# Elements vs Webflow

Webflow is a visual website builder and host, made by Webflow. In the Webflow Designer you lay out pages on a canvas, style them, and animate them with Interactions, including an editor built on GSAP. Repeating content such as blog posts or team members lives in the Webflow CMS as Collections of items, and Webflow hosts the published site on a global CDN with forms, site search and backups. Add-ons cover translation (Localize), analytics (Analyze) and A/B testing (Optimize), and separate Ecommerce plans run a store. Webflow AI can build a site from a prompt, design sections, write copy and generate CMS items, and Webflow Cloud hosts Next.js, Astro and Vite apps alongside a site. Each site is billed by its own Site plan, and seats, staging, code export and AI credits come from a separate Workspace plan ([pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing)).

In plain terms, Webflow is a visual website builder: you design a site by hand, fill a CMS with its content, and Webflow serves it.

Elements builds websites too, along with the apps a website grows into, and it does so from a description rather than a canvas. Elements is a project server that runs on your computer while you work, and it ships with a default framework that just works. You and your agent, Claude Code or the one you already use, say what the site should be. The agent writes it as HTML, CSS, SQL and TypeScript, and the project server builds it in milliseconds and answers in microseconds with each error's file and line ([build](/man/build)). Sign-in, a Postgres database, realtime, background jobs and email are part of the default framework, and one command deploys the result to any Ubuntu server you reach over SSH ([getting started](/man/start), [deploy](/man/deploy)). You pay Elements per machine, and nothing is metered ([pricing](/pricing)).

The difference shows when a site needs to become an app. Webflow retired its native sign-in, User Accounts, on January 29, 2026, and its workflow tool, Logic, on June 27, 2025, and sends customers to outside services for both. App code on Webflow goes into Webflow Cloud as a second codebase in another framework, metered on requests and CPU. In Elements, the public pages, the members' area and the background work are one codebase on one Postgres database, and every line of it is yours to read, change and deploy where you choose.

| | Elements | Webflow |
|---|---|---|
| How you build | You and your agent describe it; the agent writes the code on your computer | By hand in the Designer, with Webflow AI for sites, sections, copy and CMS items |
| Content | Postgres tables you design, edited from admin pages your app serves | CMS Collections: 20,000 items and 40 Collections on Premium, none on Basic |
| Sign-in and members | Built in, with each session a row in your database | User Accounts retired January 29, 2026; Webflow recommends Outseta or Memberstack |
| Workflows and background work | Background jobs and cron schedules, in the same app | Logic retired June 27, 2025; Webflow recommends Zapier or Make |
| App code | The same codebase as the site | Webflow Cloud: a separate Next.js, Astro or Vite app on Cloudflare Workers |
| App data | Postgres, installed by Elements | SQLite, key-value and object storage, with storage and operation allowances per plan |
| Your code | Every file, in your project folder | An export on paid Workspace plans, without CMS content, form processing, site search or code components |
| Where it runs | Any Ubuntu server you reach over SSH | Webflow hosting |
| AI | Your agent, from the vendor you choose | Webflow AI, drawing on a Workspace credit pool with no published rate card |
| What is metered | Nothing | Site bandwidth; Webflow Cloud requests, CPU and storage; AI credits |
| Price | Per machine ([pricing](/pricing)) | A Site plan for each site, plus a Workspace plan |

## You and Your Agent Build the Site From a Description

On Webflow, a site takes shape in the Designer, and it stays there: Webflow's pricing FAQ says "you can only develop websites in Webflow," and exported code "can't be reimported" ([pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing)). Webflow AI can draft a site from a prompt, and the result is a Designer project, developed in Webflow from then on.

