Wix or Shopify which one is the best solution for Ecommerce business? It’s the question that you often stuck with while thinking about setup an online store. You might find it hard what suits your company’s needs.
Therefore, the selection of the right builder to run the business is vital. Otherwise, a wrong decision can scale down your business and lead to shifting to another platform wasting time and money.
Earlier, eStore making was a big deal but now it has become easy with eCommerce platforms like Wix or Shopify. You can open a shop and sell on the web no matter where you are. Both are powerful tools but choosing one is a little bit difficult if you are a bigger one.
You don’t need to worry, we are here to help you out.
So, in today’s article, we will discuss Wix and Shopify in detail like pricing, features, usability, flexibility, and more. It will assist you to make the right choice.
Criteria to Look Out for While Choosing an eCommerce Platform
Whenever you get started selling and buying, here is a key parameter that you should consider for the correct decision.
- Payment gateways choices (Credit, Debit, Paypal, Apple pay)
- Usability(Simple or complex)
- Transaction fee range from low to 0%.
- Scalability
- Pricing plans
- SSL security certification for data safety
- Mobile-friendly designs
- SEO optimized to rank your products in SERPs
- Ecommerce design templates with beautiful shopfront
- App store for adding plugins to enhance the functionality if needed
Let’s see who wins the race.
Wix or Shopify: What’s the Difference
Both are website builders yet there’s a difference. Wix is a website builder while Shopify is specially built for an eCommerce store.
Wix has solutions to create a content-based website including online stores. It is better for small businesses. Its features are flexible and simple which makes it a good choice for starters.
In contrast, Shopify is an online store whose features are 100% geared toward selling products. The seamless online experience makes it a better choice for businesses that want to run a large setup.
Wix vs Shopify Overview
Features | Wix | Shopify |
Ease of use | Excellent | Good |
Themes and flexibility | Good | Great |
Payment Options | Good | Great |
Product presentation and features | Good | Great |
POS capabilities | Good | Great |
Sales Channels | Ok | Good |
Customer logins and checkout options | Ok | Good |
Working in a team | Great | Good |
Tax settings | Great | Excellent |
Shipping cost settings | Ok | Excellent |
Carrier integrations | Ok | Excellent |
Multilingual capabilities | Poor | Ok |
SSL | Excellent | Excellent |
Support | Ok | Great |
SEO capabilities | Good | Great |
Pagespeed | Good | Great |
Marketplace/App store | Great | Great |
Prices | Great | Good |
Design Fubctionalities | Great | Good |
The above table summarizes the Wix and Shopify features. Here, you can make up your mind to pick the right one.
But wait! Explore both platforms more.
1. Ease of Use: Which is More User-Friendly
Wix is a simple editor allowing you to set up your store quickly. Its eStore functions might differ from Shopify but are a headache while using. Running an online setup requires time and time is money. The ease in making and managing your shop will permit you to give more time to interact with and serve the clients.
Shopify editor is a bit different. You have to move back and forth to see the changes. It doesn’t happen with Wix. Its offers all in one place. At first, you might feel overwhelmed but get used to it soon.
On another side, Shopify somehow needs skills to run an electronic store. It is primarily designed for eCommerce. However, its user experience is great and you can create your first store in a few minutes. Links to tutorials are great and helpful for starters. Because you need more time to configure everything.
While Wix has excellent UX. They have well-written tutorials and step-by-step guides for use. Content pages are easy to style using Wix Drag and Drop button.
Wix ADI uses AI to faster the shop process that produces ready-made templates within seconds.
The winner is Wix because of its more basic online stores.
2. Payment Options: Is Wix or Shopify More Flexible
When customers opt to shop on the web, they look for payment choices. Both tools have in-house choices for paid i.e Shopify payment and Wix payment.
Let’s check out which one is more customer-oriented in terms of paying.
Shopify offers a wide range of payment processors and has over 100 payment gates for your comfort. It doesn’t support Square and charges an additional fee on other paying means except for Shopify Payments.
In addition, Shopify’s tipping during checkout feature is for asking for donations to your business or charity.
Wix provides fewer options including Paypal, Stripe, and Square but does not have Amazon Pay. Inhouse Payment choice is also available called Wix payment and it doesn’t charge a transaction fee.
Having no more alternatives for money processing is a negative point for Wix. The perk is a wishlist of Wix where you can see saved products in the wishlist.
The winner is Shopify because its features give a good checkout experience to customers.
