How to Migrate to Framer: Complete SaaS Playbook

Most Framer migration guides cover the basics: exporting content, rebuilding pages, and setting up redirects. But SaaS companies have harder requirements, preserving SEO rankings, maintaining auth integrations, and coordinating across engineering and marketing teams.

This playbook covers what the basic guides skip. It's written for product and engineering leaders, and drawn from our experience with 80+ SaaS companies. You'll get concrete steps, roles, and checklists to ensure your migration preserves SEO, analytics, and uptime.

1) When to consider migrating to Framer

Framer isn't right for every site. It shines for marketing-heavy SaaS companies where design velocity matters more than backend complexity. Here are the signals that migration makes sense:

Signs it's time to migrate:

• Your marketing team waits 2+ weeks for landing page changes

• Design-to-code drift means your live site never matches Figma

• You're paying for separate hosting, CMS, and deployment tools that don't talk to each other

• Campaign experiments die in the dev queue

If most of these apply, migration to Framer makes sense. If your site has complex backend routing, heavy server-side needs, or platform-specific features, check feasibility first.

Still deciding between Framer and Webflow? See our full comparison →

2) Define goals, success metrics, and constraints

Before touching Framer, align your team on what success looks like. Migrations fail when different stakeholders have different expectations—marketing wants speed, engineering wants stability, SEO wants zero traffic loss. Get everyone on the same page now.

• Business goals: faster landing pages, higher conversions, centralized content.

• Success metrics (with targets):

  • Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) <2.5s, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) <0.1, First Input Delay (FID) <100ms

  • Organic traffic: ≤5% drop in first 4 weeks (10% drop = investigate immediately)

  • Conversion rate: maintain or improve baseline

  • Time-to-publish: from weeks → hours for marketing pages

• Constraints: SEO importance, current integrations (auth, billing), localization, compliance (GDPR, PCI), available resources.

3) Pre-migration audit (don't skip this)

This is where most migrations go wrong. A poorly planned transition can cause up to 80% organic traffic loss—and even well-planned migrations often see 10-30% dips in the first month. Teams get excited about Framer's capabilities and skip the audit, only to discover mid-migration that their payment integration won't work or their top-ranking pages need custom functionality. Spend the time upfront.

• Content inventory: pages, templates, blog posts, docs, assets, languages.

• URL & canonical map: export current URLs and canonical tags.

• Components & patterns: UI library, header/footer, pricing blocks, forms, CTAs.

• Integrations: analytics IDs, tag manager, auth, payment providers, widgets.

• SEO & backlinks: top-performing pages.

• Performance: Lighthouse, Web Vitals, field metrics.

• Tech debt & custom code: list server-side features or scripts needing refactoring.

Deliverable: migration backlog labeled as 1) straightforward, 2) requires work, 3) not feasible in Framer.

Not sure what's in scope? We offer a free 30-minute migration assessment to help you map your site's complexity before committing. Book a call →

4) Architecture & hosting plan on Framer

You don't have to go all-in. Most SaaS companies keep their product app separate and only migrate marketing pages to Framer. The right architecture depends on your integration needs and how much control engineering wants to retain.

• Patterns:

  • Marketing+Docs on Framer; product app separately.

  • Full site on Framer Sites with CMS.

  • Hybrid: Framer frontend + headless CMS (Sanity, Contentful) using Framer APIs.

• Hosting: custom domain, SSL, redirects, CDN configuration, serverless/edge planning.

Deliverable: diagram showing Framer site, CMS, auth/payment endpoints, analytics, and CI/CD.

5) Design system & component strategy

A migration is the perfect time to clean up design debt. But resist the urge to redesign everything—that's scope creep. Port your existing components first, then iterate once you're live on Framer.

• Audit existing components: headers, footers, cards, forms, modals.

• Build Framer component library or port tokens/components. Keep names consistent.

• Versioning & governance: single source of truth repo or Framer library.

• Accessibility: ARIA roles, semantic markup, keyboard navigation, color contrast.

Deliverable: component catalog with priority tags (must-have, post-launch, experimental).

For more on building sustainable component systems, see our guides on design systems and design tokens.

6) Content migration and SEO preservation

SEO preservation is non-negotiable for SaaS companies. Your ranking pages drive pipeline. One botched redirect map can tank organic traffic for months. This section is worth obsessing over.

• Preserve URLs. Use 301 redirects if URLs change.

• Migrate meta tags: titles, descriptions, Open Graph, JSON-LD.

• Update sitemap and submit to search engines.

• Maintain hreflang/localization and internal backlinks.

Deliverable: redirect map, sitemap, SEO QA checklist.

SEO preservation is where most migrations fail. If organic traffic drives your pipeline, let's talk before you commit →

7) Integrations, auth, and payments

Framer handles static and CMS-driven content well, but anything involving user sessions, authentication, or payments needs careful planning. The general rule: keep sensitive operations on your backend and let Framer call APIs.

• Keep auth on backend or identity provider; Framer frontend calls APIs securely.

• Payments: use hosted pages or secure proxies.

• Analytics & tags: add GA4, server-side tracking, validate events pre- and post-launch.

• Test webhooks and CORS policies.

Deliverable: integration runbook listing endpoints, secrets, test accounts.

