Wix VS WordPress – 6 Things You Should Know Before You Sign Up

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Wix VS WordPress – They are both great website building tools, however, there are significant differences between the two.

Wix and WordPress are both great website building tools. However, they have significant differences that can change your decision of which one to go for. Finding out these differences before making a decision is very important since you don’t want to start building a website with one and later realize you should have used the other one.  I have been using both Wix and WordPress for my websites. Each one has pros and cons. In this post, I share with you what the differences are between Wix and WordPress and what you should know about them. I divided them into six categories below.

1. Ease of Use

Ease of use is a very important deciding factor when you decide on a website builder. It is more so when you don’t have any coding knowledge. I have a very minimum coding knowledge and last thing I want to do is trying to figure out how to build a website. I just want to set up a website quick and add contents.  Both website building tools are easy to use. I built both of my websites without using any codes. However, Wix and WordPress are very different and have some limitations. Let’s take a look!

Wix

When you sign up with Wix, you get ready-made website templates. You choose a template of your choice and you can start adding contents to the template. Wix is a drag and drop website builder and it offers a what-you -see-is-what-you-get website building experience. This means you can add a picture, for example, by dragging a picture inserting box to your website and place it to upload a picture. You can do the same for columns, tables, texts, etc. What you see on your web template is exactly what you will see on a published website. You can change the size of pictures, texts, fonts by selecting & changing them and also add boxes, lines, shapes, buttons, etc. by dragging them to the web template. You do not need any coding experience. Adding web contents is very intuitive. Wix is one of the easiest website builder.

Wix Website Builder – When you sign up, you can have a website designed for you in minutes or create your own from the template.

Wix Website Builder Ready Made Template – You can choose a template of your choice then start inserting pictures and texts.

Wix Website Builder – Drag and Drop Web Building Tool – You can add and modify ready-made template with a drag and drop tool on the left.

WordPress

WordPress is not a website builder but it is a web content management system. It is a system for managing contents on your website. A web content management system can handle more things compared to a website builder. Therefore, if you are building a large scale, more complicated website, WordPress is great. It can accommodate large amount of content and traffic. It is also the most popular and the fastest growing web building platform.

You can get WordPress in two ways. First, you can go to WordPress.org and get WordPress for free. However, you will need to find a hosting company and install it on a web server yourself. Instead, you can find a hosting company that offer one-click install for WordPress. Many hosting companies such as Siteground or Bluehost offer a free one click install for WordPress. (Siteground and Bluehost are officially recommended by WordPress.org) Therefore, all you have to do is sign up with a hosting company and get the WordPress.

Another way is to sig up with WordPress.com. When you sign up with them, you sign up for free or paid WordPress web building platform. They offer limited free hosting service with their plans. However, with WordPress.com, you won’t be able to install your own plug-ins or themes unless you get a business plan which is their most expensive plan. Being able to install your own plug-ins and themes are very important feature. Therefore, signing up with a hosting company that offers free Worldpress with one click install is the best way to get access to WordPress. However, many people have built a WordPress website through WordPress.com. You can see their showcased websites made from WordPress.com on WordPress.org. You can check them out here.

When you install WordPress, it will create a simple website for you. Then you can personalize some details and insert contents. When you insert contents though if you don’t know WordPress well and don’t know any coding, what you can build is limited. You can insert pictures and texts but if you want to customize the web page with more complicated features such as inserting columns, tables, gallery, there is a learning curve. You will have to figure out which plug-ins you can use and how to insert them on your webpage. In addition, WordPress is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get web building tool like Wix website builder. In my experience, I have inserted some pictures and texts on web building platform and the line spacing did’t look right when the web page was actually published. It looked fine on the web design platform, but it didn’t look the same on the published web page. I couldn’t also insert three pictures in one raw by just simply inserting three pictures and place them one after the other in the same raw whereas I could simply drag and drop, then place three pictures in Wix. With WordPress, you have to figure out what plug-ins or short-codes you can use to add some features. However, once you know how to add more features, you can actually build a  more complicated, more detailed and larger website with WordPress.

WordPress – After you answer some questions, simple website is created for you. You just have to personalize it and insert contents.

WordPress – Editing a simple blog post, for example,  is easy but for more complicated features, there is a learning curve.

