WordPress has been an industry standard in order to create websites hassle-free but until recently, Wix has hit the market and has been giving stiff competition to WordPress as a CMS. Today, we are going to compare the two of them and see which one is a better option when it comes to creating a website.
The main factors which we are going to take into consideration are-
- User-Friendliness
- Flexibility
- Pricing
- Support
- Design Options
User-Friendliness
The folks at Wix boast about it being a very user-friendly Content Management System. And they are not wrong at that point. Wix is indeed a treat to work with. Everything is neatly aligned and you never feel lost. It has been designed keeping in focus the Layman – who does not know anything about a website. There is absolutely no need to learn any code. Everything is done with the help of visual interface. On the other hand, getting to know your way around WordPress can be a big pain in the neck especially if you are new to the world of website building. There is a steep learning curve and in order to get that ‘perfect look’, you might have to deal with some code. Wix is the better one when it comes to user-friendliness.
Flexibility
In terms of flexibility, Wix offers a great deal of options. You can customize your site to a great extent. Colors, Typography, Images, Borders, Layouts – everything can be customized as per your requirements. But as the saying goes – The Devil is in the details. When it comes to really ‘Customizing’ your Website to the core, WordPress is ahead of Wix. With Wix, fiddling with code is not possible. Everything is controlled with visual editors. On the other hand, with the help of code, sky is the limit when it comes to WordPress. With the right knowledge, you can customize anything in WordPress – even to the core. Clearly, WordPress comes off as the better one in terms of flexibility.
Pricing
When it comes to investment, there are options in both WordPress and Wix to create free websites. But in order to get a reputable website, you will need to make some investments. In the case of Wix, creating a website is free but if you require more features including your own domain name, better server and priority support, Wix offers premium plans. Their prices start from $5/month, the most basic being the ability to have your own domain. As the amount of features increase, the price also starts to increase which can build up to a hefty sum. Check out their plans below-
| WIX PLANS | MONTHLY | YEARLY | KEY FEATURE |
| Free | $0 | $0 | Totally Free |
| Connect Domain | $7/month | $5/month | Add your own domain name |
| Combo | $14.50/month | $11/month | No ads |
| Unlimited | $16/month | $14/month | No bandwidth or storage limit |
| E-Commerce | $20/month | $17/month | Ability to open an E-Commerce Store |
| VIP | $30/month | $25/month | Advanced features including E-Mail campaigns and more |
As you can see, in order to even remove ads on your site, you need to pay $11/month at least. It is a service model. Your website is truly not yours. There are restrictions and you need to pay to remove these restrictions.
When it comes to WordPress, the pricing is a lot more flexible. You need a domain and a server hosting and you are ready to create your OWN site with no restrictions. And if you are adept in code, then you are in for a real bargain. There are no hidden costs. The CMS is free of cost and you will only have to pay in case you need some additional functionality. In this case also, there are a ton of free yet amazing alternatives. WordPress operates under GPL, which means it is technically illegal to charge for the CMS. You only pay for the features and services including support, design and maintenance. WordPress.org is the official repository of themes for WordPress where thousands of themes are available for free. In case you decide on upgrading, there are a lot of E-Shops offering Premium Themes and services for some amount. Some of them include Elegant Themes, Colorib and InkHive. WordPress is the clear winner in this one.
Support
Since Wix operates as a service, it offers support for all its plans and products. You can contact them directly regarding any isssues or queries with your website. While in case of WordPress, there is not an official E-Mail or Phone Number where you can contact support for help. If you are operating your website yourself, you’ll need to search through internet regarding your issues and in some cases, you might even have to hire a Web Developer. Also, if you are having a Premium Theme or Plugin, the developers usually support their products and provide support. There is also a huge online community of WordPress Users and Developers who are always ready to help. Here, I have to say Wix has the upper hand as the support is easy to reach out to.
Design Options
When it comes to choosing a design for your Website, both Wix and WordPress offer a large number of options. As already stated, there is a great deal of flexibility in Wix when it comes to layouts and the overall design of the site. There are a lot of templates available for every category of website – Blog, Portfolio, Magazine, E-Commerce, Business or any other. In the case of WordPress, there are a lot of Themes available in their official repository at WordPress.org. With the help of some basic knowledge of code, a WordPress Theme can be customized to achieve your ‘perfect’ website easily. In terms of design, WordPress offers greater design options as compared to Wix.
Overall, I have to say that both have their pros and cons and their utlization depends on your requirment. If you plan on having more control on your site, WordPress is the way to go but if you are willing to pay for the features and plan on treating your site as a service, Wix is the right choice. There is undoubtedly a larger learning curve in WordPress but it denifinitely has its benefits in the long-run.