Wix Review – Wix for Ecommerce and Small Businesses

In this review we're going to cover how good Wix is for ecommerce and business sites separately, starting with ecommerce:

• Wix for ecommerce
• Wix ecommerce pricing
• Wix ecommerce features
• Wix ecommerce templates

Then we're going to cover Wix for business sites:

• Wix for business
• Wix business plans and pricing
• Wix business features
• Wix business templates

We're then going to cover the following:

• Wix alternatives
• Wix customer support
• Things to watch out for with Wix
• Why you can trust Tech.co reviews
• Wix review verdict

Wix is one of the market leading website builders, and rightly so. Website builders are tools designed to allow anyone to design, create and publish a fully-functioning website – you don't need to be an expert. If this is your first time creating a website, Wix is a brilliant choice. You can rely on its easy drag-and-drop template system, or its ADI system, which creates a template tailored to your needs. Once you’ve created the website, Wix has loads of different pricing plans and an extensive knowledge base to help you navigate around any issues you encounter.

You’ll also be able to maintain and edit the website easily through the builder’s platform after you’ve published it. Wix allows you to forgo the techy, coding side of website building if you’re not confident with HTML, or would rather avoid the aggravation. However, unlike some of its competitors, Wix does allow users to play with the website code if they want to.

Wix Review – How good is it for Ecommerce?

Wix is one of the best platforms for building an ecommerce website. This hasn’t always been the case, though – there was a time when Wix used to struggle with the complexities of ecommerce management, and its newfound competence reflects a great deal of work by Wix’s developers to improve its online stores function.

This work has certainly paid dividends, as Wix can now easily hang with the best ecommerce builders on the market.

It has a great range of ecommerce-specific templates, which makes creating your online store a piece of cake. It’s also seriously improved the backend of its platform, giving online entrepreneurs like yourself the reporting and analysis tools necessary to grow your business.

Plus, you still get all the great customization tools that come with the regular Wix website building platform. “Your website will just look so appealing, and be supported by these thoughtful extra features,” said one of our independent ecommerce testers. “Ecommerce builders don’t always support these design features.”

Let’s take a look under the hood at Wix’s ecommerce offering.

Wix Ecommerce Pricing

Wix offers three ecommerce-specific pricing plans: Business Basic, Business Unlimited, and Business VIP. Sadly, there’s no free ecommerce plan. You’ll be making money from Wix anyway, so it’s better to think of the monthly fee as a small overhead cost, rather than a weight around your neck.

Wix Business Basic

Best for: New online stores

Wix’s Business Basic plan is the entry-level ecommerce plan. At just $20 per month, it's a great way to get your foot in the online sales door.

For your $20, you’ll get 20GB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, and the ability to connect a custom domain to your Wix site. However, and perhaps most importantly, Wix won’t take any commission from the sales you make.

You also get access to Google Analytics – a powerful reporting tool for tracking and analysing site visitors – as well as $75 worth of advertising vouchers. Wix even throws in free access to its Site Booster app, which helps drive traffic to your store.

Wix Business Unlimited

Best for: Online stores looking to expand

The Business Unlimited plan costs $25 per month. While that isn’t a huge jump from the Business Basic plan, you do get some extra tools which can help grow your business.

For example, Wix will create a professional logo for your business – worth $50 – and create little logos (known as glyphs) for use on social media accounts. You also get dedicated storage for up to 10 hours of video, as well as 35GB of regular storage.

It’s not a bad plan, and the branding help will certainly make your business look more professional. However, we’d probably hold off upgrading from the Basic plan until you can justify the more expensive Business VIP plan – it’s a much better deal.

Wix Business VIP

Best for: Established online businesses

Wix’s most expensive plan costs $35 per month, and it’s a significant upgrade over the Business Unlimited plan. You get access to VIP support and priority access for any fixes your site may need. Plus, storage is increased again to 50GB – more than enough for most websites.

While that might not seem like the biggest increase, priority support will help keep your site online and functional. Time is money, don’t forget, and any issues that your site encounters will stop you making money.

Wix Ecommerce Features

Firstly, it’s worth mentioning again that Wix doesn’t charge any commission for sales that you make on its platform. Not many ecommerce platforms offer commission-free sales, so this is a big plus.

