If you're planning a new site, the first real decision isn't a color palette, it's whether the site should be Webflow, or coded, and if it's coded, Astro or Next.js. There isn't a universally right answer. It comes down to who's going to be updating the site after launch and what it actually needs to do.
Webflow is usually the right call for marketing sites, agency sites, and anything where you or your team want to update copy, images, and blog posts without needing a developer on call. A well-built Webflow site with a proper CMS behind it looks and feels like a custom build. Visitors won't guess it's Webflow. Where it falls short is genuinely complex application logic.
Astro suits you if your site is mostly content, and either you're happy for a developer to manage ongoing updates or the content just doesn't change much. It ships almost no JavaScript by default, so pages load fast, with interactive bits added only where they're actually needed. It's a strong fit for portfolios, documentation, and marketing pages that need to be genuinely fast, not just look fast.
Next.js is worth it once you need real application logic: user accounts, dashboards, data that needs fetching and processing, integrations with other tools. It's also the right call if the site is going to keep growing into something closer to a product than a page.
The mistake I see most often is choosing based on what's trendy rather than what the project needs. A SaaS marketing site doesn't need a custom React build just because the product itself is coded. And a tool with real data logic behind it shouldn't be squeezed into a page builder just because it launches faster.
A quick way to check which one suits you: if your day-to-day changes will be content, Webflow usually pays off long term, since it gives you independence. If changes will be rare and speed matters most, Astro. If changes will be features and logic, it needs to be code, most likely Next.js.
If you're still not sure which side your project falls on, that's usually the first thing worth figuring out before any design work starts. Get in touch and we can talk it through.