Wix VS Word Press – Ease of Use (Winner: Wix)

In terms of east of use, Wix is a lot easier since it is a drag-and-drop, what-you-see-is-what-you-get website builder. You do not have to know any software or coding when building a website with Wix. Although you can customize more features with WordPress when building a website, there is a learning curve with WordPress. Therefore, find out which web building tool you are more comfortable with. If you want to simply build a website without coding or learning to add features, Wix will be more suitable.

2. Available Features And Flexibility

When you add contents your website, available features and flexibility matters. Depending on your blog or website, the level of complexity differ. WordPress by far has so much more flexibility, however, it does come with cons. Let’s take a look.

WordPress

WordPress is an open source web content management system. Anyone with a coding experience can build themes or plugins for WordPress. As a result, there are so many themes and plugins available out there for you to download for free or purchase. WordPress is the fastest-growing, most popular web platform and it has the most themes and plugins available. Currently, there are 56,269 plugins for WordPress available for download. You can download themes and plugins to install on your WordPress very easily. However, there is a downside for this abundance. Since anyone can use and modify WordPress to make themes or plugins, there are possibilities that some of these themes and plugins are built by unskilled developer or potential hackers. You can install a plugin that doesn’t work properly or hacks your site. In fact, WordPress is the most hacked web content management system worldwide. According to Sucuri (a leading WordPress security firm) 2017 report, 83% of infected websites were WordPress websites. WordPress comes with abundant plugins and flexibility yet, it also comes with vulnerability for your website. You have to be careful which themes or plugins you install on your WordPress.

Wix VS WordPress – 83% of Infected Websites were WordPress websites in 2017.

WordPress is also very flexible when you want to move your website to a different hosting company.  You can just export your site files and bring them to a new hosting company.  This means you are not stuck with one specific hosting company for your website. Many web hosting companies support hosting for WordPress sites so you can move to another hosting company if you are not satisfied with the current company.

Wix

Themes or apps of Wix, on the other hand, are developed by team of professionals. They are developed and tested by these professionals before being used by Wix subscribers. Therefore, their apps will have less chance of having problems. If there is something wrong with apps, they will fix it or assist you with the problems. With WordPress, plugin developers may or may not help you when there are problems with their plugins. Wix has limited customization features compared to WordPress but still you can build a good website using their themes or plugins. Currently, they have 250 + apps available for download.

There is also limitation with Wix when you want to use a different hosting company for your website. You can not move your website to a different hosting company because you want to.  That means your Wix site and all of its content is hosted exclusively on Wix’s servers, and cannot be transferred to a different hosting company.

Wix VS WordPress -Features and Flexibility (Winner: WordPress )

For features and flexibility category, WordPress has so much more plugins than Wix which offer more flexibility and customization for your website.  If you are planning to do a lot of customization for your website and need a lot of flexibility, WordPress is definitely the winner. However, there are some potentially bad plugins or themes with WordPress. Therefore, you will have to be careful which themes or plugins you install on your WordPress.

If you don’t need a lot of customization for your website and don’t want to worry about downloading wrong apps or themes, Wix is way to go. Especially when you are a beginner in building a website, you don’t want to run into any problems and trying to fix the website. Wix may not give you as much flexibility and features but you can still build a good website. In my experience, I haven’t felt Wix had not enough apps while I was building a website.

Also, if you think there is a possibility that you may move your website to a different hosting company in the future, keep in mind WordPress has flexibility to do so.

3. Maintenance

Maintenance is another area that Wix and WordPress have differences. Maintenance of website includes updating the platform, plugins or apps. This category is also important to consider since ongoing maintenance means more work. You can’t just focus on creating contents for your website but you have to make sure your platform, plugins or apps are up to date.

Wix

All updates of Wix are done for you by their team of professionals so you don’t have to do anything. With Wix, you don’t have to worry about updating plugins, themes, apps or platform. This is great since there is no potential problems that can occur because updates have not been done. I never worry about any updates for my Wix website. That means that much less work for me and I can fully concentrate on just creating and inserting contents.

