Wix Review: Worthy of Winning Best Website Builder?

Wix is one of the best website builders on the market that we’ve tested. It’s a popular choice for many businesses, primarily because it doesn’t cater to one type of audience in particular – it’s designed to be suitable for anyone.

It’s great that Wix is a website builder that can do many things, but the question is can it do them well, and how easy is it to set up and use? I tested Wix myself, and in this article, I’ll be going over my experience using its AI tools, as well as giving you a rundown of the pros and cons of the platform and its key features.

If you want a quick answer as to whether Wix is right for your business or not, take a look at the table below:

Getting Started: My Experience With Wix

When I signed up to Wix, I was given the option of creating my own website manually or using Wix’s AI chatbot.

I opted for the AI chatbot first, and was asked questions about the type of website I wanted to set up, and what tools I needed. I told the AI chatbot that I wanted to promote my Italian restaurant and was impressed by the fact that it gave me suggestions for tools I might need based on the information I gave it, such as a menu display and online reservations.

The overall process of using the AI chatbot took a few minutes, and I was then taken to a dashboard, where I was presented a list of all the steps I needed to complete to finish setting up my website, based on the features I told the chatbot I wanted.

One of these was website design, which is what I started with. There again, I was given the option of choosing a design from one of Wix’s over 900 templates, or using the AI  tool to help me design my website.

I went with the AI tool again, and it generated a design based on the information I had given during setup. While this took the hassle of sifting through template designs out of creating a website, I did feel that the template design proposals Wix’s AI chatbot created were a little random.

You can relaunch the AI generation process several times, until you’re happy with the result, but some of the designs didn’t fit the theme I was looking for. One included random pictures of plants and planes, not at all matching my theme of an Italian homestyle restaurant.

If you choose to set up your website without AI, you’ll still be asked questions about the type of site you want to set up (online store, blog, etc.), but you’ll then be directed to the dashboard where you have full reign to create a website from scratch, or from a template of your choice. If you have more time on your hands, I’d recommend using a template or going from scratch in order to build a unique website that matches your brand.

My experience with the Wix Editor

Whether you’ve created your website from scratch, using a template, or with the AI chatbot, you’ll have a chance to edit it, using Wix’s drag-and-drop editor.

I found it to be quite user-friendly since all I needed to do was click on existing elements in order to edit them. I could also add elements easily using the sidebar menu. It’s full of icons, but by hovering over them you get a description of what the are and what they do, which I appreciated.

However, I do think that Wix’s editor can be a little overwhelming for total beginners. This is mainly because there’s so much you can do with it, so it’s hard to know where to start. As one member of our testing team put it:

“The complexities make it harder to use and give you more to think about than you should have to, […] as who someone who’s a non-expert.”

Total beginners are probably better off with a simple website builder like GoDaddy, which was crowned the easiest website builder to use by our team. As one tester put it:

“[GoDaddy is] a good starter website. I think it’s a good place to test out and get your bearings with how [website builders] works. And then when you’re a bit more confident you move on to a more powerful thing like Wix or Squarespace [sic].”

The Pros and Cons of Wix

Here’s what I think are Wix’s strengths and weaknesses:

✅ An abundance of templates

Wix has a library of over 800 pre-made templates, the most of any website builder the Expert Market research team has tested. This is great if you want a fast set-up without having to scratch your head over what font, color scheme, and layout to choose.

There are templates dedicated to different types of business websites, from cafes, to NGOs, to vets. The new Wix templates also have clearer navigation options than its older designs, allowing for a better user experience (UX) for your visitors.

If you don’t want a pre-populated template, you can choose between eight blank layouts, or even go for a totally blank page. Here are some examples of each template type:

✅ Easy to customise your website

Wix has a drag-and-drop editor, which makes customising your website very easy. While editing, you can basically see how the website will look once it’s published without having to go into a preview.

You don’t need to go scouring around the backend to find the page element you need, since all the options are already there in the editing sidebar, waiting to be dragged onto the page.

I also liked the toolbar feature in the main dashboard that takes you back to the last section you were editing. That helped ensure a smooth, continual set-up process that didn’t waste time. I also definitely recommend following along with the pop-up help guides, otherwise you’ll get lost pretty quickly.

✅ A wide range of features to suit almost every business type

Wix has been created with a wide target audience in mind, which means it has tools to suit a multitude of businesses.

Business features include bookings and appointment management, invoice tracking, and memberships and loyalty programs. Wix also has marketing tools, such as email marketing, a logo maker, and website analytics. SEO (search engine optimization) tips are also available and will help you get your website noticed on search engines.

We tested Wix as a team, and one participant said, “…[Wix] does have really useful business features. For instance, there is some understanding of being a dentist, you’re going to need to add services to your website, and also here are some pictures of dentist surgeries.”

✅ Save time with AI

Wix has been expanding its AI toolkit over the past few years. Starting with a simple AI website builder and chatbox to help you design your site, Wix now has AI solutions for generating text, product descriptions, and email campaigns, to name a few.

