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If you are new to web building and want to make the right choice between these platforms, it can be a challenging process.
Both of these platforms have their advantages and disadvantages that might affect your website and its functioning.
Wix is getting more popular in recent years, while WordPress has been out there since a while and a third of all the websites that are live today use it.
Both choices are very good, however, according to your needs and preferences, one of them might fit better with your vision than the other.
To help you find out the most important information about Wix and WordPress, their differences, and benefits, I decided to write a post.
Hopefully, after reading this post you will have enough knowledge to know which side you lean more towards.
Differences between Wix and WordPress
Both platforms are tools that are made for building up websites, but as I previously mentioned, they have their differences.
Wix is a website builder, whereas WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS).
Their differences can play an important role in your decision, so here are the most important ones:
1. Website builder vs CMS
What does it mean that Wix is a website builder and WordPress a CMS?
It basically means that Wix is much easier to use, but on account of that, you can’t customize it a lot.
Wix also has its own hosting so there is no need for additional web host set up. Now this means, that you won’t be able to move your website in the future from Wix.
On the other hand, WordPress is highly customizable, but you would need to put some effort into learning all the tricks and ways of creating a good website.
WordPress is also open-source and that means that anybody can use and modify.
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2. Ease of use
Usually, people that are looking into both of these platforms want to create websites on their own without having to hire a developer.
This means that often the people that are setting up these websites have no coding knowledge whatsoever.
Wix is a website builder that offers all-in-one experience suitable for people that have no idea how to build websites and are just starting now.
Its interface is very user friendly and where you just drag and drop the elements that you want your website to have, and start editing them.
You can add text, images, pages, media, etc, and do it in a very simple and easy way too.
This means that everything on Wix comes pre-built it and you can just start building the website that you want with a low level of customization.
WordPress on the other hand is for sure much more powerful than Wix, but you have to have a higher level of technical knowledge to be able to find your way throughout the tool.
If you want to have open hands for customization, knowing how to code is needed with WordPress.
But it’s not completely necessary since WordPress comes with a visual editor where you can write your content, and you can customize your theme and its properties.
There are navigation menus, customizer, visual post editor, and so on which means you would have to go through a learning process for a while before you can be good at building the website.
Wix is for simple sites or users that have no technical knowledge at all, WordPress is for complex sites that have to be customized.
3. Apps/Plugins
Wix has apps, WordPress has plugins.
Both of them are third-party extensions that you can use on the platform to incorporate more features to your website.
Wix has more than 200 apps that you can use to add features to your site.
If you need some specific features like adding contact forms, or galleries, comments, social media buttons, etc- you can with these apps.
These apps mostly don’t require additional payments or they have some free version. Some apps need monthly payments.
WordPress works with plugins and there are more than 55,000 free plugins that you can get in their directory.
There are more plugins that are premium available on other marketplaces.
This alone lets you know how many more features you can get with WordPress.
Whatever you can probably imagine from a side of features, you can probably find in the WordPress plugins.
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4. eCommerce
Wix has an eCommerce feature built-in. You will need to choose one of the eCommerce plans and you’re good to go!
The eCommerce features on Wix are advanced enough, but can’t be compared to some professional eCommerce platforms.
Wix’s eCommerce feature is good for websites that want to sell some products online in addition to their physical business, but it’s not suitable for online stores. Those are beyond Wix’s eCommerce feature abilities.
With WordPress, you will have to install an eCommerce plugin if you want to sell products online.
The most-used plugin that is free is WooCommerce. Even though it’s free, there are some additional fees and costs.
There are other plugins that can be used for this purpose depending on what you need and what are your preferences.
WooCommerce, as an eCommerce feature, is much more advanced in comparison to Wix’s built-in eCommerce.
However, again, it would require some technical knowledge to set up and use.
Read next: How To Set Up Your Ecommerce Business From Scratch
5. Blogging
Both platforms can be used to create blogs, but they have their own differences as everything so far.
With Wix you can easily add a blogging section to the website and it will be basic.
The most common features can be added like categories, tags, photos, videos, archives, and so on.
One of the things it lacks is a native commenting system and it uses Facebook comments instead.
Additionally, no complicated features are available like backdating posts, featured images, etc.
The text editor is very plain and limited in terms of formatting and such.
On the other hand, WordPress initially started as a blogging platform specifically and grew into what it is today.
It has a lot of blogging features that are very advanced in comparison to Wix.
Sky’s the limit- you can create unique and beautiful layouts making your blog look very high-quality.
Additionally, you can use plugins to add even more features. Literally almost any feature that you can imagine, can be added on WordPress.
6. Pricing
The pricing might be hard to compare since their whole plans are created in a different way.
