Webflow Performance Playbook: 7 Tweaks to Improve Website Performance

Why Webflow performance is crucial

Webflow performance directly impacts conversions, SEO results, the quality of user experience, and how professional a brand appears. According to Google data, 53% of users leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load, and just one second of delay reduces conversions by around 7%. The cause of slow performance is usually not Webflow as a tool, but the way the project is built, which includes too many interactions, too many fonts, unoptimized images, unnecessary scripts, poorly organized classes, and oversized DOM structures.

In the following sections, we will cover seven essential techniques our developers at Borworks Studio apply to every project in order to increase website performance to the highest level.

• Choosing the right framework (Client-First)
• Minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code
• Font optimization
• Image and visual asset optimization
• Cleaning unnecessary classes and interactions
• Reducing the use of interactions
• Third-party script optimization

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1. Framework

Many Webflow projects become slower and harder to maintain over time, not because the platform has limitations, but because styles, classes, and structure gradually pile up without a clear system. When working on larger or team-based projects, overlapping styles, duplicated classes, and excessive reliance on ad-hoc solutions often occur. All of this creates additional CSS weight, increases DOM complexity, and makes later updates or optimizations more difficult. This is why many Webflow developers feel the need for a system that simplifies organization, standardization, and long-term project maintenance. The Client-First framework provides exactly that kind of structure, allowing projects to be faster, more stable, easier to manage, and more efficient in terms of performance. When used the right way, it brings clarity, reduces the amount of code, and improves the overall experience for both developers and users.

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Problem

The majority of slow Webflow sites suffer from a combination of several key technical issues. Disorganized and unnecessarily complicated classes, too many style variations that are not actually needed, excessive nesting of div blocks, and unclear element hierarchy. This results in a larger CSS file, a deeper and more complex DOM structure, slower rendering, and delayed initial loading. When a defined methodology is not present, every new developer or team member can introduce new styles, duplicate existing ones, or add custom solutions that further overload the code. Over time, parts of the project become harder to locate, changes take longer, and the site's performance noticeably declines. This problem is even more significant in large-scale projects, where CSS bloat and a poor structure can lead to 20% to 40% slower loading.

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Solution

Client-First is a standardized system for organizing projects in Webflow, and it directly addresses these problems. The framework introduces a clear and consistent class structure, uses global utility styles to minimize the creation of new styles, and significantly reduces DOM hierarchy depth. With Client-First, the project is built in a layered and logical way, preventing random class accumulation and speeding up rendering in the browser. One of the greatest benefits is the reduction of total CSS volume on larger projects, even 20% to 40% less CSS, which directly improves performance. In addition to performance gains, Client-First simplifies maintenance, makes onboarding faster for new developers, and reduces the time needed to unify styles or fix visual bugs. The result is a cleaner, faster, and more sustainable project long term.

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Key Takeaways

Loading speed, clean code, and long-term sustainability play a crucial role in the success of any website, and Client-First has proven to be one of the most practical and efficient solutions for Webflow developers. Standardized classes, a clear structure, and rational use of styles directly improve performance and create a healthier project architecture. Instead of struggling with duplicated styles, oversized CSS, and unclear layouts, Client-First introduces order, predictability, and speed. By implementing this framework, every site gains a significantly better foundation for growth, optimization, and long-term stability, which is a key advantage in today’s web environment.

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2. Minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code

Webflow automatically generates clean and readable code to make working in the Designer simple, but that code often contains spaces, comments, and structures that are not necessary in the final production version. These unnecessary elements increase file size and directly affect page load time, especially when a website contains many sections, breakpoints, and components. Minification removes all unnecessary content and compresses the code into the most compact form possible, allowing faster loading, fewer HTTP requests, and more efficient caching. In practice, minification often reduces file size by 20 to 60 percent, making it one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve Webflow site performance.

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HTML Minification

HTML minification removes spaces, empty lines, comments, and all unnecessary parts of the structure that the browser does not need to display the page. When HTML files are reduced, the time required for the base of the page to load becomes shorter, which results in a faster initial render. Smaller HTML also means faster communication between the server and the browser, which is especially important for mobile users and slower connections. In addition, clean and compressed HTML improves overall caching efficiency, because the browser recognizes and stores content more quickly.

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CSS Minification

CSS files usually make up a significant portion of a website’s total size, especially when many styles, layout variations, and global classes are used. Minification removes all unnecessary characters, spaces, comments, and line breaks, and turns the CSS into the most compact version possible. This results in a smaller CSS file that transfers faster, caches faster, and loads faster. When CSS becomes lighter, rendering time decreases, because the browser has to process less information before displaying content. For this reason, CSS minification has a direct impact on LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), one of the key Core Web Vitals signals.

