Introduction — My Struggle with Framer

When I set out to build my personal website — baskaragneeswaran.com — I thought it would be a weekend project. Something simple: a clean author site with a blog, a subscription form, and a way to share updates on my upcoming book. I chose Framer because its pitch was irresistible: a no-code site builder that promised the polish of a designer-built site without the complexity of WordPress or Webflow.

It didn’t take long for that promise to unravel.

As a solopreneur — and not a designer or developer — every step in Framer felt heavier than it should have been. Connecting my domain through GoDaddy was a maze of CNAMEs and MX records. Embedding external tools like Kit for email subscriptions wasn’t straightforward. Setting up blogs meant wrestling with CMS collections, references, and multi-reference fields that felt like overkill for someone who just wanted to publish an article. Even something as simple as editing an FAQ or formatting text inside the editor required clicking through invisible layers until I stumbled onto the right one.

What I had imagined would be fast and intuitive turned into hours of tinkering, googling, and second-guessing. Instead of feeling empowered, I felt like I was fighting the tool at every step. Thank god I had ChatGPT – I would have possibly sent a hundred screenshots to ChatGPT because I got stuck and ChatGPT helped me in each and every step.

What Framer Promises

To be fair, Framer never sold itself as a half-baked tool. Its pitch is polished and confident.

Framer promises the simplicity of Figma with the publishing power of a modern CMS. You can design a page exactly the way you want it, hit publish, and your site is live — no developers, no plugins, no clunky themes. For creators and startups, the messaging is clear: launch beautiful, fast websites without touching code.

The feature list is impressive on paper:

• Pixel-perfect design freedom — as if you were still in Figma.

• Instant publishing — no hosting hassles, no setup delays.

• Built-in CMS — blogs, collections, and dynamic content baked right in.

• Forms and integrations — capture leads or connect workflows with a few clicks.

• Performance by default — sites that are sleek, fast, and optimized out of the box.

In other words, it promises to free you from the technical headaches of WordPress and the complexity of Webflow, while giving you a site that looks like a professional designer made it.

That’s the expectation I carried when I chose it. But the reality, especially for someone like me — an author and solopreneur who is not a designer — turned out to be very different.

The Reality (As a Solopreneur)

The problem with Framer wasn’t that it lacked features — it was that almost every feature assumed I thought like a designer. As a solopreneur just trying to get a website live, I constantly found myself hitting walls.

• DNS Confusion

Connecting my domain through GoDaddy was far from seamless. Between CNAMEs, A records, and MX settings, I had to rely on trial-and-error (and multiple back-and-forths) just to get the site pointing correctly.

• Redirects and Sitemaps

Something as basic as redirecting URLs or generating a sitemap required upgrading to a $30/month plan. That’s not a deal-breaker for everyone, but it felt like unnecessary friction for a simple author site.

• Editing Limitations

Editing components wasn’t intuitive. To change something inside an FAQ block, I had to dig into hidden layers, double-click multiple times, and hope I had selected the right element. Even simple text edits felt like navigating a maze.

• Blog CMS Overwhelm

I wanted a blog to share articles I’d already written on Medium and Substack. Instead, I found myself building a CMS schema with categories, multi-reference fields, and formatted text blocks. It’s powerful, no doubt — but overkill for someone who just wants to hit “New Post” and start typing.

• Form Frustrations

Framer’s built-in forms are capped at 500 entries. Connecting it to Kit (my email provider) wasn’t straightforward either — I had to choose between embedding code snippets or using workarounds that still felt fragile.

Every step added time and mental overhead. Instead of focusing on writing and publishing, I was learning how to wrangle a tool that wasn’t built for my persona.

Who Framer Really Works For

After wrestling with Framer, I realized the issue wasn’t that the tool was “bad” — it’s that it wasn’t built for someone like me.

Framer shines in the hands of:

• Designers who think in Figma → If you’re comfortable layering frames, adjusting paddings, and working with grids, Framer feels second nature.

• Startups with design talent in-house → Teams that care about polish and brand aesthetics more than raw speed will love it.

