Wix or WordPress – What is the best platform for my site?

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Wix or WordPress – What is the best platform for my site?

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Wix or WordPress – What is the best platform for my site?

Wix vs. WordPress is not an easy decision, especially if you have no experience and are starting with building websites.

The last thing you want to do is devote a lot of time, money and energy to set up a website and then discovering that you need to build it again because you have chosen the wrong site builder.

In this article, we will also explore Wix, a popular hosting and website building service, and present an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Wix and WordPress.

At the end of this article, you will know which of these two platforms is the best solution to build your site. And you … are you the Wix team or WordPress?

Check out!

1. Wix or WordPress: A Quick Overview

In a rather bizarre comparison, think of Wix and WordPress as if they were noodle brands. Wix would be the Bowl of Microwave Noodle. And WordPress would be Barilla (or any pasta noodles that are not pre-ready).

Let’s say that Wix is like Noodle because it is a platform with pre-ready website templates in which you will not need the knowledge or the time to build your site. Just replace pictures, texts, and logo that already comes in the models by yours.

However, imagine that after placing that powder of the Noodle seasoning you decide to make a Noodle in the pesto sauce. You smell something that will not work, right?

Well, in the same way, this happens when creating a website. If you want to customize a site made in Wix and modify the structure of the site template that you choose, you will not be able to do that. This is due to the fact that Wix is a cast builder, which does not give you access to a number of features and limits the power of creation.

In the same way that Wix is an easy-to-use platform, it is also heavily embedded and does not allow you to include some more advanced features on your site.

That is if you want to have a website without much effort, but without so much capacity, perhaps Wix is the right choice.

Remembering that Wix offers a free version, but it is in the paid version where you can have a custom domain (www.suamarca.com.br) and also get access to the special features.

The main differences between Wix and WordPress are:

  • In Wix, any person without technical knowledge can create a website, since the constructor allows the person to just drag the elements. However, more advanced customizations and special features are not possible.
  • Because Wix is an all-in-one platform, it limits your control to a number of files that are essential for you to optimize your site to be well positioned on Google. That’s right, a website when it’s created it needs a lot of code optimizations so it can stay on the first page of Google and attract thousands of hits. In Wix, this is harder to do.
  • WordPress requires a little more knowledge, though there are some plugins that make building as simple as WIX. In the case of WordPress, it is interesting to have the follow up of a specialist to be able to build your site in a professional way.
  • In WordPress, the user has complete control over the code and files of the server, and with that, it is MUCH easier to optimize your site to be well positioned in Google

Wix made the decision to sacrifice flexibility and user customization to create a much easier site building experience. WordPress, on the other hand, sacrifices a bit of ease for the inexperienced user but allows you to customize all the elements of your site and leave it with a more professional and attractive face.

In addition to these essential differences, there are also some other notable differences that we will address in more detail as:

  • Control over codes and information;
  • Website maintenance;
  • Price;

2. Wix or WordPress: What are the facilities of each platform?

In terms of ease of creating a website quickly, Wix has a great advantage. However, Wix does not provide many functions beyond the basic ones already provided in the free plan, but it can be a good option for those who need a quick solution and without much planning.

WordPress is also an easy-to-use platform, but you’ll have to pay attention to a few details, especially when it comes to hosting because you need to have some technical knowledge to get the best performance out of your site.

Wix

Here’s how easy it is to create a site with Wix: First, you sign. You then choose the segment of the site you want to create:

Let’s create a website in the business segment. Now that you’ve chosen your segment, you can select some of the pre-set templates:

And after choosing your template, you are directed directly to the “Wix Editor” where you can easily change the text, images, and other elements as in the picture:

Once you’ve positioned all the elements of your page, you can save the layout, and choose to publish your changes, or save them to continue later.

The whole process is simple and undeniably easy for beginners … assuming you like pre-built templates and do not want to greatly customize your site.

