Wix vs WordPress Comparison – Who Offers More?

In this Wix vs WordPress comparison, I’ll be looking at these two website-building solutions – highlight their similarities, differences, and help you choose the best option for your website.

Comparing WordPress and Wix is like comparing apples and oranges. When it comes down to it, they are very different website-building platforms that are each suited to people with different needs.

 

Wix vs WordPress Comparison

On the one hand, Wix is an industry-leading drag-and-drop website builder that offers out-of-the-box solutions. On the other hand, WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), and it powers over a third of the internet’s websites.

Before I go too far, I think that it’s important to specify that I’m talking about the self-hosted WordPress.org platform in this article, not the WordPress.com website builder.

WordPress.org is essentially an open-source software package that gives people a platform to build robust, high-performance websites. It has many plugins, a great template library, and unrivaled design flexibility.

 

 

However, WordPress.com is a website builder similar to Wix. It also offers excellent plugin and template libraries, but it’s nowhere near as flexible.

Keeping this in mind, let’s get back to Wix vs WordPress. Since they are such different platforms, it’s hard to say that one is “better” than the other. I’ve therefore completed this comparison to help you decide which one is more suited to your needs rather than determining which is better in general.

Wix offers quite a standard pricing structure, while WordPress can cost anything from a couple of dollars to thousands per month. Wix is the easier of the two to start a new website, but WordPress offers much better design features and unrivaled customizability.

 

 

When it comes to templates and plugins/apps, both Wix and WordPress excel. However, WordPress sneaks ahead on both fronts because it has a significantly larger template and plugin libraries.

Similarly, both Wix and WordPress offer great features for business owners looking to build their online presence and maximize their potential return on investment.

Finally, the performance of websites built with Wix is generally excellent. On the other hand, the performance of WordPress websites depends on the hosting provider you use.

Ultimately, the choice between Wix vs WordPress.org can be quite clear. Wix is probably the better option if you want to get online quickly without spending too much time or money.

I’d recommend WordPress for those willing to spend the time building a more personalized website that they have complete control over.

NOTE: I have also compared Wix vs Elementor, Wix vs HostGator, Wix vs Weebly, Wix vs. Jimdo, Wix vs. Webs, Wix vs. Shopify, Wix vs Squarespace, WordPress vs. Tilda, WordPress vs. Drupal, WordPress vs. Shopify, WordPress vs Squarespace and WordPress vs. GoDaddy.

 

Ease Of Use

Wix is great for newbies as an all-in-one drag-and-drop builder, but WordPress requires more skill to get the most out of it.

 

Getting Started

It’s important to look closely at the process of starting a new website when comparing providers like Wix and WordPress. However, both options have somewhat different processes, which makes it harder to compare directly.

Wix has a reputation as one of the most powerful drag-and-drop website builders in the world. It offers pixel-perfect design flexibility and allows users to customize every aspect of their website.

Signing up for a new Wix account is as simple as clicking on the “Get Started” button and following the prompts. I also like that Wix doesn’t ask for personal information besides a name and email address. It also won’t ask for any payment details until you decide to upgrade from its free plan.

Once I had done this, I started my first website by clicking the “create new site” button and following the directions.

First, I was asked what sort of website I wanted to build. For simplicity, I decided to create a basic blog site.

Once I had chosen the “blog” option, I was taken to another page that asked me if I wanted to create my website with Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) or the Wix Editor.

If you choose to use the Wix Editor, you will have access to Wix’s powerful drag-and-drop editor and its full suite of tools. You will be able to customize every aspect of your website from a base template that you can choose.

 

 

But, the problem here is that the Wix Editor can be somewhat confusing because of the vast range of features it includes. It took me quite a while to get comfortable with it the first time I used it, and it’s probably not the best choice if you don’t have a lot of time to develop your website.

On the other hand, Wix ADI is designed for those with little web development experience who want to get online quickly.

If you choose the Wix ADI option, you will be guided through a short questionnaire asking what site you want to build, which features you want to include in your base design, and what color/font schemes appeal to you, among other things.

 

 

After this, Wix ADI will create a custom design template based on your answers. It gives you three choices, and I’ve always been impressed by what it puts together despite the relatively limited information it asks for.

Once you’ve chosen a design that meets your needs, you will be taken to the editing dashboard. From here, the fun begins.

