If you’re a commercial leader at a growing company, you’ve probably asked this question, or been asked it by someone in the team trying to save time and budget:
Can we just use one of those drag-and-drop builders instead of hiring a developer or agency?
Short answer: For some things, yes. For your main website? Probably not quite yet.
Here’s the long answer and the logic behind it.
Where these tools shine
Tools like Framer, Cursor, Webflow and Lovable are genuinely impressive. We’ve used them ourselves internally to mock up Minimal Viable Products (MVPs), test ideas and even build simple landing pages.
They’re fast, flexible and getting better all the time. For early-stage validation or spinning up a quick campaign landing page? Go for it.
But once you’re past the MVP stage and building a brand that needs to earn trust and drive revenue, the stakes change.
What matters more as you scale
If you’re aiming to land partnerships, pitch investors, attract senior hires, or drive high-intent customer actions, your website has to do more than look good. It needs to:
- Signal trust and maturity
- Convert visitors who have limited time and need a clean user experience
- Support growth across a range of channels – SEO/AI Overviews (AIO), paid, referral, social
- Be easy to update without breaking things
This is where most low/no-code tools fall short.
Common failure modes we’ve seen
We’ve worked on and reviewed a lot of sites built on these platforms. The same issues crop up:
- Inconsistent design (because anyone can change anything)
- Slow performance (especially once you start bolting on code onto code that you don’t understand)
- Limited SEO control (metadata, schemas, structured data often feel like afterthoughts and are hard to control)
- Hard-to-scale architecture (no real component or design system, just duplicated pages)
Worse, they often give teams a false sense of “done.” You ship something fast and it looks fine… until you realise it’s turning off the very people you want to attract.
You won’t see that in your metrics. You’ll just feel the silence.
So what’s the better move?
Use them to prototype and test ideas
These tools are brilliant for getting from zero to something quickly. Want to explore a new product idea? Validate a landing page concept? Get a simple 1 page site up for a new start-up? They’ll get you 80% of the way there, fast.
But use them deliberately. You’re building a prototype and early version, not a long-term asset. Don’t over-invest in polish or performance at this stage. Just get feedback, learn, iterate.
Bring in strategic and design expertise early
One of the biggest misconceptions is that drag-and-drop tools replace the need for designers, developers or marketers. They don’t.
They shift the execution model, but they don’t replace the thinking.
If your core positioning is unclear or your site is being built around guesswork, faster tooling just helps you ship the wrong thing…. faster.
The smarter approach:
Work with someone who can define the structure, messaging and design principles up front and then use the builder to scale that vision efficiently. Think of it like building with LEGO blocks after someone gives you the blueprint and a box of the right bricks.
Choose a hybrid solution
For your core website, you still need a platform that strikes a balance between flexibility and performance. That’s why we (and many of our clients) still choose something tried and trusted like WordPress with a component-based builder (e.g. Elementor or similar).
This gives you:
- A solid technical foundation for SEO performance and integrations
- Access to a huge number of specialists well-versed in a popular platform who can help develop and support the website
- Component-based design architecture so your team can self-serve without breaking consistency
- Flexibility to expand the site, add content types, or tweak structures without starting over
It’s not about picking the “coolest” platform. It’s about choosing something that can evolve with you, without locking you into a custom-coded nightmare or a boxed-in, inflexible template.
Ask the experts
“Low-code platforms are fine for throwaway MVPs, but they crumble under the weight of real business needs. If you’re serious about growth, performance, and SEO, WordPress isn’t just the better option — it’s the only sensible one. It gives you ownership, extensibility, and a future-proof foundation. Everything else is a short-term fix that becomes technical debt.”
Jono Alderson, Independent Technical SEO consultant (who has also written an excellent piece covering the long term cost of short term platforms).
“We include Extendify (a quick site set-up tool which can help launch a new site in 60 seconds) as part of our WordPress Hosting because it’s perfect for getting something live quickly. It’s ideal for side projects, MVPs or anyone just starting with WordPress.
But the real advantage is you’re building on a platform that can grow with you. As your site gets more complex, you’re already on WordPress, so you’ve got the flexibility and control to scale without needing to start from scratch. Longevity of the solution and room to grow is a huge consideration for anyone looking to develop a commercially focused website”
Stuart Melling Co-Founder, 34SP.com
Make sure someone knows what “good” looks like
The tools might let you drag-and-drop components to your heart’s delight, but should you without a clear idea of what you’re aiming to achieve?
You need someone in the mix who can say:
- “This design doesn’t build trust”
- “This layout won’t convert as there’s no sense of what’s next”
- “This copy isn’t speaking to your ideal customer.”
Without that judgment in the room, you’re likely to end up with a site that looks fine… but fails to land.
TL;DR
- Low/No code tools are fantastic for prototypes, early websites and MVPs
- They’re not quite there (yet) for a high-performance brand website
- Don’t confuse speed-to-launch with long-term fit-for-purpose
- Use them to accelerate, not replace, expert thinking
- Your website is part of your commercial infrastructure; treat it like a core investment.
