Wix is a user-friendly free site-building platform that introduces paid options with pretty impressive functionality. The intuitive drag-and-drop editor, great tools, and the remarkable plethora of templates make Wix a super easy and flexible website builder.

It’s broadly used for building any site, from personal websites and portfolios to small businesses and eCommerce sites. And although the market has much cheaper website builders, the pretty scalable and beginner-friendly free Wix plan to start with makes it a great WordPress (read our review) alternative.

So, if you are searching for a website builder that’s straightforward enough to develop a website and powerful enough to scale up, Wix is the right pick.

Wix Pros

Wix is a high-rated website builder known primarily for its unique combination of functionality and ease of use. However, it has plenty of other benefits. See the most significant ones covered below:

• Drag-and-drop editor stands for simplicity of use. Even beginners with no technical skills and practice can quickly set up the website they dream of. This is the first feature that distinguishes Wix from WordPress.
• The online store offering is extensive and outstanding. Wix features an impressive set of eCommerce tools, turning it into an ideal choice for clients seeking a trustworthy online store builder.
• Wix provides all the necessary tools for growing and scaling up. No matter the website size you build, you can get the required features either built-in or via add-ons from the app store. On the other hand, WordPress has a strictly limited set of incorporated tools – another point for Wix.
• Wix offers a sufficient creative freedom to let users customize the selected theme to bring it to their desired appearance. The available features include fonts and an extensive media gallery, built-in SEO tools, social tools, an SSL certificate, potent website analytics, advanced design features, and so forth.

Features and Design

Beyond any doubt, WordPress stands out for the design freedom it offers its users. However, the complexity of the editor makes the customizability fade for many users: after all, what’s the point of having endless design possibilities when you don’t have enough skills to use them? On the other hand, designing a site with Wix is pure joy! Its drag-and-drop editor works seamlessly, which makes crafting a new site enjoyable, even if you are a beginner.

When moving an element across the screen, no flaws or glitches are to be expected. Furthermore, if you move an element outside the lines, Wix warns you and explains who can see the changes. The site builder allows choosing from hundreds of elements, including text, images, restaurant menus, buttons, galleries, music players, lists, etc. The gallery alone comes with around twenty options out of the box. Add third-party ones, and you get endless customization possibilities.

When you click on an element, you open a menu with its specific options. For instance, when adding text, you can adjust the font, formatting, etc. Entire website customization proceeds without any CSS, HTML, or any other tech knowledge.

And if the built-in tools aren’t enough to bring to life your desired website, the vast array of third-party apps (both paid and free options are available) are at your disposal. With experience working with WordPress plugins, you won’t find it challenging to find the necessary app to expand your site’s functionality.

As for the suggested templates, Wix’s collection incorporates over 800 options to pick up from. Surely, not all of them look modern. Such a large number of templates includes designs that look a little dated and those that are bang up-to-date with the latest trends.

The entire collection is categorized into types by industries, like blogging, business, photography, etc. All designs are mobile responsive. You don’t have to customize the site separately, as whatever design you come up with will fit both smartphone and tablet screens automatically.

Every template chosen is fully formed with images and dummy text incorporated. You will quickly make the template your own by switching out the default content with your brand’s images, text, messages, etc.

Wix allows getting more creative with its massive library of professional images, videos, and graphics. Thanks to this free content, customizing a site is easy and quick.

Wix has premium, scalable features that come right out of the box. Although it offers a free plan that comes pretty well equipped, the best features are included in paid packages like unlimited storage and website analytics.

The main Wix features include the following:

• Domain names (Wix’s paid plans come with a free domain for one year provided that you purchase an annual plan);
• Social media integration to connect the site to any of today’s popular social channels;
• SEO Wiz tool to build a personalized plan and optimize the website for all search engines;
• Robust security tools like a free SSL, backups, and an autosave feature;
• An all-in-one marketing suite that covers live chat, email marketing, and Wix automation.

eCommerce

If your purpose is to sell through your website, you can entirely rely on Wix. It allows for selling an infinite amount of products, which can be physical and digital or service-based. The eCommerce functionality of Wix can be compared with that of eCommerce dedicated platforms. And here again, unlike with WordPress, you get it all out of the box. The service lets you create discounts and coupon codes, adjust shipping options (you can even connect your store to a dropshipping company, track orders from the dashboard, print personalized shipping labels, etc.), run effective email marketing, and build multilingual sites to grow an international business.

