Wix vs Shopify – different platforms, similar goals

Wix and Shopify are both widely used platforms for online businesses. But which one is the better? In this post, I’ll test the 2 to find out whether Wix or Shopify has the best tools to reach your goals.

Wix and Shopify are both undisputed leaders of their respective markets. Wix is a versatile website builder with 1000s of design possibilities. Meanwhile, Shopify is a dedicated eCommerce platform with powerful tools to help you increase sales.

But there’s a major thing in common – both tools will help you build a website and sell online.

If that’s the case, which one is better for you?

In this Wix vs Shopify comparison, I built test sites for both of these platforms (which I’ll happily show later!). This way, I was able to get a good grip on how they compare on pricing, ease of use, eCommerce and other business features, and overall performance.

This is a big comparison – so just click here to jump to the conclusion, if that’s your thing. Or check out the table with all the main information just below (psst – by clicking on the titles, you’ll be able to read about each topic in-depth!)

	Shopify	Wix
Rating	3.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆	4.4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Ease of Use	One simple way to make a website	Two intuitive editors, easy site management
Templates	9 free and 70+ paid official themes	700+ free templates, covering several niches
eCommerce	Powerful built-in features for all types of users	Intuitive interface with good beginner-level features
Marketing	Essentials are built-in but very simplistic	Essential marketing features are built-in
Support	24/7 via live chat, phone, and email	Hours vary, available via live chat, callbacks, and email
Performance	Performance fits the industry standard	Metrics slightly low, very good real-life performance
Pricing	Plans start at $29.00/month	eCommerce from $27.00/mo
Website	Shopify.com	Wix.com

Wix website vs Shopify website – a case study

Every website builder and every eCommerce platform can truly be tested in one and the same way – by actually using them! So, go figure, that’s exactly what I’ve done on this Wix vs Shopify comparison.

I built a website with each of the platforms, and here, I’ll show you some of my highlight experiences so you know what to expect.

Here’s a Wix website builder website:

And here’s a Shopify eCommerce platform site:

Here’s how everything went down:

Ease of use: two simple approaches

• Signing up with both platforms was pretty easy. Both streamline their onboarding as much a possible.
• Wix offers two website builder options: a super-streamlined Wix ADI and a highly-editable Wix Editor.
• Shopify has only one website editing interface, which is quite limited on the surface.

eCommerce website builders such as Shopify and Wix are defined by how they make difficult things easy. Well, then – let’s take a look at how easy it was to do the core tasks:

• Getting started
• Editing storefront

Getting started with Wix vs Shopify

Both Wix and Shopify have streamlined their setup processes so you can get on the platforms as quickly as possible. Not even a credit card is needed in both cases as Wix has a free plan with which you can explore the builder, while Shopify provides a free trial.

Once I clicked on the Get Started button on the Wix site and signed up (you can use Google, Facebook, or email), I was asked to pick the type of site I was building and a way to build it.

The latter is a major decision, determining the whole future experience of the site management:

• Wix ADI will ask you several questions and then automatically generate a website based on your answers, business information, and design preferences. It’s a quick way to get a website: but it seriously limits the customization options.
• Wix Editor will give you the full freedom to edit absolutely anything about your site. The only option you’ll choose is your starting template.

And that’s it; you can then start playing with the chosen editor to build an online store you’ve always wanted.

Meanwhile, getting started with Shopify is smooth too.

At the start, I was asked a few fundamental questions that will determine my Shopify setup experience. A teeny bit of personal information later, I was good to go: Shopify redirected me straight to the dashboard of my new online store.

The intro section here reflects the answers to the setup questions. Since I was raring to go, Shopify offered me a simple way to quickly add products, customize the theme, and connect a custom domain.

And that’s it – you can go straight to building your business and customizing the storefront by hitting that Online Store button on the left-side menu.

So the main takeaways are that it’s very easy to get started with both platforms without paying a penny upfront. However, Wix immediately provides you a way to build the storefront, while Shopify takes you to the backend and educates you on the next steps.

Editing in Wix vs Shopify

When it comes to actually designing and editing your storefront, a major difference arises. Wix has 2 ways of customizing the design: ADI and drag&drop editor, while Shopify provides you with a simplistic editor.

When it comes to Wix, I enjoyed both ways of building a website.

