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Published: Feb 15, 2022, 12:00pm
Whether you want a website builder to host your blog or to build an e-commerce site for selling your handmade jewelry, both Wix and WordPress offer features suitable for most users. If a feature isn’t native to either platform, there are apps or plugins to help extend the capabilities of your site.
These website builders have different learning curves, and the one suitable for you depends on your needs and goals.
Featured Partners
1
Zyro
Starting price
$2.90 per month
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce (low-priced plan)
No
1
Zyro
On Zyro’s Website
2
Web.com
Starting price
$1.95 per month
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
E-commerce (low-priced plan)
Yes
2
Web.com
On Web.com’s Website
3
GoDaddy
Starting price
$6.99
Drag-and-drop editor
Yes
Built-in e-commerce
Yes
3
GoDaddy
On GoDaddy’s Website
When deciding between Wix and WordPress, know both are viable options that ranked well in our analysis of the best website builders. With Wix, you pay a monthly fee that encompasses both your website and hosting. WordPress.org is free, but you pay a hosting company to host your site. While Wix is very easy to use, it’s not nearly as customizable as WordPress.org. In the same vein, WordPress.org has a learning curve not found in Wix.
It’s important to note WordPress.org differs from WordPress.com; the former requires hosting, whereas the company ending in .com hosts your site on its own servers.
Read Forbes’ Review
Free to $49
per month
Yes
Yes
Wix offers a free plan, but the domain will be at wix.com, and there are ads. If you prefer a white-label experience, go with a paid plan. Website plans run from $14 to $39 per month. Business and eCommerce plans range from $23 to $49 per month. There are also Enterprise plans starting at $500 per month. Not sure which plan you need? Enjoy a 14-day free trial to test drive your package before committing.
Every paid plan gives a custom domain (so you don’t have to have yourwebsite.wix.com, it will be yourwebsite.com), a free domain name for a year, no ads and a free SSL certificate. Each plan under the Business and eCommerce options includes secure online payments, subscriptions, recurring payments, customer accounts, a custom domain, free domain for a year, no Wix ads and $300 in ad vouchers.
Free, plus hosting
Yes
Yes
WordPress.org is free to use, but you have to pay for a hosting company. You can find these companies for less than $10 per month. If you know HTML, Java or any other coding languages, you can make your site do virtually anything you want it to thanks to its open source software. If you’re not coding-savvy, you can still use templates, plugins and themes to give your site the look and function you need. There are nearly 60,000 plugins, many of which are free.
WordPress.org also has many free themes to use, and most host companies offer one-click install to make it easy to get started. Otherwise, you can purchase premium themes directly from the WordPress marketplace, or buy one on a site such as Etsy.
Wix offers its service for a fixed monthly price, and also has a free option. You can test drive a paid plan with its 14-day free trial. The website builder on WordPress.org is free, but you will need a hosting company so that your website has a place to “live.” Depending on how long you commit to the host, you can sometimes find one for less than $5 per month. In Forbes Advisor’s analysis of the best WordPress hosting services, we found DreamHost and HostGator to be two of the best options.
Both companies have drag-and-drop features, so you don’t need any special coding to get the desired look and feel of your site. However, if you want more customization, WordPress.org is your best option because you can freely code with HTML. While Wix does allow you to insert HTML, it’s rather clunky.
With Wix, you get between 3 GB and 50 GB of storage. The storage available under WordPress.org depends on your underlying host company, but 50 GB is typical. Both companies also have free themes or templates, and plugins. Wix refers to plugins as apps. A paid plan with Wix will get you a free SSL certificate and a custom domain, whereas WordPress.org will depend on your host, but hosts typically provide this free.
Both Wix and WordPress.org offer suitable website options for most users. With one, you pay one fee for both the website builder and host. The other is free, but you pay a separate hosting company. We suggest using WordPress.org if you need advanced customization options, and choosing Wix if you want something that’s easy to use with no technical know-how.
Kathy Haan, MBA is a former financial advisor-turned-writer and business coach. For over a decade, she’s helped small business owners make money online. When she’s not trying out the latest tech or travel blogging with her family, you can find her curling up with a good novel.
Cassie is an assistant assigning editor, collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. She is passionate about economic development and is on the board of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a Content Operations Manager and Copywriting Manager at Fit Small Business.
