Webflow can export your site as a ZIP of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images that you can host anywhere, with no attribution, but only on a paid Workspace plan; Site plans don't include it. The export carries your design and your static pages. Everything that runs on Webflow's servers stays behind: CMS content, ecommerce, user accounts, password protection, form processing, site search, extra languages and code components, and the exported code can't be imported back.
Webflow is no-code, but it isn't code-free
Webflow presents itself as a platform where you build visually or with AI agents. The visual side is the Designer, a canvas where you place HTML elements, build flexbox and grid layouts and style each one. Its AI site builder generates a site and a starter design system on Flowkit, Webflow's modular CSS framework, with no design or technical expertise needed, according to Webflow.
So "no code Webflow" is fair in one sense: you never have to type HTML. But you still stack divs, name classes and set flex properties, through panels instead of a text editor. That is why a Webflow site can be exported at all: behind the canvas sit real markup and a real stylesheet. People searching for "webflow code" usually want to know what that code looks like and whether they can take it with them.
They can, partly. If you would rather start with a tool whose only output is code, see how an AI website builder with real code export works.
Which Webflow plans include code export
Webflow sells two kinds of plan. Site plans pay for a site on Webflow hosting (connecting a custom domain needs one). Workspace plans cover your account, team seats and staging. Webflow's help article on exporting your site code says export is on paid Workspace plans only; Site plans don't include it, and neither does the entry-level Starter Workspace.
Agencies, take note: before you promise a client "the files," check that the site sits in a paid Workspace.
How to export a Webflow site
- Open the site in Webflow.
- Open the Main menu (the W logo, top left) and choose Code export, or press Shift + E.
- Optional: for minified HTML, press Command + O on a Mac or Control + O on Windows, then tick Minify HTML.
- Click Prepare ZIP and download the file.
You can't export only some pages; every export includes everything exportable.
What's in the ZIP
- A css folder with three files: one named after your site with your custom styles,
webflow.csswith base layout and component styles (navbars, sliders, tabs), andnormalize.cssfor consistent rendering across browsers. - A js folder. Forms, navbars, sliders, tabs and interactions rely on these scripts. Delete them and a page can look right while behaving wrong.
- An images folder with everything in the site's Assets panel.
- One .html file per page, including Collection template pages, which arrive empty.
In the files themselves, component classes carry a w- prefix, which Webflow adds to avoid clashes with other frameworks. Page addresses end in .html; Webflow suggests an .htaccess file to remove the extension, and many static hosts handle clean URLs themselves. Lottie animations won't load from files opened straight from your disk, so preview through a local web server.
This is ordinary static output that any host can serve and any developer can read. It isn't a framework project: there's no build step, and because each page is its own HTML file, a change to a shared element like the navbar touches every page.
What stops working on an exported site
Webflow's help article lists these as excluded from the export or not working on an exported site:
| Feature | On the exported site | What you can do instead |
|---|---|---|
| CMS (Collection items and lists) | Lists show their empty state; template pages lose bound content | Export Collections as CSV, then build static pages or move the content to another CMS |
| Ecommerce (products, checkout) | No products, no checkout | Export products as CSV; link a hosted store or checkout from your buttons |
| User Accounts (users, access groups) | No sign-in, no gated pages | Export users as CSV; use a separate membership service |
| Site or page password protection | Protected pages become public | Leave private pages out, or use your host's access controls |
| Forms, file upload, reCAPTCHA | Submissions aren't processed | Send the form to a third-party form service, or embed one |
| Site search | Doesn't work | Add a third-party search tool, or drop search on a small site |
| Localized content | Only the primary locale exports | Rebuild other languages yourself; localized Collection content exports as CSV |
| Code components | Not included | Rebuild them in your own codebase |
Two details are easy to miss. Existing form submissions don't come with the ZIP, so export them separately before you cancel anything. And Webflow says forms and site search don't work on exports in order to comply with GDPR, so a third-party service has to handle your forms.
Read the table as a scale. A dozen static marketing pages export almost whole. A blog with a few hundred posts exports as a post template and an empty list, with the posts in a spreadsheet.
Fix forms before you export
Webflow's help article on collecting form submissions on exported sites keeps the native form element working:
- Choose a form service that gives you a submission URL and a method (usually POST). Webflow's example is Mailchimp.
