We've compared the top E-commerce website builders, Wix and Shopify, to see which one is best for your online store.
After spending over 200 hours looking into them, we can confidently say that Shopify comes out on top. It offers unbeatable sales features, like multichannel integration, to help you market and sell your products effectively.
But don't count Wix out just yet! It's a versatile option, especially for businesses new to the online world.
While Shopify is specifically designed for E-commerce, Wix can be a great choice for companies starting their online journey.
Quick Comparison Between Shopify and Wix
| Title | Shopify | Wix |
| Pricing | Plans from $29 | Plans from $27 |
| Free Trails | Three-day free trails | Unlimited free trails |
| Payment | 100+ payment gateways and transaction fees | 70+ payment gateways and no transaction fees |
| Product & Inventory | Sell unlimited products | Sell up to 50000 products |
| Plugins & Integrations | More than 8000 add-ons available | 500 integrations available |
| Performance | Built specifically for E-commerce, and handles large-scale stores | Great for small to medium-sized stores |
| SEO | Excellent SEO with fully responsive stores | Strong SEO tools |
| Customer support | Excellent customer service 24/7 with a live chat. | Great customer support and helpful with tutorial videos. |
| Apps Market | The Shopify app stores offers 8000+ apps. | The Wix app stores is supplied with 300+ apps. |
Ease of use
Setting up a business website or online store needs to be easy, right? Wix and Shopify are both great options because they're user-friendly and don't need any coding skills. But it's important to pick the right one for your level of computer know-how.
Wix
Let's talk about Wix first. It has this cool editor where you can drag and drop stuff around easily. Making changes is a breeze, and you can see them right away on your page. But with so many choices for themes and customizing, Wix might feel overwhelming for beginners.
Shopify
Now, onto Shopify. It's super effective for building online stores. It's easy to use and intuitive. However, Wix offers more flexibility with its drag-and-drop feature compared to Shopify's use of sections and blocks. But because Shopify's options are more limited, it's simpler for beginners to set up a basic store.
Pricing Plans
Shopify
Subscribers have the option to choose from five basic programs:
- Basic: $39 per month
- Shopify: $105 per month
- Advanced Shopify: $399 per month
Here are the main differences between Shopify and Wix's base plans:
- Storage: Shopify doesn't have a storage limit, while Wix offers 20GB of storage.
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Fees: Shopify charges a minimum of 2%, but Wix doesn't charge any commission or purchase tax.
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Staff Accounts: Wix users can have one administrator account, while Shopify users can have up to two personnel accounts.
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Free Trial: Shopify offers a 14-day trial, but Wix doesn't charge for a trial and offers a 14-day return guarantee
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Shipping: Wix users don't get any special shipping deals from shipping companies. But if you use Shopify, you can save up to 60% on shipping with UPS, DHL Express, USPS, and more.
- Email campaigns: Wix lets you create up to ten email campaigns, but Shopify doesn't have this feature built-in. However, you can still create email campaigns on Shopify by installing apps like MailChimp or GetResponse.
If you're running a big store, Shopify could be a great fit. It offers discount codes, unlimited product storage, and connects with multiple sales channels to meet all your needs.
Wix
Wix offers two price options: Website and Business & E-Commerce. For this discussion, we'll focus only on the E-Commerce aspect.
- Silver Plan: $75/month
- Gold Plan: $100/month
- Platinum Plan: $150/month
These plans differ in several key aspects:
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Storage: Each plan comes with different amounts of storage. The more expensive plans offer more storage space.
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Access to Apps: These plans include apps like an event calendar, a logo creator, and Site Booster, which helps you get your website listed in directories.
- Support: Only the VIP and Enterprise plans come with premium support.
Most people considering Wix are beginners. That's why Wix's best value E-Commerce bundle, which includes all the essential features for online sales, costs $23.
Also read: Which Shopify subscription plan will be best for you?
Pros & cons
Shopify
| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful E-commerce tools with an easy-to-use interface | Monthly subscriptions, transaction fees, fancy themes, and extra apps can really add to your expenses. |
| Help in recovering abandoned checkouts | There are some restrictions for larger online stores. |
| Optimal SEO and marketing strategies | Domain and email hosting aren't included. |
| Modern and intuitive user interface | |
| 24/7 assistance available promptly |
Wix
| Pros | Cons |
| A store builder that's easy to use with drag-and-drop features | Premium templates can be pricey. |
| Domain checkout option provided | Too much focus on artistic freedom. |
| Fast response time for servers | Extra charges apply for purchasing email accounts. |
|
Effective design and SEO techniques Wide range of beautiful and mobile-friendly templates |
Limited options for basic SEO integration. |
Also read: Shopify vs. Magento: Why we recommend Shopify!
