Looking to address your growing business needs and satisfy customers by replatforming your website? Replatforming can be a daunting task. That’s why it’s important to choose the right platform for your specific business needs the first time around. Two major players in the website space are WordPress and Wix.
Both are popular choices, easy to use and suitable for many sites. However, WordPress stands out among the two for effectively meeting business goals and end-user expectations. In this article, we will introduce both WordPress and Wix and explain why WordPress is the overall better pick for your replatforming needs.
WordPress
WordPress is a free, powerful, open-source content management system (CMS) that people and businesses can use to create and publish websites and blogs. In fact, around 472 million websites use WordPress as of 2024. This represents around 43.3% of all websites (almost half!). WordPress is known for its customization capabilities, ease of use, and ability to scale as businesses evolve.
Wix
Wix is a no-code website builder platform with many out-of-the-box features to help guide creators of all levels. It offers different pricing options to meet individual needs and boasts a drag-and-drop editor and design elements. While Wix is great for beginners and non-developers, its customization and control options can limit it.
Why WordPress is the Better Option Compared to Wix
According to Forbes Advisor, WordPress is the better option for businesses interested in maintaining a website on “a more powerful and flexible platform that offers unlimited options for creating and customizing a website.”
Here are the main features highlighting the value of WordPress beyond what Wix offers:
Cost:
WordPress is free, although you will need to pay to have it hosted and for a custom domain name. Even so, it is a completely different setup from what Wix offers for its monthly website and hosting fees.
This is especially true for those looking to build an e-commerce store on their website. On WordPress, WooCommerce is a free application you can set up and manage, with premium features as needed. Wix requires you to sign up for a specific subscription plan to manage eCommerce.
Scalability:
Like with many growing businesses, the ability to scale website operations is vital – especially if you don’t want to deal with replatforming down the road. WordPress is ideal for this scenario, as it offers the flexibility to be customized for all levels. This includes basic, personal blogs and small business pages all the way up to enterprise, highly-developed sites. Your WordPress site grows with your business.
Control & Customization:
Control and customization are a main differentiator between WordPress and Wix. WordPress offers a wider range of templates and the ability to code your own customized templates. Over 20,000 WordPress themes are available, many of which are free. In terms of website features and functionality, there are around 60,000 free WordPress plugins.
Beyond what is provided through these themes and plugins, WordPress enables businesses to customize website features and functionality using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The opportunities are endless.
- SEO & Marketing: WordPress has so many plugins and custom solutions available, which makes it a great channel for SEO and marketing. For example, the ability to easily optimize pages and images for SEO, integration with tools like Google Analytics and Yoast SEO, and additional marketing plugins.
- Open-Source Community: Because WordPress is open source, it has a large developer and user community that can be a valuable resource for any questions or issues. It also means that there will always be a vast amount of custom plugins available to enhance the functionality and user experience of WordPress sites.
Ready to migrate to WordPress? We’re ready to help! Replatforming doesn’t have to be difficult. Our team of experts will uplevel your website based on your business goals and user experience with WordPress innovation that supports your business’s limitless opportunities.