WordPress

Whereas, with Wix you can register and start editing your site immediately, in WordPress it is necessary to make some settings.

Before you begin, you will need to hire a hosting service and register a domain. Usually this is a very simple process, and although some hosting services already offer domain packages and hosting, it is advisable to make the purchase separately.

It is worth mentioning that in Brazil, the company responsible for the sale of domains is the Registro BR.

After you install WordPress (or seek a professional to do it), you’re ready to choose a “theme” to set the look of your site. Your screen will look something like:

 

You can find paid and free themes, and some themes may include a demo version, so, much like Wix, you just need to edit some elements and populate with your content, rather than having to create your site from scratch.

WordPress is not as simple as Wix, but there are already plugins like the Elementor that make it easier to set up the site. So WordPress is as easy as Wix but with many other options to customize, optimize and expand your site.

 

3. Wix or WordPress: Which one has the best performance?

It’s a bit difficult to compare WordPress vs Wix when it comes to performance, due to the different way each platform is hosted. However, we have gathered the main differences.

As we mentioned earlier, Wix is ​​a 2-in-1 platform that combines web site creation with hosting, and can not be any different from that. This means that essentially you are paying to have access to a website builder and hosting, all within one package. And Wix does not allow the user to make modifications to the code, which is fundamental to the performance.

Performance includes the speed and reliability of your site: how quickly pages load and how often they go offline. WordPress, when hosted on quality servers, tends to perform much better than Wix. During our test pages were loaded more than three times faster. WordPress sites also had a slightly better uptime, though both have performed well in this category. Having an uptime of 99.95% means that your website is offline only 0.05% of the time.

Wix Performance

 

  • 5.2-second page load speed (slow)
  • 99.95% uptime

WordPress Performance

 

  • 1.7-second page loading speed (fast)
  • 99.97% uptime
  • Server performance depends on your hosting provider. We tested using Infinite, our recommended WordPress host.

Wix offers an internal CDN system, which is responsible for optimizing the delivery of content to the end user. However, the use of many plugins and visuals can disrupt the proper functioning of your site.

With WordPress, you can use any hosting plan you prefer. This allows you to hire any hosting service around the world. So you can choose the ones that offer the best performance and the most affordable price for your company.

Although WordPress does not have a CDN service by default, you can use Cloudflare, a popular Google-maintained CDN service that streamlines content delivery simply and without cost.

The important thing is that you keep your site loading time below 3 seconds, so you will be within the standards set by Google itself.

 

4. Wix or WordPress: Customization and Flexibility

Whereas Wix won for ease, WordPress excels when it comes to flexibility and customization.

Wix

If you want to add some functionality to your Wix site, you will need to turn to the “Wix App Market”:

 

The Wix App Market allows you to add more functionality to your site, even though it has both free and paid features, Wix has yet to reach the power of WordPress customization.

Currently, the Wix App Market only has 288 apps in total. Extremely small amount compared to the thousands of plugins that are continuously developed by the WordPress community.

What’s more, you’re also extremely limited when it comes to making some necessary tweaks to the code (or even being able to hire a developer becomes impossible).

Wix does not allow you to add custom code, but only an “iFrame”, that is, a snippet of code, which still has a number of restrictions.

 

WordPress

With WordPress, you have more flexibility to create features for your site.

First, let’s start with plugins. WordPress plugins allow you to add new features or adjust existing features without having to know anything about programming. Currently, WordPress has over 53,000 different free plugins, which you can install for free or purchase some of the premium plugins.

Want to integrate your social networks with your site? Use some of the social media plugins. In addition to the typical plugins for managing your ads, there are plugins for just about every function you can imagine.

And once again the acclaimed page builder Elementor, it is extremely effective for building layouts without having to be knowledgeable in programming (just having webdesigner skills).

In addition to that, you (or a developer) are free to add any custom code to your site, which offers even more flexibility. Unlike Wix, you can not add any code.

