This week: CMS options that don’t feel like a drag (bye bye WordPress?).
I’ve worked with WordPress for years. And while it was a game-changer when I first started, I’ll be honest: now it just drains my energy the moment I log in.
The interface hasn’t changed much in the last 10+ years. Gutenberg was supposed to shake things up, but let’s face it, it’s still just a block editor that assumes you’re part designer, part developer.
And if you’re not? Good luck making anything look good without a mess of plugins.
Speaking of plugins… that’s a whole saga. Some are great, but they get pricey fast. And keeping them updated (without breaking your site) is basically a second job. Ignore updates, and you’re risking security holes or weird bugs.
The alternatives I’m sharing today feel lighter, more fun and less fiddly – so let’s dig in.
If you think WordPress isn’t exactly a “visual” tool, Framer might be what you’re looking for. It feels less like a traditional CMS and more like a design tool – think Figma or Photoshop, but made for building full websites.
I kept getting bombarded with Framer ads on YouTube, so I finally gave in and tested it. I loved some parts, but others need some work.
You can drag, drop, animate, and tweak nearly every pixel, creating almost any layout / design you can imagine. I love that it comes with pre-built templates, sections (e.g. site navigations) and elements (e.g. icons, cookie banners, etc).
And yes, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING looks stunning.
That said, it’s not 100% beginner-proof. You’ll need some digital know-how and an eye for layout. I’d say it’s ideal for freelancers creating sites for clients, small teams, or startups that want a bold online presence and are willing to invest a bit of time upfront.
On the downside, there’s no native ecommerce support (yet?). CMS flexibility is also limited, especially compared to Webstudio or Webflow – e.g you can’t build custom dynamic web apps.
Webflow is a powerful app for building and managing websites. It leans more toward a full CMS – more capable than Framer, but far less intimidating than WordPress.
It’s very visual and gives you near-total design freedom. That said, the learning curve is steeper than Framer's. You’ll need a solid grasp of web layout basics: divs, paddings, margins, or the box model. You won’t need to write code, but you do need to understand how front-end structure works.
Webflow’s CMS features are ahead of Framer’s, though still not quite as complete as WordPress. It also includes ecommerce, but it doesn't compare to top solutions like Shopify or even Wix. On the upside, its robust API and Webhooks support open the door to truly custom setups, as long as you’ve got some dev skills or help.
Pricing is definitely on the higher end, and the page limits in each plan can be frustrating if you’re building something large 💰.
It’s ideal for designers who understand how the web works or devs who don’t want to mess with backend headaches.
Webstudio is a lesser-known website builder / CMS I came across while looking for Webflow alternatives. It’s not as polished as Framer or Webflow (e.g. only 34 templates), and I found it a bit harder to use than both.
That said, it comes with a couple of big HUGE advantages 🚀.
First, the pricing: $20/month for unlimited sites. Most website builders charge per site, so this is a serious deal. But it's also open source, which means if you’re technically inclined, you can even self-host it on your own server for free (not an easy setup though).
And even more... You can use your own domain for free (with their cloud version). Unlike most platforms (Wix, Webflow, Webnode, etc) that force you into something like your-brand.webflow.io, Webstudio doesn't.
It also offers a unique twist: you can connect Webstudio to apps like Airtable, Notion, or Baserow, and use Webstudio as a frontend layer for your content. So if your team already works in those tools, you don’t need to migrate content, just pipe it in and publish.
The interface is clean and approachable, but the whole platform still feels more technical than most. And that makes sense – it is actually more technical.
Google AI Studio is technically built for developers, and yeah, it shows. Half the interface feels like it was designed for the next Sam Altman (OpenAI's CEO). But hidden beneath the DevOps vibe are some real gems for digital doers.
You can build and test prompts with a visual editor, switch between Gemini models, tweak parameters like web access or “thinking time”, and see exactly how your prompt performs. Yes, no code needed.
It also connects with Google’s top-tier media models like Imagen (for images) and Veo (for video). Both rank among the best in quality according to independent tests – which makes it a serious playground if you’re creating visuals.
But the real sci-fi moment? You can talk to the AI, and even let it see your screen...
Imagine this: you’re stuck trying to upload a blog post in Framer. Just share your screen and ask. Google’s AI will literally guide you step by step. Mind blowing 🤯.
🔁 Alternative to: OpenAI Playground, Claude Console
Need to tweak a photo, but hate fiddling with Photoshop or Canva? I tried something wild this week using Flux Kontext, a tool that edits images using only text prompts.
Unlike ChatGPT image generation (where I usually have time to grab a snack and scroll a few YouTube Shorts), this took just 4.2 seconds (see screenshot below). And each image costs less than 5 cents to generate.
I started with a picture of a yellow old car. Then, as you’ll see in the screenshot, I asked it to:
Change the color to red
Turn on the headlights
Place it in a rural, European-looking winter scene
What do you think about the result?
I was shocked by how well it nailed the brief. Not just the accuracy, the speed too. No Photoshop, no fiddling with layers or masks – I'd not know how to do this.
The only downside I found for this case?
There’s no easy way to iterate directly on the output. If you want to make further adjustments, you’ll need to download the image, re-upload it, and prompt again.
If you’re still spending time tweaking visuals by hand, this might change everything.
🍿 Plot Twist of the Week
Speaking about CMSs and website builders...
A few weeks ago, Inka (who works with us here at Tooltester) launched a new site for her community: sheilaa.community – well done 🙌.
She used Squarespace, and everything looked great: sleek design, custom domain, SEO basics covered.
But then she checked Google Search Console.
And that’s when things got weird. Instead of indexing sheilaa.community, Google had picked up the internal Squarespace domain. You know, the ugly one ending in .squarespace.com that’s only meant for previewing the site.
Turns out, this isn’t just an Inka problem. It’s a known issue affecting new Squarespace sites: the built-in domain is getting indexed before the proper one. That means duplicate content, mixed signals for Google, and a site launch that starts off with a dent in SEO.
And the worst part? There’s no obvious fix inside Squarespace.
Squarespace ain’t cheap – and yet, here we are dealing with this kind of drama.
If you're listening, Squarespace: maybe stop leaking the wrong domain into Google? It really can't be that hard. Ever heard of noindex?
Lesson learned: even with big-name, polished website builders, you can still run into serious issues that quietly hurt your site.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading! Next time, we’re diving into the world of advanced AI for creators: smarter prompts, sharper insights, and a few tools that might just change how you work.
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