Wix is considered one of the better website builders, with over 200 million customers worldwide. However, Wix’s pricing plans can be confusing. So, you may feel lost going through them. Rest easy as we have performed the groundwork for you.
How Does Wix Work?
Offered as an online service, Wix lets you work with a drag-and-drop visual editor to build your website even if you have zero coding knowledge and no prior training.
Think of it as using building blocks to create your personal design.
The system is so intuitive that it will likely only take you moments to familiarise yourself with. Once your basic site is ready and visually acceptable to you, Wix Website Builder also lets you add in additional elements as separate add-ons to your site such as form builders, forums, online stores and tons of other things.
Examples of Websites Built with Wix
Here are some great sites built with Wix.
How Much Does Wix Cost?
In line with the number of users on its site, Wix has a wide spread of what it calls ‘Premium Wix Accounts’ available that range in price from $4.50 per month all the way to $35 per month.
To see these numbers in context – read our study on website cost.
What it doesn’t advertise widely is that you can still use the drag and drop editor for free – though their free accounts come with many limitations.
Below is a breakdown of Wix’s pricing plans and some excellent alternatives. The Wix pricing strategy seems awfully similar to how hosting companies do it – the more you pay, the better features you get. There are distinct differences between each of the plans so do go through them carefully.
Wix Website Plans & Pricing
| Features | Free | Connect Domain | Combo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Price/month | $0 | $4.50/mo | $8.50/mo |
| Storage (SSD) | Up to 500 MB | 500 MB | 3 GB |
| Bandwidth | Up to 500 MB | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Free SSL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remove Wix Ads | Wix ads on every page; Wix favicon in URL | No | Yes |
Wix eCommerce Plans & Pricing
| Features | Business Basic | Business Unlimited | Business VIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Price/month | $17/mo | $25/mo | $35/mo |
| Storage (SSD) | 20 GB | 35 GB | 50 GB |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Showcase Video Hours | 5 hours | 10 hours | Unlimited |
| eCommerce Features | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alternatives to Wix (at Similar Cost)
1. Shopify
Website: https://www.shopify.com/
If you’re into eCommerce, you would have heard of Shopify. After all, it is one of the best fully-hosted eCommerce platforms. Shopify is a market leader with its comprehensive eCommerce, advanced marketing features, and more.
What Makes Shopify a Great Wix Alternative
Shopify’s website builder (graphic user interface (GUI)-driven) is easy to use, and you don’t need to know any coding to build your website. Like others on this list, once your website is up, your site is hosted by the provider.
Shopify excels in its all-in-one eCommerce system – online and offline via integrated POS Systems. Additional functionalities include shopping cart features, abandoned cart recovery, payment processing, inventory management, shipping, and more.
Like Wix, Shopify charges transaction fees for every sale unless you use their Shopify Payments. Hence, Shopify is a good choice if you plan on an online store using their payment gateway.
Learn more about our Shopify review here.
Shopify Pricing
You can try their Starter plan at $5/month and start selling without a website through social and messaging apps. Shopify’s Basic plan at $29/month is the most popular. You get the basic functionalities to operate your store, including basic reports, two staff accounts, and others.
Most impressively, Shopify offers an option for those running enterprise-scale websites. If you operate a colossal eCommerce platform, you can opt for Shopify Plus, which starts at $2,000/month.
2. Squarespace
Website: https://www.squarespace.com/
Squarespace is a capable and beginner-friendly website builder that allows you to build a website in under an hour. Squarespace's Image Manager, a one-stop center to organize and optimize your visuals, allows easy drag and drop with no hassles. You have access to stock images from Getty Images and Unsplash at a fair price.
What Makes Squarespace a Great Wix Alternative
Unlike Wix, Squarespace offers fewer templates for you to use. However, their mobile-friendly templates are stunning with more customization options. Squarespace makes blogging simple with its floating editor and is packed with all the essentials to publishing blog posts – categorization, enabling comments, applying tags, audio blocks, social sharing, and more.
Read our Squarespace review to find out more.
Squarespace Pricing
Unlike Wix, Squarespace does not have a free plan. Squarespace’s Personal plan at $16/ month is equivalent to $192 a year. However, if you pay monthly, it is higher at $23/month. At least Squarespace is clear on their pricing web page, unlike Wix with a fine print at the bottom of the page. Also, all Squarespace plans come with unlimited bandwidth.
3. Weebly (Square)
Website: https://www.weebly.com/
Like Wix, Weebly offers a flexible website builder with an enticing user interface that makes creating a website easy as pie with zero coding knowledge. Drag and drop, add or edit text and images, that's it. All parts are pre-built, so the time spent is vastly reduced.
What Makes Weebly a Great Wix Alternative
Weebly shines in its emphasis on user-friendliness. Hence, it’s perfect for newbies who aren’t tech-savvy. One strong point in its favor is the free templates that cover a good spread from modern to bold to classic themes that most find captivating. Their powerful customization tools help heaps too.
