Wix vs WordPress for Small Business Websites: A Complete Comparison
So you’re ready to build a website for your small business but can’t decide between Wix and WordPress. Both are popular website builders used by millions of businesses, but which one is right for you? This guide will compare Wix vs WordPress and help determine the best choice based on your needs and skill level.
As a business owner, you want an easy-to-use platform that lets you create a professional site to help you stand out online. But you also want flexibility and room for growth. Wix and WordPress each offer simple drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-designed templates to get you started. However, WordPress is open source with thousands of plugins and themes to expand your site. Wix has more built-in features but less customization.
Cost is also a consideration. Wix has simple and affordable plans, while WordPress is free but you’ll need to pay for hosting and premium themes. There’s a lot to weigh, but don’t worry. We’ve done the research to compare Wix and WordPress in depth. By the end, you’ll know which platform is the best fit to help take your business to the next level. Let’s dive in!
What is Wix?
Wix is a renowned website builder, widely recognized for its ease of use and flexibility, catering to over 180 million users globally. It stands out as a versatile platform that enables individuals and businesses to create professional and visually appealing websites without requiring any coding skills. Wix's appeal lies in its ability to cater to a diverse range of users, from complete beginners to seasoned web professionals.
Key Features of Wix eCommerce:
- Versatile Template Selection: Wix offers a rich library of over 500 professionally designed templates. These templates are not only visually appealing but also customizable, allowing businesses to tailor their online presence to match their brand identity.
- Mobile Optimization: Recognizing the importance of mobile responsiveness, Wix ensures that every eCommerce site looks and functions seamlessly across all devices, enhancing the shopping experience for customers on the go.
- Multichannel Selling: Wix extends the reach of eCommerce businesses by enabling sales across multiple platforms, including social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, as well as marketplaces like Google Shopping and eBay, all managed from a unified dashboard.
- Global eCommerce Features: With tools for multilingual translation and local subdomain creation, Wix empowers businesses to scale globally, optimizing their sites for international audiences and search engine visibility.
- Integrated Payment Solutions and Security: Wix provides a secure shopping environment with a free SSL certificate and supports a variety of payment gateways, ensuring a smooth and safe transaction process for both business owners and customers.
Wix's blend of simplicity, customization, and comprehensive eCommerce capabilities makes it an excellent choice for small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to establish a robust online presence with minimal hassle. The platform's user-friendly interface, coupled with powerful tools and 24/7 customer support, ensures a seamless website-building experience.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source platform widely used for creating websites and blogs. It's known for its flexibility and customization options, though it does require some technical know-how. The platform is supported by a vast array of tutorials and a robust community, making it accessible for beginners and experts alike.
Key Features of WordPress eCommerce
- User-Friendly Dashboard: WordPress offers an intuitive dashboard, simplifying site management and updates, making it accessible for users of all skill levels.
- Responsive Design: Websites on WordPress automatically adjust to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless user experience on any device.
- WooCommerce Integration: This powerful, free e-commerce plugin transforms any WordPress site into a fully functional online store, compatible with all WordPress themes.
- Design Flexibility: With thousands of themes available, WordPress allows for extensive customization, enabling users to create a unique website that reflects their brand identity.
- Robust Backup and Security: WordPress supports regular backups and offers robust security features, ensuring website data is safe and recoverable.
WordPress combines user-friendliness with powerful customization tools, making it a preferred choice for those seeking a unique and personalized online presence. Its scalability and comprehensive features cater to a wide range of e-commerce needs.
Wix Vs WordPress: Key Differences
Feature Category | Wix | WordPress |
---|---|---|
Ease of Use | Wix offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder, ideal for those without technical skills. | WordPress has a steeper learning curve, requiring basic knowledge of web languages for full customization. |
Customization | Limited customization with dependency on Wix templates and layouts. | Extensive customization options with thousands of templates and the ability to edit code and add plugins. |
SEO and Marketing Features | Built-in SEO features and basic analytics, with integrations for Google AdWords and social media platforms. | Strong SEO capabilities with plugins like Yoast SEO, comprehensive analytics, and a wide range of marketing plugins for advanced strategies. |
Design Flexibility | Over 800 pre-designed templates, but switching templates requires redesigning the site. | Almost limitless control over site aesthetics, especially with coding skills. Freedom to switch themes without redesigning. |
Ecommerce Capabilities | Built-in sales features in ecommerce plans, suitable for small online stores. | Requires plugins like WooCommerce for ecommerce, offering advanced capabilities for larger stores. |
Blogging Features | Supports categories, tagging, and mobile blogging, but may require third-party commenting systems. | Flexible blogging with native commenting system, categories, tagging, and more advanced features. |
Ongoing Maintenance | Wix manages all updates and maintenance, offering a hassle-free experience. | Requires frequent maintenance and monitoring, especially for updates to themes and plugins. |
Help and Support | Dedicated support team with 24/7 phone support, live chat, and organized tutorials. | Large community forum for support, but responses can be inconsistent and not well organized. |
Pricing | Free plan available; premium plans start at $16/month. | Free core software; costs vary based on hosting, themes, plugins, and additional services. |
Here is the summary of key takeaways from this table -
- Wix is more suitable for users seeking simplicity and ease of use, with a straightforward drag-and-drop interface and less technical maintenance.
- WordPress offers greater flexibility and customization, ideal for those who have some technical expertise or specific design and functionality requirements.
- Both platforms provide robust SEO and marketing tools, but WordPress offers more advanced options through its extensive range of plugins.
