Shopify vs Wix
Shopify scores 9.0/10, Wix 8.6/10. Where each one wins, what they cost and who should pick which, side by side.
The short answer
Shopify scores 9.0/10 and Wix scores 8.6/10 on our rubric. Shopify is the stronger all-round pick.
Shopify leads on flexibility and support. Wix leads on ease of use, design and value.
Shopify starts at US$29/mo with no free plan; Wix starts at US$17/mo and has a free plan. Wix is the cheaper way in.
What is your homepage for?
Wix can run a perfectly good small store, and many businesses never need more. Shopify is built for the point where selling becomes the main job: inventory across up to ten locations, staff accounts, B2B catalogues, point of sale and the largest app store in commerce.
If it mainly explains a business, such as a studio, clinic or café, and a shop sits alongside, Wix Core at $29 a month covers both, with the freer editor and more templates. If the homepage is mainly a catalogue and most visitors arrive to buy, Shopify's checkout, inventory and marketing tools earn their cost, starting at the same $29 on Basic. Mind the exit too. Shopify exports products, customers and orders as CSV, while a Wix site does not move as a working site, which matters if the store might one day outgrow Wix.
| Shopify | Wix | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 9.0 | 8.6 |
| From | US$29 | US$17 |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Sells online | Yes | Yes |
| Code export | Yes | No |
| Ease of use | 8.4 | 9.2 |
| Design | 8.2 | 8.8 |
| Flexibility | 9.2 | 8.0 |
| Value | 8.0 | 8.4 |
| Support | 9.4 | 8.6 |
What Shopify does well
- Deepest commerce feature set anywhere
- App ecosystem handles every edge case
- Scales from first sale to enterprise
What Wix does well
- Largest template library of any builder
- Drag-anywhere editor is genuinely freeform
- App market covers almost every add-on
Who each one is for
Shopify. Anyone whose primary activity is selling physical or digital goods and who wants the commerce infrastructure to be someone else's problem. It is the right answer from the first sale up to very large volumes, and the point at which you outgrow it is far enough away that most merchants never reach it.
Wix. A small business or personal site where you want maximum control over appearance without writing code, and where the site is unlikely to be rebuilt elsewhere. The template library is the largest here, so there is usually a close-enough starting point for any sector.
Pricing side by side
Shopify
| Basic | $29/mo yearly · $39 monthly | 2% fee on third-party gateways, 10 inventory locations |
|---|---|---|
| Grow | $79/mo yearly · $105 monthly | 1% third-party fee, 5 staff accounts |
| Advanced | $299/mo yearly · $399 monthly | 0.6% third-party fee, 15 staff accounts, third-party shipping rates |
| Plus | from $2,300/mo | 0.2% third-party fee, full checkout customisation, unlimited staff |
Wix
| Free | $0 | Wix subdomain and Wix branding, no custom domain |
|---|---|---|
| Light | $17/mo | 2 GB storage, 2 collaborators, cannot accept payments |
| Core | $29/mo | 50 GB, basic eCommerce and payments, 5 collaborators |
| Business | $39/mo | 100 GB, standard eCommerce, 10 collaborators |
| Business Elite | $159/mo | unlimited storage, advanced eCommerce, 100 collaborators |
What a year costs
Shopify
The prices on the plan cards are yearly prices. Pay month to month and Basic is $39 rather than $29, Grow is $105 rather than $79 and Advanced is $399 rather than $299, so the monthly option costs about a third more. If you are confident enough to launch, the annual plan is the obvious saving.
Subscription, billed yearlyShopify's third-party transaction fee
Wix
Wix quotes yearly prices, paid up front, and taxes come on top. Light is $17 a month, but it cannot take payments at all, so the cheapest plan that can sell anything is Core at $29. For most small businesses the choice comes down to Core or Business, which differ by $10 a month and mostly in how much eCommerce and marketing you get.
Plan price
Who should skip each one
Shopify
A content site with a small shop attached. If you have ten products and two hundred articles, you are paying commerce pricing for a blog. It is also the wrong pick if you need an unconventional checkout, since the checkout is the part Shopify guards most closely.
Wix
Anyone who expects to migrate later, or who needs a design system applied consistently across many pages. The freeform editor works against consistency at scale, and there is no export path.
The bottom line
Shopify
For most people starting a store, Shopify is the safe choice and the right one. Buy the annual plan, start on Basic, and move to Grow once you are selling more than about $5,000 a month and cannot use Shopify Payments, or once you need staff accounts.
Wix
Wix is the safest general-purpose builder for someone who wants a good-looking site quickly and does not want to learn a design tool. Choose Core if you need to take payments, Light if you truly do not, and take your time over the template, because you cannot swap it later.
Questions people ask
Is Shopify better than Wix?
Shopify scores 9.0/10 and Wix scores 8.6/10 on our rubric. Shopify is the stronger all-round pick. Shopify leads on flexibility and support. Wix leads on ease of use, design and value.
Which is cheaper, Shopify or Wix?
Shopify starts at US$29/mo with no free plan; Wix starts at US$17/mo and has a free plan. Wix is the cheaper way in.
Which is easier to use, Shopify or Wix?
Wix scores 9.2/10 for ease of use against Shopify at 8.4/10.
Do Shopify and Wix have a free plan?
Shopify has no free plan; Wix has a free plan.
Can you sell online with Shopify and Wix?
Both Shopify and Wix can take payments and run a store.
Can you move your site off Shopify or Wix?
Shopify lets you export your code; Wix does not export a working site.
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