Craft CMS and Webflow: why I use both for complex projects

Webflow handles 90% of what I build. But that other 10% needs something more.

When a project outgrows Webflow’s native CMS, I don’t switch platforms. I add one. Craft CMS handles the content architecture while Webflow handles the design. Each platform does what it does best.

When Webflow’s CMS isn’t enough

Webflow’s CMS works well for most websites. Blog posts, team pages, portfolio items, product listings. Structured content with straightforward relationships.

But it has hard limits. 10000 items per collection. No relational data beyond basic reference fields. No custom editorial permissions. No server-side logic for content processing.

For a marketing site with 50 pages, none of this matters. For a tourism platform managing thousands of articles across multiple languages and categories, it matters a lot.

Why Craft CMS

When a project needs more than Webflow’s CMS, the obvious question is: why not WordPress? Or a headless CMS like Contentful or Sanity?

I’ve written about WordPress separately. Short version: plugin dependency and maintenance overhead make it a poor choice for complex content architectures.

Headless CMSs are interesting but they push all the frontend work onto a JavaScript framework. More development time, more complexity, and a codebase that needs a developer to maintain.

Craft CMS sits in a different space. It’s a traditional CMS with a modern content modelling system, built-in Twig templating, and complete flexibility over the data structure. The editorial interface is clean out of the box. No plugins needed to make it usable.

For Craft CMS development, the real advantage is the content modelling. Every field, every relationship, every entry type is defined explicitly. There’s no guessing what the data looks like. And because Craft renders pages server-side with Twig, performance stays consistent regardless of content volume.

The hybrid approach

Webflow handles all the visual design: layouts, interactions, responsive behaviour. Those design components stay synced with the Craft CMS frontend. Craft handles the backend: content management, routing, server-side rendering via Twig.

The result is Webflow-quality design with enterprise-level content management. Designers work in Webflow. Editors work in Craft. Developers connect the two.

Projects built this way

I’ve used this hybrid approach on a few projects, each with different content demands. For example:

Center of Portugal — A tourism platform managing thousands of articles, events, and routes across multiple languages. Craft CMS handles the content relationships and multilingual structure. Webflow handles the visual experience.

CIICESI — A research institute needing API integrations and scientific data management. Craft handles the structured data and API layer. Webflow handles the public-facing design.

Industry Business School — A training catalogue with courses, schedules, and instructor profiles. Craft manages the interconnected content types. Webflow delivers the interface.

NCREP — An architecture firm whose marketing site needed more content flexibility than Webflow’s CMS could offer. Craft handles the backend. Webflow handles the design.

Each project is different, but the pattern is the same: when the content architecture outgrows Webflow’s native CMS, Craft CMS fills the gap without sacrificing design quality.

When to consider this approach

The hybrid setup makes sense when a project hits at least two of these:

• More than a few thousand content items
• Complex relationships between content types
• Multiple languages with different content per locale
• Custom editorial workflows or permissions
• Server-side logic for content processing or API integrations

If a project only needs a blog and a few collection pages, Webflow alone is the right call. The hybrid approach adds complexity. It’s worth it when the content demands justify it.

My take

Most websites don’t need Craft CMS. Webflow handles the majority of projects I take on. But when a project genuinely needs sophisticated content management, the Webflow + Craft CMS combination is the best I’ve found.

No other agency I’ve come across works this way. Most Craft CMS developers don’t use Webflow. Most Webflow agencies don’t know Craft exists. The hybrid sits in an uncontested space, and the results speak for themselves.