Looking to get a CMS (content management system) and not sure which to choose, Wix or WordPress? You know everything about which one is right for your business.

WordPress Features at A Glance

WordPress is an open-source CMS, used by 43% of companies and individuals online. It’s a common option as it lets people set up and operate their websites without knowledge of programming.

Despite that, it’s also a beast to have if you know how to code or have a developer around as there is a ton of personalization you can do with it. (More on that to come.)

WordPress features include:

• Over 20 themes with many different styles.
• Protection with DDoS, WAF, 2FA and more.
• Flexible hosting options
• Ease of use publishing and page creation interfaces.
• Custom content types
• A huge WordPress plugins ecosystem for all kinds of tasks (Commerce, SEO, security, spam, etc.)
• Huge developer community — loads of good resources.

Wix Features at A Glance

Another CMS that’s taken off in recent years is Wix. The original owners weren’t happy with how hard it was to build a site in the mid-2000s. So they thought to build something so you can build a website without having any knowledge of how to code or design.

Wix features include:

• 800+ premade templates for any topic.
• Drag and Drop content editor — It’s simple to use.
• Premade SEO tools to make your website SEO ready.
• eCommerce functionality
• Code development platform
• Third-party integration market for apps.
• Automation, forms, and an integrated CRM included.

Wix or WordPress — Which One Is Best?

Ease Of Everyday Use: WordPress

The WordPress UI is very good if you have developers to create your site with. But if you’re creating it with the Gutenberg editor, anyone can edit your site without having to write code. And you have 60K+ plugins to add functionality to your website. Moreover, there are limitless free and paid themes to choose from.

WordPress Pros: Ease Of Use

• User-friendly themes and plugins
• WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) visual editors, make content updates effortless.
• Robust dashboards of settings
• Provides mobile-friendly themes and plugins.

WordPress Cons: Ease Of Use

• Higher level functionality will have to be programmed.
• Too many plugins mean a slower server.
• Dashboard is very detailed and can be too much for novice users.
• Business account required or more to add plugins.

Ease Of Everyday Use: Wix

As far as the WIX user interface goes, it is written for the beginning user. Through the drag and drop tool you can easily edit items. You’ll find tons of pre-made templates, too.

Wix Pros: Ease of Use

• Intuitive visual site editor
• Offers responsive design for free.
• Fast Customer Support: Easy access to the customer service.
• Offers further functionalities such as support logo creation.

Wix Cons: Ease of Use

• You can’t switch the template after your site is set up.
• Your website can’t be exported if you ever migrate to another CMS.
• Speed issues with site if you have many photos or videos.

Winner: Both*

Wix is a one-stop-shop if you are a small business or you simply want to have a website. It doesn’t need to be a lot of code and you can get right in there. But if you want to scale your business later on, that’s not a solution for the long haul.

WordPress is perfect for you if you want a CMS that will expand with your business. It is a lot more customizable, optimized for digital marketing and eCommerce friendly. And if your developer is backend set up with Gutenberg, you can edit your site like Wix.

Customization: WordPress

In this CMS, it’s get what you can’t have. If you have WordPress and a good dev team, you can create your site with them. And you can comparison shop your hosting and choose a partner for what works for you.

WordPress Pros: Customization

• Huge number of plugins with lots of different features.
• Supports HTML, CSS, and PHP for more specialized editing.
• Able to do advanced, customised layouts.
• Hosting choice, so you get to pick your own provider.

WordPress Cons: Customization

• Takes longer to design your own site.
• Requires extensive coding knowledge
• Risk of slow website if you have too many plugins on your site.

Customization: Wix

Some possibilities of personalizing a site to your brand are at Wix. Once you have your theme selected, you can make the key design changes to it. But a lot more restrictions are there, so you can’t really change it as much as a WordPress site.

Wix Pros: Customization

• Big Template Collection gives you something to choose from.
• Wix app market: configure site features to your liking.

Wix Cons: Customization

• You can only customize the code beneath the themes so much.
• Can’t easily toggle between themes.
• You have to use Wix for the site.

Winner For Customization: WordPress

Pricing: WordPress

WordPress is cheaper with no initial fees and no host and domain fees. Plans start from $4 – $45+ per month if you want some custom domains, extra space, eCommerce support etc.