The ADI setup process takes just a couple of minutes. During which, I simply answered a few questions and picked preferred looks. If you upload your logo, Wix will even match the color scheme of the design. Not exactly a challenging design task, you know?

Now, the ADI editor is actually pretty limiting. You can merely pick out from a few different section layouts, change their order, and do other, similarly tiny changes. I suppose that’s the price you pay for ease of use.

However, at any time, your ADI website can be converted into a Wix Editor website.

If you choose the Editor from the get-go, your setup process will be much easier – just pick out the theme, and you’re good to go with the full Editing Freedom.

It's a flexible drag&drop builder that allows editing absolutely every corner of your website. There are 100s of sections and 1000s of design elements to use.

But, with such flexibility, complexity comes hand in hand. While you can put any of the 1000s design elements wherever you want, it might be challenging to make the design clean. So lots of planning and testing things out should be expected.

Now on to Shopify, everything is much more simplistic here. You pick a theme and get to edit the design.

The experience here was surprisingly similar to Wix ADI: I was given section options to mix and match together. But there was no drag-and-drop customizability, similar to the one on Wix Editor.

However, I could choose from several options and then edit them by adding different blocks that could include text, images, videos, and more.

In order to do any deeper changes, you have to either get a different theme or use your HTML/CSS skill on the Shopify code editor. Also, there’s an option to pick a third-party app from an online store to introduce even more functionalities.

But one thing is for sure – getting grips on Shopify is much quicker. Also, when compared to the original Wix Editor, it’s easier to end up with a clean-looking design.

Wix vs Shopify ease of use: key takeaways

Both Wix and Shopify are very easy to get started and do not require upfront payments. You can actually build your store before committing. At the same time, Wix has significantly more design flexibility, while Shopify remains simplistic. That said, Shopify makes the website building process quicker and much more simple for an inexperienced user.

Shopify is the winner of this category: Use Shopify if you're looking for ease of use

Templates: excellent premium picks and good free options

• Wix has over 700 templates to pick from: they’re all free and cover a massive range of topics.
• Shopify has 80+ templates: also, only 9 of them are free, and others cost around $100-200. You can also find third-party templates if the choice seems too limiting.

A good theme is an excellent starting point for your website: which is very useful if you’re not exactly the world’s next design superstar. Let’s have a deeper look into the theme options for both Wix and Shopify:

• Selection
• Design
• Customization

Selection

Wix has a massive selection of templates: with over 700 options, but when it comes to the Store category, we are left with 120. Much closer to Shopify’s 80+, that all are dedicated to online stores.

Wix Store category templates are further narrowed down into 12 fields. Some are broad such as Home & Decor or Electronics, while others are very specific. Looking at you, CBD.

Price: free

Shopify templates can also be filtered by industry, but designs are pretty universal. So the main way to make a choice is by selecting templates for unique needs: whether your product catalog is big or small, and how do you like your layout to look. Also, if the selection of Shopify templates is limiting, you can scout the internet for third-party ones.

Price: 9 free and 72 paid options ranging between $100-$310

Design

In terms of design, Wix has everything. You’ll find both minimalist and highly visual-focused options. Meanwhile, Shopify focuses on a more minimalistic approach that helps highlight the products instead of the storefront.

When choosing a Wix template, you are basically choosing an idea of how your store could look like. The designs range a lot, so be prepared to spend some time trying to pick the right one.

On the plus side, templates are mobile optimized and will adapt to any device, so no headaches here.

When choosing one of Shopify’s original themes, there’s nothing really visually alluring, the way it is with Wix. All templates are very professional and focused on different online store needs. It really is easy to find the one you’re looking for.

The best part is, all Shopify’s templates are 100% responsive and well-optimized for online stores. After all, that’s the main focus of the platform. And with more than 70% of all traffic coming from mobile… I would be disappointed if Shopify wasn’t prepared.

Customization

The 2 platforms have different approaches for theme customization. Wix is fully flexible, while Shopify holds your hand so you can end up with a clean and professional design.

• With Wix, picking a template won’t mean that your site will look like the template. You can easily change the layouts and design elements to look absolutely unique. That, of course, comes with the burden of making everything perfectly aligned. Take your time.

At the same time, you can also edit the mobile version of the site separately. While the themes are responsive, you can optimize them yourself by hiding or adding certain design elements for the mobile version only.

