When building a website, working on the platform that suits your needs best is crucial. Mainly, you can choose between a content management system (CMS) and a website builder.
To help you decide, we’ll take Wix vs WordPress as an example.
Generally speaking, Wix as a website builder is more beginner friendly but has limited customization options, while WordPress is a CMS that offers complete control over a website.
This article will compare Wix vs WordPress based on nine factors, including their ease of use, pricing, designs, and security.
1. Ease of Use
When choosing the right platform to build your website, ensure it is user-friendly. This will help you save time.
Wix is an intuitive website builder that offers a drag-and-drop editor. This feature allows you to easily add and edit any element on a Wix site, such as images, buttons, or templates. As a result, you can build a website quickly without having any coding skills.
Although WordPress offers a block editor that is easy for beginners, it might require some coding knowledge to customize a website as you want. As WordPress users may need to be familiar with programming languages like CSS and HTML, this platform has a steeper learning curve.
2. Pricing
When comparing Wix vs WordPress, select the one that offers better value for money and suits your site needs.
Wix provides a free plan which includes web hosting and up to 500 MB of storage and bandwidth. However, the free Wix plan has limited features and disadvantages, such as many ads and unavailable custom domain names.
Therefore, if you want to build a professional website, it’s better to opt for the premium plan, which starts from $16/month.
On the other hand, you can download the WordPress software for free since it is an open-source CMS. Unlike Wix, you’ll need to find web hosting and get a custom domain name to launch a WordPress site. Note that the hosting plan price can vary depending on its features.
For example, Hostinger offers WordPress hosting plans starting at $1.99/month.
3. Design and Customization
Creating a compelling web design can attract visitors to your website. Thus, it is better to pick a website platform that provides more customization options.
Wix sites offer over 800 designer-made templates for various categories, such as online stores, photography, and creative arts. Also, you can easily customize most Wix templates using features like Wix editor and Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). This way, you can make your website stand out from others.
Meanwhile, there are over 9,000 free WordPress themes available. However, paid themes typically offer more features and flexibility like adding sliders, animations, or customizing layouts, as well as a customer support service.
As a result, we recommend opting for a premium theme to create a more personalized WordPress website.
4. Apps and Plugins
Apps and plugins are extensions that allow you to add more functionality to your website. In this case, Wix calls it an app, whereas WordPress uses the term plugin.
Wix app market provides over 250 apps that can be integrated into your website. These apps have different functions, from marketing and contact forms to eCommerce features.
However, some Wix apps require a monthly subscription. Generally, you can find essential tools in the Wix app store to extend your site’s functionality.
In comparison, you can find over 50,000 WordPress plugins on the WordPress dashboard. There’ll be a WordPress plugin for nearly every aspect of building a website.
For example, if you want to improve your site performance on search engines, SEO or Google Analytics plugins like Semrush and MonsterInsights can be a great option.
5. Blogging Features
If you want to start a blog, you might be confused about which one to use, as both Wix and WordPress are great blogging platforms.
Wix gives you an easy way to add a blog page to your website. It provides basic blogging features like categories, tags, archives, and videos. However, Wix websites lack some features like its comments system that makes users need to install other third-party tools.
Meanwhile, WordPress was initially created as a blogging platform. As a result, a WordPress blog will have all essential functions but with advanced features like a native commenting system and block editor, which will help you adjust comments on the blog and edit the blog posts quickly.
6. eCommerce Functionality
eCommerce functionality is essential to launching an online store. So, let’s review Wix vs WordPress from this factor.
Wix offers eCommerce plans in their premium versions, starting at $27/month. With their basic business plan, you’ll be able to create a decent eCommerce store as it includes all the necessary features like secure online payments, display of unlimited products, and abandoned cart recovery.
However, keep in mind that there’ll be transaction fees for every purchase on a Wix website.
As WordPress sites don’t have the built-in eCommerce functionality, you’ll need to install a plugin to create an online store. The most widely-used eCommerce plugin is WooCommerce, which is free and provides a wide range of features.
7. SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is also important for your website. It helps you improve your website’s visibility, resulting in higher site traffic. This will eventually help bring more revenue to your online business.
Wix provides built-in SEO tools that allow you to modify meta tags, URL slugs, and optimize the social sharing functions. It also has many dedicated SEO apps like Site Booster, which can help you to get higher rankings on search results.
On the other hand, you can choose among many powerful and user-friendly WordPress SEO plugins that have a free plan. For example, installing Yoast SEO to your WordPress site enables you to add meta descriptions, focus keywords, and advance XML sitemaps in one place.
8. Security
Due to security threats like cyber attacks and malware, you’ll need to find the best platform to keep your data safe. In this part, we’ll compare Wix vs WordPress in terms of security.
Since Wix is a hosted solution, you don’t need to worry about taking care of its security, website updates, and technical support. Besides that, users can’t modify its core software, making sure you will not accidentally destroy your site. It also has built-in security, including Level 1 PCI Compliant, two-step verification, and DDoS protection.
As for WordPress sites, you will be responsible for choosing a web host. Therefore, ensure that your hosting provider has robust security like automated daily backups and a web application firewall.
Furthermore, you will have to update your WordPress theme and plugins regularly, as outdated software might also infect your website.
9. Customer Support
Having customer support can help you to solve any issue related to your site. Thus, it is crucial to consider this factor as well.
With a Wix website, you can get a 24/7 support team available via email, live chat, and phone. It also provides a help center to answer relevant questions, such as how to use the Wix editor, upgrade a plan, and solve technical issues.
In contrast, WordPress doesn’t provide customer support. However, it has a large community forum and documentation that might give you answers or solutions you need. Additionally, you can contact your hosting provider or hire a dedicated WordPress developer to solve your issue.
Conclusion
Whether you want to start a blog or open an online store, Wix and WordPress can be great options. Since both are popular platforms that provide various features, we’ve compared these two platforms based on nine factors.
If you want to build a website quickly without having to search for a web host, Wix might be the best platform. It offers essential eCommerce, SEO, and blogging features, various security measures, as well as 24/7 customer support. However, Wix might lack customization options.
Meanwhile, WordPress is an excellent choice for creating a more personalized website. It provides a vast selection of free themes and plugins, strong SEO tools, advanced blogging features, and flexible pricing plans, as you can choose from any web hosting company. That said, it might take some time to get familiar with the platform and take care of website maintenance.
We hope this article has helped you choose the right platform for your needs and start building your own website.
