How to choose the best Webflow template for your website

You open the Webflow Marketplace and… 7,000+ templates stare back at you.

Do you search? Do you try to use some filters? Even if you do, you’re still left with too many options and no ratings or sales numbers to help you decide which Webflow template to buy.

You could scroll through thousands of thumbnails, click on the ones that catch your eye, and check out the demos one by one… but a) that takes forever, and b) you still have no idea if it’s the right fit for your needs. Pick wrong, and you’ll waste money, spend hours on unnecessary customization, end up missing key functionality, or launch a site that looks good but doesn’t help you reach your goals.

I’m a Webflow template designer with over 15 templates in the marketplace, many of them featured by Webflow multiple times. I’ve also helped clients choose and buy templates (both mine and from other creators) for their websites.

In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to start your search, what the “Featured” and free templates really mean, and the 8 steps to go follow when deciding if a template is worth it. No vague “pick what you like” advice….just clear, actionable steps you can use to cut through the overwhelm and choose a template that fits your needs from day one.

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How to even start?

The Webflow Marketplace can feel like a rabbit hole. You could spend hours browsing without getting any closer to a decision. Here’s how I recommend starting:

1. Head to the Webflow Marketplace

Use the search bar or apply filters like category, style, and features. But keep in mind that with over 7,000 templates, even the filtered results can still be overwhelming. And since Webflow doesn’t show ratings or the number of sales, you won’t have that extra layer of social proof to guide you.

2. Look at the “Featured” templates

These aren’t ranked by sales or popularity. Instead, they’re handpicked by the Webflow team for their high-quality, professional, and modern design practices. The selection is based on the team’s subjective criteria, but generally, these templates showcase exceptional layouts, clean structure, and great UX.

Inside the Featured section, you can also filter by categories so if you already know your industry, it’s a good shortcut. Several of my templates have been featured here, including Absolute (for branding and marketing agencies) and Niko(for AI artist portfolios).

3. Don’t overlook the free templates

Free doesn’t mean low quality or hard to customize, unlike what some “template critics” say online. This is ensured by Webflow itself. Every free template goes through the same submission and Webflow review process as paid ones, so the build quality is just as solid. The difference is usually in design sophistication. Paid templates often have more refined visuals, more pages, and a wider range of layouts.

The downside is there’s less variety in free templates because most designers understandably want to be compensated for the time and effort it takes to create and maintain them. For an idea of what free templates can look like, you can check out two of mine: Woodland (for architecture firms) or Harley (for creative personal portfolios).

Once you’ve explored these starting points, it’s time to evaluate templates following these 8 steps before deciding which one is worth buying.

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Step 1: Industry - Always start here 

The first filter I apply when looking for a template is industry fit. 

Surprisingly,  a lot of people completely overlook this step and, instead, go for a template that looks beautiful but is built explicitly for a completely different industry. They might think, “I’ll just change some things around and make it work.” But the reality is, it rarely works out that way.

Templates are purpose-built, with layouts, features, and design choices tailored to specific types of websites. A SaaS template will be built completely differently from a professional services template, not just in design style, but in the type of pages, sections, and messaging it prioritizes. For example,

• SaaS templates often have pricing tables, feature breakdowns, integration showcases, and comparison sections, like this one. The entire structure is geared toward explaining the product, demonstrating its value, and making sign-up or purchase easy.
  
• Professional services templates on the other hand (e.g., for consultants, law firms, marketing agencies) tend to focus on credibility. Things like service breakdowns, testimonials, case studies, team bios, and contact forms are front and center.

Compare this SaaS template with this recruitment agency template and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

If you choose a template outside your industry, you’ll end up deleting or rebuilding half the site to make it work, which defeats the purpose of buying a template in the first place.

Not long ago, someone reached out saying they’d fallen in love with one of my fintech landing page templates and wanted to use it for a luxury real estate site. After all, a template is just a starting point, right? But the structure was completely wrong for what they needed.

Fintech landing pages are designed for a very specific flow: grabbing attention fast, walking visitors through features and benefits, showing social proof, and pushing them toward a clear call-to-action.