This can really save you time, especially when you’re just starting to populate your website with content. But, as with all AI, it’s probably a good idea to check its work before making your website live.

✅ Test the website out using the free plan

Wix’s free plan is quite basic compared to its premium plans, but it’s one of the few website builders that actually offers more than just a free trial. This means you can take the time to get to grips with Wix, and figure out if you like using it before committing to a subscription.

Using the free plan can also help you determine which of Wix’s premium plans is right for you. It’s easier to know what features you need based on experience rather than trying to predict it by looking at the different premium plan features.

❌ Can’t switch templates after a website is published

One big downside to Wix is that it doesn’t let you switch out your template for a new one once your site has gone live.

Given the massive number of templates Wix puts at its users’ disposal, this seems like an odd restriction. It means you really need to be sure of your choices before you hit publish.

Wix’s main rival, Squarespace, may have fewer templates, but at least it lets you change them after the site’s gone live.

❌ Site is slow to load

I found myself staring at loading screens a few times during the Wix set-up process. That’s perhaps to be expected, given the entire website creation process is taking place through your web browser, rather than a program downloaded onto your computer.

But even so, the loading time between stages can be up to 20 seconds long if you don’t have the fastest internet connection. We’re not talking hours of wasted time, by any means, but you’ll need some patience.

❌ Abundance of features can be overwhelming for beginners

Wix’s large network of features allows for versatility, but this can quickly get confusing, especially if you’re new to creating websites. I found myself spending quite a lot of time just perusing through all the features in the Wix backend trying to figure out what they did and how to use them.

One of our focus group participants felt similarly. They said, “I think it’s one of those programs that’s been worked on by so many different people at different times that some features work so well, but there’s no one checking on the overall experience to say, does this work for the average person?”

How Much Does Wix Cost?

Wix has four price plans – one to build a regular website, and three to build an online shop. There’s also custom pricing for very large and enterprise businesses.

You can check out our detailed guide to Wix pricing or take a quick look at the table below for an easy comparison:

Here’s a bonus: you can get 10% off on Wix plans with our code: TAKE10

Wix’s prices have gone up in the past few years, which means it’s no longer as affordable as it once was. There’s a particularly big jump in price between the Business and Business Elite plans, which could make scaling your business with Wix challenging.

If you’re just after a simple website that’s more of an informational page, you’ll get better value for your money with website builders such as GoDaddy. It doesn’t come with as many advanced features or pretty template designs as Wix, but it’s cheaper and has all the basics.

Wix Key Features Explained

Wix’s best features include its SEO functions, online store, marketing tools, and help and support center. Here’s a closer look at Wix’s suite of features:

1. SEO

Wix is one of the best platforms for SEO. It allows you to customize URLs and it automatically adds meta tags to your pages.

It recently updated the dedicated SEO dashboard paying users have in their backend so that it displays data on your site’s health taken directly from Google Search Console.

Another new SEO addition is Wix’s built-in SEO assistant, which suggests SEO improvements for your existing website, and provides you with a personalized SEO checklist, a great resource for beginners.

Those with more advanced SEO knowledge will appreciate Wix’s URL redirect function, and the integrations it offers, such as Semrush.

2. Online store

If you choose to upgrade to one of Wix’s ecommerce plans, you can take payments for services and appointments, sell subscriptions or ship physical items.

A Wix ecommerce website comes with sales, inventory, and order tracking features, and its Business and Business Elite plans allow you to print shipping labels.

Wix also has a wide range of payment processing options, which can increase the chance of customers completing the checkout process. For example, Wix recently added AfterPay to its list of accepted payment methods, a provider that lets customers buy in installments. This can increase sales if your business sells high-value items.

Wix has its own payment gateway, “Wix Payments” but it also allows you to integrate dozens of payment providers and methods into your ecommerce site, including Stripe, Square, and Paypal. With Squarespace, on the other hand, you can only add a very limited range of payment processors to your webshop.

That being said, Wix isn’t necessarily the best ecommerce platform to go with if you’re planning on growing your online store.

For that, Shopify is your best bet – it affords you more sophisticated ecommerce features than Wix, and in-depth reporting. Its prices are higher than Wix’s, however, starting at $38/month for the ‘Basic’ plan, through to $389 every month for the ‘Advanced’ one.

3. Marketing

Wix has a comprehensive range of built-in marketing features, including email marketing and social media marketing. There’s a logo-making tool you can use that’s AI-assisted, for easy branding for your business.

From the Wix backend, users can design email campaigns and social media ads, using the same drag-and-drop editor used for web page editing. Posts can also be scheduled and their impact tracked from the same place in the Wix backend.

In addition to its built-in marketing features, Wix has integrations with reporting tools such as Google Analytics and CAPI, so that you can track the behavior of visitors to your website.

4. AI tools

Wix has an AI chatbot to help you build your website. You can find out more about my experience with it in my detailed breakdown at the top of this review.