3. Design Functionalities: Which One is More Creative
Shopify loss as Wix design is simple making it a great choice for small traders. Wix’s templates are for the basics but if you want optimized sales stores then Shopify is the right one for you.
Studies show that 45% of customers use their smartphones for online shopping. Both Shopify and Wix have mobile-responsive themes. It means it will adjust as the device the consumers use.
Wix has 800+ templates among which 114 are eCommerce specific and all are free. You can smartly convert them into an online shop by simple editing.
In comparison, Shopify themes are paid. No doubt their one-time cost provides you with more styles and better choices but still lacks originality. But all themes are expensive.
So, winning the trophy goes to Wix.
4. Features
Apart from convenience and flexibility, choose an eCommerce solution that has a plethora of features enough to fulfill the business needs. Both Wix and Shopify have many features for your comfort. But Shopify has more versatile features than Wix.
Let’s see what they have in common and uncommon about them.
Shopify allows you a multilingual store creation that you can’t do with Wix. If you want to run a shop in different regions of the world then Shopify is the best to go ahead with.
Both Wix and Shopify permit worldwide shipping but the difference is the latter offers more flexible rates.
In terms of inbuilt SEO tools, Wix has a smooth social media promotion to show your products. You can attract customers without difficulty by offering them discounts and coupons.
Besides, Shopify has gift cards for customers and it helps to add pictures and clips to your items giving a sense of what they are purchasing.
In case, if you lost your sales then Abandoned Cart Recovery helps you to win back the sales in Wix. It comes with a Wix Ascend package to increase the functions of the store that’s an interesting thing. For example, winning leads, more visitors, and more.
Store Analytics of Shopify provides all data you need to optimize your online store. Such as visitor numbers, top product sellers, etc.
Additional Features:
Wix
- Contact management
- Custom domain name
- Member login
- Social tools
- Email campaigns
- Free hosting
- Full blogging platform
Shopify
- Multiple shopping carts
- Social media integration
- Unlimited products
- Augmented reality (AR)
- Automatic tax calculation
- 6000+ apps
- Full blogging platform
Get to know how their marketing and sales features are comparable.
Product and Inventory Features: Which is Better for Sales?
The sales features of Shopify give it an edge over Wix. It has a wide range of product features as compared to Wix. Its inventory management is more powerful and specially designed for large businesses.
Though Wix has enough elements to work with but is a bit behind. If your store is not big and doesn’t include vast stock, then you can go with Wix.
Shopify truly wins in terms of sales features but essential is context. Wix gives you all for an online store. If you have a small business it is ideal but Shopify is excellent for big firms.
Marketing Features: Which Helps in Website Growth
Wix takes advantage of Wix Ascend which manages all marketing strategies in one place. On the other hand, Shopify depends on third-party tools for marketing.
Wix has integrated with Semrush which means you can access its keywords data from the Wix dashboard. It will suggest you the relevant terms. It’s a great effort toward SEO marketing.
Besides, Shopify doesn’t have inbuilt marketing tools, it relies on third-party apps for promotion.
Wix has better marketing features.
5. Shopify vs Wix Pricing: Which One is Cheaper?
Pricing is also a deciding factor when comparing Wix vs Shopify for eCommerce. What you can afford based on your monthly budget.
For eCommerce, Shopify offers three pricing plans monthly:
- Basic Shopify – $19/mo ($1 only for 3 months)
- Shopify – $49/mo
- Advanced Shopify – $299/mo
Shopify is expensive, no matter if its features are worth using. Further, it also charges a transaction fee. The trial period is 3 days. If you signup for a yearly plan, it costs you 10% less. Shopify plus is for big enterprises.
For a business that sells large volumes of stock, Shopify is the best to pay for the features you require.
In contrast, Wix is cheaper and it doesn’t charge an extra fee. It offers a 14-day free trial. It also provides custom plans for huge industries.
Wix is also a website builder so it has two pricing systems. One is for websites and the other for business and eCommerce.
You can choose from three price plans for online selling.
- Business Basic – $17/mo
- Business Unlimited – $25/mo
- Buisness VIP – $35/mo
The value further reduces for signing up yearly. Its Basic plan has limited elements but can get with an advanced plan and seems cost-effective.
Moreover, Wix has no limitations for staff accounts while Shopify gives you limited access. It is ideal for newbies who want to run eStore on small scale.
Wix beats the Shopify for lowest prices. It’s right that Shopify features are powerful but costly as you obtain the same with Wix at low prices.
