Why We Don't Choose Wix for Website Building

For most non-technical users, being able to build a professional website through a simple and intuitive drag-and-drop method is undeniably appealing. As a well-known cloud-based website building and hosting platform, Wix makes this vision a reality. With its visual editor that provides a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) experience, an abundance of free design resources, and comprehensive website management solutions, Wix has made the website creation process easier than ever before.

However, like any tool, Wix is not without its flaws. While it offers great convenience for entry-level users, its limitations become apparent for those who have higher demands for their websites, such as professional users or developers. This article will comprehensively analyze the main advantages and disadvantages of Wix as a website-building platform, helping readers determine whether it suits their needs.

Advantages

Easy to Use, Making Website Building More Accessible

1.No Coding Skills Required, Simple and Intuitive Operation

The most attractive feature is undoubtedly Wix’s user-friendly editing experience. Users do not need to know any HTML, CSS, or other coding knowledge to create professional webpages by dragging and dropping various design elements within the WYSIWYG editor. The editing environment is modern and clean, with a clear hierarchy and intuitive operation gestures that resemble familiar desktop software experiences.

Even complete beginners can quickly build a reasonably sized website using built-in guides and numerous template examples. This design philosophy of lowering the entry barrier makes Wix one of the most popular entry-level website-building tools.

2.Rich Variety of Design Elements and Resource Library

The lack of design skills is often a daunting obstacle for many. Wix alleviates this concern by providing hundreds of meticulously designed website templates and page layouts. Whether you are a restaurant, e-commerce business, event sponsor, or personal blogger, you can find a suitable industry-themed template.

These ready-made templates are not only visually appealing and stylish but are also mobile-friendly, ensuring a good cross-platform experience. Additionally, Wix offers over a thousand free font options, millions of stock photos, and various icons, giving you plenty of creative freedom.

3.Integrated Rich and Continuously Updated Additional Features

Wix is not just a website-building platform; it also provides a complete suite of mature website management solutions. From domain purchasing, hosting services, e-commerce systems, email marketing tools, to blogs, forums, and membership centers, Wix has it all and continuously updates.

This means users don’t need to switch between and integrate multiple service providers. Through Wix’s one-stop operation, they can establish and manage a fully functional website and online business. For ordinary users lacking professional IT support, this highly integrated experience can significantly reduce operational and maintenance costs.

4.Friendly User Support and Learning Resources

No matter how simple the interface is, beginners will inevitably encounter some doubts. Wix provides friendly multi-channel user support and knowledge base resources to help novices complete their website-building journey smoothly.

Firstly, there is a comprehensive help center that includes hundreds of common problem solutions, operation guides, and instructional videos. Secondly, both official and third-party community forums gather a wealth of practical sharing from experienced users. Lastly, Wix offers 24/7 online customer support and phone support, allowing users to seek professional assistance for complex issues promptly.

Disadvantages

Limited Functionality, Difficult to Meet Advanced Customization Needs

1.Lack of Creative Freedom and Personalization Capability

Although Wix provides a large number of ready-made templates and resource libraries, these are merely foundational frameworks. Once you want to make significant modifications to page layouts or specific component designs, you will find the limitations of the Wix editor.

This is mainly due to Wix's WYSIWYG design philosophy. To pursue an intuitive editing experience, Wix only allows limited editing within predefined frameworks. You cannot freely adjust grid layouts, page hierarchies, or modify core elements' HTML/CSS attributes. Developers are confined within the bounds set by the Wix system, unable to fully exercise creativity and achieve complex customization effects.

2.Poor Third-Party Integration and Relatively Closed Plugin Ecosystem

Professional websites often need to integrate various third-party applications or services to build an ecosystem. Wix, due to its closed system architecture, has poor integration capabilities with other systems and services.

For example, embedding third-party form tools, analytics codes, or payment gateways in Wix sites often requires cumbersome configurations and may frequently encounter loading issues due to version or compatibility problems.

