Wix: A Leading Website Builder Platform
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Updated On: August 6th, 2024
Wix, founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv, Israel, has grown into a leading website builder platform used by millions worldwide. Offering an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, Wix allows users of all skill levels to create professional and customizable websites. With its extensive range of templates and powerful tools, Wix is ideal for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives looking to establish a strong online presence.
This review explores the features, services, and industry reputation of Wix, providing insights into why it may be the right choice for your website-building needs.
Pros
Cons
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Quick Stats
Wix at a Glance
Wix is a global leader in website creation, enabling over 250 million users to build, manage, and grow their online presence. They aim to empower individuals, freelancers, and businesses to create stunning, professional-looking websites without any coding knowledge. Serving a diverse range of industries and business sizes, they offer a comprehensive suite of features designed to meet the needs of everyone from small business owners to large enterprises. The platform supports users in over 190 countries and is renowned for their user-friendly interface and robust performance, making them one of the most popular website builders in the world.
Wix provides a wide array of website-building tools and features, including customizable templates, advanced SEO tools, and an integrated e-commerce platform. You can leverage Wix’s AI-driven capabilities for personalized website design, making it easy to create visually appealing and functional sites without needing extensive technical knowledge. They provide a free trial period, allowing you to explore the platform's features before committing to a paid plan. Additionally, Wix ensures high security and compliance standards, with enterprise-grade infrastructure and 24/7 customer support. Their security measures involve SSL certificates being included for free as standard, two-factor authentication, and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other international data protection regulations.
Wix has garnered significant recognition in the website-building industry, particularly in the last few years. In 2023 and 2024, Wix was awarded the "Best Website Builder" by Tooltester, and are consistently included in various online "best of" lists, highlighting their user-friendly interface, extensive template library, and powerful features that cater to a diverse range of users. The company is also accredited and maintains a positive A rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and is highly regarded within the industry for their continuous improvements and customer-focused approach.
Wix Website Builder Features
Wix offers a robust platform with a variety of features to help users create and manage their websites effectively. They aim to provide the tools you need to establish a strong online presence, which include:
- Drag-and-drop editor: Wix's intuitive interface allows you to visually edit a website by dragging and dropping elements like text boxes, images, and photo galleries wherever you want them on the page. This makes it easy to build your website without any coding knowledge
- Extensive template library: You can choose from over 900 professionally designed website templates that are fully customizable to match your brand and style. Among those, Wix offers mobile-optimized templates so that your site looks great on any device
- AI website builder: For those short on time or design inspiration, Wix ADI uses AI to create a custom website based on your answers to a brief questionnaire, quickly generating a personalized site to meet your preferences and needs
- SEO tools: They integrate built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your website for search engines. This includes features like keyword research, on-page optimization tools, and sitemap creation
- E-commerce integration: You can set up an online store with powerful e-commerce features, including product listings, payment processing, and inventory management
- Media galleries: To engage your visitors, they allow you to showcase your photos and videos in high-quality, customizable galleries
- Video backgrounds and animations: To further create an engaging user experience, add dynamic visual elements to your site with video backgrounds, animations, and parallax scrolling
- Blogging platform: You may also create and manage a blog to share your insights, attract an audience, and improve your site’s SEO
- Booking and scheduling: You can integrate booking and scheduling into your website with tools to allow clients to book services directly through your site
- Analytics: Included with all Wix sites, this tool offers detailed insights into website traffic and visitor behavior, integrates with other Wix tools, provides personalized recommendations, and features a customizable dashboard
Additional perks
- Branding tools: With these tools, you may establish a strong brand identity with customizable logos, color themes, and more
- Marketing solutions: Drive traffic and conversions with built-in marketing tools, including email campaigns, social media ads, and detailed analytics
- Custom domains and hosting: You can get a professional custom domain name and enjoy reliable web hosting included with your Wix plan
- App market: You can extend the functionality of your website with Wix's App Market. There, you'll find a vast collection of free and paid apps to add features like online booking, contact forms, email marketing tools, and social media integrations
- 24/7 customer support: They provide access to around-the-clock customer service for assistance with any issues or questions
The Plans & Costs of Wix
Wix offers a range of premium plans tailored to different needs, from basic website creation to advanced e-commerce functionalities. They do offer a free website builder that allows users to create a website with some free web hosting and basic features, but it will retain Wix's branding. That said, they provide a 14-day free trial for the above premium plans, allowing you to explore the platform’s features before committing to a paid plan. Here’s an overview of the available plans:
- Light: This basic paid plan costs $17 per month and includes 2 GB of storage space, allows two collaborators, and provides a basic marketing suite, a free domain for one year, and 24/7 customer care
- Core: This next step up from the basic plan costs $29 per month, and includes 50 GB of storage space, allows five collaborators, and adds basic marketing, site analytics, and e-commerce functionalities. It allows you to accept payments and gives your customers their own accounts with saved information for quicker transactions, among other perks
- Business: This plan costs $36 per month, and includes 100 GB of storage space. It allows you to have 10 collaborators and includes standard marketing, e-commerce, and site analytics capabilities. It also has additional perks like 100 automated sales tax transactions per month, some resource management, and unlimited 'back in stock' notifications, among others
- Business Elite: This ultimate plan costs $159 per month and comes with unlimited storage space. It allows 15 collaborators and provides advanced marketing, e-commerce, and site analytics capabilities. It also comes with an advanced developer platform and priority customer care, as well as many more transactions, data requests, and overall resources provided
Each plan offers various features that can be customized based on your needs. Additional fees may apply for specific features such as premium apps, additional storage, and domain renewals. Custom domains and reliable web hosting are included in all premium plans, ensuring a professional online presence with secure connections. For more details on plan features, you can visit Wix's plans page.
