There are many platforms that you can use to create a website. However, most of them can be divided into two categories: website designers and content management systems (CMS). Wix is a great example of the first, while WordPress represents the latter.
If you are new to building websites, choosing the type of platform to use can be a daunting task. In this article we will try to answer a question that has many doubts: “Wix or WordPress?”, and compare them in below categories:
User friendly
Site Management
Performance
Security
E-commerce customization
Price
Support
SEO
Thereafter, we will summarize the benefits of using each platform, which will hopefully help you make the best decision.
It’s important to understand the fundamental differences between Wix and WordPress. As we mentioned earlier, although both platforms allow you to create websites, they are not the same solutions.
Wix is called a website builder. The website builder offer tools that you can use to create a site without touching or writing the code. This is done using a visual linker that includes pre-created elements, or “blocks”. You can add these elements to any page and arrange them as you see fit.
In recent years, the popularity of these types of platforms has increased significantly, since they allow you to create websites without any web development experience. However, there are limitations on what you can do with this website builder.
WordPress, on the other hand, is a content management system (CMS). This fancy term describes platforms that allow you to create and manage vast content, as well as all the tools you need to build the rest of your website.
WordPress is used on more than 37% of all websites. You can use it to create any type of practical web resource. We will explain why this platform is so popular and help you decide whether to use WordPress or Wix.
However, there is one important fact that you should understand before making a decision. The biggest difference between a website builder and CMS is that the latter is hosted independently. This means that with Wix, your website will be automatically saved and displayed on the platform’s own servers.
With WordPress, in order for your site to work, you need to find a hosting service and buy a relevant plan. This will require a bit more work, but it will also give you much more control over the performance, security, and optimization of your website. In addition, it’s easy to find inexpensive monthly WordPress hosting plans.
There is a version of the platform called WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org). It, like Wix, offers its own hosting and has the same limitations.
Now let’s see how Wix and WordPress come together in a direct comparison.
User Friendly
Our main criteria are how well each platform is suitable for beginners. Ideally, you should log in to WordPress or Wix and immediately start creating your project, without spending weeks or months learning.
With this in mind, Wix is simply unsurpassed in terms of being user-friendly. Once you create an account, you will need to answer few navigation questions. Based on the answers, you will be offered recommendations for creating a website. Alternatively, you can skip this part and start developing immediately. The toolbar is quite simple, allowing you to quickly find the necessary settings.
However, there are also a few features that may look a bit complicated for beginners. For example, you will probably need to review the platform’s documentation if you want to use its customer relationship management (CRM) options, as well as its marketing tools. If you have any questions, you can ask them in the help section.
Anyway, once you open the Wix editor itself, you’ll quickly understand why the platform is so popular. The Wix editor is very easy to use. You can quickly add elements such as text and images using the menu on the left, create new pages, and even integrate apps.
Wix also offers modern ready-made templates. Even if you decide to use a template, you can always change its individual parts to customize the design. With the markup and drag-and-drop features, you can easily move any elements.
Even a beginner will be able to create a nice home page for their site in just a couple of hours (or less). So, if you have never created a website before, don’t worry, you will find it easy to work with this builder.
As for WordPress, the platform can also compete for leadership in the list of the most user-friendly tools. By installing the platform on your hosting, you will get access to the WordPress admin panel. There you will see a lot of options and settings, but after a little look around, you will easily understand what each of them does.
Having a variety of options to customize your site is more advantageous. However, this means that it will be a bit more difficult for a beginner to master WordPress than Wix.
The same goes for the process of creating records and pages. You can easily create them in just a few clicks.
However, editing these pages and giving them the desired appearance is not so easy. To do this, you will have to find a suitable WordPress theme and figure out how to set it up.
Keep in mind that many WordPress themes include their own tools for creating pages. There are also plugins that add these features. In other words, if you need a Wix-like editor, but you want to stay on WordPress, it’s fairly easy to do it through plugins.
Overall, Wix is easier to use than WordPress. But when you learn the basics of working with WordPress, you will realize that it is a more flexible platform for creating websites rather than Wix.
Site Management
In this section, we will compare the site management options provided by the WordPress and Wix platforms. By “managing” we mean a whole variety of vital tasks, such as updating the site, troubleshooting, cleaning up old messages, and so on.
First, let’s look at Wix. In site management, Wix tries to make the process as simple as possible, so that the user does not need to worry about the small details. For example, you don’t have to worry about updating the platform, as it does it itself in the backend.
In addition, Wix also makes it easy to duplicate, delete, and even migrate a website.