A high-end real estate site needs something entirely different. Large, high-quality images, immersive galleries, location details, and a sense of exclusivity at the very least. Converting one into the other would have meant tearing the template apart and rebuilding most of it from scratch.

That’s exactly the kind of situation I want people to avoid. Choosing a template that’s already aligned with your industry means you’re building on a foundation that works for you, not fighting against it. It’s faster, less frustrating, and far more likely to result in a website you’re proud to launch.

How to find Webflow templates for your industry?

You can do this by going to All Webflow Templates and looking for your industry in the list on the left side of the page. These are broad industrial categorizations so don’t worry about being too specific yet. There are sub-categories available within each category to help you narrow down your search.

For example, if you are looking for a website template for your cleaning services businesses, you can select the Home Services Category on the left side of the page and then select the “Cleaning” subcategory that appears right under the “Home Services Website Templates” heading.

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Step 2: Aesthetics — Pick a template that already looks 80–85% like your final vision

When it comes to template customization, less is more. This is the golden rule you need to remember. The more you try to change a template’s layout or overall design, the harder it becomes to maintain a polished, cohesive look. 

Here’s the rule of thumb I always recommend: choose a template that already looks 80–85% like the final design you have in mind. That way, you can focus on swapping in your content rather than wrestling with major design overhauls.

How to find Webflow templates that match your aesthetic vision?

The Webflow Marketplace makes this easier with the “Style” filter on subcategory pages. You can choose from nine design styles: playful, modern, bold, light, dark, corporate, illustration, minimal and retro. For example:

• A law firm might choose Corporate or Minimal to project trust and professionalism.
• Your cleaning services company, for example, might choose Light or Minimal (or both) for a fresh, approachable look.
• A creative agency might go for Bold or Playful to stand out.

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These filters give you a great starting point to find the look and feel (or “vibe”, if you will) that you envision for your website. I cannot stress enough how much time and energy you will save if you start with a design that already matches your vision.

If you’re wondering how to make changes without losing that polished, professional feel, I wrote a whole article on how to customize a website template without losing its professional look. It’s a super helpful read once you’ve chosen your template.

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Step 3: Functionality — Make sure it has the features you need now and in the future

Now that you’ve narrowed down your search to your industry and style, it’s time to consider what exactly you want to be able to do with your website. Even within the same industry, different businesses can have very different website needs.

Do you just need a few static pages you can brand and fill with your own content? This setup works well for a lot of startups and small businesses whose main goal is simply to establish an online presence: a place they can send potential customers, investors, or partners to learn more about them, and hopefully take the next step.

Other businesses may need more advanced functionality like a blog, case studies, a portfolio, an online store, or event listings because they are essential to how they operate and market themselves. For example:

• A marketing agency might need a blog to share industry insights and boost SEO, plus a case studies section to showcase results for clients.
• A freelance photographer or designer would benefit from a CMS-driven portfolio, so they can keep adding new projects without touching the site’s design.
• An e-commerce store needs product listings, a cart, secure checkout, and possibly product filtering or search to help customers find what they want.

Now, you could be a marketing agency that doesn’t need a blog or case studies yet but plans to add them in the future. In that case, it’s still important to choose a template that has that functionality built in. If you pick a template without the right structure for your current and future needs, you’ll either have to spend extra on custom development later or work around awkward design limitations that slow you down.

How to find Webflow templates that include the functionality you need?

Once you’re clear on the functionality you need now and what you might need in the future, start by looking at templates within the industry you narrowed down in Step 1.

Right now, the Webflow Marketplace doesn’t let you filter by specific functionality. So, for example, if you’re looking at cleaning service templates and want one with a blog, there’s no “includes blog” checkbox you can tick. You have to click into the template and explore the pages yourself.

The good news is that most templates for a given industry already include the typical use cases for that industry. Template creators design with those needs in mind. For example, most cleaning service templates have a blog since blogging is key for local SEO, and most jewelry or clothing templates include e-commerce because online selling is standard in those niches.

