WordPress or Wix?: 7 Key Differences to Consider

Why Choosing the Right Platform Matters

When you’re building a website, the first steps can feel overwhelming: choosing a domain, planning your layout, designing content, organising navigation. And, of course, picking how you’ll build the site in the first place. You may have faced the question: should I choose WordPress or Wix?

Tools like Wix make this easier by offering simple, all-in-one website-building solutions. You can create something visually appealing within hours, without touching a line of code. WordPress, on the other hand, is a more traditional option and is not a website builder per se, but in fact a powerful and flexible content management system (CMS). WordPress intially became popular among bloggers but now powers over 40% of all websites worldwide.

Choosing the right platform matters because your website isn’t just a project for today. It’s something that needs to grow, adapt, and scale alongside your organisation. Factors like cost, long-term flexibility, ease of use, ownership, and scalability all come into play.

Wix and WordPress are two of the most widely used options, but they serve very different needs. In this post, we’ll compare both platforms so you can understand which one fits your goals and needs.

WordPress vs. Wix at a Glance

WordPress

Type: Open-source Content Management System (CMS)

Used by: Over 40% of all websites

Customisation: Thousands of themes and plugins

Hosting: Self-hosted (you choose your provider)

Best for: Organisations that want full control, flexibility, and scalability

Wix 

Type: Fully hosted, drag-and-drop website builder (SaaS)

Used by: Small businesses, beginners, non-technical users

Customisation: Visual customisation via drag-and-drop editor but limited backend control

Hosting: Included (Wix hosts everything on its own servers)

Best for: Simple websites, small business sites, portfolios, users who want an easy builder without technical setup

1. Ease of Use

Wix: drag-and-drop functionality

Wix is a very easy-to-use website builder letting you create a presentable site and get it up and running in no time. It presents a simple, intuitive drag-and-drop builder within the browser that allows users to move objects and elements with ease. 

The intuitive functionality means there’s typically a minimal learning curve associated with using the tool, making it great for beginners and those with smaller sites, especially as the editor starts to become slower with the more pages added. The ease of use also comes at the price of having less control overall, making this tool better suited for sites that will remain relatively static over time. 

WordPress: full editing control but steeper learning curve

WordPress does not have the same drag-and-drop control as Wix, it requires more technical knowledge and, as a result, there is a longer learning period associated with it. But, in return, once you have mastered the basics it offers much more power and freedom to design and build a site that is exactly what you need it to be. 

Unlike Wix, there is no limit on how many pages you can create. WordPress is by far the more powerful platform and comes equipped with all the functionality you could need to build and design large sites that can be edited and adapted as needed.

Verdict: While Wix can be commended for its pure simplicity, WordPress wins for long-term flexibility.

2. Design Flexibility & Customisation

Wix: ready-to-go designs but limited control 

Wix offers off-the-shelf designs that enable you to quickly create a website that looks and feels professional. However, you are limited to the designs and features the platform provides, which limits the customisations and flexibility you need to create a website that feels truly your own.

With Wix you have less control over the layout and structure of your site and once you have built your site it is also pretty difficult to switch templates. This restricts the evolution of your site and pins you down to those initial design choices you made when creating the site. 

WordPress: full creative freedom and design control 

With WordPress, you can choose from thousands of free and premium themes, or even build your own using page builders like Beaver Builder, Divi, or the native Gutenberg editor. 

For nonprofits and mission-driven organisations, this flexibility is key. You can align your website’s look and feel with your brand identity, accessibility standards, and storytelling goals. WordPress is open-source and this means you have total design freedom, making it ideal for brands that need unique and professional design or have evolving needs.  

Verdict: WordPress offers future-proof design flexibility which can’t be matched by Wix. 

3. Mobile responsiveness

Wix: separate mobile responsive designs

Wix creates a separate mobile version as their desktop designs are not responsive by default. Responsive themes automatically adjust the site’s layout to look good on any screen size, from desktops to tablets and smartphones. This means their designs work perfectly fine for desktop but you may need to re-arrange some elements to make your site accessible on phones and this is far from ideal. 

WordPress: built-in responsiveness 

WordPress is mobile responsive by default when using a modern theme that automatically adjust your content, images, and layout for different screen sizes. For example, a multi-column layout on a desktop might stack into a single column on a phone for easier reading. To ensure your site is responsive, you can choose a mobile-friendly theme and adjust mobile-specific settings for fonts and headers, and switch to mobile view to make any page-specific adjustments.

Verdict: It’s much easier to make your site mobile responsive with WordPress. 

4. Plugins, Features & Integrations

Wix: a solid all-in-one setup (with limitations)

Wix offers a dedicated online store system with built-in payment options, automatic tax calculations, shipping tools, and a growing collection of add-ons. Most features can be enabled with a single click, and everything can be customised using visual, no-code tools. For small online shops, Wix is actually one of the more affordable and user-friendly ecommerce builders.

However, the Wix App Market is much smaller than WordPress’s plugin ecosystem, and many features are “locked down,” meaning you can’t customise them beyond what Wix provides. Wix sites also tend to be heavier and slower to load—especially when using content-rich templates—which can affect both user experience and SEO. Because of this, Wix is best suited to small businesses rather than large or complex ecommerce stores.

