Wix vs Shopify: Which One Is Best for Your Online Store?

Building and managing an online store is one of the most crucial tasks you must undertake when entering the world of e-commerce. To achieve this, you need to select the right platform that can assist you in building a website to showcase your products.  

In this situation, Shopify and Wix are two potential options among the many solutions available, but which is best suited for your business? Don’t worry! We will provide you with a comprehensive comparison of Shopify vs Wix, as well as tips on how to choose the most suitable platform for your online store in this blog post.  

Without further ado, let’s dive into this article!

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a SaaS (Software as a Service) e-commerce platform that allows individuals and businesses to create websites to sell products. In addition, Shopify provides a variety of features to help sellers and businesses operate and manage their online stores efficiently and smoothly.

Founded in 2006, Shopify is the most popular e-commerce platform today, with 4.8 million and more than 2 million users worldwide. Among them, we can mention some famous brands, such as Tesla, PepsiCo, Sephora, Kylie Cosmetics, Skims, etc.

What is Wix?

Wix is ​​a website-building platform that allows users to create websites online using simple drag-and-drop operations without spending too much time. You just need to register an account and use WIX tools to create your own website. It is suitable for people with no technical background or programming skills.

Wix has quickly become one of the most popular website creation platforms in the world. As of 2024, Wix has over 200 million users worldwide, with millions of active websites created using the platform.

Wix vs Shopify: Short Comparison

Before we get into the details, let’s take a quick comparison between Shopify and Wix in the table below:

In short, Wix is suitable for small businesses that want to build an online store and sell some products, while Shopify is more suitable for bigger ones that want to expand, especially if they have a larger inventory.

If you need more information before deciding anything, read till the end to explore our deeper comparison in ease of use, price, stability, etc.

Wix vs Shopify: Key Differences

Shopify and Wix are both tools that help you build an e-commerce store, but they differ in the following aspects. Let’s take a look at this more in-depth comparison below!

Ease of Use

Most users care about ease of use before selecting and sticking to a particular platform. Therefore, the first factor you need to consider in this comparison is ease of use. Before writing this blog post, we spent time using Shopify and Wix and discovered that:

As we know, Wix is ​​designed as an intuitive website builder with integrated e-commerce functionality. With a powerful drag-and-drop editor, Wix allows you to easily arrange your website layout and preview changes instantly. In addition, Wix’s detailed tutorial system helps beginners quickly get acquainted without much technical knowledge.

On the contrary, Shopify is known as a specialized platform for e-commerce. Shopify’s management interface is optimized to help businesses launch online stores in just minutes with simple operations. Although it does not have the drag-and-drop feature of Wix, Shopify has an easy product and order management system, helping sellers add and remove goods and track business activities effectively.

Verdict: If you want a flexible website design and editing platform, Wix is ​​the best choice. Besides, if you are only focused on selling and need a dedicated platform to manage your store, Shopify is the better option.

Pricing

Wix offers four premium plans: Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite. These range in price from $17 to $159 per month (billed annually). If you’re an e-commerce business, you’ll need the Core plan or higher to unlock the features that make selling possible. Each plan is tailored to your business size and goals, so consider them carefully before deciding on a plan.

• Light: 17$ per month 
• Core: 29$ per month 
• Business: 36$ per month 
• Business Elite: 159% per month

Wix also has a free plan that lets users test out the features for as long as they want before upgrading to a paid plan. This plan comes with 500MB of storage, a Wix domain name (www.accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress), and ads. While you can use Wix for free, I recommend upgrading to a premium plan as soon as possible to unlock more features and remove ads.

Shopify’s pricing plans are generally more expensive than Wix’s, but you can sell across all plans. On the other hand, with Wix, you need to choose an e-commerce plan that suits your goals. Shopify’s prices range from $19 to $2.300 per month (billed annually), but you can get the first 3 months for just $1 a month, which reduces the initial cost.

• Basic: 19$ per month 
• Shopify: 49$ per month 
• Advanced: 299$ per month 
• Plus: 2.300$ per month

Verdict: You can start selling online with Shopify for as little as $19 per month on the Basic plan, while Wix’s Core plan costs $29 per month. However, Wix’s most expensive Business Elite plan is $159 a month, which is half the cost of Shopify’s Advanced plan at $299/month. So, in the long run, Wix’s plans are much cheaper than Shopify’s.

Store Management

Wix websites are fully equipped with the features needed to run an online store, including:

• Shopping cart and checkout
• Inventory management helps you automatically update your inventory after each sale.
• Easy payment options with over 50 secure payment gateways.
• Wix mobile apps help you manage your store right from your mobile device.

On the other hand, Shopify also gives store owners access to important features such as:

Inventory management similar to Wix

• Burst: A tool that provides access to the latest stock photo updates, allowing merchants to add the latest trends to their product displays.
• Business Name Generator
• Financial Calculator to Help You Manage Your Store’s Finances
• Shopify App to Manage Your Store and Orders When You’re Away From Your Computer

Verdict: Wix is ​​for those who want an easy-to-use, versatile, and sales-supporting platform, while Shopify offers a more specialized experience that helps POD shop owners optimize their e-commerce operations from the ground up.

Payment

When it comes to payment systems, both Wix and Shopify offer a variety of options that make it easy for customers to pay for their purchases. 

Wix supports popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Square, Klarna, and its in-house Wix Payments system. It’s worth noting that Wix doesn’t charge additional transaction fees if merchants choose to use external payment gateways, which saves on costs. Additionally, Wix Payments supports over 40 payment methods, including Google Pay and Apple Pay, providing flexibility for both merchants and customers.