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JavaScript Minification

JavaScript often has the greatest impact on performance, because every JS file must be loaded, parsed, and executed before the page becomes fully functional. Minification removes comments, whitespace, and shortens variables where possible, which significantly reduces file size. A smaller JS file means faster execution and less render blocking, which directly improves FID / INP (interactivity) metrics. With minification, the browser uses fewer resources, resulting in a faster and smoother user experience.

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Boost your website performance

Go to: Site settings/publishing/advanced publishing options/check: minify HTML, minify CSS, minify JS.

Step one: Open your site settings in webflow

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Step two: Choose “Publishing” in the left menu

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Step three: Check “Minify HTML,” “Minify CSS,” and “Minify JS”

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Step four: Publish your Webflow website

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3. Font optimization

Fonts have a much greater impact on performance than most Webflow users assume. Although images are usually the primary focus during optimization, font files can be just as large, or even larger, especially when multiple font families, multiple weights, or outdated formats are used in a project. Every additional style or weight introduces a new file that must be downloaded before text can display correctly. This increases the total resource size, extends rendering time, and affects content stability during loading. Proper font optimization directly impacts site speed, CLS, and visual consistency, which is why it is considered one of the key steps in effective Webflow optimization.

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Problem

When TTF or OTF formats are used, along with many styles and too many font weights, the site loads unnecessarily large files. The TTF format is especially problematic because of its significantly large size, while OTF contains a lot of data that is not required for web display. Different weights of a single font family can add several hundred kilobytes to each load, which results in noticeably slower text rendering and an increased FOIT effect, a situation where the text temporarily disappears until the font loads. On larger projects, this can cause several hundred milliseconds of delay, which directly affects the user experience. An additional problem is the poor practice of using the entire typeface set instead of selecting only the styles that are truly needed.

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Solution

The best practice is to use the modern WOFF2 format, which is optimized for the web and significantly smaller than outdated alternatives. WOFF2 is 30 to 50 percent smaller than WOFF, and up to 85 percent smaller than TTF, which provides major data savings and speeds up initial rendering. Instead of using five to seven different weights of a single font family, it is recommended to limit this to a maximum of two or three variants, which reduces the number of requests and maintains visual identity. Variable fonts are an even better option because they offer a wide range of styles within a single file that is usually smaller than the combined size of individual weights.

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Key Takeaways

Font optimization is one of the fastest and most effective ways to achieve better performance in a Webflow project. By using the WOFF2 format, resource size is significantly reduced, and the visual rendering of the entire page is accelerated. When combined with the use of variable fonts, the result is a long-term, sustainable, and highly performant solution. Fonts may seem like a small detail, but the difference they make in the speed and stability of a site can be enormous, especially on projects that scale and grow over time.

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Pro tip: Always check in your project whether the font is set to display swap. Swap allows the text to appear immediately using the system font while the custom font is loading, preventing the text from being invisible and improving the perceived speed of the website. Once the custom font is downloaded, the browser automatically replaces it without losing any content. This reduces the FOIT effect, improves user experience, and contributes to better performance and SEO results.

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 4. Image optimization

Image optimization is one of the most important steps in improving Webflow performance, because images often make up the largest portion of a website’s total size. Even a perfectly built Webflow project cannot be fast if it uses uncompressed images, incorrect formats, improper dimensions, or oversized files. Proper image optimization can reduce file size by 50 to 90 percent, which directly affects loading time and the Largest Contentful Paint.

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Using AVIF and WEBP formats

These formats have better compression values than PNG and JPG, which leads to significantly smaller file sizes while maintaining high quality. AVIF provides advanced compression that preserves sharpness and detail even at very small sizes. WebP is an excellent balance between compatibility and performance, and is therefore recommended as a fallback when AVIF is not supported.

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Using SVG format for small illustrations, icons, and logos

SVG is a vector format that is extremely lightweight, scalable, and suitable for UI elements. An even better practice is embedding the SVG file directly in the code, as it reduces the number of HTTP requests. In addition, SVG makes styling easier through CSS and does not lose quality even at high resolutions, which makes it ideal for modern responsive websites.

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Defining width and height values for all images

Google pays special attention to layout stability, and CLS increases when images do not have defined dimensions. For that reason, every image should have explicitly set dimensions to prevent content shifting during loading. This approach preserves the visual flow of the page, improves the overall user experience, and directly contributes to better site rankings.

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Smart use of lazy and eager loading

Lazy loading is ideal for images below the fold because it reduces the initial page size and speeds up the first load. Eager loading is essential for images in the hero section or visual elements that appear immediately. Properly combining these two approaches provides the optimal balance between speed, UX, and efficient resource usage.

