Is Wix Better Than WordPress? Comparing One Versus The Other.

As popular as WordPress is, Wix is quickly becoming a mainstream approach to building websites and there are many wondering if it’s really better than WordPress.

To find the answers to this, I’ll be comparing one versus the other.

Having built websites for years, even in the regular HTML days, let me tell you the good news is that creating a website today for the complete beginner is SO much easier than it ever was thanks to both of these programs as well as other web building tools.

However, depending on what you wish to accomplish with your website, one tool will work better than another. You can’t just say one program is better. The real answer is: It DEPENDS on the scenario. And here are the most important ones and which one wins in each…

WiX vs WordPress, let’s compare them:

Look of website/s. Which tool makes better looking websites? Wix (At first)

I’ve used WordPress for a number of different websites. I’ve also tried Wix’s free website builder (My Wix page). I personally found that Wix will give you a better looking website. They have a lot of professional looking templates that are centered around specific topics.

Anything from health, fitness, dieting, to law, gardening, school, ect…Each topic you select within the Wix website creator will make a number of different templates pop up. Rest assured if looks are what you’re going for in a website, Wix takes the cake.

But I also wrote “At first” and there’s a big reason for that: WordPress websites can in the long run look much better than Wix. They allow for MUCH more customization (I’ll get into that below) and there are more options available. 

Newbie friendly. Which is easier to build a website with? Wix (At first)

It took me about 30 minutes to create a Wix website when I first tried it. There’s a VERY easy set up process involved when making websites there and when you start a site, most of the site’s layout and look is already done for you. You basically just go in and edit the wording and pictures. 

Wix also has pricing plans in which you can basically consolidate everything through your websites (hosting, ad credit, and other perks) which you would otherwise have to go get separately and go through different areas like Godaddy, Namecheap and other places. Certainly for the newbie, this is a huge perk.

But again, there’s that “At first” reasoning once more. What is it this time? Well when it comes to newbie friendliness, WordPress has also become very simple to work with (though at first it can be confused).

For example, when I make WordPress websites, I use this method in which you can build up to 2 sites for $0 (with hosting) in under a minute. They aren’t as pretty as Wix (at first ;)) but you have all the space in the world to make it as unique as you want. It’s a method I highly recommend for those new to making websites.

Which is better for businesses? If it’s just PPC, either works. If it’s SEO, I prefer WordPress.

This is really my personal opinion. If you’re intending on making an online business website focused on strictly PPC, both platforms work. In some cases Wix would look much better and more professional so for a business to make a website which has a more professional looking website, Wix can work in your favor. WordPress can very well work too, as making a simple website for PPC promotional purposes is simple to do. 

When it comes to SEO however, WordPress websites still hold a lead on Wix websites (I’ll explain below) so if you’re looking to make a business website and plan to promote it in SEO, or both SEO & PPC, I’d recommend WordPress.

How unique your website can look with both tools. Which allows for more customization? WordPress.

In this scenario WordPress takes the cake, hands down. WiX in spite of having 100’s of different templates to work with has a lot of people (40 million supposedly) making websites through them. From what I’ve seen, it is very difficult to make any kind of WiX website look unique so when you have few templates and too many people using the service, you’ll have a lot of look alike website’s sprouting left n right.

If you don’t care about how unique your website looks, then don’t worry about this. But if you’re aiming to get somewhere with your website, a unique looking page that represents you is very important.

Now comes a big queston: Is Wix good for SEO?

On the topic of which platform  is more SEO friendly? The answer is WordPress.

When Wix first arrived to the scene a few years back, there were MANY issues users encountered when it came to SEO. However Wix has come a long way since but still has holes in it’s game. My pet peeve in this category is that it’s templates focus more on the look of the website rather than the content and content is what really counts when it comes to SEO nowadays.

For this WordPress is essential. It allows for adding new posts and generating a lot of valuable content quickly. Wix does the same, but it’s not as accepted. 

I’ve read posts on issues Wix may have with Google analytics and webmaster tools but from what I’ve seen, they’ve fixed this. However in the greater scheme of things, I follow the rule of thumb here: If it isn’t broken, then there’s no need to move elsewhere or fix it. WordPress is my SEO choice. It’s been proven to work time and time again. 

Note: Both platforms function under the SAME SEO rules. You need to create good content to rank well.

Update: Wix has made massive improvements in this field, but in the end, it’s focus is still on making a good looking website, and in my opinion, WordPress still holds a big advantage in that it allows more space and focus on content creation, which is still the biggest thing for SEO.

Pricing. Which is cheaper? WordPress. 

The traditional way of creating a WordPress website is as follows:

You buy a domain name from places like Godaddy.com or Namecheap.com (About $10 a year)

You buy hosting ($1-$10 a month).

You install WordPress to your website and begin building.

Sounds like a hassle right? Well it is. But it’s still cheaper and here’s why:

Wix provides a number of different memberships to it’s customers. They call this a Premium upgrade which can cost you anywhere from $5 to $30 a month. However, this is PER site. So if you are intending on making more than 1 website, you’ll find the price of Wix’s Premium membership pretty expensive. 

Even if you have 1 website with hosting, with Wix, that’ll cost you anywhere from $6-$32 a month (depending on your Premium plan) and again this is PER site whereas with WordPress, you’ll be paying anywhere from $2-$8 a month.

And some hosting plans offer unlimited domains for $0, meaning no matter how many WordPress sites you make, the hosting will never cost you. Here is one of the few places that does this. It’s where I create websites.

How Wix justifies their pricing:

If you go Premium with Wix, you get free hosting, access to Google analytics, Premium support and advertising credit. Sounds like a hell of a deal right? Not quite, since you can actually get the same kind of perks for much less and even $0 with WordPress.

For example, the same program I use gives you 2 free WordPress websites. You also get great support if you ever encounter issues with it. As for Google analytics and advertising credit? You can install analytics for free by simply Googling it and advertising credit by just signing up to networks such as Adwords or Bing ads. 

Is Wix really better than WordPress?

When you look at the greater scheme of things, Wix still has a long way to go to reach WordPress’s level. WP sites are still way more SEO friendly, far more easier to customize and they are much cheaper. Wix certainly is quickly fixing a lot of it’s cons and is still a great newbie friendly builder to use, but I still prefer WordPress because again, it works, it’s been proven to work and I’d rather not risk changing anything unless it’s broken, which isn’t the case here.

So on the issue of Wix sites vs WordPress sites, while Wix will initially give you a better looking website, in the long run, WordPress sites will cost you less, allow you to customize much more and provide better SEO results (if you know them).

My personal recommendation: If you’re still deciding on which platform to use to build websites, I recommend WordPress. More specifically my personal approach to making them. Give it a shot, you’ll like it 🙂

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this topic! Do you prefer Wix or WordPress? Do you have any specific cases where one beat the other and vice versa? Please share your experience/thoughts below.