8) Development workflow, repos & CI/CD

Framer's visual editor is powerful, but you still need version control and staging environments. Set up a proper workflow from day one—it's much harder to retrofit later when multiple people are editing the live site.

• Repo strategy: component library + site repo.

• Branching: feature branches for content/components; staging & production branches.

• CI/CD: linting, accessibility checks, visual regression, automatic deploy to Framer staging.

• Tools: GitHub/GitLab, CI runners, Playwright/Cypress, Lighthouse CI, Percy/Chromatic.

9) QA matrix & testing plan

Testing a migration is different from testing a new build. You're not just checking if things work—you're verifying that everything works exactly like before, plus the new stuff works too. Build a test matrix that covers both.

• Functional tests: forms, sign-ups, redirects, auth, payments.

• Devices & browsers: mobile, tablet, desktop; all major browsers.

• Performance & Web Vitals, accessibility (axe + manual testing), SEO, visual regression.

Deliverable: QA sign-off checklist & issue triage procedure.

10) Launch and rollout strategies

How you launch depends on your risk tolerance. Small marketing sites can flip the switch overnight. But if SEO drives significant revenue, consider a phased approach that lets you catch problems before they affect your whole site.

• Big-bang: small marketing sites, full test coverage.

• Phased / blue-green: old + new site, route percentage via feature flags/CDN rules.

• Domain-based split: staging subdomain first, then switch CNAME.

• Canary testing: A/B/C routing or feature flags.

For most SaaS sites we work with, phased rollout is the safest choice—it lets you catch SEO issues on lower-traffic pages before they affect your homepage or pricing page.

Pre-launch checklist: staging deploy, smoke-test flows, submit sitemap, enable redirects, monitor analytics.

11) Post-launch monitoring, optimization & rollback

The first 72 hours after launch are critical. Watch your metrics closely and be ready to roll back if something breaks. Having a tested rollback plan isn't pessimism—it's professionalism.

• Monitor 72 hours+: traffic, rankings, errors, Web Vitals, conversions.

• Rollback: old hosting ready, DNS/redirection reversal, staged checklist for safety.

12) Roles & resourcing

Migrations touch every team: design, engineering, content, SEO, analytics. Assign clear ownership for each workstream, or things will fall through the cracks. One person should own the overall migration and have authority to make tradeoff decisions.

• Roles: PM, Engineering Lead, Design Lead, Content/SEO Lead, QA/Analytics.

• Complexity factors: Site size, number of integrations, SEO sensitivity, compliance requirements, team availability.

Timeline depends on your specific constraints. In our experience, most SaaS migrations take 4-8 weeks with a cross-functional team—smaller marketing-only sites can be faster, complex sites with multiple integrations take longer. A prioritized backlog moves fastest.

13) Migration checklist

Here's the condensed version. Use this as a sanity check before each phase, not a replacement for the detailed planning above.

• Pre-migration: goals, inventory, URL/export, integrations, baseline SEO.

• Architecture & build: Framer vs hybrid, components, redirects, CI/CD.

• QA & testing: functional, accessibility, visual regression, SEO.

• Launch & post-launch: staging, sitemap, redirects, monitor, optimize.

About Donux

Migrating to Framer can speed up page iteration and empower design-led teams, but it carries risks. Preparation is key: audit, preserve SEO, map integrations, and test thoroughly. Start with high-value pages and use phased rollout if SEO or revenue risk is significant.

We've helped 80+ SaaS companies with product design and website work. Recent projects relevant to Framer migrations:

• Fluida: Built a scalable design system spanning 4 products (later acquired)

• 4Dem: Reduced dev time by 50% through component standardization; feature adoption jumped from 17% to 66% (later acquired)

If you're planning a Framer migration, we can audit your current site, map the risks, and build a migration plan before you commit. Book a discovery call →

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Framer migration take?

Most SaaS migrations take 4-8 weeks with a cross-functional team. Smaller marketing-only sites (10-20 pages, minimal integrations) can be faster—sometimes 2-3 weeks. Complex sites with multiple auth integrations, heavy CMS content, and strict SEO requirements take longer.

Does migrating to Framer hurt SEO?

Not if done correctly. Your search authority lives in your domain, URLs, and backlink profile—not in the platform. Execute the migration with proper 301 redirects, preserve your URL structure where possible, migrate meta tags, and submit your updated sitemap. Many sites actually see improved organic performance afterward thanks to Framer's faster load times.

Can I export code from Framer?

No. Unlike Webflow, Framer doesn't offer code export. This is a lock-in trade-off worth considering: your site lives in Framer's ecosystem, and any future migration would mean rebuilding. For most marketing sites this is acceptable, but it's worth factoring into your decision.

What's the cost of Framer for a SaaS marketing site?

Framer Pro is $30/month (billed annually), which covers most SaaS marketing sites. This includes CMS, custom domains, and reasonable traffic limits. Compare this to Webflow's Business plan at $39/month. The real cost driver is usually team time, not platform fees.

What tools can speed up the migration?

Several tools reduce manual work:

• Migrate plugin (Framer Marketplace): AI-powered content adaptation that analyzes your existing site's voice and generates content for Framer templates

• HTML to Framer Chrome extension: Copy elements from your existing site and paste directly into Framer

• Screaming Frog / Google Search Console: Export your current URL structure and identify top-performing pages for priority migration