Meanwhile, Shopify offers more than 100 payment processing systems, which is more than Wix. Shopify also has its own in-house payment system, Shopify Payments, but if sellers use a third-party payment gateway, they will incur additional transaction fees. In return, Shopify has a big advantage in cross-border payments, supporting many currencies, making it easy for sellers to expand to international markets. In addition, Shopify has an advanced discount system, allowing for more flexible discount settings than Wix.

Verdict: If you need a flexible payment system, Wix is ​​the optimal choice, thanks to its free transactions with external payment gateways. However, if you want to sell internationally and need a more professional payment system, Shopify has many outstanding advantages, especially the ability to support multiple currencies.

Analytics

Wix and Shopify both offer analytics tools to help store owners track business performance.

Wix Analytics allows you to customize reports based on traffic, shopping behavior, and conversion rates. You can adjust how data is displayed and create new reports from scratch.

However, Shopify has the edge with its in-depth analytics system. All Shopify plans come with Shopify Analytics, but upgrading to Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus gives you access to custom reports with advanced filters. Shopify also provides information on store speed and other key metrics to optimize business performance.

Verdict: Wix is ​​great for small stores that want flexible, easy-to-use reporting. Shopify is stronger in advanced analytics and in-depth reporting, which is especially useful for businesses that need detailed data to optimize revenue.

Themes and Templates

Wix offers over 900 diverse templates that cover a wide range of business needs, from “Arts & Crafts” to “Pets & Animals.” Whether you run a restaurant or sell clothes online, Wix has a design that fits. Best of all, all of Wix’s templates are completely free.

In contrast, Shopify has a limited number of free templates, with only 13 options available at the moment. Most templates on Shopify cost between $100 and $500. Although professionally designed and aesthetically pleasing, Wix allows you to find similar quality templates for free.

Verdict: In short, when it comes to templates and themes, Wix has a big advantage over Shopify, thanks to its diverse and completely free template library.

SEO

Both Wix and Shopify offer basic SEO features like custom titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and sitemaps. However, Shopify has the edge in eCommerce SEO thanks to its clean codebase, which makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. Shopify also supports AMP for product pages, which improves page load speeds and increases your chances of ranking on Google. Additionally, Shopify has a rich SEO app store, which offers a variety of tools to help with in-depth optimization.

Wix still has good built-in SEO features, especially for blogging and keyword optimization. However, Wix doesn’t have as many eCommerce-specific SEO tools as Shopify.

Verdict: Shopify is better at SEO for online stores thanks to its fast indexing, AMP, and many supporting apps. Wix is ​​better suited for businesses that want to combine SEO and blogging to attract customers.

App-ons and Intergrations

Wix App Market offers over 800 free and paid apps that you can integrate into your e-commerce site. However, since Wix is ​​a general website-building platform, most of the apps are not e-commerce-specific. However, Wix has several built-in features that you can use without extra fees, such as order management, inventory tracking, coupon creation, payment integration, and SEO optimization. These features make it easy to run your online store without relying too much on third-party apps.

Shopify App Store has over 8.000 free and paid apps. This number is a lot higher than Wix. Furthermore, all of these apps are focused on e-commerce businesses. You can use them to enhance your online store, such as selling digital products or adding some elements to your store interface. 

Verdict: Wix gives you access to the integrations and apps you need to create a powerful website. However, most of them are not e-commerce-specific. On the other hand, Shopify offers more options to choose from, and the tools it offers are all built specifically for online businesses.

Customer Support 

When it comes to support service, Wix is the winner with multi-channel user support, including:

• 24/7 phone support.
• Live chat (from Monday to Friday, 2 am to 6 pm EST).
• Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn
• Help Center is full of tutorials on topics like “Connecting a Domain Name” or “Promoting Your Website”.
• SEO Learning Hub provides expert support on all things SEO.
• Wix Learn offers video tutorials and online courses.
• Community forums so you can connect and learn from other Wix users.
• In-editor support – You can browse the Help Center for tutorials without leaving the editor and tour the editor by selecting it from the “Help” category in the navigation bar.

Shopify offers a comprehensive support system, starting with the Help Center, where you can find detailed documentation in 21 languages ​​on everything from how to start a business to managing and expanding your store. Most basic issues can be solved through this documentation. If you need direct assistance, you can contact Shopify’s 24/7 support center via chat, email, or phone for a more detailed guide from their team.

Additionally, if you encounter technical issues like code editing or advanced customization, you can access the Shopify Community Forum to get assistance. Here, you can connect with other store owners and experienced developers who can offer helpful advice to support you in overcoming your difficulties.

Verdict: Wix wins this battle with its extremely detailed help center, which features a user-friendly interface and helpful screenshots. Moreover, the Help section in the website editor allows you to seek help without leaving the builder.

Wix vs Shopify: Pros and Cons

Comparing Wix and Shopify which is better is not simple, because each platform has its own strengths. So which is the better choice?

Let’s find out the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms to make your own final choice:

Conclusion: Wix vs Shopify – Which One Is Best for Your Online Store?

Through the above comparisons, we can see that Shopify is more suitable for e-commerce business. However, each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, so you need to consider all aspects of them as well as your business goals and development direction to make the most suitable choice.

If you are new to e-commerce business or do not have a professional staff, Shopify is a great choice. In addition, if you are still hesitant about selling items and products online, Shopify offers a beginner plan for only $ 1 per month for the first few months.

On the other hand, if you just want to showcase your artwork and selling is secondary, Wix is ​​more suitable. With a diverse and eye-catching template library, this platform will help you be creative without limits.