10 controversies and a brief history of the Framer marketplaceFull disclosure, I do not work at Framer, nor do I have any affiliation with them. I’m just a regular creator who has been in the space for a while and watched the evolution unfold in real time.I sold my first Framer template in April 2023. That was over 3 years ago. I’ve been in the Framer space since late 2022.To say I’ve seen the Framer marketplace change and evolve in that timeframe is an understatement. To anyone who is just starting, this article is meant to encourage you that what the marketplace and community are experiencing is not new. Far from it.Take a trip with me back in time, and let’s look at how things were back then compared to now.Back in 2023, when I was getting started with Framer, there was seemingly endless opportunity with templates.Today we’d say that this was the gold rush.In those days, Framer was emerging quickly, and few creators were making resources specifically for Framer. Webflow was still all the rage, and Claude, Figma Sites, Codex, and other options were unforeseen.AI was primitive, with ChatGPT just sprouting.Framer was the new kid on the block and was quickly growing in popularity, mostly due to designers posting design porn, revenue screenshots, and resources on Twitter.The space was vibrant as ever at this time. I loved the blend of creativity and entrepreneurship.Cédric was launching templates like Dashfolio, Nandi was making tutorials and resources, Nabeel was making a remix library called SegmentUI, Aleks was building templates on livestream and creating Overrrides, Rahul Chakraborty was making groovy stickers and arrow dynamics, Joris and Ryan were building Framer form solutions, Isaac was making Framestack and RemixRoad, Matteo was making a design system library called Framepad, Matt Jumper, Dan Hollick, and Ryan Hayward were making their own Framer courses…The space was exciting, to say the least.With all of this happening, it was hard to tell if I was too late or timing things right, but either way I wanted to be involved. I was optimistic that Framer still had room to grow.Many creators these days were also proudly sharing screenshots from Lemon Squeezy and Gumroad, boasting large sums of revenue from their templates.This attracted me to the template side of things.Designers shared revenue in the thousands from templates that seemingly took only a few days to create.I was intrigued and decided to give it a try and launch my own.The actual template, feast your eyes.I created my first template, which was an online course landing page.I launched the template on April 7, 2023, and a few hours later I received my first sale. I honestly can’t describe how incredible that felt. I remember staring at the notification as if I’d just made a million bucks.My template was only $30, so it wasn’t a life changing amount of money, but to see my efforts being rewarded instantly was very encouraging. An hour or so later, I received another notification — “You made a sale!”View tweetOver the next few days, sales kept climbing and I starting choosing what color my new Fararri should be.In the first 5 days I generated 6 sales totalling $185.View tweetEven in those days though, the marketplace had its issues. Back then there was a ‘New’ page that showed all newly released templates. That page had high visibility. Once newer templates pushed yours off, it was much harder to get visibility.As my template moved off the ‘New’ page, sales began to slow. Still, though, sales came in, and the template earned over $1k in a short period of time before I pulled it off the marketplace due to being outpaced by Framer’s updates.I continued publishing templates over the coming years and now have 7 templates in total on the marketplace.Over my years creating templates and resources for Framer, there have been a fair number of marketplace controversies that I’ve witnessed.I wanted to write this to remind the creators who have been here for a while or to help enlighten the ones who are new here.This is definitely not the first “the sky is falling” moment for Framer, and it will not be the last.What we are experiencing right now with the 3.0 updates is not new; it is just the newest wave of controversy surrounding the Framer marketplace.Controversy #1: Templates are dead. August, 2023Yes, you read that correctly. In August 2023, Framer template creators were shaking in their boots because of something the Framer team released that was set to doom templates and maybe even designers for good.The release in question was the HTML to Framer Chrome extension. With this new tool, anyone could copy sections of any website and paste directly into Framer as editable layers.It was cool but didn’t replace designers and definitely didn’t replace the need for templates. Still, I remember creators complaining that this new tool would ruin the marketplace and lead to scammers and copycats.Exhibit AExhibit BExhibit CControversy #2: My template got rejectedOver the years, basically any time I opened Twitter, I saw a long thread or frustrated post about how Framer’s reviews were subjective, they use favoritism, they’re biased, they