Wix is an all-in-one website builder that lets you quickly create attractive websites, even if you have no design or coding experience. Wix is popular among bloggers, entrepreneurs and small business owners—especially in Australia.
If you’re looking to build a website without a large budget, Wix’s affordable plans are worth a closer look. The company offers free and paid plans, hundreds of design templates, built-in search engine optimisation (SEO) and a full range of in-demand features that help you create a functional and attractive online presence.
Pros
- Easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface
- New marketing capabilities across all plans
- 200+ app integrations available
- Free domain for one year across Premium annual plans
Cons
- Visitor analytics not available on Lite plan
- Storage limits on all plans, except Business Elite and Enterprise Tier
- You can’t change templates once your site is live
Table of Contents
What Is Wix?
Featured Partners
1
Wix
Starting price
From $15 per month
Drag-and-Drop Editor
Yes
Standout Features
Free plan available, 900+ designer-made templates
2
Squarespace
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
3
Bluehost
Starting price
$2.95 per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Wishlists, marketplace selling, unlimited products
Wix is a beginner-friendly, all-in-one tool that makes it easy to create a professional-looking website. Wix offers more than 800 design templates that allow you to customise a site for various blogging and small business needs. Connect to more than 300 third-party apps to add advanced features to your website, such as online scheduling or event booking.
Late last year, Wix announced the release of an automated tool to create websites using natural language prompts as part of a broader investment in AI, and streamlined its plans into four tiers, plus an Enterprise level with price on request. You can read more about Wix Artificial Design Intelligence and the new premium plans below.
Related: Wix Pricing Plans for Australians
Note: Pricing is in AUD, unless otherwise specified.
Wix Pros and Cons
Pros
One of the best attributes of Wix is its drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easy to add content and design your website without any coding experience. It comes with more than 500 customisable templates.
Wix also provides built-in SEO tools to help you improve your site’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Plus, there are more than 300 app integrations available, so you can add advanced features to your website with no coding knowledge.
There is a free plan that gives you access to most of the platform’s features, although there are quite a few drawbacks to this plan, as we’ll discuss below.
Marketing capabilities have been added to all of the paid plans, including the entry-level tier, Lite, giving customers access to lead-capture forms, social media marketing and automations. Meanwhile, businesses can now access e-commerce and payments on two plans: Core and Business.
Cons
While Wix offers a lot of features, there are some shortcomings to consider. One downside is that site analytics are not available on the free or entry-level Lite plans, so you won’t be able to track your website’s traffic. Most Wix plans have storage limits, which means you’ll eventually need to upgrade to a more expensive plan if you want to keep growing your website.
The free plan will also have Wix ads, and you won’t be able to have a custom domain name. Instead, your site will have a domain name that ends in ‘.wix.com’. If you plan on selling anything on your site, you won’t be able to accept payments with a free plan, so you’ll need to upgrade for e-commerce activities. Wix’s e-commerce plans start at $30 per month.
It’s important to choose your Wix template carefully, because you can’t switch templates once you’ve launched your site. You can make some design tweaks within your existing template, but if you ever want to initiate a major site design overhaul, you’ll need to start over from scratch.
Wix offers more than 800 design templates, which is significantly more than alternative platforms such as Squarespace or the GoDaddy website builder. Still, those looking for a high degree of design flexibility may not be fully satisfied by the customisation limits of Wix templates.
Finally, while Wix offers customer support 24/7 through email tickets and a callback service, response times aren’t always prompt. Support is one area where some customers feel Wix falls a bit short, according to online reviews.
Wix Core Features
Website Builder and Templates
Wix offers three different editors for creating a website. Each offers distinct advantages.
The Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) editor is ideal for beginners who don’t know where to start. The Wix ADI asks you a few questions and then builds a basic site for you in a matter of minutes.
The second editor is the Wix standard editor. With this option, you choose a Wix template and customise it for your needs using the standard Wix drag-and-drop editor. You can start with the ADI editor and then move to the standard editor at any time. With both editor options, you can enable or disable a mobile-friendly view of your website.
The third editor is Editor X. Introduced in 2020, Editor X lets you create a fully responsive website that looks and works great on all types of devices. Editor X was developed with designers in mind and comes with a full suite of advanced capabilities, including scalable font sizes, grid layout, stack and scale media, custom breakpoints, docking and advanced sizing control.