 

5. Wix or WordPress: How does E-commerce work?

Wix offers E-commerce functionality, but it’s not as flexible as what you can do with something like WooCommerce (which is the tool that turns a WordPress site into a virtual store)

Wix

With Wix, you can choose from a pre-built virtual store template or select a few apps available on the Wix App Market. For example, in the image below, we added from the WITES App Market, the UPSites virtual store page:

 

To insert products is very simple, and the text fields make the look more intuitive, but again, the lack of flexibility to customize the site, ends up discouraging its use.

If you’re just going to sell some T-shirts, Wix will probably serve you very well. But if you want to create a differentiated experience for your users and sell many products then it is better to use WordPress.

WordPress

While WordPress is the most used website builder in the world, a solution was created to turn it into a virtual store. This adaptation was named WooCommerce and was developed by the team that created WordPress.

In Built With, WooCommerce’s current 2018 market share is 23% of all Internet sites, only losing to “others” (which would be stand-alone e-commerce platforms or are not as expressive as to have a market share only for her):

 

As you can see, WooCommerce is more popular than any of its competitors. It is almost 2 times more popular than Magento, which represents thousands of sites.

I find it really interesting to compare the statistics of using WooCommerce with other e-commerce platforms.

This makes the most real numbers help us understand which platform is being used the most.

After installing WordPress, you’ll need to look for a plugin to add e-commerce functionality. The two most common options are:

 

  • WooCommerce – focused on the sale of physical products;
  • Easy Digital Downloads – usually used for selling virtual products;

 

In this great base of plugins for virtual stores, you can also find a “marketplace” of plugins to leave your store in the format you want. Just like in WordPress sites, this gives you a myriad of possibilities, making it easier to implement products, change images, and more.

You can even find plugins that make WooCommerce communication with order management, but it may be more convenient to hire a third-party service.

Although it is possible to adapt the Woocomerce plugin to other platforms, this would be an unnecessary effort, almost like “reinventing the wheel”.

 

6. Wix or WordPress: Who controls the information on each platform?

In the first moment, for the most inexperienced users, the ease in manipulating the data of your site may not seem very important thing, however it is something that if not treated in a careful way, can bring great problems. when we talk about data manipulation, we mean it’s possible to do things like:

 

  • Can you download a copy of your content?
  • Can you easily migrate your content to another website builder?

With regard to data manipulation, WordPress is the big winner.

Wix

If you are in doubt about how Wix manages the data, be aware that all content is on your own servers, which although it will lower the cost, makes it impossible for the user to transfer their data elsewhere.

It is also not possible to add preprogrammed pages, since Wix does not allow the user to access the directories and files of the system.

This may be the biggest hindrance for many companies not to include the Wix platform on their sites.

Some developers have already created some solutions that allow the user to migrate a Wix site to WordPress, but the reverse process is not possible.

WordPress

With WordPress, you are always in full control of all your files. You can import, export or change 100% of your files, and because the platform is open source, you can make changes to the CMS itself.

 

7. How does maintenance work on each of the platforms?

Wix keeps its platform completely closed, controlling most of the files and data that circulate in it. The advantage is that you do not have to worry about the security and maintenance of the platform.

With WordPress, you need to deal with these details, since all maintenance is the responsibility of the user himself

Wix

Wix automatically updates, and your site will probably only be attacked if your password is too fragile. This is because the system has little user intervention, so the Wix programmers can maintain platform security

WordPress

Already on the platform of WordPress, the user is in charge of maintaining the system, keep the codes always updated, so as not to damage the security of the system. So it’s important that you watch out for 3 points:

 

  • Safety;
  • Software update;
  • Back up your files daily (or schedule them to be done automatically);

It is very important that you follow these steps, but in case you are not aware, just hire an agency specializing in WordPress to manage your site.

 

8. How much does it cost to build a website in Wix and WordPress?

Wix offers a monthly recurring payment system and in case you decide to stop paying your site will go out of thin air. On the one hand we have the advantage that the payment has a low value, however the disadvantage is that it will be a payment forever, as if you were living for rent.