favor top creators, etc.Rejected templates frequently led to disgruntled tweets and calls for re-review from the Framer team because they believed it was unfair.The template reviews were strict, and they were very thorough. The review process put many designers in their place because they needed to be top-notch to get approved.Even I, as a senior designer who previously led a design team, was receiving sharp critiques on my templates and often would go through multiple revisions before my templates were approved.This kept the bar high but also left a lot of creators feeling frustrated and with damaged egos.Exhibit AExhibit BExhibit CControversy #3: The review process takes too longYes, in 2023 and 2024 your template was hand-reviewed, and there were often multiple rounds of review before it went live.The review took weeks, sometimes months.Template feedback was thorough and at times exhaustive. This process was laborious, and creators would often wait weeks only to find out they still had a laundry list of changes to make, and another round of review was required after that.This led to a lot of complaining and frustration in the Framer space, and we saw outrage constantly on Twitter about this.If your template was rejected, it was surely frustrating and discouraging. Especially if the review lacked clear feedback, which at times it would.Exhibit AExhibit BControversy #4: Build an audience; don’t rely on the marketplace!A lot of the top creators for a while beat the drum that you should focus on building your own marketing channels.Email lists, your personal website, SEO, build in public, build a following on Twitter, etc. This was mentioned quite a lot in the early days and still is today.These creators argued that you should be growing your audience to help sell templates. This seems like reasonable advice.Some agreed; some said that building an audience is too difficult and Framer should help promote good quality work instead.Building an audience seemed like great advice but then top creator and expert, Nandi, from Framer University launched his first Framer template (highly anticipated) and later reported that it flopped.This was surprising but not shocking. Followers on Twitter were usually other designers and not necessarily template customers.Exhibit AExhibit BExhibit CExhibit DControversy #5: The new marketplace is dead. 2024Yep, still in 2024, Framer released a new marketplace that seemed to kill sales for everyone. In this update, they removed the search bar and the ‘New’ section, which made it harder to get traffic.There were other changes that were made at this time, like layout, a new algorithm, etc.Creators took to Twitter to vent their frustrations about the death of the Framer marketplace:Controversy #6: There is bias in how templates are featuredI’ve seen this complaint come up a few times over the years.The featured section has always been a bit of a grey area, but it has existed for as long as I can remember. Framer knows quality better than anyone, and they have the data to back it up, so having a template featured simply means it’s high quality and high performing.Of course, it might seem unfair if you’re not featured, as everyone believes their work is worthy and awesome. Since there is no clear criteria for how to get featured or what deems work eligible to be featured, this makes it seem unattainable.The featured section, in my opinion, has always been filled with high-quality templates, though, so the Framer team does a good job of selecting top work, not just their “favorite” creator’s templates.Exhibit AExhibit BControversy #7: The marketplace is saturated. 2024Again, we are still in 2024. Creators are complaining constantly that the template business is dying and that Framer is dying a slow death.There was a tweet from a top Framer creator saying, “True, but you can’t deny that only marketplace worked in the early days.” This is in 2024!At that time, the marketplace had a mere 1,400 templates. Let that sink in.People thought that Framer was finished, and some quit right then and there. The few that pushed on and kept grinding despite rising competition enjoyed years of sales and growth after this moment.Controversy #8: The ‘new’ sectionThere was always criticism about the ‘new’ section.Some complained their template wasn’t in the ‘new’ section long enough when it did exist; then people complained when Framer removed the ‘new’ section altogether.Framer used to upload templates in batches, so when this section existed, even though your template was new, there were often many templates that were newer-er than yours and would outrank it immediately upon being added.This unpredictable ranking system caused confusion and frustration, which creators voiced frequently as negative feedback.With basically every update, creators flagged the ‘new’ section as either being demoted, moved, or removed.The ‘new’ section was always a bit of a hack to get quick sales from a template release, but it was short-lived. In my opinion, highlighting this section in the marketplace was never in the best interest of the customer.New ≠ high quality.Controversy #9: Framer