These user-friendly editors allow you to quickly add or delete content, change the font and personalise your site without any knowledge of coding languages thanks to its drag-and-drop functionality.
Blogging
Wix comes with everything you need to start, grow and manage a successful blog. You can easily add and format text, insert images and create new posts with the drag-and-drop editor. Plus, there are built-in tools to help you manage your blog and grow your audience, such as social media integrations, email marketing and SEO.
E-Commerce
Wix lets you turn your website into an online store with its Core, Business and Business Elite plans, as well, of course, its Enterprise tier. With these plans, you can sell products, take payments and manage your inventory all in one place. Plus, it has a wealth of features to help you promote your business and convert visitors into paying customers.
Its Core plan allows you to accept online payments and offers “basic” e-commerce—think abandoned cart recovery and selling on social channels—while the Business plan is designed to help you grow and expand your business with the inclusion of 1,000 product reviews per month, advanced shipping and five additional currencies for payment. Business Elite and the Enterprise tier offers advanced e-commerce: users can create multiple sites that transact in a variety of languages and currencies, as well as add-in custom API solutions.
Specific to Australian users, Wix offers an free-to-install add-on called “Interparcel AU”. This allows Australians using Wix for e-commerce needs to access couriers in real-time and dispatch orders immediately, as well as reducing shipping costs.
Wix Pricing & Plans
Wix offers five categories: Free, Lite, Core, Business, and Business Elite plans. There is also an Enterprise plan for high-traffic businesses that require advanced support and features.
Wix Basic Website Plans
The Wix free plan comes with Wix branding on your website on your subdomain (for example, yourwebsitename.wix.com). The free plan includes 500MB of cloud storage and 500MB of bandwidth.
If you want a more professional website that allows for greater site customisation and more features, you’ll need to go with a paid plan.
Wix offers four paid basic website plans that range from $16 to $179 per month. All annual plans come with a free custom domain for one year and a free SSL Certificate. Other features of these plans are shown on the chart below.
Wix Enterprise Tier
Enterprise solutions for large or high-traffic businesses have custom pricing, and you will need to work with a Wix representative directly to tailor a plan for your business needs and budget.
Generally speaking, these plans can offer unlimited storage, marketing and e-commerce capabilities, alongside a dedicated success manager, centralised billing, custom templates, custom integrations and priority care—all across multiple sites.
Wix Ease of Use
Wix is an intuitive platform that’s easy to use, even if you have no prior website-building experience. Its drag-and-drop editor is one of the most user-friendly editors on the market. You can add, delete and move elements around your page without having to touch a single line of code. Plus, Wix takes care of all the website hosting and security for you. Should you run into any issues, you have 24/7 support on any paid plan.
Wix Safety and Security
Wix takes website safety and security seriously. It is PCI compliant, which indicates that it fulfills the security requirements set by credit card companies. All Wix websites have an SSL certificate and are automatically backed up. Plus, Wix has a team of experts that monitor its servers 24/7 to prevent any possible threats.
Wix Customer Service and Support
Wix offers 24/7 customer support for all paid plans. Its Business Elite and Enterprise Tier offer priority support. To contact support, you must be logged in to your account, otherwise, you’ll just get directed to the Wix Help Centre, which is a large knowledge base for self-service assistance.
Additional Tools and Functionality
Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI)
Wix ADI is a tool that allows you to build a professional website in just a few minutes without having to write any content. With just a few clicks, Wix ADI will create a stunning website that is fully customised for your business. Rather than relying on templates to create their site, users interact with the Wix AI chatbot and describe how they want their site to look and its intent.
The bot asks a few questions in response and will then generate the website on the spot, including a homepage, sub pages and all text and images. You can read more in our guide to Creating a Website with AI.
SEO Tools
Wix comes with a built-in SEO tool that helps you optimise your website for Google Search. The SEO tools walk you through the process of optimising your site step-by-step. It also provides tips and tricks for improving your site’s ranking.
