How to Choose the Right Website Platform for Your Startup or New Business

October 13, 2025 • Written by Alex Zappa

Most new companies start the same way: “We need a website — fast and cheap.”
At that moment, WordPress feels like the obvious choice. It’s popular, familiar, and seemingly free.
But within a year, that “quick and cheap” website becomes a fragile Frankenstein: plugins break, SEO drops, and updates take the whole thing down.
Sounds familiar? 😉

This article is about choosing your website platform consciously — based on where you want your business to be in 6, 12, or 24 months.
We’ll look at the pros and cons of popular platforms — WordPress, Webflow, custom React builds, and HubSpot — and help you understand which one fits your goals.

The Biggest Mistake Most Founders Make

The most common trap is tying your strategy to a tool instead of a goal.
Many founders pick WordPress simply because “everyone does.”
But what works for a freelancer can easily become a nightmare for a B2B company where the website connects to CRM, marketing, and analytics systems.

Here’s the truth: your website isn’t just a brochure — it’s part of your business’s operating system.
If you’re building a product with ambition, start with a foundation that can actually scale.

WordPress: When It Works — and When It Breaks Your Business

WordPress can be powerful. It’s perfect for:

• Landing pages, MVPs, and short-term campaigns;
• Content-driven sites without complex integrations;
• Simple blogs and personal projects.

But as your business grows, so do the issues:

• endless plugin updates, incompatibilities, and code chaos;
• vulnerabilities and security risks you must manage yourself;
• CRM, marketing, and analytics are disconnected;
• poor performance and SEO without heavy optimization.

WordPress often feels cheap upfront — but that’s an illusion.
In reality, it’s “stone soup” development:
SEO plugins cost money, visual builders cost money, spam protection costs money,
and every “free” plugin hides premium features behind a paywall.
The result? A constant drip of small expenses that quietly turn into a financial headache.

Ironically, premium plugins — the ones you pay for — often become the weakest link:
they update slowly, lag behind the core platform, and are frequently written with poor code quality.

“WordPress, the behemoth that once empowered a third of the internet, stands in 2025 as a paradox.
On one hand, it's still everywhere — powering blogs, newsrooms, e-commerce empires, and SaaS landing pages.
On the other, it's increasingly irrelevant to the forward march of the modern web. It's bloated.”
— Web Designer Depot: The Slow Implosion of WordPress 2025

As a real-world example, a startup grows, adds lead forms, integrations, and nurture campaigns — and suddenly, WordPress turns from “flexible” into a bottleneck no one can squeeze through.

Modern Builders: Webflow, Framer, Wix, and the Like

These platforms were a breath of fresh air — visual design, no-code creation, instant results.
For small businesses and design studios, they’re a great starting point.

But here’s what you need to know:

• you’re locked into a closed ecosystem — no access beyond what the builder allows;
• limited scalability and restricted integrations;
• “sandbox-level” security;
• minimal SEO control — titles and descriptions only.

I’ve seen countless Webflow sites with massive “blogs” that technically aren’t blogs at all:
no semantic markup, no schema, no structured data — just content floating in the void.
Search engines can’t understand it, so the content never ranks.

If your plan is to grow, build a content strategy, and integrate CRM, sooner or later you’ll hit a hard ceiling.

Custom Websites and React Builds

React is often seen as the “holy grail” of web development.
And yes, it’s incredibly powerful — especially if you’re building a complex app or SaaS product.

But for marketing websites, it’s usually overkill:

• every change requires a developer — even text edits;
• hosting and maintenance cost more;
• SEO and AEO (AI Engine Optimization) are more complex;
• the site behaves more like an app than a content platform.

A React website is like a Ferrari.
Impressive, fast — but unnecessary if all you need is a city commute.

If your site’s main job is to market, not compute, React will only slow you down.
It adds weight to the frontend, while search engines prefer lean, fast-loading pages.
Speed and simplicity win both SEO and user trust.

If you’re set on going custom, consider modern static site generators instead:
Eleventy (11ty) or Astro.
They let you build blazing-fast, secure, and future-proof websites that scale gracefully with your business.

React or custom sites are powerful but expensive — an enterprise-level solution suited for companies
with in-house engineering teams ready to maintain and evolve the platform long-term.

HubSpot CMS: Built for Businesses That Plan to Grow

If you’re thinking long-term — HubSpot CMS deserves serious consideration.

Why it stands out:

• everything under one roof: CRM, marketing, email, SEO, analytics;
• high performance and Core Web Vitals compliance out of the box;
• marketers can manage content without developer help;
• built-in integrations with sales tools and lead forms;
• no updates or security headaches — handled by HubSpot engineers;
• integrated SEO tools at both page and content levels;
• scales from startup to enterprise;
• backed by HubSpot Academy and a strong partner network.

Yes, the entry cost is higher, but it pays for itself quickly.
Instead of endless plugin maintenance and migrations, you get a stable, scalable ecosystem for business growth.

HubSpot isn’t just a CMS — it’s the foundation of your marketing infrastructure.

If you’re unsure where to start or stuck on WordPress,
I recommend reaching out to our friends at Orange Marketing —
a top-tier Diamond HubSpot Partner that helps companies migrate and modernize their websites.

Recommendations for Startups and New Businesses

1. Define your growth horizon. Where do you want to be in 6 months, 2 years, 5 years?
2. Don’t choose a tool for “today.” Choose one that will still serve you “tomorrow.”
3. Think about your team. Who will manage content — a marketer or a developer?
4. Avoid migrations. It’s cheaper to build smart now than rebuild later.

In Summary

• WordPress — the illusion of “free.” In reality, a slow, resource-hungry monster.
• Builders like Webflow and Framer — visually stunning but lock you into their ecosystem.
• React — powerful but over-engineered for most use cases; best for enterprise-level teams.
• HubSpot — an open, flexible platform with full API access and data portability.
  It doesn’t lock you in by limitation — it keeps you with its quality, convenience, and care for your success.

Conclusion: Choosing a Platform Is a Strategic Decision

Your website isn’t just design and pixels — it’s the core of your marketing, sales, and customer experience.
WordPress isn’t evil, but it’s temporary.
Webflow is beautiful but limited.
React is powerful but expensive — a fit for enterprises, not startups.
HubSpot strikes the perfect balance between flexibility, performance, and scalability.

🍊 Stay fresh from day one. Don’t build your business on temporary solutions.