With WordPress, things are a bit different. In WordPress you can choose from several types of hosting, either a shared host or a Virtual Private Server (VPS), which most of the times offers superior cost-benefit to shared hosting.

Wix

Wix has some types of monthly plans, one for E-commerce and the other for regular sites.

 

Wix also offers a free plan, but besides you can not use your own domain (www.suamarca.com.br), this service mode also links ads on your site, which can end up making your user experience very bad.

WordPress

WordPress, as I said before, is an open source platform and you do not have to pay any money to use it. However, the best lodgings are paid for, so a small investment is necessary for you to be able to publish your site.

In general, the main expenses that you will have with WordPress, are:

 

  • The cheapest hostels in a VPS can reach US $ 2.50 (approximately US $ 10);
  • Buying the domain of your site (for example www.empresadojoao.com.br), in the Br Register costs R $ 40,00, but you can get a lower value for the .com domains at namecheap.com.

In addition, you may also want to purchase some “premium” themes and / or specific plugins. Although they are not fundamental to running WordPress, they may be important for some of your project’s functions to work well.

 

9. Wix Vs. WordPress: Which is better when it comes to SEO?

This is a controversial subject, some argue that it is possible to rank in the first positions the sites developed in Wix, others say that is impossible due to the limitations of the platform. But when we talk about SEO On Page, it is clear that it is possible to work with both platforms:

 

  • Ability to change pages, titles, meta descriptions, tags H1-H6;
  • Generate sitemaps in a simple and automated way;
  • Add “alt” tags on your site’s images;
  • Leave the url’s of your site friendly to users and robots of Google;
  • Mobile Friendly;
  • You can install Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster, etc. There are plugins for both platforms.

For the SEO Off Page, the platform will not influence as much, since you will create links externally. But in WordPress you will have greater control over the content, and some factors that can help you to speed up the indexing of your pages.

When it comes to SEO, it is important to define a strategy that involves not only link acquisition, but also page load time, site architecture, keywords being used, responsive and mobile friendly site, relevant content for your audience, are the most important factors.

Google is increasingly demanding with site optimization, how the site delivers a better user experience (UX), and whether that content really answers your questions.

 

10. Wix or WordPress: Which one should I use?

If you do not have experience with website development, content management, and you do not want to make your site professional, perhaps the best option is Wix.

Wix allows anyone with little experience to change page information, but does not allow for many customizations.

Now if you want to have something more professional, for most users, we recommend using WordPress as it is by far one of the best platforms for building websites. Some important points are:

 

  • Although it is still adapting to become simpler for users with little experience, the WordPress community is always willing to help beginners, which makes this CMS more attractive. What’s more, companies and professionals can help you by providing services related to website development and maintenance;
  • Currently there are thousands of plugins that optimize users’ time, allowing you to test various features without harming your files;
  • You are always in control of your data, you can make the modifications you want and get the best platform performance;

In general, if you want to have more freedom to modify some aspects of the site, WordPress is the best choice. As we showed earlier, today it is possible to use WordPress builders that leave their look identical to that of Wix.

 

11. What kind of company should I hire to build my site?

It is normal that after reading all this information you want to build your own website, but as you can see there are many details that make your site more attractive among so many competitors.

Although platforms make it easy for inexperienced users, you may not have this learning time available, after all the market changes quickly.

In this case, the most recommended is that you focus on the main activities of your company and hire a company that specializes in website development, this way you optimize your time and receive a flawless website that will help you sell much more .

We seek to clarify the main doubts of the users on these 2 platforms, showing their advantages and disadvantages. Although each project is specific, we believe in the power of WordPress.

And in your company, what platform do you use? Wix or WordPress? Are they getting good results? Share your doubts with us.

 

Do you want to receive a quote for creating a professional website?

 
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