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Choosing a Portfolio Tool That Works For You (Not Against You) đź’»

Framer, Webflow, Vibe Coding & Co: Choosing the Right Tool for Your Portfolio

Author

Florian Bölter
April 16, 2025

In partnership with

Hey and welcome back to a new week! đź‘‹ 

In this issue:

  • Struggling to Pick a Tool For Your Portfolio?: Say no more. I’m gonna give you my recommendation + talk about options.

  • Rachels’s Portfolio: Another great lesson in simplicity > complexity.

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✨ Top Jobs This Week

Choosing a Portfolio Tool That Works For You (Not Against You) đź’»

The ever returning question for as long as I’ve done design has been:

“Which tool should I use for my portfolio?”

And while tool choice won’t magically fix a weak portfolio (your content and storytelling always matter more), your tool absolutely can help or hurt you — not because hiring managers care about the platform itself, but because the tool you choose directly affects your ability to build, iterate, and update your portfolio with ease.

I’ve seen too many juniors lose weeks — sometimes months — trying to learn a portfolio tool they thought they “should” use. And in that time, they often stop applying altogether or hesitate to share their old portfolio because it’s “not good enough anymore.”

But here’s the thing: your tool should speed you up, not slow you down.

Especially because your portfolio is never really finished. You will update it. You will iterate. And doing so shouldn’t feel painful.

My Top Recommendation: Framer

Let me get straight to it. If you’re not already deep into a specific tool and you’re looking to build a portfolio right now, my #1 recommendation is Framer.

For most designers, especially juniors, Framer just offers the best mix of:

  • Ease of use

  • Flexibility

  • Future-proof skills

  • And a very generous free plan

I’ve tried many tools over the years and in the beginning I wasn’t really willing to move away from Webflow but Framer organically convinced me over time. But let’s dive deeper.

Why Framer?

1. Versatility Without the Headache

Framer has everything you need for a portfolio:

  • Responsive design controls

  • Animations and interactions (complex if you want)

  • Built-in CMS (even if basic)

  • SEO controls

  • Easy publishing

  • Built-in analytics (remember me talking about that?)

But most importantly: It’s fast to learn if you’ve worked in Figma before. There’s even a Figma plugin to import your designs and speed up your workflow significantly with fairly high accuracy.

Plus: There’s an incredibly rich template library (free and premium ones alike) that makes starting even easier — and no, there’s zero shame in using templates smartly. Nobody will know or care as long as the final result feels tailored and thoughtful.

2. Learning Framer Pays Off Long-Term

Framer is also increasingly popular beyond portfolios. Many freelancers and agencies use it to build client websites. If you ever work with startups, small businesses, or want to offer simple site builds as a service — knowing Framer is a valuable skill in itself.

Framer’s academy should get you started on all deeper concepts fairly easily.

3. Pricing That Actually Works for Portfolios

If you look at Framer’s pricing you might think it’s pricey at first. It is definitely on a similar level with Webflow and others BUT Framer’s free plan is wildly underrated and often overlooked because they don’t promote it.

Here’s why it’s perfectly fine to use the free plan for your portfolio:

→ No custom domain? Fine — a [yourname].framer.website link is absolutely good enough for job hunting.

→ Little Framer badge on the site? No big deal. No hiring manager will care.

→ Limitations? Minimal, especially for a portfolio.

And if you do want to upgrade later, their paid plans are reasonably priced and comparable to Webflow — but crucially, Framer’s free plan is way more generous for your specific use case.

Alternative Tools (And Why I Rank Them Lower)

Webflow is powerful — no question. Open Doors is built with it and so was my portfolio until I cancelled my plan last year because it’s just too expensive to just sit there idle and outdated.

But unless you’re already comfortable with HTML & CSS concepts or plan to become a Webflow expert (maybe as a freelancer or agency owner), I wouldn’t recommend it as a first choice for most designers.

Pros:

  • Incredibly powerful at the high-end

  • Widely respected in industry & lots of templates to make the start a bit easier

  • No-code but requires “code-mindset” thinking

Cons:

  • Steeper learning curve

  • Slower to get started

  • Less generous free plan

Vibe Coding (AI-Assisted Coding)

This is the shiny new thing — and I love it.

Tools like Bolt, v0 or Lovable help you go from Figma to code in ways that seemed impossible just a year ago.

And with coding agents like Tray, Cursor, or Github Copilot, people are building real products faster than ever. The latter are probably harder to use for something like a portfolio though.

But let’s be real: unless you’re already comfortable poking around in code or super curious about it, this is not the easiest starting point for your first portfolio.

Pros:

  • Insane flexibility

  • Learn valuable coding concepts

  • Cheapest long-term (hosting your own site)

Cons:

  • Still requires technical curiosity

  • You need to deploy & maintain your own site

  • Harder to quickly iterate for beginners

If you’re into this world or want to be at the cutting edge of what designers dabble with these days — absolutely go for it. But otherwise, Framer will probably get you a better portfolio faster.

Wix, Squarespace, UXfolio, etc.

Nothing really wrong with these tools.

