Webflow Cloud

Webflow’s launched a lot of interesting stuff over the past few years - and, we just got a sneak peek into something big the Webflow team has been working on - Webflow Cloud.

If you’re here today, it probably means you’ve heard of Webflow Cloud… but maybe you don’t quite ‘get’ what it’s going to change in your workflow.

What we know so far

Webflow Cloud was released in beta, along with a promotional video from Webflow. According to Webflow, it’s made to allow you to ‘bring full stack web apps’ into your web experience. That sounds cool, but what does that actually mean?

How Webflow Cloud works

From what we can gather from Webflow’s promotional video, Webflow Cloud seems to allow you to do these things;

1. Host a custom application in your Webflow site under a subdomain (ex. yourdomain.com/app)
2. Create custom API routes and back-end logic from the same domain as your Webflow site
3. Bring your Webflow components into React using Devlink

Now, if you’re a Webflow developer and none of this stuff makes sense to you, don’t worry - we’ll explain it more in this video.

Does this mean i can build a full-stack web app using Webflow?

No. Yes. Kind-of. While Webflow Cloud does allow you to build a custom web app, it doesn’t provide you with any sort of UI to do so - the idea of Webflow cloud is that you can bring your custom-coded applications INTO your Webflow environment.

If you’re a no-code developer, this means that Webflow Cloud won’t provide you with a way to build web apps which could replace something like Wized. To clarify - Webflow has created a way for you to bring YOUR app into Webflow - this is not a way to create apps with Webflow.

I know how to code/work with developers. What does Webflow Cloud mean for me?

If you’re in this category of people, Webflow cloud has the potential to change your work.

Up until now, you have had no control over anything that takes place on your site server - so, if you were building custom web apps, you had to use a completely different setup and infrastructure on your app, vs on your marketing site.

Webflow Cloud aims to fix that - now, you can build your web app UI, API routes, database, and more - and host it all INSIDE your Webflow site. Now that’s a game changer.

So, if I can’t code, it’s useless?

Even though you won’t directly be able to use Webflow Cloud, you still have a ton to gain from it - whether you’re a freelancer, agency, or work for an internal team - you’re more than likely aware that Webflow has it’s limitations. With the introduction of Webflow Cloud, a massive limitation has just been removed - if your client wants to run a headless ecom site, build a web app, or even just build some cool tools and have them hosted under the Webflow site - that’s now possible thanks to Webflow Cloud.

So, even though you won’t be able to use the feature, you can sell projects you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to sell.

What kind of projects can be built with Webflow Cloud?

Anything - that’s the beauty. By releasing Webflow Cloud, Webflow’s essentially opening the flood gates and allowing us to bring code into Webflow to blast past any previous limitations that Webflow’s infrastructure imposed.

Especially if you work with enterprise clients, one of the big questions before every project is, “CAN we use Webflow for this?” - and, the answer to that was often no due to reasons which Webflow Cloud fixes.

Want to build an ecom site, but Webflow’s native ecom doesn’t cut it? Bring in another solution and go headless.

Want to build a react app but also don’t want to have to manage 2 sets of UIs? Possible now.

Hosting your own database? Why not.

Webflow isn’t usually the entire project, it’s just a piece (usually the marketing site). This move by Webflow indicates that they know that, and that they’re trying to ensure they aren’t a blocker in your complex projects. As someone who’s been getting more and more into WordPress because of the flexibility it gives me, this is an extremely exciting move from Webflow.

Finally, what does this mean for me?

While some people may try to present Webflow Cloud as some revolutionary feature which will allow you to build web apps in an all-new way, the reality is far from that, but in my opinion, it’s just as exciting. In reality, Webflow Cloud is Webflow’s way of removing a massive bottleneck from the development process - so, thank you Webflow, and see you in the next one!