Shopify, a renowned online store builder was established when founders did not find a solution to their online store issues, then they created the one back in 2004. Now it fulfils the need of 800,000 users.
On the other hand, Wix was established in 2006 which has 150 million users on board. Where all the users do not necessarily have an online store.
Which builder is best for you? It depends on which feature you prefer and which builder just right for your online business requirements.
This article discusses in detail important features, pros and cons of each builder. This could help you out to decide which one to choose
Shopify
Wix
It has easy to use editor, how understanding the platform takes hours initially. It has also linked visual clues and tutorials to help you to get hang of it
Wix has a beginner-friendly drag and drop editor. Moreover, Wix ADI helps you create an entire website or online store
Shopify has around 60+ themes. Some of them are free and others are paid
Wix has around 500+ collection of themes
Has built-in presentation features including image zooming effect and product reviews
It does not let you enable product review
Has 1500+ e-commerce related apps
Has around 253 apps in its app store
Shopify websites are faster comparatively according to Pingdom test
Wix websites are comparatively slower than Shopify websites according to Pingdom test
Supports 100+ payment gateways, however, does not support Square
Support multiple payment gateways but does not support payment wallets such as Apple Pay or Amazon Pay
1- Ease of Use
Shopify
Wix
Shopify has easy to use editor but it takes hours to understand it first. Once you get the hang of it, you can create an online store easily
Wix has a beginner-friendly editor
It has linked tutorials to make the process easy for beginners
It has an unstructured editor, you can drag and drop elements anywhere you want to
Wix ADI helps you create a complete website in a few minutes
Shopify
Shopify could be top of mind when it comes to creating an e-commerce website or online stores. But the question arises, is it easy to use or beginner-friendly. Well! There are two sides of Shopify when it comes to “ease of use”. One side is, it takes a good couple of hours to understand the platform and configure how it works. On the other hand, once you have configured the platform, creating an online store would become an easy task.
It is so well designed that adding products and variants is a breeze. Moreover, it has linked tutorials that make the process easy for beginners.
Wix
Wix is one of the easiest platforms for website building in the market. Its editor is beginner-friendly. It is considered as a canvas, you can drag and drop elements anywhere you want to. This would let you use your creativity to the maximum. You can create a totally new template using its unstructured editor. Moreover, you don’t need to be a developer to create a website on Wix. Just drag and drop elements and there you go!
Moreover, if you want Wix to create a complete online store or website, you can use Wix ADI. Wix ADI is artificial design intelligence, where Wix uses artificial intelligence to create a website according to your preferences. All you need to enter a few details related to your website and rest Wix would do for you. You can also edit that version of website.
Verdict
Though both Shopify and Wix are easy to use, however, Wix clearly wins here. Moreover, due to Wix ADI, Wix is at par in “Ease of use”
2- Themes
Shopify
Wix
Shopify has 60+ e-commerce themes designed by professional designers
Wix offers 500 professionally designed templates
Not all these themes are free. Some of the paid themes would cost you around $140-$180
57 of them are e-commerce focused
Shopify
Shopify is having 60+ themes designed by professional designers. They make sure that these templates are up-to-date. These 60+ themes covera range of industries. However, not all these themes are free of cost. Some of the paid template could cost you around $140-$180. However, it can be considered as an investment to your online store.
Wix
Wix offers more than 500 templates which are designed by professionals, just like Shopify. However, there are 57 templates for e-commerce purpose because mainly Wix is not being created for online stores only. Other than that, it almost covers every imaginable industry. Moreover, these templates are easy to edit and could be converted into an altogether new template.
Verdict
Wix has a huge number of templates as compared to Shopify. So, apparently, Wix wins here. However, when it comes to e-commerce templates, Shopify templates are more in number and more complete.
3- Presentation Features
Shopify
Wix
Shopify has built-in features and add-ons for product presentation including product zooming effects, product review, Facebook stores and much more
Wix supports carousal videos, however, it does not allow you to embed videos in the product description
Another interesting product presentation feature is “Augmented Reality”
It does not let you enable product review
Shopify
While creating a Shopify online store you could add only 3 variants which are size, colour and material. It would also allow you creating a product’s title, its description and image galleries. Moreover, it provides zoom effects for product images. This is not all from Shopify. It also provides extra apps and add-ons which could enable product review, eBay items importers and Facebook stores and much more.