WordPress

WordPress, on the other hand, requires ongoing maintenance. According to Sucuri (a leading WordPress security firm) report, 61% of hacked WordPress sites recorded outdated installations in 2016, 39.3% had an outdated version in 2017. This means if the updates are not done with WordPress platform, plugins or themes for your WordPress site, it is vulnerable to attacks from hackers.

About every six to twelve months, WordPress.org releases an update for the WordPress platform. The updates include bug fixes and security fixes. Themes and plugins also have updates. It is important to update to the latest version of WordPress, plugins and themes so your site is not vulnerable to hacker’s attack. In addition, the more plugins you use, the more compatibility problems between plugins or WordPress you may run into. You have to monitor for updates and compatibility for your website so the plugins run with no issues.

I do wish that I didn’t have ongoing maintenance with WordPress. With my WordPress site, there is often a plugin to update. I also have to monitor for conflicts between plugins and fix it occasionally. Although updating is not a lot of work but still it is something I have to do in my free time.

Wix VS WordPress – Maintenance (Winner: Wix)

The clear winner in this category is Wix. Wix doesn’t need ongoing maintenance whereas WordPress requires ongoing updates and monitoring. Failing to update the WordPress platform, plugins or themes can make your website be vulnerable to hacker’s attack. You have to monitor plugins as well since some plugins may not work well with WordPress or other plugins.

4. Technical Support

Technical support is very important since technology is never perfect and websites can have problems. With Wix and WordPress, how you can get that help is also very different. Let’s take a look!

Wix

Wix offers Wix Help Center where you can get a library of tutorials. You can also submit a ticket to get solution by email or call for support. Technical support is there to help you when you run into problems. What I like about Wix is that I have a direct access to a person via phone or email if I need to talk to them.

Wix VS WordPress – You can get tutorials in Wix Help Center or support via email or phone.

WordPress

There are huge amount of tutorials, forums, blogs and communities for WordPress on the web. However, because there are so much information, it could take some time to find the answers to your problems. That means you may have to browse through available information and dig for solutions yourself. Although you can ask questions to WordPress forum, there is no direct WordPress support staff you can contact.  I personally feel more comfortable getting help from a staff when I have to trouble shoot technical problems. You can always hire a WordPress developer to fix a problem but it costs your money and time.

Wix VS WordPress – Technical Support (Winner: Wix)

It is a huge advantage to have direct contact when it comes to technical support. It is not always easy to try to find answers from tutorials or forums. Therefore, Wix is the winner in this category having direct email or phone support.

5. Designs

Design of your website is an important part of website’s success. Good website template will not only make the website look good but also will offer a user friendly, fast-loading website. Let’s find out how Wix and WordPress are different here.

Wix

Wix offers 500+ designer-made website templates.  They have templates for different categories such as business, online store, photography, blogs, fashion, music, etc. You can simply download a template for free from Wix and start personalizing with a drag-and-drop web building tool. You can drag and drop features to customize the template until you are satisfied with the look.  However, once you decide on the template, you can’t change to a different template later. That means whatever template you picked in the beginning, you are stuck with it.

WordPress

There are thousands and thousands of WordPress themes available on internet to download so you can install on your WordPress website. You can find WordPress templates in WordPress.org’s theme directory or premium theme companies. There are so many choices for WordPress themes on the web including free themes. However, I will be careful when choosing a free theme from a non-reputable company since it may have been built by an unskilled developer. You may also not like the look of free templates and want a better layout and features. If you want  a better quality WordPress themes, you can purchase high quality themes from WordPress premium theme companies.  For example, Mythemeshop.com offer free or paid templates.  Many of their templates are responsive, speed optimized and SEO ready. They are quick, well coded and light-weight. A fast loading website can provide a great user experience.  It can also help your website rank higher in search engines when combined with a fast hosting service.

Another good thing about WordPress theme is that you can change a theme to a different theme any time. This is a great advantage if you want to try out different themes or change the look of your website later.

Wix VS WordPress – Design (Winner: WordPress)

WordPress definitely offers a lot of choices of free or paid templates.  You can also change to a different theme after you started customizing your website. You can also choose a fast-loading web templates from a premium template company such as Mythemeshop.com. A fast-loading template can help your website rank higher with search engines. With Wix, you can not change a theme in the middle of building a website.  You are stuck with the theme you choose. However, Wix is a lot easy to customize with an easy drag-and-drag tool. Although WordPress has so many advantages, if you want an easy customization, consider Wix.