SEO features include meta tags, canonical tags, robots.txt files, bulk 301 redirects, instant Google indexing, URL structure, patterned meta tags and an XML sitemap. All images are automatically resized, compressed and converted to WebP, which helps your site load faster (important for SEO). One of the best features is the ability to make your own site logic; this means you can edit all your SEO data across your pages rather than having to go in and edit page by page.
And with Velo APIs, you can customise your client-side code and override default SEO settings.
App Store and Integrations
Wix AppMarket is a one-stop shop for adding features and functionality to your website. There are hundreds of apps to choose from, ranging from social media tools to contact forms to live chat. You can also find integrations for popular business tools, such as QuickBooks, Google AdSense and Mailchimp.
Mobile App
Wix has a mobile app that allows you to manage your website on the go. With the app, you can create and publish new content, view site analytics, manage orders and customers and offer coupons and sales. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Storage
Each Wix Website Plan has storage limits ranging from 2GB to 100GB. Its Business Elite and Enterprise plans offer unlimited storage, whereas its Lite, Core and Business include storage at 2Gb, 50GB and 100GB respectively.
Email Marketing
One of the new features of the revamped Wix pricing plans, is its marketing suite, which replaces the old Ascend Marketing tool. All plans now include access to automated marketing tools: we’re talking lead-capture forms, social media marketing and other automations. You can send send up to 200 emails a month for free under the standard marketing offer or increase your quota by purchasing a stand-alone marketing package. There are three paid tiers of marketing: Essentials with 500 emails per month; Core with 5,000 emails per month and Advanced at one million emails per month.
You can read more about the new email marketing packages here.
Other Notable Benefits
The Wix platform offers excellent design flexibility and powerful features many businesses and entrepreneurs need to run their online businesses. Tailor your online presence for your audience and business needs using both basic and advanced Wix features.
- Online Scheduling: Allow your clients to book appointments directly online. You can also sell scheduled services through this Wix upgrade feature.
- Social Media Graphics: Use the Wix Social Post editor and templates to create custom Facebook and Instagram posts; share posts immediately or schedule them to post later.
- Facebook Ads: Set up paid Facebook ad campaigns with Wix.
- Help Centre: Wix offers an enormous library of support resources.
Top Wix Alternatives and How They Compare
Wix compares favorably with other website builders. It offers more than 800 templates, while GoDaddy and Squarespace have just over 100 each. Wix offers a free plan; Squarespace and Shopify do not. However, Wix lacks unlimited storage in any of its plans, which puts it behind its competitors.
Wix vs Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular Wix alternative, particularly among artists and other creatives. Similar to Wix, Squarespace offers an easy drag-and-drop editor. It also has a similar range of features, including e-commerce, blogging and support for third-party apps. However, there are some key differences between the two platforms.
First, Squarespace’s templates are generally more stylish and modern than Wix’s. If you’re looking for a sleek, minimalist design, Squarespace is probably a better bet than Wix.
Second, Squarespace is more expensive than Wix. The cheapest Squarespace plan is $16 per month as there is no free version, while the cheapest Wix plan is its free offering free. The caveat to this is you can’t sell anything with a free Wix plan, so if you need e-commerce capabilities, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Further, to sell anything on Squarespace, you need its Commerce plan at a minimum (which is $34/month).
Wix vs WordPress
WordPress is a popular open source content management system (CMS) that can be used to create any type of website, including a simple business site, an online store or a blog. WordPress is free to use, but you’ll need to pay for website hosting (typically $5 to $25 per month). It gives you the ultimate freedom and flexibility to create any type of site you want, but it’s not as easy to use as Wix.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use website builder, Wix is probably a better bet than WordPress (though once you get the hang of it, it’s relatively simple to use if you’re just posting blog posts). If you’re willing to put in the time to learn WordPress, or you need the freedom to create a truly custom site, WordPress is a better choice.
Read more in our Wix vs WordPress comparison.
Wix vs Shopify
Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that lets you create an online store. It’s more expensive than Wix, but it’s designed specifically for e-commerce businesses. If you need an online store, Shopify is probably a better bet than Wix. However, if you just need a simple business site or blog, Wix is a good choice.
While Shopify doesn’t have a free plan, it has a new social selling plan that allows you to sell products without a website. This could be a good option if you just want to experiment with selling products online. You need a paid plan with Wix if you plan on selling no matter what.
