Compare with Framer
A Framer alternative for sites that need a database and sign-in
Framer is a platform for designing and hosting websites on a visual canvas, with agents that work on pages and CMS content. See what you can take out, and when inquiries and visitors need an app of their own.
Framer
Where Framer fits.
Framer describes itself as the design agent for every step from idea to launch. You lay out pages on a visual canvas, keep structured content in CMS collections, and publish to Framer's own hosting. Its help center calls Framer a hosted platform, which matters when you weigh a move.[1][2][3]
Agents on the canvas
Framer's agent creates editable pages, sections, copy and visuals in your project, and you can take over on the canvas at any point. The agent can also set up the CMS or build a code component for an interaction.[2][1]
CMS collections
Collections hold a site's structured content in field types such as text, images, rich text, dates and references. Drop in a CSV and the agent creates the collection, maps the fields and fills the items.[4]
Exepad
Where Exepad fits.
Exepad is Your App Cloud. You describe the app in Studio, refine it by describing changes, review it and publish a web app that opens in a browser, including on phones. An app can have a database, sign-in and email, so a form's entries stay in the app instead of going to an inbox or a webhook.
Inquiries become records
Describe a contact form that saves each inquiry to the app's database with a status, plus a screen where your staff work through them. Submit a test inquiry and open the saved record before you rely on it.
An account for each visitor
Where a Framer site can sit behind one shared password, an app can use authentication, so each client or member signs in as themselves. Check the access you describe for each collection from a second account before you share the app.[7]
Models that work for the app's users
Framer's agents work on the site itself. In an app, a language model can also help the people using it, such as drafting an answer to an inquiry when staff ask. Have someone read each draft before it goes out. Model usage is metered separately.[8]
Compare the work you need to do.
| Consider | Framer | Exepad |
|---|---|---|
| How pages get made | An agent creates editable pages, sections, copy and visuals, and you refine layouts, breakpoints and effects on the canvas.[2] | Describe the app and its pages in Studio. Refine by describing each change, naming the element and the device where it matters, then publish after review. |
| Where AI does its work | Agents update pages and layout, run the CMS, build code components and review a site for typos, missing alt text and SEO gaps before you publish.[8][1][2] | The building assistant in Studio makes the app. An agent can also work inside the published app, such as summarizing the inquiries that now reach you through Framer's forms, when asked or on a schedule you set. A person checks what it produces. |
| Structured content | CMS collections with text, image, rich text, date and reference fields, filled by hand, by prompt or from a CSV.[4] | Collections in the app's own database. Say which screens add or change records and who may use them, then compare a few against your Framer items. |
| Form entries | Native forms send entries to email, Google Sheets or a webhook, with spam protection and rate limiting. A webhook that doesn't return a success code is retried up to five times.[5][6] | Describe a form whose entries are saved in the same app, with its fields, statuses and a confirmation email. Send test entries before you rely on it. |
| Private pages | Password protection puts one shared password in front of a site. Framer's Academy says it does not create individual users or account-specific access controls.[7] | Authentication gives each person a sign-in of their own. Describe what each account may open, then sign in as a test client to see what they would see. |
| Who works on the site | Workspace and project members. Viewers are free, and members who can edit are billed. Content Editors handle CMS content, localization and on-page editing.[9] | Each Exepad account has one builder, who changes the site in Studio. Clients your app serves sign in to the published app. |
| Taking the site elsewhere | Two help articles updated September 15, 2026 differ. One says site files can be downloaded and hosted anywhere. The other says Framer does not offer HTML export for self-hosting.[10][3] | You can export your app's data and code. Open an export the way you previewed Framer's CMS Export file, and check what it holds before a move depends on it. |
| Getting CMS content out | Plugins export collections to CSV or JSON. Framer's own CMS Export plugin saves any collection as a CSV file, with a preview first.[10][11] | Upload that CSV in Studio as starting material. It is a copy, so later edits happen in the app or through a deliberate re-import, not by syncing with Framer. |
| How plans are charged | A Site plan for each site, editors billed per seat, and credits for agents and other AI features, shared across the workspace.[12][13] | Plans belong to your account rather than to each app. Free puts one one-page site live; an app with saved data, sign-in or email needs a paid plan to go live. See Pricing for the current plans. Model and service usage is metered separately. |
Choose Framer when
The design itself is the deliverable.
Motion, typography and layout carry the brand, and your designers want to tune breakpoints, spacing and effects by hand. Framer's canvas is built for that work, with an agent beside it.
A content team publishes to the site every week.
Content Editors update CMS collections, localize pages and edit on the page, and CMS drafts let content wait for a preview before it goes live. If that routine works, keep it.
Form entries already reach the right place.
Inquiries land in an inbox or a Google Sheet that someone handles, or a webhook feeds a backend you already run. If nobody needs to track entries inside the site, Framer's forms may be all you need.
Choose Exepad when
Visitors need accounts, not one password.
Clients, members or students each need their own sign-in and their own view of the content. Build that part as an app with authentication instead of sharing one site password.
Each inquiry becomes a piece of work.
Requests need a status, an owner and a reply, and staff lose track of them in a shared inbox. Keep them as records in the same app as the form, on one screen your team works from.
The site and its working tool belong together.
Public pages and a client intake can share one app on your own domain with Pro. You can describe a language model that sorts new inquiries by project type when staff ask or on a schedule you set, and staff check the result before acting on it.