- In the form's settings, under Send to, choose Custom Action, paste the URL into the Action field and make sure the method matches.
- Publish, then export. The form's HTML now posts straight to the service.
Or drop Webflow's form and embed one from a service such as Formspree or Tally. Our guide to adding a contact form to a static website compares the options, including spam protection.
How to host a Webflow export
- Unzip the file and preview it through a local web server.
- Submit a test entry on every form and confirm it arrives.
- Upload the folder to a static host such as Cloudflare Pages (its free plan has no published bandwidth cap for static assets and includes custom domains), Netlify or GitHub Pages. Vercel's free Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use only.
- If the site lived on Webflow hosting, keep every page address or redirect the old ones; a redirect map protects your search rankings.
- Point your domain at the new host and check HTTPS.
Commit each export to a Git repository to see what changed and roll back a bad one, and keep a list of anything you add by hand, such as redirect rules, because the next export overwrites it.
Exported code is a one-way door
Webflow's pricing FAQ puts it plainly: "If you export your code, it can't be reimported." Its help article adds that you can edit the files after export, but manual changes may break some Webflow components.
So pick which version is the real one:
- Webflow stays the source. Changes happen in Webflow, then you re-export and redeploy. Keep hand edits near zero, because each fresh export replaces them.
- The export becomes the source. You or a developer maintain the HTML from now on and retire the Webflow project. Fine for a site that rarely changes; painful for a team used to editing in Webflow every week.
Avoid the middle: designers keep editing in Webflow while a developer patches the exported files, and every new export wipes the patches.
When to export and when to stay on Webflow hosting
Export when:
- The site is mostly static marketing pages with little or no CMS.
- The files have to live on your own or a client's infrastructure.
- You're retiring a site and want an archive or a front-end backup.
- A development team will take the HTML and CSS into another codebase.
Stay on Webflow hosting when:
- Editors publish through the CMS.
- You sell with Webflow Ecommerce, gate pages with User Accounts or password-protect anything.
- The site runs in more than one language.
- The people who edit the site don't want Git and deploys.
A quick rule: count the table rows your site uses. None, or just forms, and exporting is a move. Three or more, and it's a rebuild, so staying is probably cheaper.
The other route: a builder whose export is the deliverable
Webflow's export is a copy of a site designed to live on Webflow. Some tools work the other way around: code is the only thing they produce.
FNJ's AI website builder works this way. It designs a responsive marketing site from your description and at least one reference (a screenshot, a site's link or your project files), then exports a Next.js App Router project or static HTML, or pushes the code to a branch of your own GitHub repository. Images you upload are copied into the project, the code carries no FNJ runtime, script or badge, and you host it yourself.
Be clear about the limits. FNJ has no CMS, forms, store or log-ins either, so it isn't a like-for-like replacement for a CMS-heavy Webflow site or a Webflow store. You would still link a form, booking or store service from your buttons, as you would on a Webflow export. It fits when a marketing site is the whole job and the code is what you want to own. (If your site is in Framer rather than Webflow, FNJ's Framer to Next.js converter handles that move.)
Owning the code from the start
If what you want from Webflow's export is the HTML and CSS, and you don't rely on its CMS or store, it's simpler to start somewhere the code is the product. Design a site with FNJ's AI builder and export it as Next.js or HTML, or weigh the trade-offs in our comparison of Webflow alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
Can you export code from Webflow?
Yes. On a paid Webflow Workspace plan you can export a ZIP containing your site's HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images, and host it anywhere without attribution. Site plans on their own don't include code export.
Does Webflow code export include CMS content?
No. CMS, Ecommerce and User Accounts content isn't included: Collection lists show their empty state and Collection pages lose bound content. Collections, products and users can be exported separately as CSV files.
Do Webflow forms work on an exported site?
Not by themselves, because Webflow doesn't process form submissions on exported sites. Before exporting, point the form at a third-party form service with the Custom Action setting, or embed that service's form instead.
Can I import exported code back into Webflow?
No. Webflow states that exported code can't be reimported, so decide up front whether Webflow or the exported files will be the version you maintain.
Is Webflow a no-code website builder?
Largely. You can build without writing code in Webflow's visual Designer or its AI site builder, but you work with HTML and CSS ideas such as classes, flexbox and grid, and can add custom code when you need it.