Also, Wix features advanced eCommerce tools like abandoned cart recovery, multichannel selling (expose your brand on Instagram to get a wider audience and boost sales), over 50 payment options, including its native Wix Payments gateway with no transaction fees, etc.

All templates designed for online stores come with the necessary elements incorporated. For instance, thanks to the product zoom feature, your customers can better understand what you offer. For every product, it’s possible to upload up to 15 images and videos.

As for eCommerce analytics, here we are provided with a robust set of tools. You can access all in-house data through the dashboard store analytics and rival that of dedicated eCommerce platforms.

And finally, you can access and manage your eCommerce website on the go through Wix’s mobile app. This is a true asset as mobile commerce has been estimated to account for more than 40% of eCommerce sales in the upcoming years.

Note that the described functionality is included only in Business and eCommerce plans.

Wix App Market

All Wix eCommerce templates come with an already integrated Wix Store app. With the latter, you can perform whatever an eCommerce site can have, including:

• Starting a dropshipping business;
• Selling unlimited products;
• Creating discount codes;
• Setting up product galleries to introduce your stock;
• Building an optimized mobile store;
• Getting access to payment methods (Square, PayPal, Stripe, Wix Payments, etc.);
• Receiving top order management tools;
• Creating newsletters for your site subscribers through Lightbox or Wix ShoutOut.

Although one of the primary advantages of Wix is its assortment of in-house tools, Wix still has a fascinating app market. Overall, Wix introduces around 200 applications, around 50 of which are eCommerce dedicated. Suppose the in-built functionality doesn’t suffice for you. In that case, you will most certainly find amazing apps here to customize your storefront, add coupons to entice new customers, or even integrate with other eCommerce platforms.

SEO

Using WordPress, you must have been content with the suggested SEO functionality, even if it was through third-party apps. Nevertheless, Wix users greatly appreciate the in-house SEO tools. Aside from fundamental options like customizing URLs, adding meta titles and descriptions, or even tweaking header codes, Wix offers keyword support and Semrush integration. Other SEO features include editing robots.txt files, managing URL redirects, creating sitemaps, etc.

Furthermore, if you are a beginner, Wix has schemed an AI SEO Wiz. The software clarifies a few facts about your site, like its name and keywords, and suggests a personalized SEO plan based on the received information.

The Wix App Market is packed with a whole host of premium SEO apps, too. Yet, the built-in search engine optimization functionality is enough to have your site ranked high by all leading search engines.

How Much Does Wix Cost?

The pricing system of Wix is fair and reasonable. Aside from the free plan, which is quite feature-rich (100s of templates, top-grade hosting unlimited pages, etc.), Wix introduces four website-building plans and three business and eCommerce dedicated ones. Website plans range from $16/mo to $45/mo and offer up to 100 GB storage space, 5 hours of video content, a Site Booster for one year, a professional logo, etc. The introductory plan is Combo. At $16/mo, it includes free SSL, 2 GB of SSD, and 30 minutes of video content.

As for eCommerce plans, Wix has three tiers from $27/mo to $59/mo. If you run an online store, only these plans can provide the necessary functionality.

Wix has a flexible two-week refund guarantee for all tiers. Also, note that all prices are introduced for a yearly subscription.

Tech Support

Another eye-striking difference between WordPress and Wix lies in customer support. While WP users have to rely purely on the community, Wix users are provided with robust 24/7 professional assistance over the phone, email messaging, round-the-clock on-page editor support, social media, video tutorials, and an extensive knowledge base.

Conclusion

Wix is an ideal website builder for beginners and users who don’t plan to create a site from scratch. A typical website built with Wix has a user-friendly interface, a professional look (provided that the user can differentiate a nice-looking template from a professional-looking one), easy navigation, and quick loading times.

Wix is especially appropriate for small to medium businesses and individuals and entrepreneurs who need a well-designed site for both personal and professional use.