Wix has two types of plans to offer for a website, and for business and eCommerce.
The prices for websites are divided into four different plans: VIP, Unlimited, Combo, and Connect Domain.
The differences between them are in the functionalities where the most basic option for €4.50 per month allows you to connect your domain, and gives you 1GB bandwidth and 500MB storage.
On the other side of the spectrum is the VIP: First Priority Support package that costs €24.50 per month.
For this price, you get:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20GB Storage
- Connect Your Domain
- Remove Wix Ads
- Free Domain for 1 Year
- 2 Video Hours
- $75 Ad Vouchers
- Site Booster App – $60 Value
- Visitor Analytics App – $60 Value
- Professional Logo – $50 Value
- Social Media Logo files
- Priority Response
- VIP Support
The business and eCommerce plans offer even more for websites.
The way Wix’s pricing works is that they include everything in their packages like themes, apps, customer support, hosting, eCommerce, etc.
WordPress, on the other hand, has a different type of pricing starting with offering the core for free.
Additionally, there are four other plans: personal, premium, business, and eCommerce.
For any themes or plugins, and hosting you will probably need to pay additionally. As I mentioned previously, you can find some themes and plugins for free too.
If you need an eCommerce in addition to your website, you will have to pay an eCommerce plugin extension like WooCommerce which can range between $0 to $299.
On the WordPress page, you can compare all the plans and see what you need and which plan will provide that for you.
This way, you can choose the right type of plan for your business.
Read next: Wix Vs. Squarespace: What’s The Best Website Builder In The Market?
7. Customer support
This is another thing that both platforms approach differently.
Wix includes customer support via chat or email customer support in every one of their packages.
In some of the most expensive plans, you can even get VIP support that has some privileges like an immediate response, etc.
WordPress is open source and the core of it is free, so customer support is not offered.
However, you can get customer support by getting some themes or plugins that are paid.
The creators of those themes and plugins include customer support in the cost to sweeten the deal, even though this support is only in reference to the specific plugin or theme.
Wix vs WordPress: Pros and cons
By now you know the main differences between Wix and WordPress, so a nice way of summarizing everything you learned so far is by clearly presenting the pros and cons of Wix and WordPress separately.
Wix pros
- Easy, drag and drop user-friendly interface
- Easy to use
- Several pricing plans for different needs
- Free templates
- Fast building of the website
- Optimized for mobile devices
- Adapted to various browsers
- Customer support included
- All-in-one platform
- No technical knowledge needed
- Custom sub-domain for free
- Built-in eCommerce feature
Wix cons
- More complex websites might not find the needed features
- It’s not customizable a lot
- If you want to change the provider in the future, you can’t export the data
- The pages have slower loading times
- The unpaid version has ads on your website
- Templates can’t be changed once they are created
- Limited apps available
- More complex design elements might not be possible or very difficult to add outside of the chosen template
WordPress pros
- Broad functionalities and complex features
- Great themes, templates, and plugins
- Native blogging features
- A lot of build-in features
- Incredible extension capabilities
- You can move the website to different providers in the future
- Very customizable with templates or designs
- Free download of basic CMS
- No ads on your website
- Simple to set up for the basics
- Updates for fixing bugs
- Quick page loading times usually
- An enormous community offering tutorial videos, online resources, help in every way
- Developers creating and updating plugins and templates constantly
- Optimized for mobile devices
WordPress cons
- No free hosting option
- No customer support
- Learning curve can be rough
- If you want eCommerce you have to install a plugin
- You might need a developer for customization or other issues
- Needs regular updates
- Can be difficult to navigate if you haven’t worked with CMS systems in the past
- You are the one that needs to install themes, CMS, plugins
- Needs security solutions to prevent hacking attacks
Wrapping up!
Both of these platforms are good options.
The only thing that some people might not understand is that they are in different lanes.
Wix is for websites that aspire to be simple, straight-forward, and does not have a lot of customization or features to be added.
For that, Wix is simple, easy to use, and includes all-in-one features.
But if you have needs that require a complex website with plenty of features and customizations, then WordPress is the right platform.
With that comes complexity in usage, setting up, and keeping up the website.
You have to also look at the limitations of them both.
For example, if you need a simple plain website, but you are planning to change providers in the future, Wix is the wrong option because even though it’s perfect for your need right now, in the future you won’t be able to change providers.
That is why getting properly informed before making a decision is extremely crucial here.
Found this post helpful? Look at other related posts connected to website building and maintaining:
- Great WordPress features
- Wix or Shopify? Which one should you choose
- Wix or Squarespace – the better website builder
Are you struggling to create a new website? Leave a comment letting me know what subject to cover next.