The Advantages of Using Wix
There are many perks to choosing Wix when designing your own website, which include:
- User-friendly interface: Their intuitive editor allows you to easily create and customize websites without any coding knowledge, making it accessible for beginners
- Extensive template library: With over 900 professionally designed templates covering various industries, you are likely to find a template that suits their needs and style, which goes a long way to ensuring a polished and professional look
- AI-driven design: Wix’s Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) can build a personalized website based on a user’s preferences, saving you time and design effort while still delivering a tailored site
- Comprehensive SEO tools: They include built-in SEO features like keyword optimization, meta tags, and a sitemap generator. This can help your website rank higher in search engine results and attract more visitors
- E-commerce integration: You can easily set up online stores with features like product listings, payment processing, and inventory management, making them an ideal choice for small business growth
- Mobile optimization: They can ensure that your site looks great on any device with mobile-friendly design features, which is crucial for reaching a broader audience
- Robust customer support: By offering 24/7 customer service through various channels, including a comprehensive help center and community forums, they're more able to provide users with the assistance they need whenever issues arise
- Security features: Websites built with Wix benefit from enterprise-grade security, including SSL certificates, data encryption, and compliance with international standards like GDPR and CCPA
Why You Might Not Choose Wix
As with any website service, however, there are a few drawbacks to Wix, among which are:
- Limited template flexibility: Once a template is chosen, you may not be able to change it without starting from scratch, which can be frustrating for users who want to significantly redesign their site
- Higher pricing: Wix’s premium plans can be more expensive than those of other website builders, and additional costs for apps or features can add up quickly, making it less budget-friendly for some users
- Storage space restrictions: Wix’s Light plan comes with limited storage space of only 2 GB, which can be restrictive if you have large amounts of content or media. Upgrading to higher-tier plans for more storage can become costly
The Wix Customer Experience
Overall, Wix is well-regarded for its ease of use, comprehensive features, and responsive customer support, making it a popular choice with beginners and small businesses. They receive high review scores on sites like Trustpilot, where they get a score of 4.6 out of 5 stars from thousands of reviews, and Capterra, where they get 4.4 out of 5 stars. They do receive some critical feedback, however, which is reflected in their 1.3 out of 5 score on Sitejabber, albeit from a much smaller sample of reviews.
Positive feedback
Wix received a lot of praise for their user-friendly interface, making it accessible even for those with little to no web design experience. Users appreciated the intuitive drag-and-drop website builder and the extensive template library, which allows them to create professional-looking websites without needing to code. Many customers highlighted the efficiency and helpfulness of the company's customer service, noting that support representatives presented as knowledgeable and quick to resolve issues. Features such as the AI-driven website builder, comprehensive SEO tools, and robust e-commerce capabilities were also frequently commended. Additionally, the platform’s flexibility in customization and the ease of integrating various applications seemed to enhance the overall user experience.
Critical feedback
Despite their many strengths, they have faced criticism regarding their pricing and customer support processes. Some users reported issues with auto-renewal charges and difficulty obtaining refunds, describing the customer service as slow and unhelpful in resolving billing disputes. There were also complaints about the platform’s limited customization options, which can be frustrating for more advanced users seeking greater control over their website design. Additionally, some users have found the Google Ads integration ineffective and not as customizable as using Google directly. Issues with site responsiveness and occasional technical glitches have also been pointed out, along with concerns about data security and the reliability of the website’s backend.
They respond to all complaints on the BBB, are generally professional, and aim to address the issues raised. They provide specific instructions or links to relevant support resources and offer to escalate unresolved issues. However, some responses are perceived as generic or insufficiently helpful, particularly in more complex or repeated disputes. The tone remains courteous, but the effectiveness of the resolutions varies, leading to mixed customer satisfaction.
Wix Customer Service
Wix offers multiple channels for customer support to ensure you get the assistance you need. While they don't provide a direct phone number for website-building support, they offer several ways to get help:
- 24/7 support: You can tour the Wix Help Center for answers to common questions, browse articles, and watch video tutorials covering a wide range of website creator topics. You also have the option of doing online courses or tutorials through Wix Learn
- Contacting an agent: If you can't find an answer in the Help Center, you can contact a Wix support agent through their online chat option, especially if you're an Enterprise client, or have them contact you by filling out a form
Conclusion
All in all, if you’re a beginner looking to build a website, you may consider Wix. They have established themselves as a leading website builder by offering an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, an extensive template library, and powerful tools designed to help users of all skill levels create professional and customizable websites. Their AI-driven design capabilities, robust e-commerce features, and comprehensive SEO tools make them an attractive option for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives aiming to establish a strong online presence.
If you're seeking a user-friendly platform with extensive features and excellent customer support, they can be a compelling choice. Their mobile optimization, security features, versatile marketing solutions, and SEO tools to promote your site visibility are major advantages. However, potential users should consider the higher pricing, storage space restrictions, and limited template flexibility. That said, if these factors align with your needs, Wix can provide an effective and efficient solution for your website-building endeavors.
Before making a decision, it’s essential to research all your options. Visit our review page to learn more about the top website builders available to you, then use our comparison tool to pit different companies against each other. You can also explore our blog page for many interesting articles on the subject. This will help you make an informed choice that best suits your specific requirements.