WordPress Pros: Pricing

• Free to download and install; Open source.
• Open host so you can price shop.
• Plenty of no cost themes and plugins available to use.
• Charge only for features you require

WordPress Cons: Pricing

• A few themes/plugins may come at an additional charge.
• Will have to pay for your domain name ($2-45 a year)

Pricing: Wix

Wix is transparent in its plan pricing so you can decide on what you are comfortable with. It will be more expensive in the beginning because of this.

Wix Pros: Pricing

• Simple, all-inclusive cost
• Different pricing plans to select from.
• Hosting costs included

Wix Cons: Pricing

• Will charge for extra features you’re not actually using or even want.
• Limited freedom to price shop.
• Locked into Wix’s ecosystem

Winner For Pricing: WordPress

SEO And Internet Marketing: WordPress

For search engine optimization and continuous content creation, your site needs to be more prominent on the internet. WordPress gives you every single tool now and tomorrow to be successful and remain updated on internet marketing news.

WordPress Pros: SEO / Internet Marketing

• Manage all meta, tags, sitemaps, etc.
• A lot of SEO plugins out there in the WordPress community.
• Highly customizable blog templates
• Lots of strategic options for accelerating site.

WordPress Cons: SEO / Internet Marketing

• Needs an expert in technical SEO know-how.

SEO And Internet Marketing: Wix

Wix gives you tools to go over a few SEO fundamentals that can increase the ranking of your website. But you can’t apply more serious technical SEO measures, which may end up thwarting your ability online.

Wix Pros: SEO / Internet Marketing

• Includes built-in SEO tools
• Blog — Can create landing pages — And run a blog.

Wix Cons: SEO / Internet Marketing

• There are few platform SEO features.
• Less SEO apps than WordPress: less apps to choose from!
• Blog templates are not as customizable.
• Few ways to diagnose and manage site speed.

Winner For SEO: WordPress

Security And Site Maintenance: WordPress

You’re the person in charge of security, and that applies to WordPress. But you are more in control of it which is a good thing if you have the right tools to operate your site.

• WordPress and core plugins get patches regularly for security issues.
• Friendly community of developers to get tips and tricks.
• With plugins you automate backups.
• Security plugins to protect with firewalls, malware scanners or brute force attack detection.

WordPress Cons: Security And Maintenance

• New vulnerabilities in the site, if you’re not keeping updated.
• Plugins or themes that are not well designed can be hacked.
• Last but not least, you’re the one who has to keep your site safe.

Security And Site Maintenance: Wix

Wix takes a lot of the load out of securing your site. They do it all by themselves and update and alter, but the trade-off is that you don’t control it. You’re counting on them to keep everything up to date and patch holes.

Wix Pros: Security and Maintenance

• Wix takes care of security on the server for you so you don’t have to stress about it.
• The platform gets updated automatically to protect it.

Wix Cons: Security and Maintenance

• You’re not as in control of Wix’s internal security layer as you are with WordPress.
• You’re trusting Wix to do the right thing when it comes to security risks.

Winner For Security: Both*

The two don’t approach security the same, so there’s no winner. That really comes down to which one suits you best and your resources at hand.

If you know how to work on your site WordPress will let you in. But if you don’t have the staff or tools at home then Wix will keep you safe and without making you ask your staff to do more.

The End Results: Which is the Better Solution for Your Business:

What is most distinct about Wix and WordPress for business is that both of them are simple, customizable, cost-effective, and SEO friendly.

• User-Friendliness: Wix is very simple to use, drag-and-drop which is great for beginners. WordPress (especially Gutenberg) — More customization but sometimes may require the assistance of developers to configure.
• Modification: WordPress has great flexibility to modify with more than 60,000 plugins and unlimited hosting. Wix doesn’t allow template customization and it needs to be hosted within the Wix ecosystem.
• Pricing: WordPress pricing is more customizable; you can choose the hosting plan but Wix pricing is more all-in-one.
• SEO and Marketing: WordPress has strong SEO features and technical SEO control for long-term growth. Wix is lightweight when it comes to SEO tools but minimal in terms of technical SEO options.

Overall Verdict: WordPress is more stable and will last for scaling, customization and SEO while Wix is a quick, easy and user-friendly option for smaller businesses and new users.