It isn’t surprising that Webflow has become the go-to tool for Web Development due to its features for quickly building intuitive and functional websites.
Yet, some may believe its capabilities end with Webflow front-end development and that it doesn’t allow users and teams to build more complex sites.
So, this blog post will dive further into how Webflow works with the back-end to offer users website experiences that feel out of this world. Let’s go!
What is Webflow?
Let’s start with a summary— Webflow is an online platform that allows users to build websites in a simple, straightforward way.
As a result of its intuitive features, almost anyone with a basic understanding of Web Development should be able to build stable, stunning websites in the blink of an eye.
With its own Content Management System (CMS), Webflow offers several layers of functionality and customization to deliver rich, user-centered experiences.
Not only that, but beyond its drag-and-drop approach, you can work directly with Webflow JavaScript, HTML and CSS code to deliver top-tier digital products.
How Does Webflow Work?
Webflow is tailored to build functional interfaces without having extensive knowledge of programming languages or frameworks.
Nonetheless, as you may already know, outstanding User Experiences often require more than just an impressive User Interface.
Delivering the experiences users demand, love and share also demands a robust back-end development and structure to include servers, data storage and logic.
As the idea behind Webflow involves a low-code development —or even no-code— approach, you may be wondering, “Can you add backend tech to webflow”?
Luckily, there are a few ways for your Webflow-hosted site to thrive on both the front- and back end of a website. Let’s check them out!
Back End Development in Webflow
Since it’s a visual-based web development platform, Webflow can abstract much of the back-end edge.
There are ways to control back-end aspects of Webflow. Yet, you should start by understanding Webflow’s structure and areas where you can make changes.
First of all, you can harness the Custom Code Embeds for all page sections, webpages and the whole site. There, you can add custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript code snippets.
At a site level, you must access the page settings via Settings > Custom Code— you’ll find options to customize both the head tag section and the body tag section.
There, you can add inline CSS style tags and JS script tags. Remember that Webflow doesn’t validate custom code— be sure to check edges like closing tags!
This feature can be quite useful for adding scripts like Google Analytics, third-party integrations, or enhancing specific page functionality.
Yes, code changes via Custom Code Embeds are still part of the front-end interface— but they can also influence how your back-end interacts with third-party tools.
Since Webflow hosts sites on its servers, users and teams don’t have access to file editing server-side actions like in typical back-end environments.
An option is to manipulate manually uploaded static files—through Webflow’s asset manager or external hosting services like AWS S3— and link them with custom code.
If you’re looking to manipulate the site’s structure on a deeper level, there is also a Webflow CMS API to manage CMS-stored content programmatically.
This feature can be quite useful for users with long CMS inventories of dynamic data, such as blog posts or product listings.
To harness it, you’ll need API-key authentication to make CRUD operations that allow you to control data management without interfering with the visual editor.
Likewise, Webflow supports custom webhooks to trigger external services or databases when certain events, like form submissions, happen on the website.
Webhooks and custom APIs can provide back-end-like functionality for external data sources, especially considering that Webflow doesn’t offer classic server-side scripting.
Third-Party Tools for Webflow Back End Development
1. Byteline for Webflow
Byteline is a no-code platform that integrates with Webflow’s CMS to trigger flows when creating, updating, or deleting items.
With Byteline, you can call API Connectors to enter an API URL that accesses data from a database via a simple HTTP code with a simple form.
This external tool can enhance the functionality and capabilities of the standard Webflow CMS to make it more flexible for users, teams, and companies.
2. back-endless for Webflow
Another no-code development platform, back-endless provides visual databases, APIs, and serverless hosting to add app-like functionality to Webflow sites.
back-endless fills the back-end gaps of Webflow projects with pre-built and own-built APIS to add dynamism and versatility to websites to handle more complex tasks.
3. Airtable for Webflow
The well-known cloud-based spreadsheet and Database Management System also works wonders with Webflow sites.
Airtable integrates back-end edges to store data and content dynamically referenced on the front end.
4. Dev Acceleration for Webflow
Dev Acceleration is a set of tools, programs, and methodologies to speed up the Software Development process while enhancing developer productivity.
Understanding how users interact with your website is crucial for effective development.
Creating a user journey map can help identify key touchpoints and improve overall UX.
In this context, Dev Acceleration is key to unlocking back-end engineering and building back-ends to power digital products.
Conclusion
If you thought Webflow was useful only for creating rich and beautiful User Interfaces, you were just looking at the tip of the iceberg!
If you want to deliver a more powerful web-based digital product, pay attention to the integrations and third-party tools Webflow has to offer.