With Elements, you paste one prompt into your agent. It installs Elements, creates your app, and has it running against a real Postgres database in milliseconds ([getting started](/man/start)). From there you say what you want changed and watch it happen: each save builds and hot reloads the page you have open ([build](/man/build)). Pages are HTML with values in braces, styled by the `@elements/style` design system, so you and any developer can read every page ([html](/man/html), [style](/man/style)). To check a layout it changed, your agent screenshots the page with the Chrome already on your computer, at desktop and phone widths, and fixes what it sees ([browser](/man/browser)).

## Sign-In and Members Are Part of the App

A site turns into an app the day visitors sign in. Webflow's own answer to that was User Accounts, and Webflow's help center says it was sunset on January 29, 2026: "members will no longer be able to login to their accounts," member data was "not migrated to the CMS," and content gates were removed. Webflow recommends moving to Outseta or Memberstack, and advises Ecommerce customers with paid subscriptions to migrate to "a third party memberships solution" ([User Accounts sunset](https://help.webflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/36046006227731-User-Accounts-sunset)).

In Elements, sign-in is part of the default framework. `session.login()` creates a session row in your own Postgres database, routes and server functions read it through one API, and a page that shows it updates the moment someone signs in ([session](/man/session)). The manual walks through signup and signin, email confirmation and role-gated admin pages ([authentication recipe](/man/recipes/authentication), [signup confirmation recipe](/man/recipes/signup-confirmation), [admin roles recipe](/man/recipes/admin-roles)). Paid memberships go through Stripe Checkout, with each subscription's status kept beside your users ([checkout](/man/payments/checkout), [subscriptions](/man/payments/subscriptions)). Your members are rows in your database, so they stay with your app.

## Background Work Runs in the Same App

Most apps do work nobody clicks for: a welcome email, a nightly report, a reminder. Webflow's tool for this was Logic, and its help center says that "as of June 27, 2025, Logic is disabled on all Webflow sites," existing flows are disabled, and "you'll need to rebuild your flows" in a tool like Zapier or Make ([Logic sunset](https://help.webflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/36045959707667-Logic-sunset)).

In Elements, background jobs and cron schedules are part of the default framework. Jobs queue in the same Postgres database as your data, and each cron run is recorded there ([jobs](/man/jobs)). Email templates are written in the same HTML as your pages, and `email()` sends from any server code through any SMTP provider; in development, mail goes to the log, so no account is needed to start ([email](/man/email)).

## Content Lives in Tables You Design

Webflow structures content as CMS Collections, and each Site plan caps them. Premium includes 20,000 CMS items and 40 Collections, Basic is described as "for simple sites that don't need a CMS," and the Team plan structures each Collection with up to 100 fields and 20 reference fields ([pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing)).

In Elements, content is Postgres tables you design with migrations, and Elements sets no item, table or field count ([database](/man/database), [migrations](/man/migrations)). A blog, a directory or a product catalog is a table with an admin editor your app serves, and the manual's markdown blog recipe shows public pages and admin-only writes over the same data ([markdown blog recipe](/man/recipes/markdown-blog)). Images and files upload through a form and are stored in the same database ([file upload recipe](/man/recipes/file-upload)). The content and the app's data are one database, so a member's saved posts, a booking and a blog entry join in one SQL query.

## An App Beside the Site Is One Codebase

For code a site cannot hold, Webflow offers [Webflow Cloud](https://developers.webflow.com/webflow-cloud/intro), which deploys Next.js, Astro and Vite apps alongside a Webflow site or separately. Framework apps run on Cloudflare Workers, and Webflow notes "important differences in how your app runs, especially around API support, state management, resource limits, and deployment workflows" ([edge environment](https://developers.webflow.com/webflow-cloud/environment)). Data goes into SQLite, a key-value store or object storage ([storing data](https://developers.webflow.com/webflow-cloud/storing-data/overview)). Requests, CPU time, storage and database operations each have an allowance by plan, with overage charges past it ([pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing)).

