WordPress vs Wix

WordPress

WordPress is open-source content management software; with thousands of themes and plugins available, you can build almost any kind of site with it — a blog, a business site, an online store. In exchange, you choose and manage your own hosting and take on a bit more of the technical upkeep yourself.

Wix

Wix bundles hosting and site building into one package, built around a drag-and-drop editor. You can publish a site quickly from a ready-made template without any technical knowledge, though it doesn't offer the same depth of customization as WordPress.

Which one should you choose?

If you expect your site to grow and need deep customization through custom plugins or theme changes, WordPress's flexibility pays off in the long run. If you want to get a site live quickly without dealing with technical details, Wix's drag-and-drop approach gets you there faster.

What are WordPress and Wix?

WordPress can mean two things. WordPress.org is free, open-source site software you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com offers the same software as a hosted service. This comparison mostly refers to self-hosted WordPress, because that is where the flexibility gap shows most.

Wix is a site builder that handles hosting, security and updates for you. You pick a template and drag elements wherever you want them on the page. No coding is needed, and everything is managed from one dashboard.

Key differences

Control: with WordPress you have access to files, the database and the server, and you can move to any host. A Wix site is tied to Wix's infrastructure.
Design freedom: Wix makes pixel-level placement easy. In WordPress, design depends on the theme and page builder you choose.
Extending: WordPress has a huge plugin and theme ecosystem, plus room for custom development. On Wix you are limited to its app market and built-in features.
Maintenance: with WordPress, core, theme and plugin updates and backups are on you. Wix takes that off your plate.

Who should pick which?

A hair salon, cafe, photographer or consultant who needs a few pages and wants to launch over a weekend without help will find Wix less tiring. The odds of hitting a technical problem are lower too.

If you are planning a blog with regular posts, a news site, a multilingual company site or a project that will grow over time, WordPress gives you more room in the long run. People who want fine-grained control over SEO also get more options there.

Before you switch

There is no one-click move from Wix to WordPress. Blog posts can be carried over in some ways, but page designs have to be rebuilt.
Wix doesn't let you swap the template of a live site for a different one, so choose your template carefully at the start.
When changing platforms, add 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones and make sure your domain is registered in your own name.

Bottom line

Choose Wix if you want a small site up quickly, with no technical skills and no maintenance. Choose WordPress for a content-heavy site that is expected to grow or one you want full control over, as long as you are ready to handle upkeep.