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5. Cleaning unnecessary classes and interactions

The biggest issue with older Webflow projects is the accumulation of classes, styles, and interactions. Webflow never automatically removes elements that are no longer in use, which creates “project weight” that affects performance. Over time, hundreds of unused classes pile up, interactions get duplicated, style overrides appear, HTML becomes overly nested, and rendering slows down.

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Cleaning unused classes

Webflow has a search option in the style panel that shows where a class is used. If there are no results, it can be safely removed. Regular cleaning of unused classes prevents CSS from piling up and keeps the project organized. On large projects, this can significantly reduce the size of the CSS file and speed up loading. In addition, having fewer classes makes maintenance easier, allows faster style lookup, and prevents accidental duplication of existing rules. Systematic removal of unnecessary styles creates a clearer project structure and improves productivity during development.

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Cleaning unused interactions

Find interactions that are no longer connected to any element and remove them. This reduces the load on the Webflow IX engine and speeds up rendering. Unnecessary interactions can negatively affect performance and lead to slower loading, especially with complex animations. It is common during development for many old interactions to remain unused, yet still load in the background. Proper interaction maintenance keeps the project clean, reduces the size of exported code, and ensures smoother animations. When only the interactions that are truly needed remain active, the user experience becomes noticeably faster and more stable.

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The golden rule: avoid unnecessary layers of div blocks. The less depth you have, the faster the rendering.

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6. Webflow interactions

Webflow interactions are extremely intuitive and allow for quick creation of visual effects, but when overused, they can seriously impact website performance. On larger projects, especially those that rely on many load animations, scroll-based animations, and constant loop effects, Webflow interactions create additional load because they rely on JavaScript. This leads to longer execution time, increased repaint and reflow processes, and a slower user interface. For this reason, it is crucial to find a balance between visual dynamics and technical optimization, especially when working on websites where speed is one of the most important factors for user experience.

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Use CSS animations whenever possible

Fade in, fade up, scale, rotation, pulsing, micro transitions and loop effects are much lighter in CSS format than in Webflow interactions. Reliance on classic JavaScript animations should be reduced to a minimum, especially on projects where performance is a priority.

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Loop animations are the biggest hidden problem

Webflow loop animations constantly trigger JavaScript and put load on the main thread. CSS loop animations, on the other hand, run smoothly and without placing physical strain on the system.

The same animation in Webflow interactions would require five to ten times more resources.

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Pro tip: If you want maximum performance, eliminate all non-critical page-load animations. Instead of animating the entire hero block, use a simple fade-in with CSS or keep it completely static on load. This shortens render time, reduces CLS, and improves First Contentful Paint.

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7. Optimization of third-party scripts through async and defer

Third-party scripts are among the most common reasons for poor performance on Webflow websites. Every additional tool integrated into a project, such as analytics, chat widgets, CRM pixels, calendars, maps, or booking systems, brings a new JavaScript file that must be downloaded and executed. Since most of these scripts load immediately by default when the page opens, they often block content from rendering. This directly affects loading time, metrics such as Largest Contentful Paint and overall interactivity, as well as the overall user experience.

To avoid this slowdown, script loading can be optimized using the async and defer attributes. These attributes determine when a script will load and at what moment it will be executed, without blocking the rendering of the main content. When applied correctly, they can significantly reduce blocking processes, resulting in visibly faster page loading.

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Async

The async attribute allows a script to be downloaded in parallel with the HTML document and executed immediately after downloading, without waiting for the rest of the page to load. This is very useful for tools that run in the background, such as analytics and tracking systems. Analytics scripts like Google Analytics, Plausible, or Matomo can function completely normally with the async attribute, without negatively affecting page load speed.

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Defer

The defer attribute works by downloading the script in parallel with the HTML document, but executing it only after the entire page content has loaded. This allows the browser to display all content without delay, while additional functionalities activate only when everything is ready. Defer is the best choice for scripts that are not needed at the very first moment of loading, such as chat widgets, maps, booking systems, and CRM pixels. They do not affect the initial visual display of content, and therefore should not block the loading process.

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Conclusion: Small changes lead to huge results

These seven techniques represent a combination of simple and highly effective optimizations.

When applied correctly, they can reduce overall loading time, improve Google Core Web Vitals results, decrease the amount of CSS and JS code, and create a more fluid user experience.

The essence of performance optimization is not in complex tricks, but in smart and consistent practices. The best Webflow agencies use this approach because these small changes bring the greatest long-term results. If you are experiencing performance issues with your website, get our team of experts to take a look.