WordPress isn’t a website builder in the same sense that Wix is. Rather, it’s a content management system (CMS) that allows you to create your own custom website, which you have full control over.

WordPress generally has a steeper learning curve and is more complicated to use than Wix. This is mainly due to the number of things you must do to start a new website and the huge range of tools WordPress places at your disposal.

 

 

Since WordPress allows you to build self-hosted websites, the first thing I had to do was choose a web hosting provider.

Once you’ve chosen a hosting provider, you have to install WordPress onto your servers. Luckily, most hosting providers offer one-click installations now, which makes this step relatively straightforward.

Once you’ve chosen a hosting provider, connected your domain, and installed WordPress, it’s time to navigate the WordPress dashboard.

From here, you can go to the next stage of starting your first WordPress website – choosing a theme. The WordPress theme library offers a great range of attractive templates, but there are also a lot of third-party theme providers who provide highly customizable themes.

Once you’ve chosen your theme and installed it, you’ll finally be able to start editing your website.

Wix and WordPress have entirely different requirements when it comes to starting a new website. Getting started with Wix takes a couple of minutes. On the other hand, I’d recommend allowing at least a couple of hours to set up your new WordPress site.

 

Editing Interface

Now that I’ve shown you how to start a new website with both Wix and WordPress, it’s time to look closely at their respective website editors. On one side of the equation, Wix offers a drag-and-drop editor with excellent customization potential. In contrast, on the other side, WordPress is arguably even more flexible but more difficult to use.

I found Wix ADI easier to use of the two. It essentially gives you access to a site that’s split into sections. Each section can be edited via the menu on the left of the screen when you click on it.

Meanwhile, the navigation menu at the top of the editing dashboard allows you to switch between pages, add new sections to the page you’re currently editing, change design features, and manage your blog, among other things.

The downside of Wix ADI is that it doesn’t allow you to drag and drop elements in the exact position you want to. This limits the amount of design flexibility you are provided, as there is a grid layout restriction to keep the template’s overall style.

The Wix Editor is available at the click of a button if you want to access the powerful builder for which Wix is so famous. Switching to the Wix Editor will allow you to customize your site on a deeper level, but it’s worth noting that you won’t be able to bring the changes back to the ADI editor.

 

 

The problem with the Wix Editor is that it contains many more features and tools than the ADI interface, which can make it quite confusing when you’re getting started. It’s not as intuitive as Wix ADI, and I’d recommend setting aside at least a few hours to get familiar with the editing interface before you build your website.

At first glance, you will notice that the Wix Editor uses three different menus. The menu on the left of the screen lets you manage pages and apps, add new elements and change your global design parameters.

Meanwhile, the menu on the right-hand side of the editor gives you complete control of element positioning, size, borders, and more. Finally, the menu at the top of the dashboard lets you access advanced tools and settings.

Editing individual elements on your website is made quite simple. All you have to do is click on the element you want to modify and make the required changes via the menu or text editor that pops up.

Wix offers website building options for web developers of all skill levels. The Wix Editor has quite a steep learning curve, but once you’ve got your head around it, you shouldn’t find it too hard to use.

On the other hand, even the most experienced WordPress developers are always learning new things. Since WordPress effectively offers a much more advanced website-building ecosystem, the sheer number of tools and features at your fingertips is incredible.

 

 

With this in mind, I only looked at the more basic aspects of editing a WordPress website, which can be done through the “customize” tab on my site’s dashboard. Clicking on this tab will bring up an advanced editing interface that allows you to change different aspects of your theme.

However, it’s important to note that since every WordPress theme is different, every editing interface will come with different options and a slightly different appearance.

I particularly like the WordPress editor because it allows you to switch between desktop, mobile, and tablet views. This lets you ensure that your website is sufficiently mobile-optimized and responsive to different device sizes.

Once you’ve customized the appearance of your WordPress website, you will need to return to the dashboard to add content to your pages. This is done via the “pages” tab.

WordPress recently updated its page editor to make it block-based. This means you can add blocks of text, images, videos, and whatever else you want. You can also set a featured image to your blog post, change your page layout, and enter basic SEO information.

 

 

WordPress is a fully open-source CMS, allowing you to access your site’s code files. This will enable you to add any custom design features you want, as long as you have enough coding skills.

You can also get a full-fledged drag-and-drop editor for WordPress through plugins such as Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, Thrive Builder, etc.