In Elements, the site and the app are the same project. A page calls a server function marked `@rpc` directly, and the build verifies the arguments each call passes ([rpc](/man/rpc)). A LiveTable keeps a set of rows current in every open browser ([livetable](/man/livetable)). The app runs on standard Node.js against Postgres, and npm packages install with `elements install` ([packages](/man/packages)). Agents build well from standards like HTML, CSS, SQL, TypeScript, SSH and Ubuntu, so your agent needs no app marketplace to add a feature: it writes the feature, and the build checks it.

## Your Code Is Yours in Every Sense

Webflow's code export is a Workspace feature, available on paid Workspace plans and not on Site plans. Its help center lists what an export leaves out: CMS content and functionality, User Accounts, Ecommerce, password protection, form submission processing, site search, localized content and code components. On an exported site, "Collection lists will show the empty state" ([code export](https://help.webflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/33961386739347-How-do-I-export-my-Webflow-site-code)).

An Elements app is a folder of code on your computer, from the first prompt. Every page, query, migration and test is a file you, any developer and any agent can read, kept in Git like any other code. The runtime packages such as `@elements/app` are MIT licensed, so the code you ship carries no Elements license ([licenses](/man/licenses)).

## Deploys Go to Servers You Control

`elements deploy` ships your app to any Ubuntu server you reach over SSH, at any provider. On the first deploy, Elements sets up the server with its own Postgres, the built-in load balancer and TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt. Each deploy after that carries the changed files and lands in under a second ([deploy](/man/deploy)). Before a new release goes live, your tests run on every machine, and if anything fails, the previous release keeps serving ([what deploy does](/man/deploy/what-happens)). One server is a complete deployment, and several servers share one Postgres you run or one from a managed provider, set through `DB_HOST` ([setup](/man/deploy/setup)).

## One Price, Nothing Metered

Webflow bills each site by its own Site plan and adds a Workspace plan for seats, staging and code export. Bandwidth is set by plan, and Webflow's pricing page says that two consecutive months over the limit "triggers an automatic plan upgrade." Webflow AI draws on a Workspace credit pool, and Webflow's help center says "there's no fixed rate per action, and Webflow doesn't publish a rate card"; extra packs of 2,000 credits cost $25 a month billed monthly ([pricing](https://webflow.com/pricing), [AI credits](https://help.webflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/51060121155347-Webflow-AI-credits)).

An Elements subscription ([pricing](/pricing)) starts with two licenses, one for the machine you develop on and one for the machine you deploy to ([licenses](/man/licenses)). Nothing is metered: requests, bandwidth, realtime messages and builds carry no Elements charge, and your agent's work is paid to the vendor you choose, on the plan you already have. Your server provider charges its own monthly price.

## Questions

### Is Elements a Webflow alternative?

Yes. You and your AI agent build the site from a description instead of on a canvas, and it can grow into an app in the same codebase: sign-in, a Postgres database, realtime, background jobs and email are part of the default framework. The app deploys to any Ubuntu server you reach over SSH.

### Do I need to know how to code to use Elements?

No. You tell Claude Code or another AI agent what you want, and it writes the code. Elements checks every change and tells the agent what to fix. You can read and change every line yourself whenever you like.

### How do I design pages in Elements?

Describe the page to your agent. It writes HTML and CSS using the @elements/style design system, each save hot reloads the page you have open, and the agent screenshots its work with Chrome to check the layout at desktop and phone widths.

### Can I move my Webflow site to Elements?

Yes. Export the site's HTML, CSS and images, and export each CMS Collection as CSV, then give your agent the job of porting it, with the export as the spec. Each Collection becomes a Postgres table created by a migration, and elements build -json checks every step of the port.

### Can I add member sign-in to an Elements site?

Yes. Sign-in is part of the default framework: session.login() stores each session in your own Postgres database, and pages that read it update the moment someone signs in. Paid memberships go through Stripe Checkout, with each subscription's status kept beside your users.

### Does Elements charge AI credits?

No. Elements is a per-machine subscription and nothing is metered. You bring your own agent and pay its vendor directly, on the plan you already have.