Wix Review: Is it a Good Choice for Your Business Website?

Wix is considered to be one of the best website builders on the market. 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.

This was clear from the minute I landed on Wix’s homepage, where I was immediately prompted to choose from a variety of website types, including “online store”, “restaurant”, and “consultant”.

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’ll be answering these questions in this article, as well as going over Wix’s pros and cons, its pricing plans, and what businesses I think it’s most suited to.

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 customize your website

Wix has a drag-and-drop editor, which makes customizing 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 appointments management, invoice tracking, and memberships and loyalty programs. Wix also has marketing tools, such as email marketing, a logo maker, website analytics, and it offers SEO (search engine optimization) tips to help get your website noticed on search engines.

Our research team had a focus group test Wix so we could collect a variety of user experiences for this review. 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 off 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 publishing website

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 allow 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 web shop.

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 $39/month for the ‘Basic’ plan, through to $399 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. 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 are 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.

What Kind of Business is Wix Best For?

Wix is designed to suit a wide range of businesses, and that’s part of its appeal, it’s a great all-rounder.

It has a versatile set of tools that equip you to run events, book appointments, set up meetings, sell subscriptions, stream videos, send out marketing emails, track sales, and so on.

However, it’s not the best option for businesses that don’t need a lot of features and just want an informational website or a contact page.

We recommend Wix for the following types of business users:

1. Small to medium online sellers

If you want to bring in more revenue by selling services, physical goods, subscriptions or other digital products, starting a Wix ecommerce website is a good choice.

As a fairly mature platform (beginning in 2006), Wix has market-leading tools for small to medium sized web retail businesses.

Examples of industries well-suited to a Wix online store include:

• Sporting goods 
• Fashion and accessories
• Homeware, and arts and crafts
• Gift shops
• Pet supplies
• Healthcare products
• Digital education course providers

2. Hospitality, restaurants, and entertainment venues

Wix has dedicated templates for restaurants and cafes, events, and hotels, all three of which appear on Wix’s website creation prompt on its landing page.

When you select these templates, you’ll be suggested useful features for the type of hospitality businesses you have. These include table reservation management and menu displays for restaurants, reservation management and availability calendars for hotels, and ticketing or reservation forms for event organizers, to name a few.

3. Consultants, coaches, legal Firms, medical facilities, and health clubs

Wix is an attractive option for services-based businesses thanks to its appointment scheduling features. If you need your website to funnel curious customers into your in-person office or to book video appointments with you, Wix can do it.

There are dedicated templates for a variety of service businesses, including consulting and coaching, law services, and medical clinics, along with useful features such as staff availability management and appointment reminders.

Health and fitness businesses can specifically benefit from the Fit by Wix app (free to download without a premium subscription). It allows you to take bookings for gym classes, offer memberships, set up community groups, host discussions, and sell merchandise.

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.

Here at Expert Market, we collected reviews from ordinary Wix customers as part of our review process, and they gave the platform a 4.7/5 as a general website builder, and a 45.5/5 for its ecommerce functionality.

The main praises we heard from customers were that Wix has useful features for businesses, and that its online store is very easy to use.

That being said, Wix’s customer rating has dipped slightly since this time last year, and it seems this is mainly because the platform has become a little less user friendly as Wix tries to expand its suite of features.

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

Wix has plenty of good customer reviews across several major review platforms too. It’s got a 4.6 star rating on TrustPilot, with 73% of ratings being five stars.

Methodology: How We Tested Wix

The team at Expert Market evaluated Wix with its suitability for the average US business in mind.

We scored and rated Wix in six main categories, including features, usability, aesthetics, customer support, price, and feedback we received from everyday businesses who use Wix. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting’, with features and functionality given the most weight, to ensure the product’s final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers.

Here’s a more detailed look at what we considered when reviewing Wix:

• Features: the features Wix has, and how useful they are for businesses (SEO, marketing, online store, blog tools, AI assistant etc.)
• Aesthetics and design: the variety of templates Wix has, and how easy they are to customize to create a unique website that reflects a business’s brand
• Customer support: the availability of Wix’s customer support team, how many ways there are to contact them, and the usefulness of its support center and online forum
• Price: the balance between what Wix costs and the benefits it provides
• Customer feedback: how easy Wix is to use for the average customer, and their satisfaction levels with it as a website builder