So, to find Webflow templates that include the functionality you need, simply visit the template preview to see if it containas the necessary pages and functionality you require (blog, events, case studies, e-commerce, etc.)

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Step 4: Quality — Check if the template is well-built and easy to work with

When I say “quality” here, I’m not talking about how the design looks… you can judge that from the demo. I’m talking about build quality: how easy the template will be to update, maintain, and customize once you start using it.

How to assess Webflow template quality before buying?

One of the best ways to check this is to use the "Preview in Webflow" option as shown below. This option is available for all templates on the Webflow marketplace and lets you open the template in “read-only mode” right inside the Webflow design interface.

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Think of it as a little behind-the-scenes sneak peek. You get to see how the template is built, how the layout works, how the CMS is set up, how styles are organized, and what the editing interface looks like. 

If you like to know what you’re getting into before committing, this is huge. Whenever I’m helping a client choose a Webflow template, I make sure they take advantage of it. Fun fact that many people don’t realize: you can even drop in some of your own copy to see how your content fits the design!

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When you’re in preview mode, look for signs of good build quality:

• You can quickly find the section you want to edit without endless clicking.
• Headings, buttons, and other elements look consistent from page to page.
• Changing something in one place (like your brand colors or navigation bar or footer) updates it everywhere automatically.

If you have some experience with web development or Webflow, in general, you should also look for the following:

• Clean structure – Sections, containers, and elements are organized logically.
• Consistent class naming – Classes follow a naming convention, making it easy to find and edit styles.
• Use of variables – Colors, typography, and spacing are set as variables for quick global changes.
• Components and symbols – Reusable sections (like headers, footers, and CTAs) so you don’t have to update them on every page individually.

If you feel organized and confident while clicking around in preview mode, that’s a good sign. If you’re confused in the first minute, you’ll likely be even more frustrated once your content is in there.

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Step 5: Creator — Vet the person/team behind the template

The Webflow Marketplace doesn’t have ratings or sales numbers, so the easiest way to judge a template’s reliability is to look at the creator behind it. A great design is only part of the equation. You also want to know you can get help if you run into trouble whether it’s troubleshooting a bug, clarifying how something works, or updating it for new Webflow features, you’ll want a creator who’s still around and engaged. 

Unfortunately, I’ve heard stories of template creators abandoning their templates after publishing…not replying to emails or queries from potential or actual customers.

How to check a Webflow template creator’s reliability before buying?

• Reach out to them via an email with any questions you may have about the template, and see how (and if) they respond. A quick, helpful and reply is a good sign.
• Visit their website or portfolio to see the range of their work and how active they are.
• Check whether their templates have been featured by Webflow. While it’s subjective, it’s still an indicator of quality and professional standards.
• Check their template’s changelog to see how recently it’s been updated. Active updates mean the creator is maintaining it and fixing issues, especially if it has been published for a while.

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Step 6: Loading time – Make sure the template is not slow

If the template has great aesthetics but is not optimized for performance, it will be slow to load, meaning that your visitors will leave before they even see it. Speed also affects your search rankings, so a sluggish site can hurt both your user experience and your SEO.

This is a problem often found in templates that rely on heavy visuals such as full-size background videos (especially right up there in the hero section) and heavy 3D/Lottie animations. They look stunning but often take longer to load.

How to check a Webflow template’s speed/loading time/performance before buying?

Make sure the template you like isn’t slow by checking The good news is you can get a sense of a template’s performance before buying it. Here’s how:

1. Copy the template’s home page demo link.
2. Paste it into Google PageSpeed Insights, a free tool that scores a site’s speed for both desktop and mobile.
3. Pay attention to the mobile score especially, since most visitors these days will see your site on their phone first.
4. Look for a speed score of 90+ on desktop and at least 75+ on mobile (ideally 85+ on mobile)

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I must point out that just because a template’s page speed score doesn’t match your expectations, it doesn’t mean you can’t improve it once you buy it and add your own content. Many templates are a bit slow because of easily fixable issues, such as unoptimized images and fonts. By optimizing these two things, you can substantially improve loading times. I’ve written two guides that walk you through exactly how to do this:

• Optimizing images for a fast-loading website
• Optimizing fonts to improve your website’s speed

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Step 7: Responsiveness — It must look great on every screen

Again, a large percentage of your visitors will see your website on their phone first. If your template doesn’t look good or function well on mobile, you’ll lose people before they even scroll. Responsiveness means your site automatically adjusts its layout and design to work on different screen sizes from large desktop monitors to tablets and small phones.

