WordPress is the most popular option when it comes to new website building. But in the recent years another website builder Wix is showing up in all places on the media. Both of them are website building tools but with different genes. Wix is a website builder while WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). Entrepreneurs love both as these easy to go website builders cut down their investments on a third party website developer. This blog is aimed at drawing out a comparison between these two website builders so as to help you chose your builder wisely.
- The basics:
Wix is a self made, all-in-one website builder that is perfect for freshers and non-coders. WordPress is an open source CMS that needs a little (if not fair) understanding of HTML codes. This makes a perfect clear picture that when it comes to building a website from scratch, WordPress is a wiser choice. And if you are a beginner less interested in devoting time in website building, Wix is the one for you.
- Content editor:
Content editing is the most crucial part when it comes to website building. After all, content is the king and you don’t want your king to bow down just because of the editor.
Wix:
- Wix has a visual drag and drop editor. It is similar to Powerpoint where you see some features and just drag them to your slide. Wix possess a similar property that allows you to move your desired element on your page.
- Most of the content is edited visually. Once you see it, you click it.
WordPress:
- WordPress comes with a variety of blocks in its editors. Whether you are using Elementor or any other editor some of the popular editor blocks list latest posts, media files, quotes, separator and paragraph.
- Often short codes need to be pasted while using plugins like WPForms or main menu sliders.
- Budget
The foremost thing that comes to play before choosing a website builder is the budget. While the pricing may bother a little for the well established business and sites, fresh freelancers always look for a budgeted and promising site.
Wix:
- The basic website builder in Wix does not allow having your custom domain name. Whatever you chose as your site name, Wix will show it as ‘wix.com/your site name’.
- Apart from it, Wix branded advertisements show up in every basic Wix builder plan (to get an ad free site, you have to upgrade your plan of course).
- The ground plan also does not allow you get the additional features of add-ons like Google Analytics, Favicons etc.
- There is a wide range of premium plans on Wix. While most of the users prefer the Unlimited monthly plan ($ 12.50 per month), e-commerce site owners tend to invest on eCommerce plans at $ 16.50 per month.
WordPress:
- One of the biggest pros of WordPress is that it is absolutely free!
- But you need to have a custom domain name and web hosting to install the dashboard. There are plenty of WordPress hosting companies in the market like Bluehost, Hostgator, GoDaddy etc.
- The costing of a WordPress site goes up as you prefer to include premium themes, plugins and tools.
- Website design
The first impression of your business that customers get is through your website appearance. It defines not only your industry but also your brand and personality. Make sure that your website is simple yet attractive.
Wix:
- Wix offers more than 500 customized templates for your business. You can further edit them as per your choice to make it look more attractive to your customers.
- But once you have chosen a template you cannot change it. You can edit it as much as you can but you cannot replace it.
WordPress:
- There are innumerable WordPress themes both on the WordPress directory and other sites like StudioPress and Themify.
- You can have a preview of them on your own site and decide which one to opt for. One good thing with WordPress is that you can install one theme and then unstill it if you don’t like its mood (and then again install another).
- There are both paid and free versions of the theme. Nevertheless, the paid WordPress themes offer advanced features and premium support options.
- User experience:
Website building tools should have a painless navigation. The easier to go on dashboard, the less time it will take to arrange the pages and contents.
Wix:
- Wix comes with an easy feature of drag and drop. There is no need to install extra plugins while website building.
- It is a blessing for the newbie who does not want to spend time in understanding the codes or the basics of a website builder.
- Wix allows its users to arrange pages, posts, media files and content in an user friendly environment.
WordPress:
- WordPress has a visual editor that allows theme customization, edit theme properties and then write content.
- There is no by default drag and drop feature with WordPress and beginners have to invest some hours while understanding the navigation bars, side menus and visual editors.
- There are numerous WordPress themes on the internet; both free and paid. But you have to customize them for your WordPress site before using them. Additionally, you also need to install helpful site plugins for better website design and performance. No doubt all these theme customization demands some basic WordPress learning which in turn requires a certain amount of time.
- Tools and plugins
The third party extensions that make website building a cake walk are the tools and plugins.
Wix:
- There are more than 200 applications on Wix (Wix call them apps) to help you in site building. Social media buttons, contact forms, email marketing and every other website building tools are just a click away from you.
- Most of the tools are free but a few of them also need a monthly payment.
WordPress:
- WordPress offers more than half lakh plugins if not more. You have every website needs as plugins; contact form, email pop ups, site rankings and every other thing you can think of.
- Often there are multiple plugins for the same feature. In that case, using the one with maximum number of downloads and recent updates are advised.
- Data portability:
When we have a back up of everything, why not of our website?
Wix:
- Data portability options in Wix are not that much flexible. One has to manually download every blog post, image and pages in XML format.
- Since, all the website content is hosted on Wix’s servers; according to their norms those data files cannot be ported to other sites except Wix.
WordPress:
- Data portability is super easy with WordPress. Just click the ‘Export’ option on the left side of your dashboard and all your content gets downloaded in XML format. WordPress also allows you to manually export your WordPress site to a new host if you wish to do so.
- Several other backup plugins are also there to help you with easy and regular backups of your website.