Related: Wix vs Shopify
Wix vs GoDaddy
GoDaddy is a popular website builder and hosting provider. It offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, and it’s one of the most affordable website builders, starting at free and going up to $24.95 per month if you want to sell via your website. However, it doesn’t offer as many features as Wix, and its templates are not as modern or stylish.
If you’re looking for an affordable website builder, GoDaddy is a good choice. However, if you need more features or want a more modern design, Wix is a better option.
Related: Wix vs GoDaddy
Is Wix Right for You?
Wix for Personal Use
Wix is great for building a personal online presence, for things such as a wedding, shower or family holiday website. With Wix, you can create a website in minutes without having to worry about hosting or coding. Plus, there are tons of templates and designs to choose from, so you can create a website that’s uniquely yours.
Wix for Business Use
Wix was built with ease of use foremost in mind, so the platform is a solid choice for those with limited technical and design experience. Wix is especially popular with small businesses, consultants, bloggers and entrepreneurs.
Wix comes with a wide variety of industry-specific templates, including food service, events, fashion, fitness and professional services. If you decide you need e-commerce capabilities, Wix has you covered with built-in features and integrations on its higher tier plans.
Featured Partners
1
Wix
Starting price
From $15 per month
Drag-and-Drop Editor
Yes
Standout Features
Free plan available, 900+ designer-made templates
2
Squarespace
Starting price
$16 AUD
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Free domain and SSL certificate, no transaction fees, award-winning templates
3
Bluehost
Starting price
$2.95 per month
Drag-and-Drop Interface
Yes
Standout Features
Wishlists, marketplace selling, unlimited products
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does Wix work in Australia?
Yes, while there is no dedicated Wix Australian site, Australians wishing to start a Wix website can go to Wix.com and find a plan that works for them. Wix even lists its prices in Australian dollars for those searching from Australia, so you know exactly how much you’ll be paying.
Is Wix a good website builder?
Wix is a good website builder for those looking for an easy-to-use platform to create a simple website. It’s popular among Australian small business owners and is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its e-commerce offering.
Is Wix good for blogging?
Yes, Wix is an okay choice for blogging. It’s easy to use and has all the features you need to create a simple blog. Plus, there are many templates and designs to choose from.
However, if you want to blog traditionally and make a living doing it, you’re better off sticking with a self-hosted WordPress site, as it’s the platform that brands prefer bloggers to use.
Is Wix good for e-commerce?
Wix is a suitable platform for e-commerce if you need a simple way to set up an online store—especially with its new Business Elite and Enterprise tiers.
If you need an online store, Shopify is probably still a better bet than Wix.
Is Wix good for SEO?
While Wix had issues with SEO in the past, platform upgrades have fixed prior problems that kept Wix sites from ranking on Google. Use the Wix SEO Wiz tool along with good on-page and off-page SEO techniques to optimise your Wix website for search.
Is Wix really free?
You can use Wix for free, but you will see ads on your site. If you want to get rid of the ads, sell anything or use your own domain name, then you need to upgrade to a paid plan. Paid plans start at $16 per month, and e-commerce plans start at $49 per month.
Is Wix worth the price?
Wix offers plans for any budget. If your needs are modest, you can start with a free plan and upgrade at any time.
Paid plans range from $16 to $179 per month depending on your needs.
Do I need to pay for hosting with Wix?
Wix is an all-in-one, fully hosted website builder. This means that hosting services are included with every Wix plan.
Is Wix safe?
Wix is a safe website builder. Your site will be hosted on Wix’s servers and protected with its security features, which include SSL encryption. Plus, Wix automatically backs up your site data using its Site History feature.
What does Wix charge to build a website?
For Australians, a Wix site starts at $16 per month. There is a free plan, however, this has fewer features and involves using the Wix logo on your site.
Is Shopify better than Wix?
It depends on what your business needs are and your personal preference. There is no one best for everyone, so it’s important to test a couple of website builders and platforms before you decide on the right one for you. Shopify has become synonymous with e-commerce, but Wix offers e-commerce features as well.
Does Wix have a money-back guarantee?
Yes. At the time of writing, Wix offers all new users a 14-day money back guarantee if they are not satisfied with the product.
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