Editor X's competitors

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Hey guys,

I want to make this clear: I am NOT promoting any other product.

There has been a big debate in the Webflow Forums about Editor X. Experienced designers have weighed in their opinion about Editor X. Have a look at one of the posts from their forum where a Webflow Community Specialist did some tests on Editor X: https://forum.webflow.com/t/webflow-vs-editorx-vs-code-editor/123664

As per the Google Lighthouse results, Editor X faired poorly. It was a 93 score for Webflow site and only 26 for Editor X, whilst other products like Superhi scored 98. @sebi-vidret Why is the performance on Editor X sites so poor? This result is embarrassing for Editor X (I feel second hand embarrassment as I use Editor X while Webflow specialists expose the weaknesses.)

Another designer said this:
In terms of Editor X, itā€™s great that there is direct competition and that will only benefit us as customers, but Wix has got some catching up to do before Iā€™d even consider using it with any of my clients. They have some cool features and things Iā€™d like to see adopted by Webflow, but I personally find the UI/UX lacking. The ā€œloosey-gooseyā€ nature of their visual editor is great for beginners, but I find itā€™s less predictable than the more traditional development style in Webflow.

Hereā€™s another one:
Wix (and Squarespace, etc) is not for making professional websites.
I tried Editor X last week and it was a terrible experience. It is quite impossible to have 100% pixel-perfect control on Editor X. The page will become hard organized as it does not respect HTML hierarchy. The CMS is so weak as well.
I think Editor X is a bad idea right from the beginning. It is trying to work like Figma / XD / Sketch, and something between Wix and Webflow. I donā€™t think it will become a good product even in a long run.
For us, Webflow is the only ā€œlow-codeā€ option for serious clients.

After doing some research, I found the reasons why people say Webflow is way better.

When is Editor X planning to improve site performance, build a stronger CMS, allow us to add custom CSS and edit the CSS Stylesheet and add custom HTML? I understand Wix is all about making things simple and keeping everything in-house but allowing us to export nice clean symantic code from Editor X and allowing us to host it elsewhere would be game changing. Apparently, other professionals say Editor X site code is VERY bloated causing bad performing sites. This is where Webflow succeeds as they allow people to export code. This opens the doors for large companies to use the platform. Large companies could design their site with Editor X and then export the site so they can host it and plug it in perfectly to their sophisticated back-end. (Velo is very basic and limiting so its not ideal for larger business).
If this was to become a feature on Editor X, I would be so happy! My brother is a back-end developer and Iā€™m a designer. I want him to work on projects with me but he hates it because he says Velo sucks and is very basic in comparison to what he uses (a mix of all languages, Javascript, Python, C++, etc). If Editor X allowed me to export code, I could work on the front end and then send it to my brother to work on the back-end to build web-apps.

Iā€™m a fairly new designer and I love Editor X, but doing research reveals Webflow is more robust to use if i want to scale my web design career and earn lots of money and get big clients.

Thanks,
Chloe

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The problem with webflow is you have design everything about 5-6 times. I actually switched to wix because of this reason

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A 20-second test shows that this is very, very, very far from the truth.
Editor Xā€™s performance is great!
I got an average Lighthouse score of about 96 for this site:

3584Ɨ2278 910 KB

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"Iā€™m a fairly new designer and I love Editor X, but doing research reveals Webflow is more robust to use if I want to scale my web design career and earn lots of money and get big clients. "

Personally, this is not the approach we take. Just because you are using Webflow over Editor X isnā€™t going to score you bigger and better clients. Most of our clients donā€™t care what platform they are on, as long as the platform is right for them. To meet their goals and requirements, that should be your focus.

We look at the pros and cons of all platforms in our arsenal, whether thatā€™s Editor X, Webflow, Squarespace or Wix. We tell the client why we have selected that platform, and go from there. Inform, educate and nurture your clients, most good designers get work via recommendations because they are doing something right and ticking all the boxes. Donā€™t pigeon hole yourself too early on :slight_smile:

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it depends on the clients needs. When you have a bad performance in EditorX you build it wrong. The big plus for EditorX is the ecosystem of apps and a GDPR Compliant solution inbound. Webflow is just for Design and gives you clean code. When you need something special you have to pay a developer or choose a third party application or JS code that slows down your site.

I love Webflow and i have the most of my new clients there. It is a visual Code Builder with the best CMS on the market i think.

i think both have pros and cons

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its the same issue with Editor X and the different viewports.

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Nice! I see your response in the Webflow Forum post. It seems that Lighthouse is subjective to people internet connections etc. I am happy that Editor X has improved this over time. Thank you for this! There seems to be an issue with how clean the code is. I heard about this issue before and even on this forum: https://www.editorxcommunity.com/forum/community-discussions/how-clean-is-editor-x-s-code
There are thousands of random lines of code for fonts etc.

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Thank you! I understand. I have just seen a strong correlation with the platform Webflow and the size of the design agency and revenue for the designers. I donā€™t see many large agencyā€™s or big companies using Wix or Editor X. However, I have come across quite a number of big companies that use Webflow, therefore I have this impression that Webflow is a better platform to learn and use to have a fruitful future as a designer. I hope this makes sense!

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Yes, I agree with you Christian. Very good points.

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@wfclote I strongly suggest you go to Webflows forums and check the issues many users have with certain issues being addressed and Webflow taking forever to address those issues. One post entitled ā€˜an open letter to Webflowā€™ has around 85 replies regarding issues they have. My point Iā€™m trying to make is each platform as we speak has itā€™s strengths and weaknesses. If you really want to be a solid developer learn to code by hand first, then learn design and they find what platform best suits your needs. Most agencies BTW tend to lean towards Wordpress with Elementor as itā€™s page builder. Also keep in mind that Editor X is very, very new so itā€™s a bit absurd to say ā€œwell no agency or big company uses Editor Xā€

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@funkyrhino That could be attributed to the fact that Webflow have more users active in the forum. This Editor X Forum is pretty dead compared to Webflow or even the Wix Forum or Velo Forum.
I see, that alot of their issues are to do with more sophisticated features in the Webflow Forum. At the end of the day, Editor X doesnā€™t even have many of the design features Iā€™m looking for like access to the CSS and HTML so I can add in custom scroll animations. I canā€™t do simple things like create outline of my fonts or create CSS Gradients. My point is, I think Webflow has many more strengths compared to Editor X. I just donā€™t know whether Wix takes this feedback seriously to update the way this Editor X and change their business model. yes, ive heard great things about Elementor. Will check it out.
Well, Wix has been around for a long time. Name a big business or agency that uses them haha!?

Thanks for your help!