You can browse the Weebly App Center to seek more powerful tools and extend your website’s features to include eCommerce, social media, and more. My take is that Weebly is ideal for smaller businesses and startups.
Find out more from our Weebly review.
Weebly Pricing
A free plan is available from Weebly with another four paid plans. Like Wix’s free plan, Weebly's free plan is limited. You get a domain with the Weebly brand and no eCommerce features. If you wish to customize your domain, opt for the Connect plan at $5/month when paid annually.
The Pro plan at $12/month paid annually is the minimum you need for an online store.
4. Zyro (By Hostinger)
Website: https://zyro.com/
Zyro is a web publishing platform that makes creating and managing your own website easy. Although sold independently, the brand belongs to the reputable Hosting platform Hostinger. It features a built-in CMS and eCommerce system, so you can easily edit content and sell products from within the same platform.
What Makes Zyro a Great Wix Alternative
Zyro offers these platforms' typical ease of use. You get a code-free experience with templates (there are over 100 of these) and a fantastic interface. Customizing your website is also effortless, thanks to many supporting tools.
Aside from the website builder, Zyro includes other valuable tools for your website building needs. They have the AI Heatmap (identify image focus points), AI Writer (generic text generator), and Logo Maker.
Unlike Wix, Zyro allows you to update your template anytime you want. I would say that Zyro is more flexible and suited for beginners as they remove the need for any structural or technical skills.
Here's our Zyro review if you want to know more.
Zyro Pricing
Zyro makes its pricing straightforward with two tiers with no free plan. However, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee which helps. The Website plan (non-eCommerce) comes with all the goodies – unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, free domain for a year, connect your domain, free web hosting, and more at only $11.99/month!
However, if you need eCommerce features, opt for the higher tier Business plan at $14.99/month; the difference is minimal to secure eCommerce features! Zyro’s pricing is very competitive.
5. WP Engine
Website: https://wpengine.com/
WP Engine offers only Cloud-based Managed WordPress hosting solutions that run on Google’s Cloud platform. Coupled with WP Engine technologies like EverCache, your WordPress website enjoys blazing speeds.
What Makes WP Engine a Great Wix Alternative
WP Engine’s Visual Composer Website Builder is a live drag and drop editor for WordPress with a user-friendly interface. Premium themes are included with all plans and are Gutenberg-ready.
The editor has access to the Visual Composer Hub, a free cloud marketplace where you can find over 300 ready-to-use elements, templates, and extensions. Advanced users will appreciate the Visual Composer API that allows react-based content elements for custom projects.
WP Engine boasts data centers that spread the world, from the US, Middle East, Africa, and Europe, to the Asia Pacific. Your global audience will not have any issues accessing your website.
Read our WP Engine review to find out more.
WP Engine Pricing
Since WP Engine is a platform service provider, its plans differ from most standard hosting companies. Like Squarespace, you choose the pricing by month or by year. The Managed WordPress Startup plan is the most basic at $23/month if you commit annually.
However, if you are going for eCommerce, their eCommerce Solutions for Woo start from $56/month for a yearly price. Although niche, WP Engine is a worthy choice, especially when you need an impressive platform for your high-performance WordPress site.
Final Thoughts – Is Wix Worth It?
Wix shines in its drag-and-drop website builder and comprehensive features that allow a beautiful website within hours with absolutely zero coding knowledge. Many find the website builder streamlined and easy to use. The powerful add-ons extend website functionality leading to almost limitless possibilities. All in all, Wix is a solid offering.
That said, the eight alternatives to Wix listed above are all reputable global performers in their own right in the business community. Each with its strengths, so explore them thoroughly before deciding on the best one for you.
Also read – 20+ site builder platforms to create a website
Why Choose a Wix Alternative
While Wix shines in its powerful features, it isn’t flawless. Its free version isn’t enticing as you face limited storage and bandwidth with no custom domain. Also, you have to operate your website with their ads shown on every page.
There are also some restrictions as you cannot switch templates once you’re committed to one, and Wix does not allow you to export their sites. While these setbacks are more commercially motivated, many will still find them frustrating.
Although Wix is easy to use with its simple drag-and-drop website builder, it gets pricey as you need to move up the tiers. Also, most do not like that the templates are not compatible and cannot export Wix websites.
Hence, many look elsewhere for other reliable and more flexible alternatives to Wix.
FAQs on Wix Plans & Pricing
Yes, web hosting is included in all Wix plans at no additional cost.
You can cancel your Wix premium package easily from your Premium Subscriptions page. Note that if you purchase other services through Wix (ie. domain name, business email account) and no longer what them, you must also turn off the auto renew feature for these services separately.
No. Wix takes site migration completely out of users' hands. You are not allowed to export your Wix websites nor embed any elements of your site to another external host.
Wix Free supports up to three email campaigns, five built-in forms, and Wix-branded chat box – which is sufficient for any individual hobby or non-profit sites. If you wish to build an online store then the only plans suitable for you would be their three most expensive plans – Business Basic, Business Unlimited or Business VIP.