• When it comes to Shopify, the templates can feel a bit like they are set in stone. You can add more sections and tweak things a little bit, but Shopify makes sure that everything’s nice and tidy with perfect alignment.

As for the mobile version, templates are fully responsive automatically.

Templates: key takeaways

Wix has a massive number of available options – and you’ll need to pay a lot of time to find the right pick. Plus, customization possibilities are endless. Meanwhile, Shopify doesn’t have many options: but they look good and are fully optimized for all things eCommerce.

Wix is the winner of this category: Choose Wix for modern templates and 1000s of design possibilities

Wix vs Shopify: eCommerce comparison

• Wix eCommerce is pretty powerful – but it’s not the core focus of this platform.
• Shopify focused heavily on all things eCommerce and is a pure all-in-one selling solution.

Spoiler alert: Shopify wins this one. Of course! It’s a massive, all-encompassing platform for online & offline selling, a proper Swiss-army-knife.

The real question is, can Wix eCommerce put on a bit of a fight and serve as a capable replacement? Let’s take a deeper look at:

• Basic eCommerce features
• Payment options
• Shipping
• App stores
• Dropshipping
• Point of Sale systems

Basic eCommerce features

Managing inventory, adding products, and checking orders are straightforward with both Wix and Shopify. Platforms cover the basics equally well.

Wix has a very simple item management interface, letting anyone add and manage both physical and digital products.

It has reliable, in-house eCommerce tools that allow you to create products, fulfill orders, manage inventory, offer subscriptions, and even do dropshipping.

And overall, Wix is focused purely on the beginner user, with the dashboard including a lot of helpful guides and suggestions on how to progress with building and managing your business.

The main Wix eCommerce features cover the basics:

• Multiple product variants, collections, and easy categorization
• Synced multi-channel product management
• Integrated shipping options
• Automated sales taxes by Avalara
• Owner App for adding new products and fulfilling orders on the go

Meanwhile, Shopify uses its main dashboard to do some basic stuff, like adding products and managing inventory.

As opposed to Wix, Shopify has many different customization options for each product and category.

It also makes it extremely convenient to track your inventory and edit its settings. For example, you can continue to sell products when they are out of stock or stop selling them when that happens.

Another nice thing is order management. Not only can you track the progress but create orders yourself, sending invoices, and collecting payments directly from the customers.

The main Shopify eCommerce features are elaborate:

• Multiple product options, collections, and organization options
• Customer accounts and subscription selling
• Digital products, giftcards, and memberships
• Automated taxes by Shopify
• Integrated shipping options and flexible rates with major carriers
• Mobile app for store management and order fullfilment
• Integrated POS and Payment system

Talking of payments...

Payment options

Both platforms have their own payment gateways, so let’s compare which one is more logical from the business perspective.

Wix payments

• Payment methods you can accept: all major debit/credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners, CUP, JCB, and Maestro.
• Transaction fee: 2.9% + 30¢ USD.
• Supported countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, ​Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

Wix also has 50+ payment options available like PayPal, Stripe, and Square.

Shopify payments

• Payment methods you can accept: debit/credit cards from major providers, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay.
• Transaction fee: 2.9%-2.4% + 30¢ USD, depending on the plan.
• Supported countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.

Additionally, Shopify has hundreds of other third-party payment methods available. Yet, be prepared to pay an additional 0.5% to 2% to Shopify for each transaction with a different provider.

Shipping options

Shopify is more advanced when it comes to shipping, yet Wix covers business essentials too.

Wix offers 3 types of shipping: free, flat-rate, and weight-based. But, you can create custom, region-based shipping rules, which’s a significant plus.

Having said that, Wix’s print & buy label and real-time shipping options are pretty limited. And, you might need a third-party app in case you’ve got advanced needs.

At the same time, shipping is covered pretty well by Shopify.

You can manage your shipping rates, locations, and labels all in-house while using carriers — like DHL, UPS, and Canada/US Post. Plus, the higher plan you’re on, the better discounts you get on your parcels.

There are also contact-free shipping options, like curbside pickup and local delivery, that you can use to your advantage.

There’s also a counter for the costs of shipping a parcel to a specific location:

However, Shopify does not tie you up. You can also pick a third-party app to manage your shipping needs.

