WIX VS WORDPRESS (2026)

Wix vs WordPress: renting a finished site, or owning one you look after?

By The Zarla Team · Updated November 2026

Wix, WordPress.com and WordPress on your own hosting, side by side on what a small business lives with after launch: the year's bill at renewal prices, booking and quotes, the AI, design changes, upkeep, measured page speed and what you can take with you. Checked on November 4, 2026.

See the comparison

First: which WordPress?

Most "Wix vs WordPress" comparisons go wrong at the first step: there are two WordPresses, and they're different deals.

  • WordPress.com is a hosted service, like Wix. You sign up, pick a plan, and the company runs the software, the hosting and the security. Plans on November 4, 2026: Personal $4, Premium $8, Business $25 and Commerce $45 a month, billed yearly; plugins install on any paid plan.
  • WordPress on your own hosting (often called WordPress.org) is free software you install on a web host you rent. The software costs nothing; the hosting, the domain, any premium theme or plugin, and the upkeep are yours to buy or do. This is the version most "WordPress is more powerful" claims are about.

Both run the same WordPress, with the same themes and plugins. The difference is who looks after it, which is why this page gives each its own column.

How we compared them

Checked on November 4, 2026. We compared Wix, WordPress.com and WordPress on your own hosting on the 12 things a small business owner lives with after launch: what the year costs once any sale ends, booking and quotes, the AI, changing the design, who does the updates and backups, adding features, the search basics, measured page speed, and what you can take with you. Every fact comes from Wix's, WordPress.com's or wordpress.org's own pages (or the host's and plugin maker's, for their prices), read between September 28 and November 4, 2026 and listed at the foot of the page, in US dollars before tax. Page speed is our measurement of ten live small-business sites on each, from September 28, 2026. We didn't build the same site three times, and we didn't time support.

The short answer

Wix if you want booking, quotes and invoices built in and one company running it all. WordPress if you want to own the site, change its design freely and keep the yearly bill low, and you're willing to pay WordPress.com to run it or look after it yourself. On our 12 rows Wix is better on 4, WordPress on 4, and 4 are shared.

The trade is ownership against upkeep. WordPress lets you switch themes and keeps your words, takes the site with you, and starts cheaper: about $143.69 a year on your own hosting once the sale price ends, or $48 for a first year on WordPress.com Personal ($60 at renewal). Wix gives you booking on its Core plan ($348 a year at the regular price), price quotes and invoices built in, a free AI builder, and sites that scored higher on PageSpeed in our sample; the price is that the template is fixed and the site stays on Wix.

SIDE BY SIDE

Wix, WordPress.com and WordPress on your own hosting

What each one does, and which suits that one thing better. Read on their own pages; page speed is our measurement.

Wix vs WordPress for a small business, checked November 4, 2026
What you live withWixWordPress.comWordPress, your own hostingBetter for this
Start freeYes — Free plan, no credit card needed, Wix adsYes — Free plan, no expiry, WordPress.com adsPartly — The software is free; hosting isn'tWix and WordPress.com
The cheapest year on your own domainYes — Light: $204 a year; domain renewal extra after year oneYes — Personal: $60 a year at renewal ($48 the first year); domain renewal extraYes — About $143.69 a year once the hosting sale ends, domain includedWordPress
Online bookingYes — Wix Bookings, included from CoreYes — A booking plugin, on any paid plan (from Personal, $4 a month)Yes — A booking plugin you choose and keep updatedWix: built in, nothing to choose
Quotes and invoicesYes — Price quotes clients accept online, and invoicesYes — A payments block; quotes and invoices through a plugin, on any paid planYes — A quote or invoice plugin you choose and keep updatedWix
An AI first draftYes — Free AI builder: describe the business in a chatYes — An AI website builder, on paid plansPartly — Not in WordPress itself; some hosts add one (Hostinger's WordPress hosting has an AI website builder)Wix
Changing the site by typingYes — Aria edits pages and adds new ones (in the desktop view)Yes — The AI assistant edits pages and posts, on any paid planPartly — Not in WordPress itself; an AI plugin can add itWix and WordPress.com
A new design later, words keptNo — The template is fixed once the site is madeYes — Change theme any time; content keptYes — Activate another theme; content keptWordPress
Software updates and securityYes — Wix runs themYes — WordPress.com runs the software and hosting; restoring a backup yourself is on Business and CommercePartly — Yours or your host's: plugin and theme auto-updates are opt-in, per plugin or in bulkWix and WordPress.com
Adding features laterYes — Wix's own apps plus its App MarketYes — WordPress plugins, on any paid planYes — Any WordPress pluginWordPress
Search basics: titles, sitemap, GoogleYes — Automatic sitemap, Google connection, AI-written titlesYes — Automatic titles and sitemap; Google connection from PremiumYes — A sitemap built in since WordPress 5.5; an SEO plugin for more, and the Google connectionAll three
Page speed, measured on 10 live sites eachYes — Median 65 on phones, 77 on desktopYes — WordPress sites, any host: median 51 on phones, 69 on desktopYes — Same sample: 51 on phones, 69 on desktopWix
Taking the site with youNo — No external backup; contacts and products downloadYes — Whole-site export with a plugin; domain transferYes — Your files and database, plus WordPress's own export fileWordPress

Wix better on 4 rows, WordPress (either kind) on 4, 4 shared. Page speed: our sample counted any WordPress site on any host, so both WordPress columns show the same figures.