• Agencies creating showcase sites → For portfolios, landing pages, and visually striking projects, Framer offers pixel-level control.

In other words: if design is part of your DNA, Framer will feel intuitive and empowering.

But if you’re a solopreneur like me — focused on publishing ideas quickly and without fuss — it becomes another layer of complexity you don’t need.

The Right Comparison: Framer vs Base44

For someone like me, the fair comparison isn’t Framer vs Webflow or WordPress. Those are heavy-duty platforms aimed at professionals. The real comparison is between Framer and tools like Base44.

Framer is polished but designer-first. It gives you control at the pixel level, but that control comes at the cost of intuitiveness. Every step — from creating blog schemas to embedding forms — assumes you already know the language of design tools.

Base44, on the other hand, markets itself as a “vibe coding” tool. I haven’t built a site on it yet, but its pitch feels closer to what I need as a solopreneur: simplicity, speed, and less friction in getting something live. It may not give the same pixel-perfect polish as Framer, but it might be the better choice for people like me — authors, creators, solopreneurs who value time-to-launch over design flexibility.

Lessons Learned

Building my site on Framer taught me something important: no-code doesn’t mean no learning curve.

Every tool carries the bias of the persona it was built for. Framer was clearly built for designers — people who enjoy tweaking layouts, thinking in layers, and adjusting every pixel. For them, it’s a dream. For me, it was a constant reminder that I was forcing myself into a workflow that wasn’t mine.

As a solopreneur, my priority is speed. I want to focus on writing, publishing, and sharing ideas. I don’t want to spend hours figuring out CMS schemas, fiddling with form integrations, or clicking through layers just to edit text. Tools that add friction take away energy from the real work.

The lesson: choose tools that match your persona, not just your ambition.

How Framer Could Become AI-First

Framer recently raised a $100 million Series D at a $2 billion valuation. That’s a serious bet on their future. But here’s the challenge: unless Framer has a roadmap to become AI-First, they don’t stand a chance of justifying that valuation in the long run.

Here’s what an AI-First Framer could look like:

• AI Onboarding & Coaching

An AI copilot that asks:

“What’s your goal? Author website? SaaS landing page? Blog hub?”

— then scaffolds the right layout instantly.

• Natural Language to Layout

Instead of wrestling with grids and stacks, imagine typing:

“Give me a clean blog layout with a hero section, sidebar for categories, and minimalist typography”

— and it just works.

• AI Debugging & Suggestions

When something breaks, the AI flags it:

“Your Blog Post card isn’t displaying because it’s not bound to the Title field. Want me to fix it?”

• Smart Integrations

Framer could auto-detect your intent and suggest integrations (newsletter, analytics, e-commerce) in one click.

If Framer builds this roadmap, it can evolve beyond being a designer’s tool into a platform solopreneurs and non-designers can actually adopt at scale. If they don’t, $2 billion could end up looking like a peak, not a milestone.

Verdict

Framer is sleek, powerful, and clearly beloved by designers. But let’s be real — it’s not intuitive for someone like me. As a solopreneur trying to set up an author website, I spent hours figuring out things that should have been obvious. That’s not the experience you want if you’re building fast and moving lean.

That said, I can see exactly who would thrive with Framer. If you’re a designer, it’s a natural extension of the way you already work. And if you’re planning to hire someone on Fiverr or Upwork to build your site for you, Framer might actually be the best option: it gives professionals the power to create something polished and modern, while you focus on your work.

But for solopreneurs like me — people who want to build their own site quickly and get back to writing or running their business — Framer creates more friction than flow. In that sense, a tool like Base44 might be the better fit, though I haven’t used it yet. Its promise of “vibe coding” feels closer to what I actually need: less design overhead, more speed-to-launch.

And here’s the bigger picture: Framer just raised $100M at a $2B valuation. Unless they have a serious roadmap to become AI-First, I don’t see how they’ll cross the chasm to mainstream adoption. AI-powered onboarding, layout generation, and in-editor coaching could make Framer usable not just by designers, but by founders, solopreneurs, and creators like me. Without that, it risks being a beautiful tool stuck in a niche.