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Wix vs Shopify.
The right answer here depends almost entirely on one thing: whether selling is the point of the site, or one of the things the site does.
Wix Better for a site that also sells
Cheaper, more flexible as a general website, and perfectly capable of a small catalogue. It starts to strain once stock, variants and shipping rules get complicated.
Shopify Better for a real shop
Built for selling first, and it shows in inventory, shipping and checkout. The marketing pages around the shop are the weaker half.
Side by side, honestly.
We include ourselves in the last column, and the last row is the one where we lose.
| Wix | Shopify | Avago | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published entry price | From £9/mo | From £19/mo | Free to build, £34.99/mo to publish |
| Built for large catalogues | No | Yes | No |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Paid tiers | Yes | Yes |
| Strong as a brochure site | Yes | Weaker | Yes |
| Writes your copy for you | Partly | No | Yes |
| Extra fee for third-party payments | No | Yes | No |
| Export your site elsewhere | No | No | No |
Competitor prices are the vendors' published UK list prices and change often. Check before you buy.
Where both of them lose.
This is the honest bit, and the last one applies to us too.
Product photography is on you
Neither platform helps with the thing that actually sells the product, and it is usually the biggest hidden cost of going online.
App subscriptions add up
Four apps at £25 a month is £1,200 a year on top of the plan. Shopify is worse for this because its app market is bigger.
Fees are charged on postage
Payment processors take their percentage of the whole order including delivery. On low-value items that is real margin.
So which one?
Questions.
Is Shopify worth it for ten products?
Usually not on cost alone. Under roughly £3,000 a month in sales, the subscription and app fees outweigh what you gain over a simpler shop attached to a normal website.
Can Wix handle a proper shop?
For a small catalogue with simple shipping, yes. It gets uncomfortable around variants, bulk stock updates and complex shipping rules, which is exactly where Shopify earns its price.
What do payment fees actually cost?
Between 1.4% and 2.9% plus 20p to 30p per transaction in the UK, charged on the full order value including delivery. That is the same wherever you build the shop.
Other comparisons.
Wix vs Squarespace →
A comparison from someone with no affiliate deal on either. Real pricing, where each one wins, and the thing both of them get wrong for small businesses.
Wix vs WordPress →
One you can use this afternoon, one you will still be configuring next month. Which suits a small business, and what each really costs to run for a year.
Squarespace vs WordPress →
Squarespace looks right out of the box. WordPress does anything, eventually. A comparison for people who want a working site, not a new hobby.