But:

  • They’re not cheap for what they offer

  • They often have weird limitations

  • Their design controls can feel restrictive fast

  • And for portfolios specifically? Framer or also Webflow just offer more flexibility and polish.

If you’re already deep into one of these and happy with it — no need to switch. But if you’re starting fresh? Framer is a better long-term investment of your time and energy.

Summary: Pick a Tool That Works With You

  • If you want the fastest way to build a good portfolio with the most flexibility and lowest cost: Framer is your friend.

  • If you want to go deeper into building websites professionally or freelance for clients: Webflow is great, but expect a steeper ramp-up.

  • If you’re curious about AI and code and love experimenting: Vibe coding your portfolio is an exciting option — but expect some technical hurdles.

  • If you’re already with Wix or Squarespace and it’s working for you: No need to panic. Stay with what works for YOU.

One Last Thing: Don’t Redo Your Portfolio Just For a Tool

Remember:

Tool choice does not fix weak content.

It does not fix poor case studies.

It does not fix unclear positioning.

Only rebuild if you’re doing it for the right reasons such as currently using a really subpar tool like Behance (read more about that here) or if you can’t properly handle the current tool you are using.

But if you are building from scratch right now or you’re ready to level up your portfolio tooling — Framer is the one to beat in my personal opinion.

Happy building.

đź’Ľ More Jobs

đź‘€ Portfolio Showcase

Today we have Rachel’s portfolio on the showcase — and it’s a fantastic reminder that simplicity, when done right, is a superpower.

Rachel’s portfolio is lean, but don’t mistake that for lacking. It’s clear, focused, and makes an incredible point about what matters most in a portfolio: showing that you can do the work, think critically, and drive impact.

Let’s take a look at what Rachel did well — and where I see some potential to push things even further.

The Good

  • Showing Impact From The First Second: This is such a strong play. Rachel doesn’t waste anyone’s time. You land on her homepage, and the first thing you see is work — but not just any work. It’s work tied directly to results. Her headline for the first case study reads: “Reducing Onboarding Time from Two Weeks to Two Hours” And right underneath: “90% retention”, “reduced churn”. Simple. Impactful. And extremely clickable. If I were a recruiter or hiring manager scanning through portfolios, this would immediately catch my attention — especially if I’m hiring for roles where thinking about outcomes really matters. The only small suggestion here: I could see value in adding a short line of context — maybe what kind of product this was for or what audience it served. For example: “Improving onboarding for a developer portal” could help tie her experience to specific hiring needs. But even without that, this is doing a brilliant job.

  • Clean, Focused Storytelling (Without The Fluff): Inside of her case studies, Rachel tells a really clear story. She sets up the problem, digs into why it matters, and walks us through what she did — all without ever falling into the common trap of over-explaining or listing responsibilities. Her use of highlight boxes for things like research results is excellent. She distills complex processes (like user testing) into what really matters: what she learned. This makes it so much easier for someone reading to stay engaged and get what they need without feeling overwhelmed. Her lessons learned at the end of case studies are also laid out in clean, visual cards — which again, feel easy to scan and leave a lasting impression. This is how you break things down for readers without oversimplifying your process. Love it.

The Potential

  • Visual Polish & Layout Adjustments: While Rachel’s case studies themselves are really solid, the overall portfolio layout could use some refinement — especially for larger screens. There’s currently no max-width on body text, so reading becomes difficult on big displays. Some sections feel a little awkwardly laid out — for example, centered text boxes on a mostly left-aligned layout can break the visual rhythm. On smaller screens, some text cuts off awkwardly or overlaps. None of this is deal-breaking — but cleaning this up would absolutely help her storytelling shine even more. Bonus idea: In some places, where she’s currently showing a bunch of static UI screens, a small GIF showing an actual flow could really bring things to life and break up the static content nicely.

  • Stronger Positioning In The Intro: Rachel clearly has a great set of skills — and I think she could really push her positioning to be even sharper. Right now, her intro says: “Product Designer currently interning at XYZ. I love making life easier by turning confusion into conversion.” This is good — but feels like it’s missing a beat. I’d love to see one additional sentence between those two lines that speaks directly to her key skills or the types of challenges she’s best at solving. Something like: “With a focus on research-driven UX, B2B SaaS challenges, and simplifying complex systems, I help turn messy problems into clear, measurable outcomes.” (Obviously, her version should reflect her skills more directly — but you get the idea.) This would do a better job of framing what kind of designer Rachel is — not just that she likes solving problems, but how she does it, and in what context she thrives.

Rachel’s portfolio is a gem. When you first land on it, it feels very simple — but the more you dig in, the clearer it becomes: this is someone who really understands how to design for impact.

The storytelling is clean, the focus on results is outstanding, and the way she distills complex processes is a skill many juniors don’t show this well.

If you want a masterclass in case study storytelling that doesn’t rely on fancy visuals or overdesigning things — Rachel’s portfolio is absolutely worth studying.

That’s it for this week—thanks so much for the support! ♥️

If you’d like to support my efforts on Open Doors further you can buy me a coffee. If you ever got any value from my emails consider it so I can keep this newsletter free and available to everyone out there.

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Keep kicking doors open and see you next week!
- Florian