WordPress vs Wix | CMS vs Web-Builder | Website design

The Pros-and-Cons of using WordPress vs Wix

There are 100s of articles written on this subject, but most of them address functionality rather than business fundamentals. If you are in business, whether as an individual or a company, the most important thing is a good long term business decision rather than technical bells-and-whistles or feeds-and-speeds.

We are not going to discuss functionality, as over time, functionality can change, be enhanced, and evolve for both solutions, so it is futile to make comparisons based on what is available now. However, there are some inherent issues in both platforms that can never be changed, hence you should make your choice based on how important you feel these are to you now, or will be in the future.

So lets examine some fundamental issues for both solutions.

What is Wix?

Wix is a web-builder solution like Weebly, Squarespace, and many others. In principal they are a service package also known as SaaS (Software as a Service) that combines hosting, web design tools, and support in one single package. Wix is currently the most popular web-builder package.

Web-builders are designed to provide cheap and easy means of providing non-technical people with the ability to set up and maintain a website. They are easy to deploy as they are a package, so no installation is needed, and mostly they use drag-and-drop to create a website, hence no coding.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System), just like Joomla or Drupal, which can be installed on any hosting server, enabling the user to create, manage, and run a website or a blog (hence Content Management System). Many hosting companies offer pre-installed WordPress, so you have less setting up to do.

WordPress is the most commonly used CMS with nearly 19% of the websites and blogs running on this package currently. Whilst WordPress was originally designed for Blogs, it is important to remember these days WordPress is the most popular Business Website platform. From hospitality, to Real Estate, to Services, to Blogs, you come across WordPress in every corner of the Internet and no longer just for blogs.

Proprietary vs Open Source

The most basic and fundamental difference between Wix (or any web-builder) and WordPress (or any CMS) is that Wix, like all Web-Builder software, is a Proprietary software. WordPress is an Open Source code Content Management System (CMS), just like its competitors such as Joomla and Drupal.

This difference is fundamental because all other pros-and-cons of Wix (or any other Web-Builder) vs WordPress (or other CMS) are really the result of this main difference. This is an important concept to get your head around, so that you can appreciate what inevitably follows next.

1. Hosting Choice

WordPress is an Open Source CMS (Content Management Software) that sits on your hosting server, which means it can be hosted on any Linux-based server. This means you have a wide choice of suppliers to choose from, offering you different price points, service levels, security packages, and quality of service options.

Wix is a web-builder and hence is a proprietary software, which means only Wix can host and support you. Notwithstanding the quality of service, the fact remains your choice of service is limited to one supplier. For better or worst, you are tied to Wix for the lifetime of your website.

2. IPR Ownership

As with all web-builder packages, Wix is a proprietary software, which means you do not own the design. You are purchasing a service package, and not specifically paying for a hosting or/and web design service. This means none of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) belong to you, except for the content (i.e. text and images that you provide). The design copyrights belong to Wix.

WordPress is an Open Source software, and to make it work as a website or blog, you also have to use a Theme (Free or Premium Theme). Whilst the Copyrights of the design of the WordPress Theme does not pass on to you, any changes, or customisation you do on your website does become your Copyright. With 1000s of Themes on offer for WordPress, each with 1000s of options and variations, you are going to end up with a fairly unique website, which you can rightly claim Copyrights for the design if not for the code.

3. Code Ownership

With WordPress you are using an Open Source code, which means nobody owns it. You also own the right-to-use for the Theme (whether free or premium version), which means you can move your website to anywhere you wish, and do what you wish with the code.

You can customise the code, create unique functionality, dream up your own variation of design or theme implementation. Of course it means you have to know coding to achieve this, or you have to pay a professional to do it for you, but the fact remains you can do it.

Just as point 2 above, Wix owns the code as it is part of the service they provide, which means they own the code, the design, the add-ons, and functionality. You only own the content (text and images you provide), and the right-to-use for your domain name. Therefore, you cannot move your website to another hosting platform as Wix owns the code, and you cannot alter the code.

You cannot alter the code on Wix, no matter how deep your pocket or your coding knowledge.

4. Add Ons

Wix has many very clever add-ons, including booking system, payment system, e-commerce, SEO, etc. However, your choice is limited to the add-ons offered by Wix. You cannot use 3rd party products that is not supplied by Wix (see the point above re code ownership).

The upside is all Wix add-ons are fully tested, and are supported by Wix.

WordPress is the most widely supported platform with 100,000s of developers worldwide offering add-ons (known as Plug-in). These 3rd party suppliers can offer you practically anything you want to do, including SEO, E-Commerce, Online Payment, Booking System, Live Chat, Chatbots, Membership Control, etc. The choice is bewildering.

Couple of warnings here though. Firstly, customer service can be wildly different amongst the suppliers. Secondly, some plug-ins can conflict with other plug-ins or the theme. This does mean you have to test them on your website, but if you do find a conflict the choice of plug-ins is so wide, that you can easily replace the plug-in that is causing the issue with an alternative plug-in.

The point here is WordPress offers choice, where Wix offers limited options, or in some cases none at all.

5. Developers

As a result of the success of WordPress, and the fact it is Open Source, there are so many developers for WordPress around the world, that you are spoilt for choice. You can get developers to create new and unique Themes for you, as well as create unique plug-ins to deliver the exact functionality you want. Developers can develop functionality for both front-end (the customer side of the website), as well as the back-end (the administration side of your website).

Wix is a proprietary software, which means only they can develop and add functionality to their own code. As a proprietary software there are very few people outside of Wix that understand and can work on their code, but even if you could find someone that has the know-how, it is unlikely for you to get Wix to allow you access to their code.

Summary

When making business decisions, it is wise to think long-term and give yourself as many options as possible for the future direction. Business world is unpredictable. It is impossible to second guess what your business needs in 12 or 24 months time, let alone 5 years from now.

Average life of a website is 5 years, as the cost of change is usually pretty high. Changing your website also requires you to invest a lot of time and resources to generate new content and update the old content, therefore, you need to make sure you extend the life of your website as long as possible.

You need a solution that gives you the widest possible choices in all aspects including technology, service, and adaptability. For this reason alone, we think the best option for a business is to use WordPress and leave Wix to hobbyists.