Wix Vs. WordPress – Exploring Ease of Use, Cost, Add-ons and Design

Imagine that your brand spanking new design is ready to go! You invested a good chunk of change. It’s gorgeous and you’re sure it’s going to transform the way that readers see you and the actions that they take on your site.

You’re ready to launch!! The designer asks for FTP access, Host access, and sometimes Domain Name Registrar access. ???

With determination akin to your teenager’s, you start searching for passwords…

Fred, you think, or maybe Jill, the last designer, set you up… but they aren’t answering you. Godaddy Support sends you to some screen that you don’t understand and acts as though it’s ‘simple’.

You despair of ever leaving the 60’s design world and start to feel as though your site is held hostage… and Liam Neeson is nowhere to be found.

If this is your situation or your friend’s, this month is for you. We’re covering a series of questions that are common to new bloggers:

• Why WordPress?
• How do I choose a domain name? or Business name? Should it be my name?
• Why does my designer need “FTP”?
• What is the difference between Registrar and Hosting? Does it matter?
• What do I have to know to hire a designer?
• How do I keep my site secure?

Question: Should I use Wix or WordPress?

Each platform has their pros and cons. Since WordPress is so popular and obviously my platform of choice (WordPress Barista hello!) let’s compare each to WordPress.

[info_box type=”note_box”]Note: When I’m comparing these to WordPress, I’m talking about the plain stand-alone WordPress (you can download at WordPress.org), NOT the one at WordPress.com.[/info_box]

Wix vs. WordPress

[col_wrapper]
[col2]WIX: Price: free & premium plans.

The most popular is $12.95/mo

Free plans leave your site on username.wix.com/sitename so you cannot have your own domain name unless you upgrade. Free plans include branded ads.

Main applications like analytics and social sharing are apps that you add-on to your account.[/col2]
[col2_last]WP: download for free

Monthly costs for WP include hosting ($6/mo and up). It isn’t fair to leave out that there will be a time or financial cost to maintenance with WP. Because it is so robust a platform, you will likely seek help for edits and upgrades, or need to spend some hours learning how to DIY.

Themes and plugins are free – some are premium if you choose that route. [/col2_last][/col_wrapper]

[col_wrapper][col2]Wix: Ease of Use

Wix shines in this area – it is an easy drag-and-drop editable interface.[/col2]
[col2_last]WP: Ease of Use

WordPress has a Word-like dashboard that requires a bit of a learning curve. To have full control, you’ll have to learn about the various sections: widgets, menus, pages and posts.[/col2_last]
[/col_wrapper]

[col_wrapper]
[col2]WIX: Design

Wix designs are all HTML5 and responsive. The Wix design module comes with over 500 themes. Once selected the themes can be edited and re-arranged easily.

The downside is that once selected, the theme cannot be changed.[/col2]
[col2_last]WP: Design

The benefit to WordPress is that the theme library has thousands of vetted and safe themes for use. To edit them beyond basic colors and headers will require a little css knowledge.

Themes can be written or changed at will.[/col2_last]
[/col_wrapper]

[col_wrapper]
[col2]WIX: Add-ons

On premium plans, Wix offers a WixStore (integrates with only 2 payment providers) and provides add-ons for most commonly requested features: social sharing, analytics, contact forms, email lists, etc.[/col2]
[col2_last]WP: Add-ons

There are over 40,000 plugins in the WordPress Plugin Library. It is one of the best features of WordPress. If you can imagine it, there is likely a plugin for it!

WordPress add-ons are the leader in all major website builders.[/col2_last]
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I hope this helps you decide which application is more suited to your needs. If you decide to go with WordPress and need some help, check out the resources tab or look into our All in One service.