You’ve got to be online if you have aims for whatever it is you’ve got to be going somewhere, and the fact is that if you don’t have a website you’ll be going pretty much nowhere nowadays. No matter what it may be, if people are looking for it they are going to be searching for it on the web first and that’s where you need to be with an attractive and appealing website for them to find. This is especially true for business, but finding the best website platform is also going to be the focus for people with any type of self-interest project.
That website will of course require reliable web hosting and for that you need the best web hosting provider in Canada. We’ve gone on about 4GoodHosting at length to that end, and we continue to be anyone’s top choice as a Canadian web hosting provider. But we’ll stray from that focus with this week’s entry and instead provide a website builder comparison for anyone who realizes they need a good website but want to avoid the high expense of having it built for them.
The two that most people will know of are the most well known for very good reasons; both WordPress and Wix are solid choices for someone who wants to build your own website. So Wix vs WordPress is what we’re going to look at here and with a view to helping you choose which might be best for you as you start building your website. If you read about this online the one consensus you will see that is pretty much unanimous is that if all you need is a simple and functional website that still looks fairly good then you can absolutely built it yourself.
Top Considerations
The reason people will want to create a website will vary. Common ones will be for business, a personal blog, or a side project. Not knowing which website platform to use is a fairly standard issue for people, especially if they’re not web savvy at all. Dig into this on the web and it is likely that in no time at all you will come across Wix and WordPress. So which one is easier to use, more cost-effective, and which one will be right for you?
What will follow here will be a quick overview of Wix vs WordPress. Wix often gets the nod for beginners who want to build a static website or a simple online presence without any coding. It’s known to be popular with freelancers, small business owners, and for people with personal projects who want to give their project the exposure reach that is only possible with the Internet.
In comparison WordPress offers superior functionality and flexibility and you don’t need any coding knowledge for this one either. But one difference most people will find is that you have a steeper learning curve when you go with WordPress for building a basic website. For a more complex, scalable website it is always going to be better though, and website customization options make WordPress better for online stores, bloggers, and content-heavy sites.
Websites do their best with giving you that exposure we talked about when they come up high in search engine ranking pages. Another consideration is definitely going to be SEO features with Wix vs WordPress, and what we can say right away is that with Wix you have limited SEO control. If your site is just for your own small-scale visibility aims then you may be just fine with how Wix doesn’t give you much to work with to improve website SEO. If you are on the web to make money by whatever means then you will like how you have more control over all aspects of SEO with WordPress.
Budget Considerations & Usability
Most people who are not too keen to pay a web developer for building a website will also want to be saving money wherever possible with everything related to taking their venture online. So next let’s do a cost comparison Wix and WordPress. With Wix there is a free plan available, and then premium plans that you can get beginning at $17 per month. With WordPress there is also a free plan available plus premium plans that start at $4 per month. So if you’re looking for the better SEO workability that you have with WordPress that $4 premium WordPress plan may be the way to go for you if want to get started with WordPress.
Let’s consider usability now. One of the biggest pluses for Wix as a website builder is that the design interface you have there is fairly straightforward. This is why it is often seen as the best beginner website builder platform, and it really is good as long as you don’t have grand expectations with what you will have as the end product. With WordPress the design interface is vastly more powerful and rich with features, and the availability of WordPress plugins for SEO is a big part of the appeal that you have here.
Ecommerce & Content Publishing Interests
Before we go any further here we should say that neither Wix or WordPress is going to be the way to go if you have a business you have high hopes for and you’re taking it onto the Internet with a website. It is more likely than not that you won’t have the type of site you need, especially if your business is already established and existing customers will have expectations when they visit it and make purchases through it. That’s just the reality of the situation.
In these instances you need to accept the cost that comes with hiring a web design expert to build a website for you. With that out of the way, we will assume that the magnitude of your website in what you’re doing online isn’t so big and you will be sufficiently served with either a Wix website or a WordPress website. So here’s the goods with eCommerce on Wix and WordPress.
With Wix it is easier to set up a shop, but you won’t have much to work with to set up complex ecommerce functionalities and this is going to be a big-time shortcoming for a lot of people. Wix sites are great if you are promoting you art, for example, but if you’re selling products or services it may not cut it for you. With WordPress users have more control over their shop and can build a more capable and comprehensive platform.