Beyond that, though, Wix has a suite of features which can make building an ecommerce website easy. For example, it has a range of templates specifically designed for ecommerce sites. It also offers abandoned cart recovery – useful for when customers don’t finish their orders.

Wix offers secure checkout onsite, and allows customers to log in to your site and save their details for faster payments. Again, not all ecommerce platforms support this kind of checkout, which really reflects the work Wix has done – and is still doing – to improve its ecommerce offering.

Wix also offers chatbots and membership schemes to make customers’ lives easier. However, if you can’t find a feature you’re after on Wix, you can always check out its fully-stocked app store for first- and third-party plugins.

As we mentioned above, Wix’s in-house developers are constantly working to improve its ecommerce functions. As such, there’s a high chance that if you find a feature missing, it might appear soon.

Wix Ecommerce Templates

Wix offers 86 ecommerce-specific templates. That’s an incredible amount of variety, and it means you’ll be able to build any kind of ecommerce site you envision. Better still, the templates are all professionally designed, meaning that the bare bones of your website will always have that touch of class.

“Being able to see your store come to life before you as you are creating it is so rewarding,” said one of our testers.

Some of the templates, such as the one to the right, use large ‘splash’ images to draw in visitors and exude a feeling of quality.

Others, however, are more restrained, which will help ecommerce sites that sell a lot of different products. The on the right, for example, uses a smaller image with a range of products visible ‘above the fold’ (basically meaning that visitors don’t have to scroll).

Wix Review – How good is it for Business?

If you need to create a website to promote your business, Wix is easily the best website builder platform on the market. Again, there is as veritable smorgasbord of templates to choose from, and it has loads of tools to help potential customers find your site and convince them to choose you.

What’s more, Wix also offers a class-leading AI website development tool called ‘Wix ADI.’ When you come to create you site, Wix will ask you a few simple questions, then give you an almost-finished website in a matter of minutes. This can save sole traders valuable hours when it comes to getting online – time is money, remember.

Wix Business Plans

As you won’t be looking at ecommerce plans, you have slightly more choice when it comes to pricing plans. Wix offers four non-ecommerce pricing plans, starting with the $14.50 per month Combo plan, and rising to the $35 per month VIP plan.

It also offers a free plan. That’s right – with Wix, you can publish a website without ever putting your hand in your pocket. We’d advise against it, though.

Wix Free

Best for: No one, really

If you’re serious about your Wix site, you should probably ignore this plan. You'll be stuck with adverts on your site – and no, they won't make you any money – plus you won't get a proper website address.

All of this will make your business look amateurish, and won’t inspire confidence from potential customers. If you really want to make a success of your online dealings, avoid the free plan.

Read more about why you should avoid a free Wix site

Wix Combo Plan

Best for: Small sites just starting out

This is far and away the best plan if you want to launch a website without spending too much. For the best price, go for a 3-year deal, which cuts the monthly cost down to just $8.50 per month. The Combo plan removes adverts, and you get more bandwidth than you would on the Free plan (2GB rather than 1GB).

Wix Unlimited Plan

Best for: Small business and large personal websites

The best plan, in terms of value for money, is probably the Unlimited plan. As the name suggests, you get unlimited bandwidth, as well as 10GB storage, access to the Form Builder app (normally $48), and $75 worth of ad vouchers.

Wix VIP Plan

Best for: Small ecommerce sites and successful businesses

VIP is the most expensive plan. You’ll get 50GB storage and unlimited bandwidth, $75 worth of ad vouchers and the removal of Wix ads, a full online store, and 10 email campaigns a month.

Wix Business Features

Wix has plenty of tools to help create the website of your dreams. For example, you can add contact forms and Facebook Messenger chat windows to communicate with prospective customers.

“There’s an incredible amount of features built in,” said one of the users during our testing. “Adding a map, a contact form – there were even different types of contact forms – and subscription buttons was all easy.”

You can add lightboxes (small pop-ups that overlay your site) to entice customers to subscribe to email lists, or to highlight promotions. There are appointment-booking forms, blogs, social media streams, and more. With Wix, practically anything you can imagine on a website can be added with ease.

