An online presence for a business or individual is mandatory in a connected world, but which platform is best for building a a website: Wix or WordPress? If you are just starting and thinking—how do I create a website? Where can I host it? Perhaps you’ve heard of Wix and WordPress already. Which is easier to use? Which works better on the internet? And most importantly: which is best for you? Read this article to find the answers.

What is Wix? What is WordPress?

What is Wix?

Wix is a website builder platform developed by the company Wix.com Ltd. It provides tools so that users can design and build personal or business websites easily and quickly, without needing programming knowledge. Wix offers a variety of templates for users to choose and customize, along with features like drag-and-drop editor, image/video editing, and other features to help users build their sites. It also includes content management, analytics, marketing, and e-commerce features.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a widely used open-source content management system (CMS) for creating and managing websites and blogs. It is developed by a community of developers worldwide and is released under the GPL license for free.

WordPress is built on PHP and uses a MySQL database to store content. It provides an admin interface that lets users create, edit, and publish posts, pages, and other content types on their website.

With thousands of free and premium themes and plugins available, WordPress lets users customize and extend the functionality of their website flexibly. WordPress is also the most common platform in the world for building business websites, e-commerce stores, and news / content sites.

Detailed Comparison: Wix vs WordPress

The first key difference to understand is that Wix is a website builder, whereas WordPress is a content management system (CMS).

• Wix is primarily used to help people build a website and host it online quickly and easily.

• WordPress is a more flexible backend system able to manage multiple content types, including newsletters, subscriptions, video embeds, etc.

• Another nuance: WordPress has two flavors:

  • “WordPress.com” – a hosted service, where you register an account and build/host your site there (less control).
  • “WordPress.org” – self-hosted: you host the website yourself (you choose hosting), giving you full control over the software, themes, plugins, etc.

There are many other important differences between the two systems. Below we compare them on multiple axes.

Ease of use:  When comparing Wix vs WordPress, one big selling point is ease of use. Anyone can jump into Wix and build a website—but is WordPress user-friendly? However, ease of use may come at the expense of flexibility. Let’s examine:

• User experience / Features
  Wix is a WYSIWYG system (“What You See Is What You Get”). It offers a large, simple graphical interface so you can manipulate elements on the page directly to build your website.

  Its editor is less powerful than WordPress in terms of extensibility, but that is not necessarily bad—especially for beginners. There are enough features in Wix to create a solid website.
  The templates help you see what your site might look like, and inspire you to build something functional and user-friendly.

  WordPress may feel slightly intimidating when you first encounter it. There is logic to learn and a steeper learning curve. But once you master it, building a site with WordPress becomes easier. That initial hurdle is what gives Wix an edge in terms of “ease” for new users.

  Winner (ease of use): Wix

• Drag-and-drop builders
  Both platforms provide drag-and-drop style capabilities.

  Again, Wix has the advantage in simplicity here.

  Winner: Wix

  • In Wix, the DnD system is built in; it is core to how Wix works. You can drag images, text boxes, components onto the page.
  • WordPress uses the Gutenberg block editor: you insert blocks (text block, image block, video block, etc.). You build the page block by block. It is less immediately visual than Wix’s DnD, but gives more flexibility. You often have to preview changes rather than seeing them live.

• Themes / Templates
  Themes define the visual aesthetics of your site: layout, color, structure, etc.

  Wix offers many themes (over 900) you can pick and customize (colors, images etc.). However, once you choose and launch, you cannot change the theme later; if rebranding or a big redesign is needed, you’d effectively have to rebuild the site.

  WordPress, on the other hand, has tens of thousands (50,000+ free themes, plus premium ones) and allows you to switch themes freely. If the site is well structured, switching themes can preserve most elements. If something breaks, you may need some developer help to adjust. But the flexibility is vast.

  Winner: WordPress

• Plugins / Add-ons / Extensions
  Plugins (or apps) add features you may not have by default—e.g. social media feeds, event calendars, contact forms, SEO tools, and more.

  Wix has an Apps Marketplace with a few hundred apps, in categories like Marketing, E-commerce, Events. If you’re using a free Wix version, e-commerce capabilities are limited. The apps are plug-and-play and integrate smoothly within Wix’s ecosystem.

  WordPress has thousands upon thousands of plugins. Whatever feature you imagine for your site, there’s very likely a plugin for it. The open architecture allows you to fine-tune and extend your site deeply. For instance, SEO power can be greatly enhanced with plugins like Yoast.

  Winner: WordPress

• Open / Closed architecture
  WordPress is open-source. Anyone with programming knowledge can write a theme, plugin, or modify the system. If you want to build a custom theme or custom widget, you can.

  Wix is closed: you can only use the apps, themes, and features that Wix allows. You cannot build your own core modifications beyond what Wix provides.

  Winner: Tie (since open vs closed has pros and cons)

• Blog / Content / Writing
  A strong content strategy often uses a blog. Which platform is better for blogging?

  Winner: WordPress

  • Wix’s blogging is integrated, but less feature-rich compared to WordPress. The interface is slightly distinct from the site builder interface, and drag-and-drop page building may complicate blog authoring. Still, it is adequate for basic blogs.
  • WordPress started as a blogging platform, before evolving into a CMS. Its blog features are extremely mature. You get internal linking, SEO plugins, media handling, categories & tags, revisions, scheduling, etc. It’s more powerful for content-centric sites.

• E-commerce
  On Wix, you must pay to use e-commerce functions. Business plans start at around $18/month for basic e-commerce, up to $38/month for more advanced. Wix also takes a cut per transaction sometimes (depending on your plan) and supports integration with third-party payment providers.

  WordPress uses WooCommerce (a plugin) to power e-commerce. Because WordPress is open, you can customize WooCommerce heavily to match your store needs. Features include unlimited products, filtering, payment gateways, shipping options, inventory, SEO, reporting, etc.

  Winner: WordPress (especially for serious stores)

• Cost

  An important note: when comparing Wix vs WordPress, the price of Wix often includes hosting in the plan, whereas for WordPress hosting is separate.

  Winner: Tie (depends heavily on scale and hosting choice)

  • Wix has free plans (with Wix-branded subdomain), but with limitations. To use your own domain and advanced features, plans typically start around $10/month upward. E-commerce plans cost more.
  • WordPress software itself is free. But you need domain + hosting. Domain might cost ~$10–20/year, while hosting can range from cheap shared plans (say $2–10/month) to VPS, cloud, or dedicated hosting.
  • A few hosting providers charge $29/month or more for premium managed WordPress hosting.

Which is the better choice for you?

Wix is an excellent start for beginners. It gives you sufficient variation, templates, and built-in functionality right now—ideal for small businesses. WordPress becomes a better choice when your business grows, or you want more control, custom work, or scalability. WordPress is more complex initially but more powerful and flexible in the long run.

So choose based on your comfort level, stage, and likely growth. The biggest thing is: get yourself online. Once you’re there, the sky is the limit.

Advice on Hosting / Cost Packages & Scaling Strategy

Conclusion

Start simple (Wix or cheap WordPress), then migrate to more scalable infrastructure (VPS, cloud) as you grow. The overhead of migrating is worth the long-term flexibility.