Wix vs WordPress: 5 Differences to Help You Choose Best

When it’s time to create a new website, the tools that you use will directly impact the quality of the end result. Even what may appear to be simple websites can require money, time, and know-how that will help steer your project toward success. For millions of website owners, understanding the differences between Wix vs WordPress is the first step in a successful website-building endeavor.

The first main difference between Wix vs WordPress is that WordPress is a CMS (content management system). Wix, on the other hand, is a simple website builder.

Both of these platforms allow users to build websites from the ground up, and they share a similar goal: To give their users the ability to create beautiful, functional websites without being overly complicated or technical.

In this guide, we’re going to pit Wix vs WordPress in a head-to-head battle to measure how each solution stacks up against the other in five key categories.

And in the end, you’ll know exactly which solution is the best one for your website-building project.

Let’s dive in.

Comparing Wix vs WordPress In 5 Key Categories

There are five main comparative categories to look at when deciding if you’re going to use Wix or WordPress for your next website build.

1. How Easy Is It To Use Wix vs WordPress?

When you get started working with Wix, you’ll see that their signup process is very simple. After getting signed up, Wix will ask you what type of website you’re looking to build. When you answer that question, you’ll be immediately directed to the Wix collection of website templates within the category you’ve chosen.

After making your template selection, you’ll be able to start manipulating the look of your site by using the Wix drag-and-drop editor. From here, it’s easy to create new web pages using a drop-down menu without needing to exit the editor, and you can switch between pages in mere seconds.

When you first begin working with the WordPress CMS, you may be a little intimidated by what needs to be done before getting started. Unlike Wix, WordPress doesn’t really do a lot of hand-holding through the process.

The good news is that there are thousands of tutorials and articles across the web that cover every step of this straightforward process. These WordPress tutorials are the best place to get started learning how to launch your WordPress site, choose the best theme, create new pages, and build a custom site that perfectly suits your needs.

Just remember that getting to know the ins and outs of WordPress can take a little bit of time, especially for beginners.

Because of this reason, for ease of use, round one of the Wix vs WordPress battle goes to Wix.

2. How Much Customization Does Each Platform Allow?

For this Wix vs WordPress comparison round, it’s important to look at two different aspects of website customization:

• Design customization
• The ability to employ advanced website features

The Wix platform offers you hundreds of different website templates to choose from. Every one of them is fully mobile-responsive and will allow you to manipulate the editor to add your own personal touches.

That’s a good start.

If you’re looking to implement some advanced website features, you’ll find that Wix has a catalog of around 80 different apps. Each one of them can be added to your Wix site in just a few seconds.

The Wix add-on apps range from pricing tables to reservation systems to form builders and more.

WordPress offers thousands of different free and premium themes that you can choose from. The best place to start looking for a theme is in the WordPress theme repository, which currently boasts nearly 8,800 different free themes.

You can also browse available themes on sites like Elegant Themes, ThemeForest, Themeisle, and many others.

Then there’s Kadence Theme, which is a free solution that packs all of the power of many premium themes. Kadence features a revolutionary new way of building WordPress sites that makes web design fun again.

It’s definitely worth checking out when you’re in the process of choosing the theme you want to run on your site.

Then there are the WordPress plugins, which are similar to the Wix apps. When it comes to plugins, WordPress is the king of the hill.

Right now, there are nearly 60,000 free plugins available to download and use in the WordPress plugin repository. And the number of plugins keeps growing every day.

There are also thousands of premium plugins that you can use to customize your site in any way you can imagine. The first two plugins to look at are BackupBuddy and iThemes Security Pro.

BackupBuddy is a WordPress backup plugin that over 1 million WordPress sites currently trust. It’s an easy-to-use solution that will ensure that your site is never lost in the event of a hack, malicious attack, data corruption, or even user error.

The WordPress platform doesn’t have any built-in backups. That’s why it’s important to have a solid backup solution like BackupBuddy.

The iThemes Security Pro solution is a WordPress security plugin that provides your website with full lock-down protection against the thousands of possible hacking attempts perpetrated on WordPress sites each day. This simple-to-use plugin will take all of the guesswork out of WordPress security, making it easy to protect and secure your WordPress site.

From there, start implementing plugins that allow you to create the kinds of customization your site needs. 

If you can imagine it, chances are there’s a plugin for it.

Because of these reasons, the second round of Wix vs WordPress is a blowout in favor of WordPress. Anyone who has worked with both platforms will tell you that WordPress is the king of customization options.

3. Website Security

When it comes to site security, WordPress and Wix take two completely different approaches.

Aside from the basics, such as selecting a strong password and using 2FA (Two-Factor Authorization), Wix takes site security completely out of the site owner’s hands. In fact, Wix promises to handle the security aspects of your site on its own. 

In other words, you sign up for a Wix account, pay for their services on the plan that suits your needs, and as long as your payments continue to clear, the Wix people will promise to keep your site safe from hacks and malicious attacks.

WordPress puts website security directly into the hands of the site owner. As a WordPress site owner, it’s your job to choose the best host, keep WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated, check for errors, and keep your site locked down.

And while this may sound like a lot of responsibility, most of the process is common sense. And remember, a WordPress security plugin like iThemes Security Pro can assist you with the vast majority of security protocols.

Your WordPress website is only as secure as you make it. And with a powerful security plugin, you’ll take the worry out of website security.