Wix also has a range of SEO (search engine optimization) tools, which can help your site appear at the top of search engine results pages. This will be a boon for businesses working in congested marketplaces – if you’re running a hair salon, for example, and have a lot of rivals.

Perhaps Wix’s most important feature, though, is its outright simplicity. “It’s easy to update and maintain,” said Levi Jacobs, a Netherlands-based illustrator. “Even I can use it, and I don't know anything about building websites and programming.”

Wix Business Templates

With well over 150 templates designed for a range of businesses, Wix will definitely have a template that will work wonders for your business. Like the ecommerce templates, they’re all professionally designed, and can be edited to suit your business’ branding or your personal preferences.

“The template I use works well with illustrations,” said Jacobs. “Social media is important for attracting business these days, but I still like to have a website.”

Some templates, like the one Jacobs uses, allow design assets to come to the fore. Others, however, can make contact or booking forms more prominent to help attract customers.

Picking the right one for you might take a while given the amount of templates, but when you do, you’ll never look back.

Wix Pricing Plans

So, we know how much Wix costs. But how does it stand up to the competition? Will you be paying over the odds for a website? Or will you be getting a bargain business site?

Wix vs Squarespace Pricing

Wix and Squarespace are two of the leading website builders on the market. However, they take slightly different approaches to pricing their services.

Squarespace only has four pricing plans: two for ecommerce websites, and two for non-ecommerce sites. They start at $16 per month with the Personal plan, while the Advanced Online Stores plan costs $46 per month.

While Squarespace may seem more expensive than Wix, our research has shown that they’re fairly evenly matched – Wix does offer slightly more features at slightly lower prices, but there’s not a lot in it.

However, Squarespace is slightly better value for money when it comes to ecommerce. It has a built-in accounting tool, for example, while Wix offers similar functions as paid-for apps.

All told, though, there’s precious little to separate the two. We’d probably opt for Wix, though, given its cheaper starting costs.

Want to know more? Check out our Squarespace review

Wix vs Shopify Pricing

Shopify is the premier ecommerce platform on the market. Its one of the few platforms that works just as well for small ecommerce websites as it does with enormous ecommerce empires.

However, Shopify is pricey – pricing starts from $29 per month with the Shopify Basic plan, and rises to $299 per month for the Shopify Advanced plan. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll need to move on from the Basic plan for a while – even Shopify’s cheapest plan has a fantastic range of features, ranging from advanced product inventory to built-in accounting tools.

However, Shopify will charge you for each transaction you make, unless you use its proprietary Shopify Payments processing tool. As such, being locked into a system like Shopify Payments might be a commitment too far for smaller sites.

Our advice? If you’re starting out, go with Wix. Once your site starts growing, it might then be worth taking a look at Shopify.

Find out more in our Shopify review

Wix vs Weebly Pricing

Wix and Weebly are probably the two most evenly matched website builders on the market. However, in our mind, there’s only one winner – and it’s Wix.

While the two are similarly matched in terms of pricing plans, Wix offers more features for the money, and gives you improved features when it comes to setting up an ecommerce store.

“There’s more to Wix than Weebly,” said one of our expert testers, “with more to learn and figure out. But once you get to grips with the editor, Wix knocks Weebly out of the park in terms of features and tools.”

Furthermore, if you can't find a feature among Wix's inventory, you'll almost certainly be able to find an app that can perform the same role. Weebly, by contrast, simply can't compete.

Learn more in our full Weebly review

Wix Customer Support

In the unlikely scenario where something goes wrong with your Wix site, it might be heartening to know that the platform has some of the best customer support on the market.

Wix has an extensive knowledge base, which can help you rectify the issue on your site by yourself. In fact, there are little help suggestions littered throughout the editor, which can help you avoid problems before they occur.

Wix doesn’t offer live chat support at the moment, but it does offer 24/7 US-based support, with agents fluent in English, Spanish, Portugese, and Italian. You can even get the help you need through Facebook or Twitter.

However, its knowledge base is so extensive – it’s almost like having an entire Wiki devoted to a website builder – that it’s unlikely you’ll need to pick up the phone at all.

