How to Choose a Framer Agency for Your SaaS Website
Tanjim Islam
Founder & CEO · · 7 min read
This guide is for SaaS founders and marketing leads hiring someone to build or rebuild a site in Framer. It sticks to questions you can check yourself. For our own service, see the Framer agency page.
What should you decide before you talk to anyone?
Write down three things on one page.
- The job of the site. Book demos, sell self serve plans, support a fundraise, or explain a new category.
- The pages you need for launch. Home, pricing, one or two product pages, a blog, maybe a careers page.
- Who will edit it after launch. A marketer who publishes weekly needs a different build from a founder who touches the site twice a year.
With that page in hand, every call gets shorter. You can ask each team how they would handle your site, not show you their favourite one.
What can and can't Framer export?
This is the question most buyers skip, and the one that matters most if you ever want to leave.
Framer's help pages disagree: one says there is no HTML export for self hosting, another says published site files can be downloaded (Framer Help, Porting your data from Framer, updated 15 Sep 2026, fetched 25 Oct 2026). Neither gives you an editable project. The export article says: "Framer does not offer HTML export for self-hosting." It explains that published sites use services such as pre rendering, image resizing and server side rendering that run on Framer's own infrastructure, so they "cannot be exported as standalone HTML files." And: "If you require complete control over hosting infrastructure or need to export source code, Framer may not be the right solution for that workflow" (Framer Help, Can I export my website to HTML and self-host it?, updated 15 Sep 2026, fetched 25 Oct 2026).
For content, a separate Framer help article says CMS content "can be exported using plugins into structured formats such as CSV or JSON" (Framer Help, Porting your data from Framer, updated 15 Sep 2026, fetched 25 Oct 2026). So your blog posts and case studies can move. The built pages are a different story.
What this means for you:
- You host on Framer. You can still use your own domain.
- Your words and images are portable through CMS export.
- A move off Framer is a rebuild of the pages, not a copy and paste.
- Third party export plugins exist in Framer's marketplace. They are not an official Framer export. Test before you rely on one.
A good partner tells you this on the first call, without being asked. If someone says "you can always export the code", ask them to show you, live.
Who should own the Framer project?
You. From launch day, in your own workspace.
Framer has a built in way to do this. Its Project Transfers feature moves a finished project to another user: "The recipient becomes the new project owner after accepting the transfer." The site stays online and "connected custom domains continue working" (Framer Help, Transfer a project to another user, updated 15 Sep 2026, fetched 25 Oct 2026). After the transfer, the new owner picks and pays for the site plan.
Put these in the contract:
- The Framer project is transferred to your workspace at launch.
- The domain is registered in your company's name.
- Analytics, forms and any connected tools sit in accounts you own.
- The builder can stay on as an editor if you want ongoing help, but you are the owner.
At Gr8r, clients own everything once it's paid for.
How should the CMS be set up?
Anything that changes more than once a quarter belongs in the CMS. Blog posts, case studies, customer logos you have permission to show, job openings, changelog entries, team members.
Anything hard coded means a message to the builder every time a line changes.
Questions to ask:
- "Show me the CMS of a site you launched. Which collections did you set up, and why?"
- "Can a marketer add a new case study page without touching the design?"
- "What happens when we need a field you did not plan for?"
What does a good handoff to marketing look like?
Picture your marketer on the Tuesday after launch. They need to publish a post, swap a hero image and add a new job. A good handoff means they can do all three alone.
Ask for:
- A recorded walkthrough of the CMS and the pages your team will edit most.
- A short written guide: which components to reuse, which ones not to break.
- Named sections in the project, so "pricing table" is called pricing table.
- A support window after launch, with a clear way to ask questions.
What does the Framer Expert badge mean?
It is a real signal, but a narrow one. Read what it requires.
According to Framer, "Framer Experts are freelancers and agencies who build client websites in Framer." To apply, your Community profile needs "an avatar, a short bio, a poster image and at least two published sites," each "built in Framer and hosted on a custom domain." There is no review queue: "Submit the apply form and you're an Expert right away" (Framer Help, Become a Framer Expert, updated 2 Oct 2026, fetched 25 Oct 2026).
Pro Expert status asks for more. You get it after you "earn $500 in commission from one or more client handoffs." Commission is earned when a client accepts a Project Transfer and buys a plan.
So the badge tells you:
- Expert: they have shipped at least two live Framer sites on real domains.
- Pro Expert: clients have accepted their project transfers and paid for plans.
It does not tell you whether their sites convert, whether their CMS setups are clean, or whether they write good copy. You still need to look at live work and ask the questions in this guide.
How do you check a team's live work?
Open three of their live sites on your phone, not in their deck.
- Tap through like a buyer. Find pricing. Book a demo. Read a blog post.
- Look for the CMS. Do blog and case study pages share a clean layout, or does each look hand built?
- Check the ownership story. Ask whether each client owns their project today.
- Ask who did the work. The people on the sales call should be the people in the project.
Which questions should you ask on the first call?
Ask about project transfer, leaving Framer, what lives in the CMS, who writes the copy, the handover to marketing, what their Framer status means, and who you'll talk to each week.
- Will the Framer project be transferred to our workspace at launch?
- What happens if we want to leave Framer one day?
- Which parts of our site will live in the CMS?
- Who writes the copy?
- How will you hand the site to our marketing team?
- Are you a Framer Expert, and what does your status mean?
- Who designs, who builds, and who do we talk to each week?
How does Gr8r work in Framer?
Our founder, Tanjim Islam, is a Framer Pro Expert, and Gr8r Studio also has its own Framer profile. For HostOp, we designed the product, built its Framer website and built an agentic design system for it. You can read how we work on the Framer agency page.
If you are weighing Framer against another platform, our platform guide covers the choice. Tool versus tool comparisons live on our compare pages, not here.
Frequently asked questions
Can you export code from a Framer site?
Framer's help pages disagree: one says there is no HTML export for self hosting, another says published site files can be downloaded. Neither gives you an editable project. Plan to host on Framer, and treat third party export plugins as unofficial.
Who owns a Framer site built by an agency?
You should. Framer's Project Transfers move a finished project into your own workspace, where you become the owner. Ask for that transfer in the contract, along with your domain and analytics in your name.
What does a Framer Expert badge mean?
It means the person or team joined Framer's Experts program, which requires a complete Community profile and at least two published Framer sites on custom domains. Pro Experts have also earned at least 500 dollars in commission from client project handoffs.
Can my marketing team edit a Framer site without the agency?
Yes, if the build uses the Framer CMS for things that change, such as blog posts, case studies and jobs. Ask to see the CMS of a past project and ask for a handoff session.
Is Gr8r's founder a Framer Pro Expert?
Yes. Our founder, Tanjim Islam, is a Framer Pro Expert, and Gr8r Studio also has its own Framer profile.
About the author
Tanjim Islam is the founder and CEO of Gr8r Studio. He founded the studio in 2023. Here he writes about how Gr8r approaches hiring, product design and AI engineering. More on the About page.
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