6. Plans And Pricing

People usually have budgets for their business. Therefore, how much it costs to build a website and maintain it monthly or yearly matters. Wix and WordPress have differences in this category as well. For your online business or blog, you will need to make a website then find a hosting service to publish and maintain your website on the web.  Let’s see how Wix and WordPress differ in what they offer.

Wix

Wix offers a free hosting with their website builder plans. Even their free plan includes a free hosting. Therefore, you do not need to spend any money for hosting. You just have to get a free plan or paid plan for your website builder with Wix.

Wix offers 5 paid plans and 1 free plan. Prices listed below are for 1 year subscription plans. You get more discount if you subscribe for 2 years. If you sign up for a monthly subscription, the prices are a little bit higher.

• Free $0
• Combo for personal use $10/ month
• Unlimited for entrepreneur & freelancers $14/ month
• E-commerce for small business $17/ month
• VIP for first priority support $25/ month

For a free account, Wix shows their ads on every page of your website. Therefore, if you do not want their ads, you will have to sign up for a paid plan. Paid plans include 1 free domain name if sign up for yearly subscription. If your website is e-commerce site, online store function is only available from e-commerce plan and up. The higher price plans include more features.

WordPress

WordPress, on the other hand, has more cost associated with it. Let’s have a look!

Easiest way to get WordPress is signing up with a hosting company that offers free WordPress with a one click install. Hosting company such as Siteground or Bluehost offer a free one-click-install for WordPress with their hosting plans. Siteground offers $3.95, $5.95, $11.95/ month hosting service plans. Bluehost also offers $3.95 and $5.95/ month with one domain name included. Now if you compare these plans with Wix plans, they are  a lot cheaper. However, with WordPress, there are other costs associated with it.

You may also want to get a paid theme if you don’t like any of the free themes. Many people choose to buy a theme so that they can get the desired look of their website. Themes can cost from $20 ~ $100 depending on a theme. You may also install some paid plugins depending on your customization of your website. Paid plugins can cost $40~ $60 per plugin and if you get about 5 premium plugins, it could cost a few hundred dollars a year. (Plugins are also often renewed yearly)  If you hire a developer to customize your website, it will cost more money. For me, I purchased a Schema theme from Mythemeshop.com because I didn’t like the free ones. So far, I was able to use free plugins and didn’t have to buy any paid plugins for my website. However, some people may need more features other than features needed for just simple blogging website. Therefore, they may purchase paid plugins. (Usually paid plugins are better than free ones.)

Hosting plans form hosting companies are definitely cheaper than website builder plans from Wix. However, if you purchase a theme, plugins or even hire a developer to customize your WordPress website, it could come out to hundreds or thousands. On top of that, WordPress has more potential maintaining costs than Wix since it is more vulnerable to hackers and problems with plugins.

Wix VS WordPress – Pricing (Winner: Wix)

Overall, WordPress costs more than Wix does. With Wix, you only need a monthly fee for the website builder. WordPress, on the other hand, you may want to purchase a theme or plugins to make your website look better. If you hire a professional developer to customize the website, the cost can add up fast. Therefore, Wix is the winner in this category requiring less expense.

Final Thoughts

Deciding between Wix and WordPress is not easy. They are both a great web building tool, however, they have significant differences. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. Rather, one will fit better for you depending on your needs. If you are a beginner in building a website, you want to build a good website easily with no maintenance and technical skills, with low monthly or yearly fee, then Wix is a better option. If you want many features and flexibility to customize your website with tons of theme options and plugins and you have some technical skills, then WordPress will be a better option. WordPress will be a better fit for a bigger, more complicated websites. For a small business, Wix may be the simplest, easiest, cost-effective option. You have a less chance to run into problems and also cost less money in the future. However, if you have a blog website, you may benefit from WordPress. WordPress is built to be used for blogs so it has more features for blogs than Wix. Find out what your needs are for your website and see which website building tool makes more sense for your business.

If you want to make a website in one day, please read my post, ‘How To Make A Website In One Day Without Knowing Any Software Or Code‘.

If you want to start a business, please read my post, ‘How to Start A Business With No Money And Make A Full Time Income‘.

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