Themes & Design
Shopify
Shopify offers 10 themes for free and over 70 paid ones, which is fewer than what other similar E-commerce platforms offer. In comparison, Wix provides more than 8,000 themes for users to choose from.
If you're not a fan of Shopify's free themes, you can purchase a premium one. There are 111 premium themes available, ranging from $180 to $350.
While Shopify's themes are visually appealing, they don't vary much in style. Most differences come from color choices and a few layout options. These themes are designed for specific industries, so they cater to different business needs.
Overall, Shopify themes are optimized for E-commerce, meaning they come with many features essential for running an online store.
Wix
Wix offers free designs created by their designers. These designs come with all the features you need to make a beautiful website, and you can customize them however you like.
They're organized into categories and subcategories, so it's easy to find one that fits your needs. Even if you're not a design expert, you can still make a professional-looking website with Wix.
Just add some high-quality photos and customize their templates. Wix provides a collection of free, professionally taken photos, icons, and vector art to help you out.
Whether you use Wix Editor or Wix ADI, creating a website with Wix is simple, even for beginners.
Mobile-friendly
Shopify
Every Shopify template is designed to work seamlessly on mobile devices. This means that whatever you see on your online store will also look great on your phone or tablet.
Responsive design means the template automatically adjusts to fit different screen sizes. And here's a cool feature, Shopify has an app that helps display your sites and products in the AMP format.
This makes your pages load faster, giving users a better experience and potentially boosting your sales.
If you're concerned about your Google ranking, Shopify is a great choice because Google prefers websites with responsive designs. So, by using Shopify, you're already ahead in the game.
Wix
Wix has a unique design method. It uses absolute positioning, which means elements are placed exactly where you want them on the page.
However, this can make it a bit tricky because you'll need to create separate versions of your website for desktop and mobile. The pages won't automatically adjust to fit different screen sizes.
But don't worry, this might not be a big deal depending on what you're trying to achieve. For example, if you're making a simple website, Wix can still work well for mobile devices.
SEO features
Shopify
Firstly, Shopify makes it easy to take care of important SEO tasks like adding headers and alt text, editing page names and meta descriptions, and more.
You can also use the Yoast SEO tool from the platform's app store, which helps track the quality of on-page SEO.
Another helpful feature is that Shopify automatically sets up 301 redirects for pages, which tells search engines about any changes in page locations. Not doing this can cause your ranking to drop.
Search engines prefer websites that are responsive and load quickly, and Shopify's responsive theme designs help with this, giving your SEO a boost.
Shop owners also have the option to use the AMP format for their products and websites, as we discussed earlier.
Wix
Wix covers all the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), allowing users to do things like add and edit ALT text, change robots.txt files and page URLs, and tweak meta descriptions.
However, if you're on Wix's free plan, you'll need to remember to create 301 redirects yourself since they're not set up automatically.
Good news though - Wix integrates with Google Search Console. By enabling this free service through the new Wix SEO dashboard, users can easily manage their site's performance on Google search. The dashboard pulls data directly from the Search Console, giving users valuable insights.
There's also the 'SEO Wiz' tool, which guides users through every step to ensure their website is easily found on the internet.
Dropshipping
With dropshipping, sellers don't need to make, buy, or store the products they sell. Instead, they take orders, get the items from reliable suppliers, ship them, and bill the buyer for their services.
This business model has become very popular because it lets people make money without needing space to store inventory.
Shopify Dropshipping
Shopify offers dropshipping through about 457 different apps. These apps help you find popular products from suppliers worldwide and add them to your store with fast shipping options. Shopify also offers beginner packages to help store owners learn about dropshipping.
Also Read: How to start Dropshipping? All things you need to know
Wix Dropshipping
You can also do dropshipping with Wix, but there are fewer app options compared to Shopify, around 70 in total. Wix integrates with top providers like Syncee, Printful, Spocket, Modalyst, and Printful.
Just keep in mind that dropshipping isn't included in Business Basic, and it's limited to 250 products in Business Unlimited. But with Business VIP, you can dropship as many items as you want.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the decision between Shopify and Wix depends on what you need for your business and how comfortable you are with technology.
With great sales features like multichannel integration and tools designed specifically for online selling, Shopify offers strong support for businesses looking to grow online.
At Tameta Tech, we specialize in Shopify and understand how important it is to choose the right platform for your online store. If you're interested in using Shopify for your business, we're here to help every step of the way.