favors top creatorsIt’s true that in the reviews, Framer did publish top creators’ templates first.This made sense to me: prioritize reviews for top contributors so they can stay in the rhythm and keep putting out high-quality work.If you weren’t already a top creator, though, this was understandably frustrating to watch a top creator post on Twitter that their 3rd template was approved before one of yours was even reviewed.For top creators, this was always a silent advantage that kept them ahead of the competition and allowed them to grow faster.I know because I was a top creator and never waited more than a few days for a review.Controversy #10: Opening the doors to the marketplaceThere have been other controversies over the years, but I think you get the point by now.Jumping to today, 2026, the newest controversy has been about Framer opening the gates for any creator to list their templates and resources.No more reviews, no more gatekeeping, no more frustrating back-and-forth feedback. If you think it’s ready, then publish it and let the market decide.This immediately led to concern and outrage from the community.Framer changed things from one day to the next, and this obviously benefitted new template creators more than the established base of creators who have been around for years. Understandably creators were pissed.From a business perspective, the change makes sense. I can only imagine the burn rate on managing a division of template reviewers. As the marketplace grew, it likely became unfeasible to review each template individually and provide useful feedback.To be fair, the template review system has always been flawed. Creators complained about it from day 1, and it often caused frustration or discouragement for new creators.From the creator’s perspective, though, they spent years establishing themselves just to be outnumbered by templates that don’t fit the historic standards.In addition to the marketplace being opened to all, we are also grappling with the surge of AI agents. This has reduced the barrier to entry considerably and made starting a template business easier than ever.Exhibit AExhibit BWhere do we go from here?I share all of this for two reasons:I believe it’s important to voice your opinion and share your feedback with Framer. Through all of the updates, whether people loved them or hated them — feedback was always taken seriously by the Framer team.Don’t be scared away by the noise. As you can see, the marketplace goes through these cycles on a regular basis. Framer is riper than ever for opportunity. Don’t be discouraged by what you’re seeing on X.At this point, the best thing that any creator can do is decide if Framer is worth the investment or not. Do you believe in the platform, or are you just trying to make a quick buck?My personal adviceIf you’re new to the Framer space and maybe you just published your first template, then I hope you don’t run away at the first sign of trouble.If you’ve been in the space for a while, then you know by now that things have been changing constantly for years, and we keep adapting as a result.I personally am bullish and believe that Framer will become the most dominant web-building platform of our time.I believe we will look back in 5 years and think “holy smokes, things were so early!” Don’t underestimate how big a platform can become and how large its audience can grow.Web design may be changing, but it’s not going anywhere.If you’re concerned about competition, look at Amazon. Do they review each product listing before it goes live? No, and yet sellers are able to earn massive revenue from the platform despite the competition.Their growth is possible because Amazon has achieved mega growth and because sellers learned to niche down. As a space grows, you need to find your corner to serve.Serving the masses with portfolio templates might have worked a few years ago, but that strategy is dead now.You must look into the future and evaluate where you think things are going and how best you can apply your skills to benefit the next set of customers, not focus on what worked in the past.Closing thoughtsI do believe Framer is listening to our feedback and will continue to iterate and improve as they always have. I shared a long list of ideas.The marketplace will improve; just give it some time.Framer is doing the best they can under incredible pressure, and although selling templates might be your #1 priority, it’s likely not theirs. Your business is still in your control, and you shouldn’t expect Framer to make changes that benefit you personally.If you truly don’t think Framer will recover from this and that Framer is dead, then I won’t try to convince you otherwise. For those of you who are thinking in years rather than weeks, I look forward to a fruitful future in the Framer space.We’ll look back on this moment in 5 years, just like we look back on the tweets saying the marketplace is dead from 2023, and laugh.If you enjoyed reading this, let’s connect!You can find me on X or via email at danny@dannysapio.com.Framer is killing the marketplace… or are they? was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.