However, once you start digging a little deeper, you’ll notice that Wix is missing some features that you may need to access in the future. For example, its search engine optimization (SEO) is not very clear:
WordPress, on the other hand, provides access to all the site management features from the very beginning. For example, it allows you to customize the URL structure, which is not possible on Wix.
In addition, you can always expand the features with additional plugins for WordPress, which in most cases are free. For example, the Yoast SEO plugin helps to improve the site’s ranking in search engines and even the readability of your content.
Overall, Wix offers a simpler website management experience. However, WordPress gives you much more options and settings, which is very important for successful website management.
Performance
In terms of performance, WordPress and Wix are quite difficult to compare, as they use different ways of hosting sites. However, let’s look at the key features.
As we mentioned earlier, Wix is a host platform. In essence, this means that you pay for access to the site builder and hosting in one plan. Wix does not allow you to make changes that may affect the performance of your site.
Instead, the Wix development team makes sure that all sites load as quickly as possible. However, during testing, we found that the Wix pages did load quickly enough. Wix provides a stable download time, due to its automatic image optimization and the use of a content delivery network (CDN).
In other words, Wix is a great option for those who do not want to deal with configuring the performance of the website themselves. The downside is that you can’t control how well your site performs, and you have limited options when it comes to optimization.
For WordPress, you can use any data plan. This allows you to choose the most appropriate options and determine exactly what performance and how many resources your website needs. For example, Hostinger offers excellent performance, and our shared hosting packages are more affordable than the premium Wix plans.
In addition, there are many other ways to improve the performance of your WordPress website. The platform does not include options such as image optimization and CDN integration by default. However, you can easily add these features by using relevant plugins.
If you are looking for more freedom in customization, WordPress takes over from Wix here. As for performance, WordPress allows you to independently monitor the performance of your website. Wix, on the other hand, will do the work for you.
Security
Ideally, whatever platform you choose, it should be secure. No one should have access to your accounts and sensitive data. However, the sad truth is that there is no such thing as a 100% secure platform.
The best thing you can do is limit your risks as much as possible by choosing a platform that has a good reputation for security. In addition, there are also ways to increase the security of your site manually (depending on what software you use).
Hosting platforms like Wix are often more secure, largely due to two factors:
Users cannot edit the basic functions of the underlying software, so there are fewer security vulnerabilities.
These platforms are self-updating, so outdated software is not a problem.
However, this does not mean that Wix is perfect in terms of security. It has suffered from serious security breaches in the past, although this is not a common scenario.
With WordPress, the situation is a bit more complicated. Because the platform serves such a large percentage of sites, it is one of the biggest targets for online attackers. After all, one small vulnerability is often enough to put millions of sites at risk, which is a strong incentive for offenders.
At the same time, WordPress itself is very secure. If you stick to secure practices, such as updating your site, plugins, and themes in a timely manner, you will significantly reduce the risks. WordPress and its community often release patches designed to protect your site from the latest threats.
In addition, in WordPress, you can experiment with advanced plugins and security settings. This allows you to strengthen the protection of your site even more. In other words, just like with performance, you can configure your site to make it as inaccessible as possible to hackers, spammers, etc.
Anyway, both offer a secure experience by default. Wix only has an advantage if you don’t want to deal with security yourself. However, WordPress sites can be much safer if you are willing to put in some effort.
Customization
In the end, whatever platform you choose, it should have enough options to create any type of website. The more site settings you have available to you, the more projects you can implement, which is very important.
Even if you plan to create a simple website, we recommend that you leave your settings open. At some point, your website may grow to the point where you feel the need to access more advanced features. You may even want to expand the scope of your business, for example, to add the functionality of an online store to your blog, portfolio, or business card site.
Wix has dedicated support when it comes to customization. It allows you to add many useful features to your sites, such as comment sections, forums, chat, and even an online store.
In addition, the platform provides a variety of design options, including themes and tools needed to customize the appearance and layout of your website.
As for WordPress, the platform gives you access to thousands of plugins and themes. You can change the interface and functionality of your website, create a unique web resource with almost any feature that you can imagine.
Finally, it’s also worth mentioning that WordPress is an open-source platform. This way, if you are technically savvy, you can edit any code, as well as change the functionality and interface of the theme beyond recognition. If you have experience in web development or happy to follow online tutorials, you can create sites with features that Wix can’t even offer.
E-commerce
Today, people are selling more and more products over the Internet. Let’s compare the possibilities that each platform offers for creating an online store. We have previously compared Shopify with WooCommerce here.
