM, etc. If you want to add themes or integrations to your store, especially for shipping, you may have to pay more or get more plugins to make the WooCommerce plugin work. As it were, plug-ins all the way down.

Webflow Ecommerce replaces this plugin without any trouble, and adding your site's theme doesn't cost anything extra. Instead of trying to fit your products into a cookie-cutter mold, you can make a unique store that works for you, complete with transactional emails that match the brand of your website.

This Webflow feature has a monthly fee that is the same as other ecommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. There are no hidden fees for customization or integration. I think that's a fair price to pay for less trouble and a better customer experience, don't you?

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the search engine optimization plugin that is used the most. It's pretty much required if you want your website to show up in search results, redirect dead links, and have clean meta descriptions. Most people want these things from their websites, and Webflow has them built in.

Yes, you're keeping track, and you're right: we now have three required plugins from three different non-WordPress sources, most of which require paid subscriptions for a website to work. 

Let's say you use Formidable for forms, Askimet for spam, and Yoast SEO Premium on your business website. You're now spending $900 or more per year on things that Webflow already does. Even though WordPress is free, using plugins to meet all of your website's needs can add up quickly.

Elementor

You'll need to use a plugin to design your website if you don't know how to code or if you need to work with people who aren't developers. Without a plugin, you can't easily drag-and-drop elements in WordPress like you can in other major website builders. 

Elementor is the most popular plugin for this, and while it's free to use, you'll need to pay $199 a year for Pro to get extra roles and custom CSS.

If you don't want to use a design plugin to make your site, WordPress does have some free templates that you can use to make your site look how you want it to. But if you use a free WordPress theme, your site will look old and you won't stand out from the crowd. This can hurt the reputation of your brand.

The Webflow Designer lets you design with a mix of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) and code, and the Editor function lets you invite more surface-level collaborators and content managers, like your marketing team, without having to train them or give them a plugin so they can make a quick change and get on with their day.