What changes when you move from Framer.
Framer's help center covers what you can take with you. Two of its articles, both updated September 15, 2026, answer the site-file question differently, so ask Framer which one applies before you plan around a download.
What an export brings
- CMS collections. Framer's CMS Export plugin saves any collection as a CSV file, and the help center names CSV or JSON as plugin export formats. Export every collection you plan to move.[11][10]
- Redirect rules. The Redirect Sync plugin exports all of a project's redirects as one CSV. Keep it as your list of old URLs that people and search engines still use.[14]
- Artwork and page images. The desktop app exports a selected item or page as a PNG or JPG at 1x to 4x. Use it for logos, illustrations and other artwork you want in the app.[15]
What stays behind
- Hosted optimizations. Framer's self-hosting article says pre-rendering, image resizing, font subsetting and server-side rendering depend on its infrastructure. Plan for those to stay with Framer whichever answer on site files applies to you.[3]
- Send To settings on each form. A form's Send To destination is set on the form in the canvas. Write down each one, whether email, Google Sheets or a webhook, so you can say where entries belong in the app.[6][5]
- The shared site password. Password protection is a project setting and does not create individual users. List the people who used it, because each of them will need an account in the app.[7]
Rebuild it in Exepad
Start from the collection behind your pages
Upload its CSV in Studio. Say what each item is, which fields hold images, and which fields point to another collection.
Describe the pages your Framer site has
Name the list, detail and contact pages and the look you want. Review them on a phone and on a laptop before you continue.
Give every form a home
Using your list of Send To destinations, describe each form's fields, where its entries are saved, the statuses they move through and who can read them.
Replace the password with accounts
For pages that sat behind the shared password, decide who signs in and what each account can open. Test it with a second account.
Move the domain once pages match
Leave the Framer site up while you compare pages. Check each old URL from your redirect export against the app's pages, then point your custom domain at the app (Pro).
Try it with one task.
Move one collection and its inquiry form
An illustrative pilot for Alder & Finch, a sample interior design studio in Los Angeles whose Framer site lists projects from a CMS collection and emails every inquiry to the studio.
Export the Projects collection with Framer's CMS Export plugin, and note where the Start a project form sends its entries.
In Studio, describe project pages built from the CSV and an inquiry form that saves each entry with a status of New, Replied or Booked.
Add a confirmation email for whoever inquired, then send three test inquiries from your own address.
Open ten projects next to their Framer pages and check each title, image and description.
Leave the Framer form running until the saved inquiries match what the studio inbox received.
Together in your app cloud
The pieces behind the possibility.
Choose the models and services that support the experience you want to create.
Database
Keep data and context for apps and agents
Authentication
Give the right people access
Email
Keep conversations moving
File storage
A home for your documents and media
Language models
Reason, write, and understand
A little more context
Good questions.
Can I export my Framer site and host it somewhere else?
Framer's help center answers this two ways. "Porting your data from Framer" says a site's HTML, CSS, JavaScript and assets can be downloaded and hosted anywhere. "Can I export my website to HTML and self-host it?" says Framer does not offer HTML export for self-hosting. Both were updated September 15, 2026, so ask Framer which applies to your project.
Can I bring my Framer CMS collections into Exepad?
Yes, as starting material. Export each collection with Framer's CMS Export plugin, upload the CSV in Studio and say what each column holds. The upload is a snapshot: after it, edits happen in the app or through a deliberate re-import, and nothing stays in sync with Framer.
What happens to my Framer contact forms?
In Framer, a native form sends entries to email, Google Sheets or a webhook. In an Exepad app, you describe a form that saves each entry to the app's own database, with the fields and statuses your team needs. Send test entries and compare them with what Framer delivered before you switch.
Does Framer password protection give each visitor an account?
No. Framer's Academy says password protection puts one shared password in front of the site and does not create individual users. In an Exepad app, authentication gives each person their own sign-in. Describe what each account may open, and test it from a second account.
Can I build in Exepad without design experience?
You start from a description instead of a layout: who the site serves, the pages it needs and what visitors should be able to do. Studio builds the app from that. To change it, describe the element, the change you want and the device where it matters, then review before you publish.
How are Framer and Exepad plans structured?
Framer sells Basic and Pro Site plans for each site, bills editors per seat and uses credits for agents and other AI features. An Exepad plan covers your account: Free puts one one-page site live, and an app with saved data, sign-in or email needs a paid plan to go live, with model and service usage metered separately. The pricing page has current details.
If I leave Exepad later, can I take my app with me?
Yes. You can export your app's data and code. Given how differently Framer's own articles describe site files, check this for yourself too: run an export early, open what it contains, and keep that copy with the CMS files you exported from Framer.
Explore Pricing for plans, included capabilities, and usage details.
Related guides.
Compare other tools.
Sources.
Framer details checked September 25, 2026. Confirm them on Framer's site before you decide.
- Framer: product overview ↗
- Framer: AI website builder ↗
- Framer: HTML export and self-hosting ↗
- Framer: CMS ↗
- Framer: adding a contact form ↗
- Framer: connecting forms to a webhook ↗
- Framer: password protection ↗
- Framer: agents ↗
- Framer: members, roles and permissions ↗
- Framer: porting your data ↗
- Framer: CMS Export plugin ↗
- Framer: site plans overview ↗
- Framer: pricing and billing questions ↗
- Framer: exporting and importing redirects ↗
- Framer: exporting assets ↗
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