Moving along we arrive at blogging on Wix vs WordPress. If you need a website for a blog then you’re going to be just fine and have your needs fully met with either option here. With Wix you have decent blog publishing features built in and some fairly good customization options too. But as most of you will know WordPress made its name for itself as a content publishing platform right from day one and it has never been usurped as the king there. People who blog for their own interests or advocacy use WordPress 90+% of the time.
Go with WordPress and you’ll soon see how it is specialized for blogging with advanced customization options and so many themes that makes your blog assume the look you want to go along with your excellent content.
Domain Choice with WordPress
Continuing this look at Wix vs WordPress, it’s important to know that there are two types of platforms with WordPress. You’ll have the option of going with a .com or a .org domain for your site, and being informed about both is best in advance of you make that choice and get started with WordPress.
WordPress.com is a subscription-based website building platform that offers less flexibility and customization. But it provides managed hosting and handles technical aspects like security and updates and it’s fair to say it is a better option for beginners who prefer a less technically demanding approach to website creation.
WordPress.org gives the user full control. You’re responsible for hosting your own site and handling security and other technical aspects. But because it's open-source it is free to download and use and offers more control over customization, plugins, and themes. But keep in mind that you’ll need to pay for your web hosting in Canada separately. As WordPress.com offers an all-in-one solution without needing to purchase external hosting, it’s often the better option overall when it comes to Wix vs WordPress.
More on SEO
We can and should dig deeper into SEO features Wix vs WordPress as we compare the two for prospective users here. That’s because search engine optimization (SEO) best practices work to improve your site’s visibility and rankings in search results. Without that you won’t be attracting and engaging the right audience. This is why you should be taking SEO tailoring capability with the platform into consideration when choosing a content management system (CMS).
You want to know how well the platform itself is optimized and how much control you have over your site’s SEO. Let’s start with Wix here. It is good for handling the basic SEO needs for most websites automatically. WordPress handles the bulk of this too, but it generally provides you with more control over your site’s SEO.
Wix offers nothing more than the basics for SEO for beginners. The bulk of what it does is automate many SEO elements like meta descriptions and title tags. Having your sitemap consistently updated is one of the meager benefits you get with Wix, and it also does fairly well with optimizing images for faster page loading. If you’re new to SEO, or prefer a hands-off approach, you can focus more on creating content and running your business. There’s next to nothing for advanced SEO tasks with Wix, but it does provide a personalized SEO checklist to streamline the setup process. SEO optimization with WordPress is much better. You have superior flexibility and control over your site’s SEO with WordPress plugins for SEO and the ability to:
- Customize permalinks (URL structure) to help both users and search engines better understand your pages
- Nest your pages into subfolders to make it easier for Google and users to navigate your site
- Create title tags to tell users and search engines what your page is about to improve user experience and search performance
But you can’t change every aspect of your WordPress SEO without either tweaking some code or using plugins. This is where the level of control and flexibility consistently exceeds what Wix is capable of. This really factors into deciding on the best website platform between the two here.
Paid WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast make a huge difference with gains too. Even with Yoast’s free version you can optimize title tags, meta descriptions, URL slugs, and much more. This help search engines and users to understand your content to improve your search rankings and have more traffic driven to your website.
Limitations Based on Cost
There’s also more to any cost comparison between Wix and WordPress, and that’s what we’re going to focus on next here. Yes, you can assemble a free website with Wix but there are major limitation to going with the free option. For starters, your domain will be a branded Wix address along the lines of ‘accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress’. This doesn’t look good or as professional as a custom domain, and yes that very much matters and especially so if you have your website for business interests.
Wix’s free hosting package includes 500MB of cloud storage and 500MB of bandwidth. That means not much space at all for images, videos, and files and low bandwidth is going to results in majorly slow page load speeds. Consider as well that online payments aren’t included in Wix’s free plan. For this reason you won’t be able to sell products and services directly from your site.
With that understood we can still say that Wix Light is a great starter solution for freelancers and individuals who are looking to build a personal or portfolio site. You can add lead capture forms, automatically send emails to site visitors, and add up to 30 minutes of video content.