Another interesting presentation feature of Shopify is “Augmented Reality”. Augmented reality is meant to see every possible detail of the product using your smartphone or laptop.
Wix
Just like Shopify Wix also lets you create product titles, its description, image galleries with zooming effects. However, it gives you 6 variants with 30 options (such as different colours to choose from). Also, It supports carousel videos while Shopify does not!
Whereas, Wix currently does not allow you to embed videos in your product description. Moreover, Wix would allow you to add user’s comments while unlike Shopify it does not let you enabling product reviews.
Verdict
Shopify clearly wins! It has almost all the interesting built-in features and other add-ons to present the product in the best possible way. Wix is not bad though, but Shopify does really good with a product presentation as it only focuses on e-commerce website building
4- App Store
Shopify
Wix
Shopify has 1500+ apps, however, these are mainly related to e-commerce for your online store
Wix app store has less number of apps comparatively i.e. around 253. However, some of these apps would be related to e-commerce, others are meant to support website building
Shopify
Shopify store has such a huge app store that encompasses 1500+ apps. These 1500+ apps are from third-party developers and from Shopify itself. However, these apps are mainly related to e-commerce to grow your online store. You can add apps to your online store related to:
Email marketing solution
Finding and adding products
Creating social proof
Customer retention
Upselling and cross-selling
SEO
In-house fulfilment
Inventory management
Customer support
Customer relationship management
Wix
Wix app market has around 253 apps in its app store. However, unlike Shopify, its main focus is not only e-commerce. These apps are meant to support the overall website building and e-commerce as well. For example, these apps are related to:
Analytics
Business
Chat
Design
Form
Marketing
Social
Video
Moreover, these apps cover the following industries:
Blog
Events
Hotels and Travels
Music
Restaurant
Online Store
Photography
Verdict
Shopify has an unmatched number of apps designed to enhance the online store. It gives Shopify an edge over Wix. However, Wix apps support the overall website building but only a few apps are specific for online store comparatively.
5- SEO
Shopify
Wix
Has multiple SEO apps that makes SEO of an online store easy
Supports by suggesting top keywords and phrases
Wix SEO-WIZ provides personalized SEO plan for your website
Shopify
Shopify has multiple SEO apps and it also let you know about the best SEO practices. It makes the following tasks easy:
Add meta titles and meta description
Customize URL slug
Attach alt text to images
Wix
Wix also makes easy the above the tasks such as adding meta title and meta description, customizing URL slug and attaching alt text to images. However, it also supports by suggesting top keywords or phrases.
Moreover, Wix also offers SEO-WIZ, a feature that provides you step by step personalized SEO plan within a matter of minutes.
Verdict
Wix wins here as it provides more SEO support as compared to Shopify. Suggesting top keywords or phrases is something that Shopify does not offer
6- Pagespeed- Which is Faster? Wix Vs. Shopify
Shopify
Wix
According to Pingdom test, Shopify websites are faster than Wix websites
During test, the Wix website came out to be slower which loaded in 1 second where Shopify’s websites loaded in 541 milliseconds
Shopify
We tested the speed of HAPPINESS ABSCISSA, on Pingdom. Happiness Abscissa is an online scent store, which is being built through Shopify. Its website got a score of 86 with grade B in the test, with the loading time of 541 ms.
Wix
Just like Wix, we tested Undercover Living on Pingdom. Undercover Living is an online bedding store built with Wix. The speed test showed a score of 75 with C grade. Its load time was 1 second.
Verdict:
These tests of Pingdom clearly shows Shopify’s website is faster than Wix’s Website. However, both the websites were unable to achieve “A grade” in the test. Moreover, the speed of the site greatly depends on the template being used for website building.
