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Framer Expert: What the Official Badge Proves
A Framer expert is someone who has gone through the platform's official Experts program, which requires at least one original, functional and responsive client project. The title isn't self-declared or a design award: it's an accreditation with published criteria, and you can check each one before hiring.
Anyone searching for the term today finds three things: the platform's official directory, freelancer marketplaces that do their own screening and agency lists written in English by companies that also sell the service. None of these pages say what the title requires. This article does, with the criteria the platform publishes, and ends with what to check before you sign.
What is a Framer expert?
It's a professional or studio accepted into the Experts program, the platform's official channel for people who build client websites on it. Framer's help documentation, updated on August 7, 2026, describes the program as intended for freelancers and small agencies that build custom websites for clients.
What changes the conversation is that there's a filter. It's not a label someone chooses to put on their profile. There's an application, a review and a reply by email, with written criteria. Someone who presents themselves as an expert without being in the program may deliver very well; they just don't have this verification to offer. The difference shows up when you compare three similar proposals.
What does Framer require to grant the Expert badge?
There are four requirements, all published on the program's help page. The applicant must have completed at least one client project on the platform, deliver fully functional and responsive projects, show original work rather than a simple template modification, and demonstrate creative thinking in layout, animation, interactions or advanced functionality.
The original-work requirement is explicit enough to become a question in the page's own FAQ: does template customization count as a client project? The answer published there is no. Applications go through the members tab of the platform's community, and the review is usually answered within seven days, by email.
For whoever is hiring, these four items say just one thing, and it's a useful one: the studio has already delivered at least one real project, start to finish, and that project wasn't a template with the color swapped.
What changes at the Pro Expert level?
Pro Expert is one level up in the same program, and the criterion is commercial, not aesthetic. According to the help page on Pro status, updated on August 7, 2026, an Expert gets the level automatically after accumulating at least US$ 500 in project transfer commissions.
There's no separate application. The commission comes in when the studio transfers project ownership to the client and the client subscribes to an eligible plan. The amount can come from a single project or add up across several. In return, the level gives priority placement in the directory, more referrals and free editor access to the client's project.
Translated for whoever is hiring: the Pro level measures projects delivered and transferred into the client's name, with an active subscription. It's the program's strongest continuity signal. Wama was the first company in South America to reach this level, and what that meant is in the article about the program's highest level.
Enterprise Expert: the level that measures referrals
There's a third level, and it doesn't measure delivered projects. The same help documentation describes Enterprise Expert as the program for agencies and studios that serve larger organizations, with two annual requirements: refer at least one Enterprise client per year and generate four qualified Enterprise leads.
The benefits follow the same commercial logic: commission on qualified Enterprise deals, direct introductions to clients of that size, early access to selected features and co-marketing with the platform. No item on the list talks about delivery quality.
That doesn't disqualify the level; it just defines what it answers. An Enterprise Expert proves a track record with large accounts and a close relationship with the platform vendor. If your project is a mid-sized company website, this badge says little about what you'll get.
Where to find a Framer expert
There are three channels, and each one filters for something different. The official Experts directory brings together those who went through the program and filters by country, type and budget. It's the only place where the filter comes from the platform vendor.
Freelancer marketplaces use their own yardstick. One of the largest platforms of its kind advertises, on its page for hiring Framer developers, that it approves the top 3% of applicants. It's real screening, done by the marketplace, and it shouldn't be confused with the platform's accreditation.
The third channel is agency lists. They help put together a first list of names, as long as you notice who wrote them: in the two English-language lists that show up for this term, one published in November 2025 and updated in April 2026, the author takes first place in their own ranking.
Reading the list doesn't replace checking. It's worth comparing studios that have already been evaluated and checking each name in the official directory before asking for a proposal.
What the badge proves and what it doesn't
Each level answers a specific question, and none of them answers all of them. The table separates what's written in the official criteria from what's still your job when choosing.
Level | What the criterion measures | What it doesn't tell you |
|---|---|---|
Expert | At least one original, functional and responsive client project | How many projects came after the first one |
Pro Expert | US$ 500 accumulated in project transfer commissions | The size and complexity of those projects |
Enterprise Expert | One Enterprise client referred per year and four qualified leads | What delivery looks like on projects outside that size |
None of the three evaluates timelines, communication, copy, SEO or what happens after the website goes live. Those points remain the territory of your selection process, and they apply as much to an accredited studio as to a professional project run by any vendor.
What should you check before signing?
Five checks settle most questions and fit into one afternoon. They apply to freelancers, studios and agencies, and none of them depend on the vendor cooperating.
Look up the name in the official directory and see which level appears next to it.
Open three portfolio projects and check that they're live client websites, not template remixes.
Test those three websites on your phone, which is where the responsiveness requirement checks itself.
Ask who keeps the account, the domain and the subscription after delivery.
Ask who fixes a problem on the website three months later, and through which channel.
The fourth question is the one that surprises people most. At Wama, the project is transferred to the client's account, and the client becomes the owner of the website, the domain and the subscription. It's worth describing the project before asking for a price and using the same checklist with every candidate.
Freelancer, studio or agency: what changes in delivery
The accreditation is the same for all three. What changes is what each format can sustain. An accredited freelancer delivers a website as good as an agency's when the scope fits one person and the timeline isn't tight. The risk there is availability, not competence.
A small studio handles a bigger scope and absorbs vacations and the unexpected. An agency comes in when the project has many pages, a structured CMS, integrations and someone needs to answer for all of it after delivery. It's worth seeing what a Framer agency delivers end to end before deciding on the format.
Price follows format, and it's better to find that out before the first meeting than after the third proposal. The math that adds up the project and the platform subscription helps calibrate expectations before asking for a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Framer specialist the same as a Framer Expert?
Yes. Framer Expert is the program's official name in English, and "especialista em Framer" (Framer specialist) is how the term shows up in Portuguese-language searches. What's worth checking isn't the wording, but whether the vendor's name is in the platform's official directory and at which level it appears there.
How long does it take to become a Framer Expert?
The application review is usually answered within seven days, according to the program's help documentation. The real time comes before that: you need to have already completed at least one original, responsive client project on the platform to have something to submit for review.
Does publishing a template on the marketplace make someone an expert?
No. Publishing a template, plugin, component or vector set puts a person in the Creator Program, which is the umbrella for creators. The Creator Program documentation, updated on August 7, 2026, separates that path from the one for people who deliver projects to clients.
Can a freelancer without a badge build a good website?
They can, and they do. The badge isn't a technical requirement for building on the platform; it's an extra verification some vendors have and others don't. Without it, the full weight of checking falls on the portfolio, the phone test and the questions about what happens after delivery.
Does the official Experts directory show prices?
The directory lets you filter by country, type and budget, which helps narrow the list before first contact. The price of your project, however, still comes from a proposal, because it depends on the number of pages, content, animation level and the integrations needed.
If you're choosing who will build your website and want to talk to a studio that works on the platform every day, talk to Wama about your project.