WordPress.org is free too, but your own domain and web hosting to install it will be required for it and there will be differences in the prices charged by 3rd-party providers. This can be problematic for those who are new to building websites. However, the additional flexibility and customization options might make the more complex setup worth it.
Move up to the paid versions and for $4 a month (USD) you can have WordPress starter. It is ideal for bloggers, personal website owners, or small businesses who want a more professional look. Those who need more storage, lower commission fees or more ways to customize your site are going to be better served by one of the pricier plans though.
More on Usability
Both WordPress and Wix have their own versions of the drag-and-drop interface. This is an easy-to-use system to build websites that is really good for beginners. Most of those beginners who’ve tried it will tell you that Wix’s design interface is generally more user-friendly than WordPress’s block editor. As such it’s often easier for beginners to build a site using Wix but WordPress offers more flexibility in design and functionality. Which is particularly helpful as needs and skills evolve.
Wix
As you start building your website you may like how Wix has a straightforward interface that makes designing and managing a site relatively easy. Even if you’re not particularly tech-savvy you’ll see how the platform was built with an aim to have its 800-plus templates and intuitive drag-and-drop design system be easy to use as you build a website from scratch on your own.
These are the ones you should be making best use of:
- Sections - highlight your services, business info, contact forms, and work samples
- Apps - capture leads, engage with site visitors, improve SEO, and more
- Media - images and videos both directly from your device and Wix’s media library
- Elements - text, buttons, custom code, and even testimonial sections
Plus there are premium and VIP support options for those on paid plans.
WordPress
You can customize almost every aspect on a WordPress.org site if you have the necessary technical skills, making your site look exactly how you want and adding a wide range of functionalities to it. But this level of customization can be complex and overwhelming for a beginner, and going with paid plugins is going to make it all more expensive.
Opt for WordPress.com and you’ll have a more managed experience that simplifies setup and maintenance. But the steeper learning curve in comparison to Wix is going to be unavoidable. The platform guides you through a checklist for setting up your site, including guiding you along aas you decide whether to pick a pre-designed theme or start from scratch.
After choosing a theme, you’ll choose a homepage design from a list of free or paid options. There are lots of templates and you can filter them based on your niche. WordPress also comes with a powerful block editor that lets you insert blocks into your pages with ease.
The block editor interface is especially good, and you have the freedom to customize nearly every aspect of your site, but if you’re using WordPress.org, your support varies depending on your specific themes, plugins, and web host.
Mobile Friendliness
A website that will display properly on a smartphone is a necessity for any business now, and so it makes sense that we also compare these two as mobile-friendly website builders. Both WordPress and Wix make it possible to create a mobile-friendly site but with WordPress you have an array of plugins available to you for enhancing your site’s mobile optimization. Plua many WordPress themes are designed to be mobile-friendly.
Wix sites can also be designed to be mobile-friendly, but you may need to adjust some design elements to ensure various devices will be displaying them correctly. With some of them that will apply for WordPress as well. Overall, however, it’s easier to tweak your mobile site separately with Wix and change things without affecting how the desktop version displays.
But Wix templates aren’t fully responsive, as Wix automatically creates a separate mobile view of your site when you’re first building it. Not every element is automatically optimized for smaller screens, and there will be times you’ll need to use the Wix mobile editor to ensure everything looks good and displays properly when your site is opening on mobile.
It is great how with the mobile editor you can hide or add elements on mobile view without changing anything on desktop. The mobile experience can be tailored without affecting any other version of the site but Wix doesn't offer mobile-specific apps, or plugins, to enhance mobile site functionality like WordPress does.
And you can’t specifically edit your Wix site for tablets like you can on WordPress through plugins and page builders. This is a good way for us to segue over to mobile-friendly web design with WordPress platform.
Many of WordPress’s themes are made to be mobile-friendly and responsive as they automatically adapt to all screen sizes. In instances where you choose an external theme you will have to make sure it works just as well across these devices.
Check how menus, images, and text boxes resize and reposition themselves to see if everything adjusts correctly on smaller screens. Be aware that you may not be able to edit your site’s mobile and desktop views separately, needing additional plugins (only available on certain WordPress.com plans), third-party page builders, or even custom code to customize site display for mobile web browsers.