If I were to choose between WordPress and Wix based on the ease of use factor alone, then the choice would be relatively simple. But WordPress and Wix are very different platforms, so you need to consider more than just how easy they are to use.

 

EASE OF USE WINNER: If you want to get online quickly with minimum fuss, then you should consider either of Wix’s editors. However, if your main priority is taking your time and building the perfect website that you have full control over, then WordPress is the right choice.

 

Design & Templates

Wix and WordPress offer brilliant design features and comprehensive template libraries. However, WordPress stands out on this front due to its more extensive library and the fact that it allows you to import custom and third-party themes.

A quick look at the official WordPress theme library shows over 10 000+ available themes. You can search for themes built for specific niches and filter them according to their design and features.

 

 

If this selection isn’t good enough for you, there are literally thousands more WordPress themes spread across the internet.

WordPress also allows you to upload custom themes to your website. If you want to create a personalized website according to exact design specifications, you can pay a developer to build a theme or build it yourself (which requires coding knowledge).

Wix’s theme library appears quite simple in comparison. Sure, it contains over 500 professionally designed templates that are visually appealing and fully responsive.

 

 

But to me, this doesn’t compare to the thousands of themes available to WordPress users.

 

WINNER: WordPress comes out ahead in terms of the themes it offers. An extensive library and thousands of third-party templates provide users with many choices.

 

Business Features

If you run a small business or plan on building one, you must carefully consider the business features that platforms like WordPress and Wix offer. In this case, both providers have impressive eCommerce and marketing features, making them both good business choices.

 

Apps/Plugins

When comparing Wix vs WordPress in terms of their business features, I first looked at their app/plugin libraries. Both were quite comprehensive, but in my eyes, WordPress is way ahead.

The Wix App Market contains a selection of over 300 high-quality, curated apps that can be integrated easily with your website. Since these apps have to pass strict testing before they can be listed, you can be comfortable knowing that they will work.

The WordPress plugin library contains almost 60 000+ plugins, designed for pretty much everything imaginable. Not all these plugins are excellent quality, though, so you have to be careful with what you choose.

 

 

In addition, WordPress allows you to upload custom plugins. Thus, you can use a developer to build your own before integrating them with your website.

As you can see, WordPress comes out ahead of Wix in the plugin/app department due to the sheer number of options and possibilities for customization.

 

eCommerce

Wix and WordPress have great eCommerce potential. Wix offers native online store building, while WordPress can be used with a plugin such as WooCommerce to build industry-leading online stores.

Some of the world’s largest and most powerful eCommerce stores are built with the WordPress/WooCommerce combination. What I like about WooCommerce is that it’s free and scalable and allows you to add as many products to your store as you want.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Wix Stores app is a decent choice for those who want to add a basic Wix eCommerce store to their content-based website. I wouldn’t use it for sites that are purely eCommerce focused, but it does come with quite strong online store features.

Wix and WordPress are good choices for those who want to build online stores. I’d probably go with WordPress if you want to create a large, scalable store.

Note down, though, that you need to take the hosting provider into account to have a great performing online store with WooCommerce/WordPress combo. After all, server space and decent performance are needed to host a fast-loading online store.

 

 

On the other hand, Wix is suited to those who want to sell a few products on a standard website. However, it’s a worry-free solution since you don’t have to deal with hosting, domains, or coding.

 

Marketing

The last thing I looked at when comparing Wix vs WordPress business features was their respective marketing tools. Once again, both platforms excel with a range of great tools for websites of all types.

Wix has a wide range of native marketing tools to help you promote your website. It excels on the SEO front with great analytics and personalized advice.

Wix also provides impressive data analysis tools, a powerful email marketing platform, and easy social media integration.

 

 

In addition, it’s possible to expand your marketing toolbox by adding apps from the Wix App Market. A quick search reveals a great selection of plugins to enhance your marketing efforts.

When it comes to WordPress, pretty much all the marketing features that you will use come in the form of plugins.

 

BUSINESS FEATURES WINNER: Wix and WordPress perform very well on the marketing front. Both allow you to integrate advanced marketing features via their App Market and Plugin Library, respectively, while Wix also comes with great in-house tools.

 

Pricing

Since Wix and WordPress.org are fundamentally different platforms, comparing them in terms of pricing is complex. Wix is a website builder, so it comes with fairly standard monthly subscription fees and will cost between $5.5/month and $44/month.