Because of this, WordPress takes round three of the bout versus Wix. Fully securing a WordPress site isn’t that difficult to do. And you shouldn’t have to worry about a lot of security issues if you’re running a good security plugin.

Most importantly, unlike Wix, WordPress puts security into your hands. With WordPress, you have the ability to make your site as secure as you choose.

4. Website Support

The Wix website building platform offers a highly detailed knowledge base that you can search at your leisure. They also offer email and phone support (you can’t call them up and talk to them, but they give you the ability to request a callback).

One thing you’ll quickly learn about the Wix support team is that they use a lot of templated messages in their communication. If you have an issue that is complex or doesn’t have a simple answer, you’ll probably need to write them several times before you get the issue resolved.

Generally speaking, the Wix support team will reply to any inquiry within 24 hours, which seems reasonable.

WordPress is very different from Wix when it comes to site support. In fact, since WordPress is an open-source platform, it doesn’t offer any direct customer support outside of their extensive knowledge base.

It’s important to know, however, that full libraries could easily be filled with the thousands of articles that have been published on the web about how to carry out any action you can imagine using WordPress.

Beyond that, most themes and plugins feature developer support for their products. This will allow you to have an expert at your fingertips whenever you have a question on specific themes and plugin functions.

When it comes to website support, round four ends in a draw. While Wix has direct customer support, it’s not always the best for more complex issues. With WordPress, finding help on specific issues will require a search engine. But rest assured that you’ll find the answer to nearly any question if you take the time to look.

5. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Comparison Between Wix vs WordPress

A few quick Google searches will show you that Wix sites haven’t had the best reputation for SEO in the past. The issue seems to mainly come from a time when Wix was still running a website builder that was Flash-based.

However, in 2012, Wix changed over to a completely new HTML5-based platform. At this time, they began implementing all of the modern SEO options, such as page titles and descriptions, and customizable URLs.

They have also included 301 redirects and the ability to add canonical URLs to web pages.

This table shows you a full Wix vs WordPress SEO feature list.

One noticeable area that Wix struggles with SEO is in the page loading speeds. In recent years, they’ve tried to improve page load speeds by adding more advanced SEO features, such as improved image compression and page caching. However, many Wix site owners aren’t always happy with how fast their pages load, even when they follow the best possible SEO protocols.

With WordPress, you’re completely free to handle SEO in any way that you choose. Of course, the WordPress core software doesn’t have many SEO-specific features built into it. But if you install the right SEO plugin, your options for perfecting your site SEO will be almost limitless.

The Yoast SEO plugin is a great place to start. But there are several other great alternatives, such as:

• All In One SEO Pack
• SEO Press
• Rank Math
• Squirrly
• WP Meta SEO
• Broken Link Checker

With WordPress, you’ll also have a lot more options for boosting your page load speeds. For example, you can choose whatever host you’d like for your website. Some site hosts deliver your pages to users faster than others. Liquid Web is a great hosting option if you’re looking for lightning-fast website performance that will boost your overall SEO rankings.

You can also use different plugins to cache and minify your site pages. This will further increase site speed and performance.

Round five lands again in the favor of WordPress over Wix. While the SEO options that Wix offers may be sufficient for beginning site owners, they are sufficient for sites that are in competitive niches.

With WordPress, you’ll have a full arsenal of SEO tools available at your fingertips. And you really can become an SEO pro.

Wix vs WordPress: Which One Is Better?

When comparing Wix vs WordPress side-by-side on these five key differences, the final decision in the debate between the two platforms goes to WordPress.

This is because WordPress enables either beginning or experienced users to fully customize every single detail of their site. And even though the WordPress platform requires that its users take website security into their own hands, it also provides users with every tool they’ll need to run a fully secure website.

And remember, there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of blog posts, forums, tutorials, and articles online that can help you tackle any issue or question that you encounter during the learning process.

That’s not to say that Wix doesn’t have its place in the website building world. In fact, you’ll find that Wix is extremely easy to use and provides many different customization options. If what you’re looking for is a simple, aesthetically-pleasing website that you can get running immediately, Wix could be a good solution.

Just remember that if you plan on scaling up your site at a later date, you’ll be limited on how far you can go with site customization. With WordPress, you can start with a simple site and scale up later without any hassle.

Choosing the best website-building platform is a decision that serious website owners don’t take lightly. While each of these options comes with its own unique pros and cons, once you take the dive into the solution that best fits your needs, the process of creating your website can finally begin.

Currently, over 65 million websites worldwide are running on the WordPress CMS. Will yours be the next one?

Can You Use Both Wix and WordPress On the Same Site?

Using Wix and WordPress together to power your website isn’t necessarily the most straightforward solution. But it is possible to do, and in some cases may be ideal.

For example, you can use the Wix platform to power your homepage, services page, about page, etc., while using WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin to sell your store products on a subdomain.

By doing this, you can combine the functionality of each platform into one solution.

Wix vs WordPress: Which One To Choose?

With around 40% of the Internet currently powered by WordPress, it stands at the top of the hill for website builders and content management systems.

And if you choose WordPress to power your website, you’ll soon begin to discover why so many other website owners trust the platform.

Remember to start your WordPress journey by getting the essentials:

• BackupBuddy
• iThemes Security Pro
• Yoast SEO

Also, take a look at Kadence Theme when choosing which theme you want to run. You’ll find its flexibility and ease-of-use is second-to-none.

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