7- Payment Options
Shopify
Wix
Shopify caters more than 100 payment options, however, it does not support Square
Wix has multiple payment methods which include Paypal, Square, Stripe and many more. However, it is still less than Shopify
There is a transaction fee
It does not support digital wallet payment such as Apple Pay or Amazon Pay
Shopify
Shopify permits more than 100 payment gateways including Apple pay and Paypal. It also supports offline payment. However, it does not support Square whereas Wix does. Credit card payment is available with no transaction fee through Shopify payment gateway. There is a transaction fee for gateways other than Shopify gateways.
Wix
Wix supports the following payment methods:
PayPal
Square
Stripe
Offline
Many more
Whereas, it does not support digital wallet payment such as Apple Pay and Amazon Pay. However, Wix gets an edge over Shopify by offering zero transaction fee for all its plans.
Verdict:
Shopify is a clear winner here. It has a lot more options comparatively. That means you can sell anywhere. However, if you do not use Shopify gateway, you might need to pay a transaction fee. Moreover, if you do not reside in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore or Ireland then you may also need to pay a transaction fee as you won’t be able to use Shopify payment.
8- Multilingual Support
Shopify
Wix
Shopify does not have multilingual support for all its users
Wix supports the multilingual feature but that is not SEO friendly
You can use expensive bilingual themes or third-party apps for multilingual support
Shopify
Shopify was established back in 2004 and till date, you can not create a multilingual site. Whereas, there are hacks to overcome this limitation. There are bilingual themes which are quite expensive but can help you in this regard. Moreover, you can use third-party apps which could cost you around $20 a month on average. And, if you are going to purchase $2,000 Shopify plus plan then it comes with three language support.
Wix
Wix supports the multilingual feature but it is not considered SEO friendly. Why it is not SEO friendly as it uses the same URL for every language.
Verdict:
Both the website builders are not really good when it comes to supporting multilingual sites. However, you can play safe when it comes to multiple languages if you choose Shopify.
9- Customer Support
Shopify
Wix
Shopify offers customer support through:
Help Center
Phone Call
Email
Live Chat
Social Media
Forum
Wix offers customer support through:
Help Center
Phone Call
Email
Submit a ticket
Social Media
Wix does not have a “Live Chat” facility for customer support
Shopify
You can access the Shopify knowledge base through its help center. Just enter the keywords and search for the content you need help with.
Other than help center, Shopify has following touchpoints for 24/7 customer help
Phone
Email
Live chat
Social Media
Forum
Wix
Wix has an extensive knowledge base which could be accessed using its help center. Just like Shopify enter keywords and search for content and tutorials.
It’s only Wix in the market that provides customer support while editing your website through help icons. Every element has help icon, click it and a speech box will appear with help. Wix has following other touchpoints for customer support:
Phone Call (Phone call help in English is available 24/7, whereas, help in other languages would be available in working hours according to EST time zone)
Email
Social Media
Submit a ticket
Verdict
Shopify customer support game is strong. It offers customer support through all the possible ways. Live chat customer support is an edge over Wix customer support. However, both do the good with customer support
10- Pricing
Shopify
Wix
Shopify offers more value for money. Though it does not offer any free plan but offers more features comparatively
It offers a free plan and seven other paid plans. However, it does not provide as much value for money as Shopify does when it comes to an online store
Shopify
Shopify does not offer any free plan but a 14 days trial. However, it offers three paid plans which are:
Basic Shopify Plan
Shopify Plan
Advanced Shopify Plan
Following table shows how much every plan would cost and how much you can save if you pay annually, for 2 years and for 3 years.
Wix
Wix offers a totally free plan and seven paid plans. These plans are:
Connect Domain
Combo
Unlimited
VIP
Business Basic
Business Unlimited
Business VIP
Below table shows the pricing summary that Wix offers in its paid plan
Verdict:
Apparently Wix is less expensive as compared to Shopify. However, here we can look at the value of money. Shopify offers a lot of features for online stores that Wix does not. Shopify offers more value of money comparatively. Moreover, If we compare Wix Business Unlimited and Basic Shopify, which are having more or less similar features, then Shopify is $1 cheaper than Wix on monthly basis.
Conclusion
So, you could get a fair idea which platform is better for you.
Wix is there for you if you need
More design flexibility
You want to sell a few products through your online store