AI website builders are becoming increasingly popular, and Wix isn’t alone in offering one, with competitors Squarespace, Hostinger, and GoDaddy also hoping on the trend. Results are quite similar across, the board, and I wouldn’t say Wix’s AI website builder is miles ahead of the competition.

In terms of aesthetics, the results you get with the AI builders match the style of the pre-existing templates of each website builder. So, Squarespace’s AI website builder will generate a highly modern and polished-looking website, while GoDaddy’s will give you something a little more basic and dated. Wix falls somewhere in the middle.

But AI isn’t just being used for website building. Wix also offers AI support for a host of other tools:

• Content writing: use AI to generate and edit copy for your website, including headers and product descriptions, based on prompts
• Image editing: use the AI tools to improve image quality, and remove or change backgrounds
• Logo and image generation: use AI to generate unique images or logos, based on precise prompts
• Email marketing content: use AI to craft copy and design a template layout for email marketing campaigns

If you’re using AI to generate written content for your Wix website, I definitely recommend you use the results as inspiration rather than for the final product. Like with all AI tools, Wix’s AI writer provides pretty basic copy, that might not feel very inspiring or genuine to your readers and customers. Your personal touch will go a long way.

5. App market

Besides Shopify, Wix has by far the most extensive app market of any website builder we tested. There are hundreds of third-party apps you can use to enhance your website, plus a selection of Wix’s own.

You can filter apps by category and function, with the selection including marketing and analytics tools, design tools, and apps for event management and hotels. Some are free to use, while others require a paid subscription.

Among Wix’s own apps are:

• Wix Loyalty Program: Let customers earn points and discounts
• Wix Hotels: Manage online bookings and inventory
• Wix Pro Gallery: Create image and video galleries and share on social media
• Wix Blog: Create and manage a blog and get SEO and design tips

You can see ratings and reviews for all apps in the Wix App Market, which is great for deciding which are worth your time and which aren’t.

I’d also recommend not overloading your website with too many integrations since this can slow down your site speed, which is frustrating for both you, and your site visitors. So, choose which apps you integrate into your website carefully, and don’t go above 10.

6. Security

Wix is a secure platform. All Wix websites come with a free SSL certificate, in which the website link starts with https://, instead of http:// (note the missing “s”).

What this does is enable the encrypted transfer of data between web browsers and websites, and it makes users feel more secure visiting your Wix website. If you’ve ever had the experience of clicking on a website, and your web browser blocking it and warning you that it’s potentially unsafe, that’s probably because it’s missing an SSL certificate. This won’t happen to visitors entering your Wix website, since you’ll have one automatically.

You’ll be safe from malicious visitors on your end too, since Wix uses a multiple-layer security architecture and firewalls to protect websites from unauthorized access.

Wix is also a PCI Level 1 Merchant & Service Provider and is certified as ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 compliant. This basically means it meets the highest standards of security for processing payments and follows international best practices for security and data protection.

7. Help and Support

Wix’s knowledge center is a helpful resource when it comes to simple technical questions about meta tags and page redirects. There is also a series of video courses on Wix Learn that can help users learn how to maximize the website builder’s potential.

But if you want to speak to a real human – even about an issue as vital as billing – Wix makes it somewhat hard to access direct contact. There’s no public phone line. Instead, you can request a callback, which may come in several hours after your request.

This callback option isn’t easy to find. It was only after asking the Help bot directly “How can I speak to a human?” that this service even presented itself.

It’s possible the support staff was hard hit by Wix’s round of layoffs in 2023, which might explain the long wait times.

How Does Wix Compare to its Competitors?

Wix’s closest competitor is Squarespace, and the two are both beginner-friendly tools.

This wasn’t always the case, but Squarespace has become much more user-friendly in the past few years, creating an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that integrates smoothly with the backend.

Wix does have slightly more advanced features than Squarespace, but Squarespace beats Wix out in terms of website aesthetics. Which one you prioritize really depends on your business website needs.

If you’re after a more custom scalable site for building an online shop, then you should look into WooCommerce or Shopify. They’re some of our top ecommerce platforms for large companies.

Does Wix Have Good Customer Reviews?

Customer reviews of Wix are generally positive. The platform scores 4.6 out of five stars on TrustPilot, with just under 20,000 reviews, and 73% of ratings being five stars. Most other reviews and assessments of Wix from independent websites and bloggers are also quite positive.

Unsurprisingly, tech geeks who are passionate about website building aren’t a fan of Wix, and you can find many users bashing the platform on forums like Reddit. However, as one Reddit user put it, web developers aren’t Wix’s target audience. It’s a platform designed for “small businesses that just need to get online” without too much hassle (ConfectionFair, Reddit, 2022).

Many forum users also had positive things to say about Wix, especially when it comes to its ease of use. However, many of them note that they think it might be overwhelming for total beginners, which more or less falls in line with Expert Market’s assessment of the platform.

Methodology: How We Tested Wix