Do you want to build a website but feel discouraged when it comes to web development costs? While WordPress has received massive popularity for obvious reasons, it is still not the only option to choose. You are more likely to hear about Wix – another popular website builder. Web development does not come cheap especially if you are looking forward to advanced options. It may cost you thousands of dollars. For this, you may want to consult website development consultants. Thanks to website platforms such as Wix and WordPress packed with advanced features and are affordable options. In this article, we will have a detailed Wix vs WordPress comparison to help you figure out which platform is best suited to your needs.
Plugins and Apps
Modifying your website theme adds a personal touch to your web, apps, and plugins while offering advanced features. These add-ons will add up to the functionality of your website in the best possible way. Let’s take a look at a few popular ones!
WordPress Plugins
- Assemble information about the website visitors (Analytics)
- Collect information from the website visitors through forms
- Optimize your website (SEO)
- Automatically store data from the website in the backup
- Add personalized experience and functionality (Chat)
- Keep your website protected from any threats or viruses (Security)
Wix Apps
- Collect users/visitors information through forms
- Collect information about the website visitors (Analytics)
- Access to blog
- Incorporate chat functionality into the site
- Connect social media platforms on the site
Contrasting WordPress, you may hardly find any SEO plugin for Wix. Yet, it still contributes to search engine optimization. In most cases, apps and plugins are typically produced by third parties.
Ease of Use
When we talk about ease of use, Wix provides you a simple interface to get started. As soon as you sign up, it will provide you multiple template options to choose from that go well with your business idea. Once you opt for the theme, there is a drag and drop color editor. You can easily create new pages and position them as per your choice within seconds. On the other hand, the initial steps on WordPress with the CMS may look somewhat challenging especially if you are a beginner. Though you can go through articles and tutorials explaining the process step by step to get started. As you start understanding the WordPress interface, you are more likely to get the job perfectly done.
Data Control
Data ownership is one of the major decisions when it comes to choosing a website builder. It commonly includes the copy of data that you can download or shift content from one builder to another. If you want to build a website on Wix, remember the content is owned by the Wix servers and cannot be transferred anywhere else. You cannot export the pages, sites, or any embedded files to an outside host. However, with WordPress, you will have complete authority over your data. Whether you want to download it or export it to an external host, everything is under your control.
Conventional and Unconventional Features
If you want a website packed with conventional features, you may want to choose Wix. On the contrary, WordPress is more suitable for unconventional features since many themes or plugins support it. The popularity of WordPress is because of its extensive network of ecosystems accommodating 12,000+ themes and 55,000+ plugins. For example:
- Integrating bbPress will add a discussion forum on your website.
- Buddypress adapts your website into a social platform.
- Yoast SEO is a popular plugin for search engine optimization incorporating XML sitemaps, Meta title, canonical URLs, and much more.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is a very controversial argument! Some people prefer Wix for SEO while others choose WordPress. Well, both of them are almost equal when it comes to on-page SEO. They have short and friendly URLs. You can add alt tags to images, change titles and Meta descriptions, and generate sitemaps for quick and efficient crawling. Also, both of these web builders are mobile-friendly. You can conveniently connect to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Webmaster tools, etc. If we talk about off-page SEO, we would recommend WordPress considering its better control over it. It involves many advanced options for crawling and indexing that can indirectly influence the SEO and overall ranking of your site.
Design & Flexibility
Wix offer around 300 free templates segmented into multiple categories for lifestyle blogs, restaurants, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, etc. Also, it creates an exclusive mobile version but you need to re-align a few elements using drag and drop. On the other hand, if you are familiar with HTML and CSS for WordPress, you can modify the template code and get the website exactly as you want. WordPress offers a lot of responsive themes as well. If you are a beginner, you might want to go with Wix for easy customization. For complete control and advanced options, WordPress makes a perfect selection.
Ecommerce: Adding an Online Store
You are more likely to find an online store section on Wix integrating multiple payment options. However, it is only suitable for small businesses. For example, the tax and shipping options are very limited yet they do support digital goods and come cost-effective. On WordPress, there is a third-party plugin involved and therefore you don’t face any of these problems. One popular plugin is WooCommerce, it offers almost everything you need for an online store. Though you need to pay for premium or extra features such as Authorize.net CC payment gateways.
Final Verdict
If you have a small business, both WordPress and Wix offer efficient and secure solutions. The eCommerce price for Wix is comparatively lower and offers easy to use interface. On the other hand, if the level of complexity is high on your website and you are looking forward to more secure and advanced features, we recommend you choose WordPress. It has many innovative themes and plugin options available to make the most out of your website. It’s an overall superior web publishing platform and you can accomplish a lot more with it in the long run. Looking for more information? You may want to take a look at why WordPress is better than Wix.
2018 · 
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