What a year costs, first year and at renewal

The headline prices aren't what you'll pay in year two. Hosts sell WordPress hosting on long terms paid up front: Hostinger's WordPress plan was $1.99 a month on November 4, 2026, "Today you pay $95.52 for 48 months", then "Renews at $10.99/mo". Here's a year at renewal prices (Hostinger's renewal assumes you renew on the same 48-month term), with WordPress.com's first-year price beside its renewal:

  • WordPress on your own hosting, bare: hosting $10.99 × 12 + a .com from Porkbun at $11.81 = $143.69.
  • …with a premium theme, a premium SEO plugin and paid backups: + GeneratePress $99, Yoast SEO Premium $118.80 and UpdraftPlus $70 = $431.49. All three have free versions; these are the paid ones we priced.
  • …with someone else doing the updates and backups: + GoWP Pro at $39 a month = $899.49.
  • WordPress.com: Personal $48 (renewing at $5 a month, $60 a year, when we read it on September 28, 2026); plugins, such as a booking plugin, install on any paid plan, Personal included. Business, with more storage and features, is $300 (renewing at $336). The domain is free for the first year on yearly plans.
  • Wix: Light $204; Core, with booking and payments, $348 at the regular price ($14.50 a month on the sale running November 4, 2026). A free domain for the first year on most yearly plans.

Not in these sums: a booking or quote plugin's own price on WordPress, card fees, paid Wix apps, and a domain's renewal on Wix or WordPress.com after year one. The biggest cost that isn't on any price list is your time on a self-hosted site, which is the next section.

Who does the upkeep

On Wix and WordPress.com, the company keeps the software, the server and the security current. On your own hosting, WordPress is yours to keep current, and wordpress.org says what that involves:

  • Plugins and themes don't update themselves unless you switch it on (per plugin or theme, or in bulk for plugins; some hosts do it for you). "Since WordPress 5.5, websites Administrators can manually opt-in for automatic updates theme by theme and plugin by plugin."
  • WordPress itself updates often. 14 days in the 12 months to October 28, 2026 brought a release for a site on the current version. Minor releases install themselves by default, and new installs since WordPress 5.6 update major releases automatically too.
  • The server's PHP version matters. WordPress recommends "PHP version 8.3 or greater", and PHP 8.2 stops getting security fixes on December 31, 2026. Whether your host upgrades it for you depends on the host. For the PHP flaw reported in October 2026, see PHP2Shell: is my WordPress site safe?.
  • Backups are yours or your host's. Hostinger's plan includes free weekly backups and DreamHost's daily ones; a plugin such as UpdraftPlus does it yourself.

None of that is hard for someone who enjoys it, and you can pay a service to do it instead (GoWP Pro was $39 a month on November 4, 2026). It's the part of the WordPress deal that people choosing between the two don't always price in.

Choose Wix if…

  • You take bookings or send quotes. Wix Bookings comes with the Core plan and Wix has Price Quotes and invoices built in; on WordPress they're plugins you choose, pay for and keep updated.
  • You don't want to think about updates. Wix runs the software, hosting and security.
  • You want a free AI first draft. Wix's AI builder is free to start; WordPress.com's is on its paid plans.

Choose WordPress.com if…

  • You want WordPress without the upkeep. Same themes and plugins, with WordPress.com running the software and hosting.
  • You want the cheapest hosted start. Personal is $4 a month billed yearly; plugins, a booking plugin included, install on any paid plan.
  • You're leaving Wix. WordPress.com imports a Wix site's pages, images, menus and site title.

Choose WordPress on your own hosting if…

  • You want to own every file. The site lives on hosting you rent; you can move it to another host whenever you like.
  • You have a developer, or you like tinkering. Any theme, any plugin, any change to the code.
  • You publish a lot. Posts, categories and tags are built into WordPress, and its own export file carries them all to any other WordPress site.

Moving from Wix to WordPress, or back

  • Wix → WordPress.com. WordPress.com has a Wix importer: "You can import your Wix site to WordPress.com to bring over your pages, images, menus, and site title." The design doesn't come across; you pick a theme. Wix can't export the site itself ("Currently, it is not possible to back up your site externally"), so the importer is the shortcut.
  • Wix → WordPress on your own hosting. Rebuild the pages, or import into WordPress.com first and move from there with WordPress's own export. Contacts and store products come out of Wix as spreadsheet (CSV) files.
  • WordPress → Wix. Wix imports your published blog posts from WordPress (from the site's address or WordPress's export file); the pages and the design are rebuilt in a Wix template.
  • Every direction. Redirect each old page address to its new one before you move the domain, so Google and old links keep working.