Additionally, any extensions of Wix sites depend on the Wix App Market. Although the market offers over a thousand plugins, it remains a relatively closed ecosystem. Many popular open-source or third-party applications cannot be integrated into Wix. When specific personalized, customized functions are needed, developers will feel greatly restricted.

3.Suboptimal Page Load Performance and SEO Potential

Wix sites' performance issues have always been a hot topic. Since all Wix sites are built on its unique underlying architecture, we cannot directly control and optimize the core code implementation. Page loading requires rendering and compiling through Wix servers before being transmitted to the browser, inevitably incurring performance overhead and delays.

According to mainstream testing tools, Wix's average page load time is about 3-4 seconds, compared to 1-2 seconds for top-tier static and dynamic websites, leaving significant room for improvement.

Load performance directly affects user experience and is also a crucial factor in search engine rankings. It is foreseeable that Wix sites will find it hard to compete with sites built using more optimized modern technology stacks in this aspect.

Besides load speed, Wix also has some deficiencies in search engine optimization (SEO). Although Wix offers some basic SEO settings options, such as titles, descriptions, and sitemaps, its analysis and optimization capabilities are still lacking compared to professional SEO tools.

More importantly, all Wix site URLs follow the same pattern, making it difficult to implement personalized SEO strategies for specific pages. Additionally, the code generated by the Wix editor is not of the highest quality, cluttered with unnecessary inline styles and scripts that may affect crawlers' crawling and rendering.

4.Copyright Issues and Data Ownership Concerns

Using Wix as a website-building platform means you must fully accept and comply with Wix's terms of service. According to the terms, while you own the content of your site, Wix retains a perpetual royalty-free right to use all uploaded data, including images and videos.

This means that if you use paid templates or materials from Wix, even if you cancel your subscription later, these design elements may still be used by Wix for other commercial purposes, creating certain copyright risks.

Additionally, if you plan to migrate to another platform in the future, the closed nature of the Wix ecosystem makes data and website export a challenging process. Your entire site may need to be rebuilt, or you may remain locked within the Wix ecosystem.

5.Relatively High Pricing Compared to Other Website-Building Platforms

The final drawback is Wix's pricing strategy. While Wix offers a limited free version, to unlock all advanced features such as removing branded ads, connecting external domains, and e-commerce features, you need to upgrade to a premium plan starting at $198 per year.

Moreover, Wix imposes limits on traffic and storage space. As your site grows, to get more resources, you must upgrade to higher-tier premium plans, causing costs to continually increase.

In comparison, the overall cost of building a website using open-source CMS like WordPress is lower. Even some paid cloud-based website-building platforms are more affordable than Wix. Therefore, for individuals or small businesses with very limited budgets, Wix's pricing might be a significant burden.

Summary and Suggestions

Overall, Wix is an excellent website-building tool that lowers the barrier to entry for website creation in unprecedented ways, allowing non-technical users to quickly have a professionally designed website.

Wix's greatest advantage lies in its outstanding user experience: an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, rich design resources, integrated website management functions, and comprehensive user support and learning resources make the website-building process incredibly simple and efficient for beginners.

However, we also need to clearly recognize Wix's limitations. Its WYSIWYG editing approach, while providing convenience, also significantly restricts the flexibility and customization of website content. For professional websites requiring more third-party integrations, complex functionalities, or superior page performance, Wix may not be sufficient.

Moreover, Wix's closed system architecture and copyright issues could pose challenges for future platform migrations. Its annual subscription model also presents a substantial cost for individual site owners and small businesses with limited budgets.

Therefore, before deciding to use Wix, you need to first assess your actual needs:

• If you simply want to have a basic display website quickly and lack programming skills, Wix is an excellent choice.
• If you are a small or medium-sized business needing a comprehensive business website with e-commerce and marketing features, Wix is also worth considering.
• However, if you have higher customization needs for your website, require more third-party integrations, or have a very limited budget, other open-source CMS or cloud service platforms might be more suitable.

In any case, understanding Wix's pros and cons will help you make the right choice. Based on your actual situation, choosing the most suitable website-building tool is the best strategy. After all, building a successful website depends on meeting practical needs, not being limited by any single tool.