- In terms of design and ecommerce, WordPress provides more control and scalability, whereas Wix offers a more beginner-friendly approach with simpler, built-in solution
Wix Vs WordPress: Pricing and Overall Value
When it comes to pricing, Wix and WordPress differ quite a bit. As an open-source platform, WordPress itself is free to use. However, you’ll need to pay for web hosting, a domain name, and likely some premium themes or plugins. You can expect to pay between $5 to $30 per month for basic WordPress hosting. Domain names are around $12 per year. Premium themes typically cost between $50 to $200, while plugins range from free up to several hundred dollars per year for an all-in-one ecommerce or membership solution.
Here is a quick overview -
Feature | Wix (Approximate Pricing) | WordPress.com |
---|---|---|
Free Plan | Available with Wix branding and limited features. | Available with basic features and WordPress.com subdomain. |
Entry-Level Paid Plan | Starts around $14/month, offering a custom domain and additional features. | $9/month (billed yearly), includes a free domain for one year, ad-free experience, and email support. |
Mid-Level Plan | Around $18/month, offers more storage, removes Wix ads, and includes more advanced features. | $18/month (billed yearly), includes live chat support, premium themes, and advanced customization options. |
Advanced Plans | Higher-tier plans, such as Unlimited or VIP, range from $23 to $39/month, offering increased storage, e-commerce capabilities, and additional marketing tools. | $40/month (billed yearly), unlocks plugin and theme installation, advanced SEO tools, and enhanced performance features. |
E-commerce Plans | E-commerce plans start around $23/month, offering online store features and business solutions. | $70/month (billed yearly), tailored for online stores with powerful e-commerce tools and premium store themes. |
Enterprise Solutions | Custom pricing for enterprise-level solutions with advanced features and support. | Starts at $25,000 yearly, offering high-end features for large-scale operations. |
Wix Vs WordPress: Pros and Cons
When comparing Wix and WordPress, there are some key pros and cons to consider for your small business website.
Pros of Using Wix as an eCommerce Platform
- Wix makes it simple to create an online store. You don't need to install or configure any additional plugins like wordpress.
- Wix includes features like product catalogs, inventory management, order processing, and payment processing for an easy-to-use ecommerce experience.
- Wix store templates are visually appealing and designed with usability in mind to make shopping and checkout simple for customers.
- Wix offers a wide range of customizable design features and options to make your store look professional and unique. You have control over colors, fonts, layouts, and more.
- Wix has built-in marketing tools like email marketing and social media integration to help promote your store and acquire customers.
- Wix offers analytics to gain insights into your store's performance and customer behavior so you can make data-driven decisions to improve sales.
Cons of Using Wix as an eCommerce Platform
- Customization options are more limited than WordPress. You have less control over the HTML, CSS and functionality of your store.
- Wix stores cannot scale as well as WordPress stores for large volumes of products, inventory, orders and traffic.
- Integration with third-party apps and plugins is more limited on Wix. There are far fewer extensions available for things like shipping carriers, payment gateways, and marketing tools.
- Updating Wix templates and themes can be difficult, whereas WordPress themes are easily upgradable.
- Wix customer support is not as robust as the support options available for WordPress.
- Migrating a Wix site to WordPress in the future can be challenging due to technical and compatibility issues.
Pros of Using WordPress as an eCommerce Platform
WordPress offers more flexibility and customization options for your online store. Some key advantages include:
• A huge selection of eCommerce plugins are available that give you more control over features like payment methods, shipping options, product catalogs, and customer profiles. You can pick and choose the specific functionality you need. • WordPress themes designed for online stores provide a wide range of visual styles and layouts. You have more options for creating a unique look that matches your brand. • WordPress has a robust plugin ecosystem with integrations for most major shipping carriers, payment gateways, CRM tools, and marketing platforms. This makes it easy to connect different aspects of your business. • WordPress has a large developer community so you can hire someone to customize or modify the basic eCommerce functionality as your business grows and requirements change. • WordPress may scale better as your store and product catalog expands. Some Wix stores have encountered performance issues when trying to manage thousands of products. • WordPress offers more customization at the code level for advanced developers to modify the store's look, functionality, and performance.
Cons of Using WordPress as an eCommerce Platform
• Higher technical expertise is required. WordPress is more complex than Wix and requires a developer or someone with technical expertise to install and configure themes and plugins. • There is a learning curve. It takes time and effort to learn how to use WordPress and customize it for your needs. • WordPress can be less intuitive. The interface and editor are not as visual and drag-and-drop friendly as Wix. • Setup and maintenance take more work. You have to install themes and plugins, and keep them updated regularly for security. • Performance issues can arise. Poorly coded themes and plugins can cause WordPress sites to run slowly. • Security risks are higher. Since WordPress is so customizable, there are more potential security vulnerabilities that must be addressed.
Wix vs WordPress: Which platform is best?
In deciding between these two platforms for your small business website, here are the main factors to consider:
• Technical expertise required. WordPress will require more technical know-how to set up and manage, while Wix has a simple drag-and-drop interface. • Customizability. WordPress gives you more flexibility and options to customize the look, features, and functionality of your site. Wix offers less customization within their templates and options. • Scalability. WordPress may scale better as your site grows larger and more complex, while some Wix sites have encountered performance issues with thousands of products. • Security. WordPress requires more effort to keep themes and plugins updated to mitigate security risks. Wix has a generally more secure platform with automatic updates. • Ease of use. Wix is easier for non-technical users, while WordPress has a steeper learning curve and less intuitive interface. • Cost. WordPress is free to use, while Wix costs $13-$42 per month depending on the plan.
Weigh these trade-offs based on your technical skills, budget, current and future business needs. For many small businesses, Wix offers an affordable and simple option to get an online presence quickly. But as your business expands, WordPress may provide more flexibility and options for a higher performing, customized site.