6. Security: Is Wix or Shopify Safe?
Security is critical for Ecommerce forums because cyber attacks can harm revenue and steal personal data. They are in search of security faults to attack resulting in a loss of confidence and customer trust.
Which one gives more protection, Wix or Shopify? Let’s check.
Wix has SSL certification without which no website is protected. It saves your personal data while submitting info on the website. Shopify is also SSL-certified.
The DDoS system is also excellent to throw away hackers.
Both are PCI compliant which keeps private information confidential such as transaction details. Shopify has SOC (Service Organization Control) and Transparency reports that show all security standards are met.
So, it’s Tie both Shopify and Wix are highly secure. They have an inbuilt security system, SSL and PCI compliant.
7. Tax Settings–Which one Holds the IRS at Bay?
Selling online doesn’t mean being free from all kinds of taxes on business. Luckily, Shopify and Wix have made tax collection and calculation methods easier. You can count any sort of taxes involving VAT, State, etc by picking a custom tax rate.
Wix gives two options to handle taxes either manually or automatically. The manual takes time and is tiring. Its free app Avalara is quite helpful to automate tax processing.
Shopify offers plenty of choices to include or exclude taxes from the displayed products. The automatic system manages tax calculations. Avalara Ava tax is available for Shopify Plus users to handle tax processing.
Shopify has more tax control over Wix. Wix tax management is satisfactory for small stores.
8. Shipping Options
Wix gives its customers the option to choose from Standard or Priority Shipping. You can set a local delivery or store pickup and even offer free shipping.
It let you compute the shipping cost based on order value, product weight/value, and distance.
On the other sides, Shopify has advanced methods for shipping. Its fulfillment network assists in easier dropshipping.
You can track shipments with ease regardless of carrier.
So, Shopify is more robust.
9. App Store
Shopify has a lot more to choose from in the app store than Wix. It has 6000+ apps while Wix provides only 300. And this thing expands your store online.
Apps on Wix are divided into 3 categories and the Shopify marketplace has nine types. A variety of apps allows you to operate your electronic shop. As more apps improve the performance and functionality of the store.
The winner is Shopify.
10. Customer Support
Wix provides support via phone, email, or live chat. Its call-back service during business hours is a great option to ask for queries. The blog has well-written tutorials to find answers when you need them.
Besides, Shopify assists through phone, live chat, email, and community forums. In addition, videos and webinars are better to deal with the query.
Another perk for Wix is in-editor that helps you instantly without going back and forth. This feature is clunky within Shopify.
Shopify or Wix for Small Businesses
It depends on having a small firm and want focus locally or expand it. Still, Wix is economical and has all the functions that a new setup requires. When comes to growing it fails.
Allow me to describe.
Wix is friendly for newcomers and gives comfort in use. You can learn shortly that is harder using Shopify. It is cheaper and instantly you can begin.
Wix pricing plans are inexpensive that start from $17-$35 and Shopify charges $19/mo for Basic. That’s a big difference.
You can access 800 free templates among 122 are eStore specific. It will help you in building a creative brand for your product. Even you can have 6 variant options in Wix which are limited to 3 in Shopify.
Though drop shipping is restricted to 250 products it let you enjoy this feature too. But if you wish to shift to a big scale then you must go with Shopify.
Wix allows adding 300 products while the Shopify list is unlimited in the case of large stores and is great for it.
Which is better for small businesses? Wix is the right option as it has all the basic features necessary for it. It’s affordable and simple.
Is Wix or Shopify Better for Ecommerce Business?
Well, the final decision is up to you. We have unrevealed everything about both platforms. Now you have to choose for yourself. A lot of aspects are there that matter the most.
It includes:
- Low or high budget
- Need design, not functionality
- Handling taxes
- Scalability
- Startup or already experienced
And more.
If you are a starter having a low budget requiring basic elements then Wix is the right one for you.
If you are looking for a platform to support in the long term, then you must select Shopify.
Check out the migration from Magento to Shopify checklist here.
Wrap Up
Lastly, you should understand what is important for you. Which suits your company’s demands and go with that one.
I hope that you have known about both platforms and made up your mind to set up the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which is better for dropshipping, Wix or Shopify?
Shopify has more advanced features for eCommerce, so it is far better than Wix.
2. What are the drawbacks of Wix?
- Limited to small business
- Not good SEO
- Unchangeable templates
- Difficult data migration
- Non-extendable