There are many website builders available in the market, of which WordPress or Wix are the most common choices these days. Website builders are nothing but the tool which enables you to build your own website without manual code editing. Choosing which web site builder will be the most appropriate for your website is very difficult when there are many choices available in the market.
So before choosing any either WordPress or Wix, you have to ask few questions to yourself:
- which platform addresses all your requirements?
- Do you have operation knowledge of selected platform?
Well nothing to worry about in this article I’ll compare the two most trending Website builders which will help you to opt-in for the platform that best suits your requirements
WordPress
WordPress is an open source Website builder used by many businesses around the world to create stunning websites and blogs. It’s fully customizable with the help of themes and plugins. As a result of it’s an open source system, anyone can develop WordPress themes and plugins and sell them.
The myth about WordPress is specifically for blog, but that isn’t true. It’s evolved into a full-fledged CMS (content management system) used by people and enterprises alike.
The popularity of WordPress is well recorded:
As of Apr 2016, WordPress was used by over twenty six percent of the top ten million websites.
WordPress is the preferred blogging system in use on the web- over sixty million websites.
Wix
Wix.com is a primarily cloud-based website builder platform that permits users to create responsive websites through the use of their on-line drag and drop tools.
Users could add functionalities to their websites using either Wix-developed or third-party applications.
Wix has over 10 lakh sites in use on the online. It needs no programing skills for users to create beautiful and functional internet presence with just drag and drop.
Here you can see the comparison of WordPress &Wix and interest of users over time [Source -Google Trends]. These results are based on following five factors as bellow:
- Pricing
WordPress
WordPress is an open source platform which equally means any one can get access to the source code and redistribute the same. WordPress is free to use, it has also free themes and plugins to use. But you have to spend some money on buying a domain name and hosting for your WordPress website. And if you want advanced plugins and themes then also you have to spend money.
Wix
Wix works on a freemium business model & hence they have premium plans to generate revenue. Wix users have to buy premium packages so that they connect to their own domains, add e-commerce functionality, buy more data storage and bandwidth, remove Wix advertisement and add other advance features and functions.
If you are using free version of Wix, it contains advertisement logos on the side and at the bottom after you publish your website goes live. - Ease of use
WordPress
The normal configuration contains the basics of WordPress but there are various advanced and powerful plugins which you can use and explore WordPress. WordPress is very easy to use for beginners as it provides a flexible platform.
If someone wants to use all the features and functions of WordPress then you should know different sections of WordPress such as menus, visual post editor, CSS, etc. There are number of themes and plugins which can help the beginners to learn WordPress better and faster.
Wix
Wix is a drag and drop website builder which is very easy to use.
You can edit, delete, or insert content anywhere on the web site without any restriction in a drag and drop interface.
In this way, we can conclude that Wix is easier to use than WordPress for any person who don’t know about coding and don’t have any technical knowledge. - Design and Development
WordPress
WordPress is a powerful website builder which helps you in making a beautiful and attractive website. You can customize your website according to your needs and can modify it at any time.
The WordPress design depends on the type of theme and different plugins you are using for you website. So using an attractive theme and powerful plugins plays a significant role in the creation of your website.
In WordPress there are large numbers of developers, introduction of new themes and plugins occurs frequently, making it easy for everybody to modify or update their websites from time to time.
Wix
Wix’s website building platform comes with great advanced features and functions such as HTML5 capabilities, 500+ designer made templates, hosting, innovative apps etc.
The designs of Wix are written in HTML5. They are very responsive. You can easily change the layout, rearrange items wherever you want to see them and customize your website with help of built-in tools of Wix.
The main disadvantage of using Wix is that once you have selected a template for your website, you cannot change it. You can customize or modify it, but you cannot switch to another template. - Community Support
WordPress
The WordPress Codex is one of the best resources available for WordPress. It is an online manual for WordPress users.
WordPress support forum powered by BBPress. This forum is another great resource for getting your all queries answered.
We can visit the support forum. The official URL of support forum is “wordpress.org/support”
WordPress has an active open source chat rooms like Slack and Internet Realy Chat(IRC). Both these chat rooms are very popular among people. You can join the chat room easily by downloading an IRC client on your computer.
This open source chat room provides great help to beginners and for those who are suffering from any problem in using WordPress. A number of WordPress experts pass out their time in these chat rooms frequently and happy to help out other WordPress enthusiasts. This is a great place to acquire knowledge about WordPress.
Wix
Wix provides a 24*7 support which enable the Wix users to get their problems solved quickly.
The official support URL for Wix is “wix.com/support” This is a place where all the Wix users can get their problems solved and get all their queries answered.
Wix also has a chat system to help the Wix users to acquire more knowledge about Wix.
If you have any high level query you can also contact the Wix support team through phone. - Customization
WordPress
WordPress has a great variety of beautiful, highly customizable themes and plugins which helps you to customize your own website.
Both free and paid themes (paid themes have more advanced features and better support) are available on different theme developer and plugin developer websites as well as on the official WordPress website.
At any point of time you can customize your WordPress theme easily with the help of a theme customizer which is based on What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) interface.
Wix
There is a great variety of templates available on Wix for every website you want to make. You can easily customize any template with the help of drag and drop feature in Wix.
You can see your results instantly while editing right in front of your eyes.
Which platform is better WordPress or Wix?
Both the platforms are powerful to deliver professional and responsive website. The decision should be based on what are as explained above and your requirements.
If you don’t know about coding or you are from a non-technical background, then you should choose Wix. It helps you to build your website quickly.
But if you have time to learn the basic WordPress features and you want more control over your website along with the availability to add a lot of features, then WordPress is the right option for you. For launching a blogging website, WordPress is the best option.
If you invest your time in learning WordPress, then you will get benefit in the long run. In my opinion I would say WordPress is better than Wix.