WordPress.org can cost anything from a few dollars per year to thousands of dollars per month, depending on your needs.

Of Wix’s general website plans, the cheapest is the Combo plan (not counting Connect Domain plan as it lacks features), which comes in at $10/month. The Unlimited subscription ($17/month) comes with more server resources and basic marketing tools. Finally, the VIP plan costs $29/month and comes with priority VIP support services.

Moving on to Wix’s eCommerce subscriptions, it’s immediately obvious that they’re more expensive and feature-rich than the general website ones. At the low end of the spectrum, the Business Basic plan costs $20/month and allows subscribers to accept commission-free online payments.

The Business Unlimited plan is slightly more expensive at $30/month. It includes more marketing features, while the Business VIP plan ($44/month) includes priority VIP support – just like the standard VIP plan.

Wix’s pricing system is relatively straightforward to understand, even for those with little to no website-building experience. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case with WordPress.

If you do decide to use WordPress, there are a number of different things you have to consider. The WordPress CMS is free, but you will have to find and pay for hosting, premium themes, and plugins.

Since WordPress is self-hosted, you will have to find a hosting provider who can store your site’s files and make them available when someone navigates to your website.

The cost of shared hosting – which is usually enough for small websites – starts at less than a dollar per month. However, hosting for larger websites can get much more expensive, with dedicated servers costing hundreds of dollars per month.

Once you’ve chosen your hosting provider and bought a domain, it’s time to start thinking about your website design. With WordPress, you have several design options.

If you’re on a tight budget, you can use a free template from either WordPress’s theme library or an external source. There are thousands of options available, so you should be able to find one that meets your needs.

If you want something a bit fancier but still don’t want to spend a fortune, you might choose to buy a premium theme. This option could cost anything from around fifty to a few hundred dollars.

Your third option is to pay a developer to design a custom template for your website. Although this is the best way to ensure you get exactly what you want, custom templates can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, so they’re not a budget-friendly option.

Once you’ve got a theme in place, the final cost to consider is plugins. The WordPress plugin library contains thousands of free and premium plugins that allow you to enhance your site’s functionality. Although there’s no obligation to use any of them, you should at least have a look at your options.

The cost of premium plugins varies significantly, but it’s possible to pay thousands of dollars per month if you’re not careful.

 

WINNER: Comparing Wix and WordPress.org in terms of their pricing is essentially a pointless exercise. It’s impossible to say that either one or the other is more expensive because the amount you pay will depend entirely on your needs and the size and type of website you have.

 

WordPress vs Wix Verdict

Wix is better for those who want to use a website builder with everything in one place, while WordPress.org is a more advanced platform suited to experienced web developers.

Wix comes with an industry-leading drag-and-drop website builder. It’s affordable, has extensive theme and plugin libraries, and its websites perform exceptionally well.

WordPress.org is the world’s best content management system. Its powerful open-source software allows users to create fully customized websites. It also has excellent plugin and theme libraries, and its design flexibility is second to none.

I’d recommend using Wix if you want to get online without too much fuss. However, WordPress would be my choice for those who want to harness the true power of the internet to build high-quality, personalized websites.

Like always, make sure you do your research and consider your alternatives carefully before starting to build a website with either Wix or WordPress.

 

Alternatives

Although Wix and WordPress.org are among the most popular website building platforms, there are other options.

 

Shopify

If you want to build an eCommerce store, then Shopify is a great option. It’s arguably the most powerful online store builder available, and it comes with incredible selling features that are essentially unrivaled. It’s also quite a beginner-friendly option.

 

GoDaddy Website Builder

If your main aim is to build an online presence quickly without spending too much time or money, then GoDaddy Website Builder is a great alternative to Wix and WordPress.

Although it’s one of the more basic website builders available, it’s very beginner-friendly and allows those with little to no experience to get a site online in a matter of hours.

 

WordPress.com

Not to be confused with WordPress.org, WordPress.com is a good alternative if your main focus is blogging. It comes with some of the most powerful blogging features of any builder and has excellent plugins and theme libraries.

 

Squarespace

Although Squarespace doesn’t offer the same design flexibility as WordPress or Wix, it arguably comes with the industry’s most attractive modern design templates.

It also prides itself on having native integrations for pretty much everything, thus eliminating the need for apps and plugins.