Figma Launches a No-Code Website Builder — But Let’s Be Realistic
In June 2024, Figma introduced Figma Sites — a new feature that allows designers to build, animate and publish websites directly from within the Figma interface. It promises to bridge the gap between design and deployment, removing the need for a developer to get a basic website live.
This is a logical next step for a platform loved by the design community. But it’s also generating a lot of hype, and that’s where caution is needed.
The idea of skipping the developer may sound efficient — but in practice, this could lead to compromised performance, poor scalability, and cookie-cutter results that ultimately limit your business growth.
Figma: https://www.figma.com/blog/introducing-figma-sites/
What Figma Sites Offers
Figma Sites includes:
- Visual layout tools with auto-layout and frames
- Drag-and-drop responsive sections
- Interactions and animations like modals and scroll-triggered effects
- Built-in hosting and one-click publishing
- Promised features like AI-generated code and a built-in CMS
It’s being pitched as a way to empower designers and startups to skip the dev handoff and move straight to live production.
The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/26/24189268/figma-sites-ai-tools-figma-config-announcement
What Figma Sites Lacks (So Far)
While exciting for MVPs and portfolios, Figma Sites currently falls short of the needs of real-world, scalable websites. Current gaps include:
- ❌ No full SEO control — no structured data, schema, canonical tags or meta control
- ❌ No dynamic content relationships (e.g. blogs, filtering, or taxonomies)
- ❌ No backend logic or CRM/API integrations
- ❌ No clear WCAG accessibility compliance
- ❌ No real performance control — image optimisation, caching, and speed tools are unclear
- ❌ Locked-in platform: if you outgrow it, migration is difficult
TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/figma-sites-ai-make-draw/
Websi’s Viewpoint
At Websi, we’ve explored and tested tools like Webflow, Wix Studio, Framer, and others — and while they offer interesting workflows for designers, they often create headaches later when a business wants to scale or get serious with search performance, speed, or security.
What you save on speed upfront, you often pay for in limitations later on.
That’s why we build sites using a premium WordPress stack, pairing Bricks Builder, Advanced Custom Fields, and custom code for full flexibility, scalability and ownership — with none of the restrictions of a locked-in platform.
If it’s essential, we build it. If it’s bloated, we replace it with clean, fast code.
When Figma Sites Might Work
✔️ A good fit for:
- Portfolio sites
- Small landing pages
- Campaign or internal projects
- MVPs and one-off experiments
❌ Not suited for:
- SEO-driven content websites
- Scalable B2B lead-gen platforms
- Multi-language or region-specific websites
- Custom integrations with CRMs, APIs or user portals
- Long-term growth and conversion optimisation
Final Thoughts
Figma Sites is a promising tool — especially for designers looking to get something live quickly. But it’s not a replacement for a professionally built, SEO-optimised, performance-focused website.
For businesses that care about visibility, conversions, flexibility, and future growth — tools like this are no substitute for expertise.
📞 Book your free discovery call with Websi:
https://websi.com/contact-us/