Wix vs WordPress: what people ask

Wix or WordPress for a small business?

Wix, if the site takes bookings or sends quotes and you don't want to manage updates: booking comes with its Core plan ($29 a month billed yearly at the regular price), and Price Quotes and invoices are built in. WordPress, if you want to own the site, switch designs without rebuilding, or add features with plugins; choose WordPress.com to have the upkeep done for you, or your own hosting to pay least and do it yourself. Checked November 4, 2026.

Is WordPress better than Wix for SEO?

Not by itself. Both make page titles and a sitemap (WordPress has built its own sitemap since version 5.5). Wix and WordPress.com, from Premium, connect Google Search Console; on your own hosting an SEO plugin does. For a local business, a complete Google Business Profile, a page for each service and town, and a site that loads quickly usually matter more than the builder. In our ten-site sample the Wix sites scored higher on PageSpeed than the WordPress sites, but that's ten sites each, and hosting and plugins move a WordPress site's speed a lot. No builder can promise a ranking.

Is it worth using Wix?

For a small business that wants everything in one place, yes: hosting, security, booking, quotes, invoices and an AI builder, with a free plan to try it. The costs are a fixed template once the site is made and no way to take the whole site with you. Light is $17 and Core $29 a month billed yearly ($14.50 on the sale running November 4, 2026).

How much does Wix cost per month?

On November 4, 2026, billed yearly, in US dollars: Light $17; Core $29, Business $39 and Business Elite $159 at regular prices, shown that day at $14.50, $19.50 and $79.50 in a "50% OFF select plans" sale. There's also a free plan with Wix ads. Booking and payments start on Core.

Is WordPress free?

The software is. A WordPress site isn't: on your own hosting you pay for hosting and a domain (about $143.69 a year at renewal prices on November 4, 2026), plus any premium theme, plugin or maintenance service. WordPress.com has a free plan on a wordpress.com address with its ads; its paid plans start at $4 a month billed yearly.

Why are people leaving Wix?

We can't survey why people leave, but Wix's own pages show the limits leavers run into: the template can't be switched on a site you've built, the whole site can't be exported, and booking and payments need the Core plan or higher. People moving to WordPress usually want the opposite deal: their own files and a free choice of themes.

What is the downside of using Wix?

From Wix's own pages: the free plan shows Wix ads and can't use your own domain; the cheapest paid plan, Light, can't take payments or bookings; a new template means building a new site; and you can't back the site up outside Wix.

Is there anything better than Wix?

For some owners, yes: WordPress if you want ownership and plugins (the comparison above), Squarespace if a design-led template matters most (see Wix vs Squarespace).

Can I move my Wix site to WordPress?

Yes, with WordPress.com's Wix importer, which brings over your pages, images, menus and site title (the design doesn't come across). To WordPress on your own hosting, rebuild the pages or import into WordPress.com first. Set up redirects from your old page addresses before you move the domain.

Which website builder is the best in 2026?

There isn't one for every business. It depends on what the site has to do, who will look after it, and whether you want to own it; the comparison above shows where Wix and each kind of WordPress is stronger.

The third option: an AI build from a description, free to build

There's a route this page doesn't score: a builder made around its AI. Wix and WordPress.com both offer an AI first draft too; on Zarla the AI is how you build and change the whole site. Tell it what you do, where, and your business name, and it writes and designs the site in about 30 seconds, with booking, a leads inbox, quotes and invoices behind it. It's free to build and preview; publishing starts on the Premium plan. You change it by typing or by clicking a section.

Already on Wix or WordPress? Give Zarla the live address and it rebuilds your pages and words into a new Zarla site, keeping your old page addresses where it can and redirecting the ones that change. Hostinger's AI Website Cloner also rebuilds a site from its address; whichever you use, check what came across before you switch. One honest trade-off against WordPress: on Zarla your contacts download, and the site itself doesn't export.

The third option

Describe your business, and Zarla builds the site from that one line.

Words, design, search basics, booking, quotes and invoices. Free to build and preview; you pay when you publish.

No credit card · Pay when you publish

Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.

See website examples for your business

Sources

Prices were read on November 4, 2026 in US dollars, before tax: Wix's and WordPress.com's as their pricing pages showed them to a US visitor (rendered by Google PageSpeed Insights from Google's US servers); the hosting, domain, theme, plugin and service prices on each company's own page. WordPress.com's renewal prices are from our September 28, 2026 read. Features come from the pages below, read between September 28 and November 4, 2026. Prices change; check them before you decide. Comparing Wix with Squarespace instead? See Wix vs Squarespace.

Wix

WordPress.com

WordPress (your own hosting)