Compare
Control depends on what you can take with you.
Every platform makes trade-offs. This comparison focuses on export, independent operation, maintenance, and replacement—not feature-count theatre.
| Approach | What it does well | Leaving in practice | Operational trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| SodaFlex direction | Focused structured editing, static output, approvals, and portable source. | Source, assets, and a working static build are one product requirement. | Much smaller ecosystem and narrower capability than established platforms. |
| Self-hosted WordPress | Extremely flexible, mature, open-source, and widely supported. | A complete migration is possible with files and database. WordPress’s built-in WXR export moves content, but official developer documentation says it is not a complete backup and does not include site options or attachment files. | The owner or provider must operate and coordinate core, themes, plugins, hosting, security, and backups. |
| Webflow | Strong visual design workflows, hosting, CMS, collaboration, and interactions. | Paid Workspace plans can export HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and assets. Webflow states that CMS content/functionality, ecommerce, user accounts, search, forms, and other hosted features are not included in code export. | Hosted convenience is strong; complete independent operation varies with the features used. |
| Squarespace | Integrated templates, editing, commerce, and managed hosting. | Squarespace exports certain content to WordPress-oriented XML. Its documentation says not everything exports, including several page types, style settings, and custom CSS. | Low day-to-day technical overhead, with a more limited independent exit artifact. |
| Traditional agency site | Can provide excellent bespoke strategy, design, development, and support. | Depends entirely on the contract, credentials, source access, hosting, and technical choices. | Quality can be high, but practical ownership must be agreed rather than assumed. |
Primary sources
Platform behavior changes. These claims were checked against first-party documentation in August 2026.
- WordPress Tools Export documentation and WP-CLI export documentation
- Webflow code export documentation
- Squarespace export documentation
SodaFlex is not claiming that established platforms provide no control. It is making complete source plus independently working output an explicit product test.
Judge SodaFlex by what actually exists.
The roadmap separates working software from plans and longer-term hypotheses.