Wix vs WordPress - Ecommerce
Generally speaking Wix may be better for beginners setting up a basic eCommerce website but as we’ve detailed there are going to a lot of functional limitations with it. All said, it does guide you step by step through the process with easy-to-follow instructions and an intuitive interface. WordPress gives you infinitely more control over your store though. The initial setup might be more complex, but the extra effort is worth it or what it does with building a foundation for your store. It can scale and adapt with your business.
Wix
Wix has a dedicated online store platform – ‘Wix eCommerce’ - and it is a good option for small business owners or those just starting to sell online. It simplifies the process of setting up an ecommerce website and doesn’t ask you to install additional plugins like WordPress usually does.
To access basic ecommerce functions on Wix, you must upgrade to at least the Core plan at $29 per month. With Wix Core, you are able to manage basic ecommerce functions like accepting payments, set up subscription plans, and have your site’s analytics tracked accurately. You’re also able to sell on multiple marketplaces like Amazon and Instagram through a unified dashboard, reaching a broader audience more easily.
Add supports integration for over 50 payment gateways with popular options like Wix Payments, PayPal, and Stripe and this is still a good option for people who have a basic home business or something similar.
But remember that Wix isn’t as scalable as WordPress. So handling more complex store structures or a wide range of product variations can be a challenge.
WordPress
Ecommerce capabilities don’t come ready-made with WordPress and you will need to use an ecommerce plugin like WooCommerce. WordPress plugins for SEO are going to be advisable here too. On WordPress.org, you can add WooCommerce to your site for free to launch your online store. But for WordPress.com you’ll need to at least upgrade to the Creator plan costing $25 USD per month to have access to the plugins you’ll need.
Keep in mind there is a 2% commission fee for standard payment features on the Creator Plan. The Entrepreneur plan is an option here if you don’t need the Creator, and the platform doesn’t take a commission fee. Another big point is that with WordPress you are able to accept payments in more than 135 currencies. Whereas with Wix you can only accept payments in one currency.
WooCommerce lets you accept major credit cards, direct bank transfers, and checks. Along with region-specific payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal. For those who see WooCommerce plugins and payment gateways as daunting the WordPress Entrepreneur plan is one to look into. This plan comes with built-in ecommerce extensions and capabilities you might need for your store.
More on Blogging
Evaluating Wix vs WordPress for blogging, we have to conclude that WordPress has the edge. Both platforms allow sharing of content, adding tags, and categorizing posts. Wix offers a user-friendly blogging platform that's good for beginners and hobbyists, but it comes up short in comparison to WordPress for customization and advanced blogging capabilities.
Wix
Some Wix templates have a blog section already built in. For ones that don’t users can add a blog section to the site as it is being built. Wix offers all the conventional blog features, like creating, managing, categorizing, and tagging posts. You can add a handful of elements like images, galleries, buttons, and custom HTML code as you’re drafting a blog post, along with other standard features like polls, social-sharing buttons, and reaction counters.
However, that’s it for customization capabilities with Wix for a blogging website, although there is a built-in SEO assistant that guides you through basic optimizations. This makes it easier for beginners to optimize their blogs for both search engines and users. And Wix makes monetizing a blog quite straightforward. You can choose to put up a paywall for exclusive content, offer various subscription and membership plans, design and sell online courses and programs, or manage paid booking services.
WordPress
As you know, WordPress got its start as a blogging platform before it grew into a complete CMS content management system. As such it is beyond optimized for bloggers and the interface for creating blog posts is the same as making all the other pages on your website. So the process is familiar and properly format a blog post really couldn’t be any easier than it is with WordPress.
With WordPress, bloggers also have greater control over the layout, design, and functionality of their blogs compared to Wix. You can add numerous blocks like quotes and custom code, text, widgets, and even with premade collections of blocks (patterns) you can insert to make designing your blog even easier.
Last but not least there are thousands of plugins available to you for enhancing your WordPress blog. We also really like The SemRush SEO Writing Assistant WordPress plugin provides useful insights on your blog posts to help improve readability and rank higher in search results. Although you’ll need a SemRush account to use it. And it can be used with Wix too, although you won’t have the same means to get as much out of using it.