How to check if a Webflow template is responsive before buying?

When previewing a template, check it on multiple devices if possible. If you have a laptop, tablet/iPad and mobile, visit the template demo URL on all of those devices to see if it loks and works great on all of them.

If you cannot do this, at the very least, resize your browser window to see how the layout changes. You can do this in all browsers. Here’s how to do this in Chrome.

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Look out for:

• Text that becomes too small to read or too cramped on mobile.
• Buttons and links that are too close together to tap easily.
• Images that crop awkwardly or lose important details.
• Sections that stack in a strange order or feel broken.

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Step 8: SEO — Make sure search engines can find it

A common worry is that using a Webflow template will hurt your SEO. I’ve written this detailed article on whether website templates are bad for SEO, what actually makes a website SEO-friendly and how to check if a template is SEO-friendly.

The short answer is this: No, Webflow templates are not bad for SEO or AEO.

For starters, Webflow has strict SEO guidelines for template creators. Templates submitted to the marketplace are reviewed to make sure they’re optimized for SEO, so most already follow good practices. That includes proper page structure, clean code, and mobile optimization. Webflow also makes it easy to handle SEO yourself, with built-in options to add page titles and meta descriptions, alt text for images, and even compress images right inside the Designer and Editor.

However, there are still a few things you can (and should) check.

How to check if a Webflow template is SEO-friendly before buying?

To do this, head over to the Preview in Designer option for a template you like. Once you’re in there, here’s what you should check:

• Heading hierarchy – This is important to ensure proper page structure for search engines to crawl. In Preview mode, you can use the Audit panel to see if headings are in logical order as well as some other important SEO elements.

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• Alt text for images – Alt text provides a text description of an image on a webpage. Search engines use it to understand the content of images and pages, which can improve image search rankings and overall website visibility. Webflow makes it easy to add your own alt text when you add your content.
• Alt text for CMS images – This step is often missed by template creators, so it’s worth checking before you buy. For CMS collections (like blog posts, portfolio items, or products), the images should have dedicated plain text fields for alt text, and those fields should be connected to the image in the CMS page. See this example from one of my templates below. This gives you a simple way to add alt text for CMS images to improve their discoverability.

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• Semantic and clean code – Even if you’re not technical, you can check this. Open the live preview of the template, right-click, and choose View Page Source or Inspect. Copy a section of HTML (like the homepage hero) and paste it into ChatGPT with the question:
  “Can you check if this HTML uses proper heading hierarchy and semantic structure for SEO?”
  ChatGPT can then quickly point out if the code is clean and SEO-friendly.
• Note that speed and responsiveness are also SEO factors but if you’ve covered Steps 7 and 8 above, you should be good to go on these fronts.

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TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Start smart – Use the Featured section and industry/category filters in the Webflow Marketplace as your starting point.
• Industry fit first – Pick a template built for your type of business to avoid unnecessary rebuilds.
• Match your functionality needs – Make sure it has the pages and features you need now, and possibly in the future.
• Aesthetics matter – Choose a template that’s already 80–85% aligned with your vision to save time and avoid messy redesigns.
• Check build quality – Preview in Designer to see if it’s organized, consistent, and easy to edit.
• Vet the creator – Look for responsiveness, regular updates, and a professional presence.
• Test speed – Avoid overly heavy templates, but remember speed can often be improved with optimized images and fonts.
• Prioritize responsiveness – Make sure it looks and works great on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
• Think SEO – Most Webflow templates follow SEO best practices, but still check heading hierarchy, CMS alt text fields, speed, and mobile-friendliness.