WordPress: unlimited flexibility and integrations

WordPress gives you access to more than 50,000 plugins, covering virtually every use case—from SEO and ecommerce to memberships, donations, multilingual support, learning management systems, CRMs, and much more.

If you can imagine it, there’s almost certainly a plugin for it.

WordPress also integrates with almost every major third-party tool or service on the market. Unlike Wix, you’re not restricted by platform limitations, developers can customise functionality at any level, making WordPress ideal for businesses that want full control and room to scale.

Verdict: WordPress can’t be beaten on its plugins and integrations.

5. SEO Capabilities

Wix: good basics, but limited for long-term SEO growth

In an increasingly crowded digital landscape, SEO is essential for helping businesses reach the right audience. Wix offers solid built-in SEO features that are ideal for small businesses that don’t need large or highly customised sites. The platform provides tools for editing meta tags, alt text, redirects, and basic performance settings.

However, Wix’s SEO capabilities are restricted by a few structural limitations. Its content-heavy templates often load more slowly, which can negatively impact search rankings. Wix also enforces a more rigid URL structure, giving you less flexibility in organising content and fine-tuning performance. These factors make it less suitable for websites that rely heavily on organic search growth.

WordPress: full control and exceptional SEO potential

With WordPress, you have complete control over every technical SEO element: from site structure and speed optimisation to schema markup and indexing rules. You can implement advanced performance enhancements through high-quality plugins such as Yoast, RankMath, and WP Rocket, giving you far more precision and scalability.

WordPress’s clean, standards-compliant codebase and mobile-responsive themes also support better crawlability and indexing. You can create custom, keyword-rich URLs and optimise every detail of your site architecture, which is essential for competitive SEO and long-term organic growth.

Verdict: WordPress SEO capabilities dominate.

6. Content Ownership 

Wix: limited ownership

A Wix site is a  closed ecosystem: you cannot export your full site. You own the intellectual property of your user content, including text, images, videos, and other media you add to your site. But Wix retains ownership of the underlying code meaning you cannot export your website’s code to use on another hosting platform, making it difficult to migrate off the platform if you ever want or need to. 

WordPress: 100% ownership and control

WordPress sites give you 100% ownership. Because it’s open source, you own your website, design, data, hosting and content forever. Its scalable hosting options also make it ideal for organisations planning to grow. 

This transparency aligns beautifully with nonprofit and social enterprise values – including our own social promise. Open-source software encourages collaboration, accessibility, and innovation, and these are things you simply don’t get with a closed platform like Wix.

Verdict: You own your WordPress site completely, with Wix you don’t.

This is often the biggest reason organisations choose WordPress.

7. Cost Comparison

Wix: simple pricing, but costs can add up

Wix offers clear, upfront pricing that can be paid monthly, yearly, or bi-yearly. There’s also a free plan, but it comes with significant limitations: your site will display Wix ads, and you can’t use a custom domain.

Wix’s premium plans bundle hosting, security, and a range of features:

Wix Pricing (approx.)

• Light – 11€/month
  
• Core (for online stores) – 22€/month
  
• Business – 30.94€/month
  
• Business Elite – 149€/month

However, Wix is not the cheapest option. Costs can rise as you add apps, extra features, or storage, and long-term subscription pricing can exceed what you might initially expect.

WordPress: free software with flexible, scalable costs

WordPress itself is free and open-source, but you will need to budget for:

• Hosting (usually €5–15/month)
  
• Premium themes or plugins (optional)
  
• Maintenance or support if you hire professionals to assist
  

The advantage is flexibility: you choose your hosting provider, only pay for the features you actually need, and avoid being locked into a single pricing structure. Over time, WordPress tends to be more cost-effective, especially for websites that grow or require custom functionality.

Verdict: WordPress is often cheaper in the long run and offers greater ownership, scalability, and control over costs.

WordPress or Wix?: The Final Verdict

So, WordPress or Wix?

WordPress is the ideal platform if you want full creative, functional, and technical control without sacrificing scalability. Unlike all-in-one builders, like Wix, that limit customisation and control, WordPress gives you complete ownership of your content, design, data, and long-term growth.

Whether you’re building a simple site or a complex digital ecosystem, WordPress grows with you rather than holding you back.

WordPress is the best choice for most organisations, especially those that want to scale, including:

• Growing businesses
  
• Nonprofits and NGOs
  
• Social enterprises
  
• Purpose-driven or mission-led organisations
  

If you value flexibility, transparency, and long-term sustainability, WordPress provides the foundation to build, and keep building, without running into roadblocks later.

Ready to Build a Website That Grows With You?

While both offer great tools for building a professional online presence, WordPress’s flexibility, scalability, and open-source nature often make it the better long-term choice — especially for mission-driven organisations.

At Circular Design, we’ve helped countless nonprofits and social enterprises get the best out of WordPress: building websites that are not only beautiful but also ethical, accessible, and built to last and scale. 

Explore our WordPress website design and care plan services to learn how we can help you create an impactful, scalable online presence for your organisation.