Support options

• Email
• Phone
• Social media

Learning options

• Online knowledge base
• Online videos

Wix Review – Things to Watch Out For

Nothing in this life is perfect, and Wix is no exception. However, compared to rival website builders, its flaws are minor.

One of the biggest issues with Wix is that you can’t change your website’s template once you’ve published your site. This means that should you rebrand your business, or simply fancy changing the look and feel of your site, you’ll have to try and do it all manually.

And while we’ve praised Wix’s app store, one slight annoyance is that quite a few of the apps require an extra fee. This means that the price you see on Wix’s website might not be the exact fee you pay every month.

Wix also has quite a steep learning curve. “My initial reaction to opening the editor was… well, I was a bit shocked. It was an overwhelming experience,” said one of our testers. “I actually saw all the options, and I was like, ‘This looks a little more complicated than it should be for a website builder.’”

However, once they’re over the learning curve, users love it. “Wix allows me to customize my site more than other platforms,” explained Michael Burk. “As a designer and art director, I get frustrated using preset templates that aren’t fully customizable, but Wix has a versatility that lets me create a very individualized look.”

Wix Alternatives

Our independent testers liked Wix more than any other website builder. However, that doesn’t mean it’s beyond reproach. In fact, some rival website builders outperform Wix in certain areas.

Weebly, for example, beats out Wix in terms of design flexibility, thanks to Wix refusing to let you change template after publishing. Meanwhile, 1&1 IONOS matches Wix when it comes to help and support, but falls down on features.

However, despite some strong performances from rival platforms, we still maintain that Wix is the best website builder for most people – and certainly the best platform for businesses and ecommerce sites.

Why You Can Trust the Tech.co Wix Review

We get it. There are loads of sites promising to give you unbiased, independent reviews of website builders. In fact, some of them even recommend different platforms to us.

However, at Tech.co, we put each website builder through a series of user testing panels. Some members of these panels are dab hands at website building, having previously used other platforms to create their own websites – others are complete novices, who've never tried creating a website before.

This means that we get a range of views, insights, and opinions on all of the leading website builders and ecommerce platforms. All of the quotes from users in this article are from real people, after they’ve used Wix to construct a website.

We also put in hours of desk research, cataloguing all the features offered by leading website builders and comparing them head-to-head. We also sought the insight and expertise of professional branding and website design teams, in order to comment on the quality of templates and design assets offered by each website builder – incidentally, these experts preferred Squarespace to Wix.

Wix Review Verdict – Why it’s the best choice for small businesses

Wix combines a breathtaking simplicity of operation with a remarkably diverse and powerful feature set.

This makes it the perfect tool for small businesses – time is money, and you don’t want to spend hours coding and developing a website. Instead, with Wix, you can create a professional-grade website – complete with ecommerce or customer generation tools – in less than an hour.

“I had a look at a number of different sites, and Wix seems to be the easiest site for me to navigate through,” said illustrator Katherine Quinn. “It seemed to ‘think' the way I did.”

Making a site for your business shouldn’t be hard – and with Wix, it isn’t.

Wix Review FAQs

Is Wix good for ecommerce?

Yes, Wix is great for ecommerce. You can read more in our ‘Wix for ecommerce’ section above, but here’s the skinny.

Wix has a built-in ecommerce platform, allowing you to list products and start selling. It also has a range of tools that can help customers buy products.

How do I add ecommerce to Wix?

You’ll need to select an online store template when creating your site. Wix will then guide you through the process of creating a functioning online store, from adding products to setting up payment processing.

How much does Wix take per sale?

Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Wix doesn’t take a commission of online sales. Instead, it makes its money from the (relatively modest) monthly fee that it charges.

Is a Wix website really free?

Yes and no. You can create a Wix site for free, but you probably shouldn’t. Your site will have adverts, it’ll lack features, and you won’t get a proper URL.

Having said that, there aren’t any good and free website builders on the market. It really is a case of ‘you get what you pay for’. See our guide to Why You Shouldn't Create a Website for Free to learn more.

Is Wix good for SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, has been a stumbling block for Wix in recent years. However, thanks to some big changes, Wix has dramatically improved its SEO functions – meaning that your site will no longer be languishing on the second page of Google results.