Wix allows you to add an online store to your site, but the e-commerce functionality is provided only in the paid plan. Wix e-commerce plans include all the features you need to sell products. But, when compared with other solutions, such as Shopify, this functionality is more limited.
Wix stores accept credit or debit cards, with the exception of UnionPay, which is only available to certain users. PayPal or other payments are not accepted on Wix.
On the other hand, the WordPress website builder supports e-commerce functionality, and the free WordPress WooCommerce plugin is already used by 26% of over 1 million e-commerce stores.
WordPress is a great solution for online shopping. Numerous free plugins give you a free hand. To get something like this on Wix, you’ll have to vote for a paid plan.
Price
Before you pay, it is important to understand what is included in the plan, what features you will get. Wix and WordPress use completely different approaches to pricing. Let’s get this straight.
Wix offers four paid plans for the site and four paid plans for business and e-commerce. It all starts with a basic plan. As your business grows and the number of needs increases, you can switch to more expensive plans that include more features and features.
Without the Wix basic plan, you won’t have access to branded ads at the top and bottom of the site, and you won’t be able to use your own domain name. To use Wix’s advanced features, such as e-commerce, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.
WordPress is open source. This means that everyone can use it for free. However, with WordPress, you will have to buy a domain and hosting separately. The cost varies depending on what you are looking for. HostGator for example offers affordable hosting plans.
With thousands of free WordPress themes and plugins, you’ll be able to launch a website with a minimum budget. However, if you choose to use premium WordPress themes or plugins, the price will increase accordingly.
Overall, WordPress is better priced than Wix. In addition, WordPress offers a flexible basic plan with the hosting of your choice, while Wix is limited to the number of paid plans.
Support
When you first create your website, it’s important to have a good support team.
WordPress has one of the largest communities, you can find a large library of tutorials and information with answers to almost every question.
If you use WordPress, then you need to contact your hosting provider for support.
Wix provides a dedicated support team to help its users troubleshoot any issues related to their sites. They have created tons of articles, tutorials, and videos, in addition, to support forums. Wix also offers email and phone support (you will need to make an appointment to call).
In general, the support depends on your hosting. Since Wix is also a hosting provider, it stands above WordPress in this case. However, if your hosting provides a great support team, then there is no definite winner here.
SEO
Wix allows you to optimize your site by editing page titles, meta descriptions, and various header tags. You can also easily add alt tags to images and customize the URL.
In addition, Wix offers site maps that make scanning easier and faster. Also, the Wix site is easily connected to the Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster Tools, etc.
WordPress, in turn, offers all the SEO tools that Wix has. However, in addition to the tools themselves, WordPress gives you the ability to control them. The platform allows you to optimize the speed of your site and provides access to advanced indexing and scanning options.
In general, content and its quality are more important for SEO rather than the platform. But WordPress still wins over Wix. As mentioned earlier, the big advantage of WordPress is the number of plugins it offers when compared to Wix.
What is better WooCommerce or Shopify?
Advantages of Wix
Many consider Wix to be a platform for beginners only. Today, however, it offers a number of key benefits:
Incredibly easy to use.
Helps you create an attractive website with an in-built visual designer.
You get security and performance by default.
The platform offers many customization options and the ability to integrate third-party services.
If you are not sure whether to choose WordPress or Wix, we recommend using the latter option if you are looking for a tool with a simplified process of creating and managing a website. If you are new to website development and want to create a simple project, Wix is what you need.
Advantages of WordPress
WordPress accounts for a large share of the CMS market. And there are several reasons for this:
The platform is relatively easy to learn for a beginner, but it also offers many interesting options for experienced developers
Unlimited customization options thanks to open source code and an extensive collection of plugins and themes.
Lots of options to help you manage large content libraries.
Virtually complete control over the site’s security features, performance, and hosting.
Comparing WordPress and Wix is more complicated because the platforms are fundamentally different from each other. However, by now you should have the understanding of each platform that you need to make a decision.
It’s no secret that it may take a little longer to master WordPress. However, the platform offers a more professional experience while remaining beginner-friendly. If you don’t mind spending some time learning and experimenting, you’d better choose WordPress. As a result, you will get more features and will be able to create almost any type of website.
Conclusion
In order to create a website, you need to work hard. However, the right platform can make this process much easier. For example, Wix makes it easy to create simple websites with in-build template pages. But if you are going to work on a more complex project, then this platform may not be enough. This is why we are more likely to recommend WordPress.
