Framer
A weekend of work, and real gaps remain.
A visual website builder aimed at designers: lay a page out on a canvas, wire a small CMS to it, and publish to hosting included in the price.
Build me a small marketing site with a CMS, that I edit in files and publish from git. STACK - Astro with a Node adapter, content in Markdown with frontmatter - Deployed to a VPS behind Caddy, or to any static host CONTENT - One folder per collection: pages, posts, case studies - Frontmatter schema validated at build time; a missing field fails the build rather than rendering blank - Images referenced from the same folder and processed at build into AVIF and WebP with widths LAYOUT - A small set of sections — hero, feature grid, quote, call to action — each a component with typed props - A page is a list of sections in frontmatter, so the shape is data, not markup PERFORMANCE BUDGET, ENFORCED - No client JavaScript by default; islands only where a component genuinely needs it - Fail the build if any page ships more than 20KB of JavaScript or the largest image exceeds 200KB ANIMATION - CSS only: scroll-driven animations and view transitions, all wrapped in prefers-reduced-motion PUBLISHING - Build in CI, deploy to a timestamped directory, flip a symlink, keep ten releases WHAT YOU ARE GIVING UP - The canvas. Editing is in files, and the README should say so plainly Include a README on the frontmatter schemas, the image pipeline and the rollback command.
What you lose
- A visual editor where the output is genuinely good markup rather than nested div soup
- Hosting, CDN and certificates included in the same subscription
- A CMS designers can wire up without a developer
- Animation and scroll effects that would take real work to hand-write
- Publishing in one click, with rollback
If you would rather not build
- Webflow — paid, the direct competitor with a stronger CMS
The escape hatch
open source · no votes, no paid placement
Astro
$0Site framework — the practical way to publish a small site you own outright.
withastro/astrofree · open source
Publii
$0Desktop app that builds a static site and uploads it, no terminal needed.
GetPublii/Publiifree · open source
Why this verdict
our own opinion · changed only by a person
48/100
Verdict kinda at 48: for a developer this build is better than the product — faster pages, versioned content, no per-site fee. It is a kinda rather than a yes because the person Framer is sold to does not want files, and that is not a technical gap.
History
tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten
Questions about Framer
answered from the record above
Is Framer free?
No — the plan we track is $20 a month. Basic at $20 per site per month billed monthly, $10 annually; the price is per site, and CMS limits sit on higher tiers.
Can you replace Framer by building your own?
ALMOST. A weekend of work, and real gaps remain. Replacement score 48 out of 100, build time a weekend. Read what you lose before you decide.
How much does Framer cost?
$20 a month on Basic — $240 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.
What do you lose by replacing Framer?
A visual editor where the output is genuinely good markup rather than nested div soup; Hosting, CDN and certificates included in the same subscription; A CMS designers can wire up without a developer; Animation and scroll effects that would take real work to hand-write; Publishing in one click, with rollback. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Framer?
Yes: Astro, Publii. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.
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