The process of creating a website is not what it used to be in the early days of the Internet. You no longer need to be a coding wizard (or hire one) to establish a prominent online presence. Thanks to modern content management systems and their ease of use, everyone can produce a website they can be proud of, in a matter of hours!
With so many options to choose from, two CMS applications have dominated the modern market: WordPress and Wix. These two systems are very different from each other in many ways, but they do share certain similarities, which makes the choice between them a rather difficult one. WordPress is the king of customization, with plugins such as FooTable – WordPress table plugin or Contact Form 7 allowing you to reshape your site to your liking. Wix, on the other hand, has perfected the art of simplicity with an easy, drag-and-drop user interface, allowing people who have never had experience with web design to create some beautiful webpages.
Want to build a website but don’t know which CMS to use? You’ve come to the right place! This article will outline the pros and cons of each platform so that you can make an informed decision.
WordPress
Pros:
- Free and open-source,
- Hundreds of hosts available worldwide to fit every need and budget,
- You can create free or paid themes without having coding knowledge,
- A near-infinite supply of plugins, allowing you to customize your site in a wide plethora of ways.
Cons:
- WordPress.com will always have ads in its free plan and only supports themes from a company that owns them (this is not the case if you pay for the premium version).
Automattic owns the code for WordPress.com and the .org plugin, and you are NOT allowed to view the source code of your site, so you don’t really own anything you create on WordPress.com. You can replace most of your site manually with free software, but you’ll never get the flexibility of customization that you get by creating your site yourself with WordPress and using a web host like Hostgator or Siteground. These are especially good for small businesses as they both allow 100% of your resources (bandwidth, disk space, etc.) to be used by your site. With their easy-to-use one-click installers, they also make a great alternative if you have zero coding experience or are simply in a time crunch.
To sum it up, if you’re going to use WordPress, you might want to splash the cash on your domain and hosting services and use that content management system on your externally-hosted site.
Wix
There is much more to Wix than meets the eye, which is why one simple pros and cons list won’t suffice when it comes to a detailed outline of its advantages and disadvantages.
The Service
As a company, Wix provides both free and paid website building services for customers and they generate revenue through advertisements, premium mobile apps, and subscriptions to their website builder. Again, unlike WordPress, Wix does not provide content management services for free. They do grant you the option to combine your Wix site with your WordPress creations, but its framework is rather outdated.
Major Features and Shortcomings
Wix sites may look “professional” but they lack search engine optimization (SEO) integration which is critical for most businesses.
Compared to WordPress, Wix offers a more attractive and simpler user interface. It automatically formats your pages for the web. This is a really smart approach. Compared to WordPress’ traditional text-based system, it’s easier for most people to understand and make fast and simple modifications. However, this convenience comes at a cost.
Wix has built its CMS on HTML5 which is different from traditional HTML and provides better flexibility for website developers. But HTML5 lacks support for key features like SEO integration that WordPress users often take for granted.
The Bottom Line: Which One Should You Choose?
WordPress is the most popular CMS today. It’s not just because it’s easy to use, but because of the endless number of plugins and themes that allow you to push your site to its limits. However, there are many others out there that offer great content management features for free.
Wix’s offerings are just as good or even better in some ways. Their drag-and-drop interface is incredibly easy to use, even if you’re not an expert. The themes and templates they provide their users with are beautiful and among some of the best in the business. On top of that, their customer support team is available 24/7 to answer any of your questions related to the issues that you have with your website. But if Wix is so great, why would you go for WordPress?
The answer to that question is rather simple – aesthetics and management. Wix has a massive library of beautiful pre-made themes – just check out some of their stunning work here! – but this doesn’t make up for its lack of plugins and considerably limited support when it comes to complex website design.
So, at the end of the day, your choice depends on what you value most in a CMS. If it’s simplicity that you are after, Wix would be the better choice for you. But if you need more customization options, go for WordPress!
