WordPress is the most popular and considered the most efficient content management system (CMS) in the world by most in the know. That said, it’s definitely not the only contender. Wix, for example is an up and coming, popular option that has many powerful features. It’s a platform that many talk about and choose. So, what is the difference between Wix and WordPress? What makes their platforms different? What keeps WordPress at the head of the pack?
The Main Difference Between Wix and WordPress.Org
When you look at the major factors that define a CMS platform, they come down to cost, user friendliness, design, versatility and eCommerce capability. Let’s examine a few of these factors. Then, we’ll break it down in summary for you.
*Before we begin, it’s important to remember that Wix is not a self-hosted solution, while WordPress.org is. That means you cannot move your site or keep any of its contents with Wix.
Cost
Cost will vary, whatever the platform you choose. It depends solely on your needs. Of course, the best solution cost-wise is one that allows you to do what you need to do within your budget.
Wix provides a basic website builder, and it’s free. You will get Wix branded ads included on top and at the bottom of your website. This may be considered a downside for many. Another downside for many with the free builder is the inability to use a custom domain name. The site address will have this format: username.wix.com/sitename. Other limitations make the free builder a poor choice for serious users.
Wix premium sites allow you to remove ads and add other features. The sites come with different storage and bandwidth choices, on monthly or yearly payment plans. Get the Unlimited plan for $12.42/mo. If you also want eCommerce, get eCommerce plan for $16.17/mo. The cost is extra for adding any apps with your Wix site.
WordPress software comes with the advantage of being free, for anyone to use. That’s right, it’s totally free. Two major things you need to provide, though are your own domain and hosting service. You get to customize your domain around your branding and own it yourself. There are a number of WordPress hosting providers that you can choose from, like BlueHost. Getting a domain and hosting is often quite cheap. BlueHost is as low as $3.95/mo, for example.
Cost can become a factor in your WordPress site if you start using premium site themes and plugins. You can keep that cost at zero or at quite a minimum using some of the thousands of free themes and plugins available. What’s also nice about adding plugins is that it doesn’t affect the cost of your hosting plan.
Difference Between Wix and WordPress Summary
WordPress has the edge over Wix with many flexible and inexpensive plans through lots of web hosting companies. You can use your WordPress site in any way you want.You are limited to plans and what you can do with Wix.
Both Wix and WordPress are easy to use. You don’t need to learn code for use of either platforms. Although, there is a difference between Wix and WordPress in this regard. Wix comes with a drag and drop interface and a WYSIWYG interface. Wix has the edge in this category. WordPress has a small learning curve for beginners, but thousands of themes make customization fun and easy.
Wix has over 500 ready-to-use templates. They are designed for different uses like business, eCommerce, personal. Once you select a template, you cannot change it, though. WordPress has thousands of free and paid themes. You can get limited support with free themes and premium support with paid themes. You can also change your WordPress theme. You can download the free themes right from the WordPress.org directory. Paid themes can be accessed through WordPress theme shops like ThemeLab, StudioPress and others.
When it comes to plugins, the difference between Wix and WordPress broadens. Wix has about 200 apps (plugins) you can add to your site. They are tailored to fit common requests from site owners. WordPress has over 38,000 free plugins available on WordPress.org. That doesn’t include premium plugins available from other WordPress plugin providers. (Note that plugins are third party software that when added to your platform gives you more features and functionality.)
When it comes to eCommerce, Wix has paid plans only. Through Wix, you can only accept payments through PayPal or Authorize.net. WordPress has a number of free plugins for eCommerce. Use these to easily build you online store. Then, sell anything you want, using addon plugins to any payment type you want to use. Your online business can easily expand and grow with WordPress eCommerce.
The difference between Wix and WordPress, taking all these factors into account, clearly makes WordPress far better as a CMS for nearly any kind of website need. You can get a lot more done with WordPress over time.
If you want to get quite serious about your online presence, marketing and branding, hire an expert, WordPress developer to completely refine and customize your solution. That’s where Prostyle Development comes in. We know WordPress and what makes it superior in nearly every way to other website platforms, for any type of need.