Wix vs. WordPress - Customization
It’s necessary for us to go into more detail with Website customization options between these too as well. WordPress is highly customizable and a great option for those with some web design experience or don’t mind a steeper learning curve. Wix offers far less customization but has the appeal of being easier to use. This makes it a better choice for those new to building websites and looking for more simplicity with the customization.
Wix
Wix offers more than 800 templates to help you find the right look for your website, with designs for online forums, online shops, blogs, creative CVs and portfolios, non-profit initiatives, hotel and B&B sites, landing pages, schools and university courses, restaurants and bars, and more.
But you can’t change your theme after you’ve published your Wix site like you can with a WordPress website. If you foresee the need to change the site and its feel as your brand evolves this inability could be a major drawback for you.
One really good option is The Wix App Market and some of the selections there can really boost your site’s capabilities. Ones that increase engagement, capture more leads, and reduce cart abandonment rates if you have any type of online shop.
The App Market organizes the apps by usefulness, trending status, or targeted business needs. Plus you’re not limited to just what’s currently available. Making their own apps on Wix is also something that is possible for developers. There’s always the option to create something unique that fits your website’s requirements.
WordPress
WordPress has around 12,000 free themes for users, and that has always been a huge part of its appeal. Some are made and managed by WordPress itself while 3rd-party contributors are the source of most of the rest of them. And the community is always adding new themes, so you can always find up-to-date options.
Plus, unlike Wix, you can always change your theme on WordPress and not have any chance of your content being wiped out. It is possible you may lose some functionality or design elements though, so you still need to be careful when changing one themes for another.
There are also around 60,000 free plugins on WordPress, with some developed by WordPress itself and others created and maintained by the developer community. Provided you’re okay with a learning curve there’s endless possibilities with customizing a WordPress site. This is why it gets the nod for website customization options over Wix, and rightly so.
Right Fit: Wix vs WordPress
Concluding this website builder comparison we can say that the one that is better for you will depend on your needs and skills. Wix has the easiness advantage for beginners who are building a website. You will find enough variety, themes, and extra functionality to do what many individuals and small businesses need. WordPress may be more complex but is vastly more powerful. It offers a broader range of capabilities and customization options and lets you build a more scalable site.
And as we mentioned earlier, consider SemRush for a wide range of tools to help you improve your performance with their position tracker that analyzes your site’s search rankings and monitors your competitors’ growth so you have usable insights for staying ahead of them with SEO features Wix vs WordPress taken into account too.
You’ll also have the capability to do site audits for analyzing the health of your site and ensuring your SEO foundations are in place. Use the Keyword Magic Tool to research the most valuable keywords, find new ranking opportunities, and target the specific terms that will help your site attract the right audience.
FAQs
- What are the main differences between Wix and WordPress?
The main differences between Wix and WordPress are that while Wix is the most simple to use for building a website you will get much more in the way of functionality and the ability to alter the website after you’ve published it if you go with WordPress.
- Which platform is better for SEO, Wix or WordPress?
WordPress is better than Wix for website search engine optimization as it offers better compatibility with external SEO improvement apps like Yoast and others, while with Wix you only get a very basic menu of options to establish optimization for the site.
- Is Wix or WordPress more cost effective?
Both platforms have free versions available to users, but when you enter the paid tiers the $4 and upwards options with WordPress have more in the way of functionality tools available to users in comparison to the $17 Wix option. This is based on the user having a level of ability with website management though.
- Which platform is easier to use for beginners – Wix or WordPress?
Wix is easier for beginners to use and it is explicitly designed to be that way. What you gain in simplicity and ease of use with Wix you give up with the added functionality and extensive array of plugins that you have with WordPress that allow you to build a better website overall and have the ability to redo a website after publishing it.
- How do Wix and WordPress handle Ecommerce?
Wix eCommerce is a good option for small business owners or those just starting to sell online, but beyond that users with more advanced and busy store or service fronts will want the advanced controls for Ecommerce websites that you can only get from WordPress. WooCommerce with WordPress is greatly superior when it comes to handling Ecommerce for a website.