So speaking of the apps...

App stores

Both providers offer not only in-house tools for online store management but also apps for extending functionalities.

Wix's approach is that you can find all the tools to build, design, and manage an online store straight in its own toolset. The app store is left as an alternative, hence not too many apps are available.

Yet, here you can also choose from first-party (Wix-created) and third-party apps.

But it absolutely doesn’t mean that Wix-created apps should be the preferred option. For instance, Wix Forms & Payments has a seriously low rating of 2.7/5.

While the third-party 123 Form Builder boasts a solid 4.5/5.

At the same time, be while some apps have free plans, most of them are paid and can get pretty expensive.

Shopify’s app store is gigantic, with over 6,400 apps. And it’s important to remember that all of the apps here are focused on eCommerce, making this number all the more impressive.

The apps are great when trying to improve on Shopify’s stock options.

One of my favorite examples is dropshipping: for that, Shopify showcases a structured, detailed, and actionable guide on dropshipping. And on top of that, it provides a free app called Oberlo – an essential app for making your store dropship-able.

And sometimes, Shopify has an app of their own, which doesn’t do all that well – like their own Digital Downloads app.

This is where the extended Shopify community comes in, offering an alternative option. And it’s incredibly well-received.

Sadly, it also costs extra if you wish to sell more than 3 products or have more than 100MB of storage.

And so, with a few apps, your costs may increase a fair bit. Make sure to do your research!

But the rules are the same: Shopify developers need to eat as much as the Wix ones. So if you want something good, you’ll need to pay for it.

Dropshipping

Whether you want to create carefully curated product catalogs without the hassle of shipping and storage or print on demand – Wix and Shopify both have options for dropshipping. Some of them even overlap.

Talking of Wix, it mainly recommends the Modalyst platform that integrates seamlessly with Wix sites. It’s free to use for up to 25 products; if you want more, prices start at $30/mo.

Modalyst has many catalogs for 8 categories, including fashion, lifestyle, pets, and home.

The reviews are pretty good, with a rating at 4.6 in the Wix app store too.

Other Wix dropshipping options include Spocket, Printful, Printify, and 365Dropship.

As for Shopify it has both native and third-party apps. The selection, honestly, is huge. At the time of writing this review, I can see 291 apps in the Dropshipping category.

It can really be difficult to choose, but there are a couple of safe choices.

You can go with Shopify’s native Oberlo. The category choices, catalogs, and products are abundant – you’ll definitely find something for yourself. Just vet the suppliers carefully.

By the way, it’s absolutely free to start for up to 500 products. You can safely experiment to see if the platform matches your needs. The paid plan is $29.90/mo.

The reviews are pretty good, with a rating of 4.3 at the Shopify app store.

Other popular options at Shopify include Spocket, Printful, Printify, and Modalyst among 100s of others.

So Shopify has more dropshipping suppliers available, yet the ones that Wix has are also popular with the Shopify community. You’re not missing out on anything with either here.

POS: Point of Sale options

If there’s one area where the difference of Wix vs Shopify eCommerce features is big, it must be POS. Both providers have it, but Shopify has tailored the system to perfection, while Wix is just on the way there.

Wix POS is currently only available to a limited number of US-based online stores, so it’s not a guarantee that you’ll be able to enroll. This is the biggest disadvantage if you want to connect your Wix online store with your brick-and-mortar location.

At the same time, features look quite promising:

• Integration with credit/debit card payments, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.
• Multichannel inventory management integration.
• Unified analytics.
• Hardware sets for various needs – complete kits or just credit card readers for selling on the go.

I will keep an eye on Wix and hope it will introduce its POS to the wide public soon.

Meanwhile, Shopify already has made the legwork, and its POS system is available, functioning, and receives great reviews.

Some of the features include:

• Flexible shopping: browse online-pickup in-store, browse in store-order online, the order in store-ship to customer.
• Unification among reports and inventory.
• Possibility to add loyalty programs and apply discounts on every order individually.
• Hardware kits and a mobile app for selling in-store and on the go.

So Shopify really has an advanced setup ready if you want to connect your physical store with the online one or if you’re just planning to open one soon.

Wix vs Shopify eCommerce: main takeaways

As expected and predicted, Shopify is the more advanced solution for eCommerce. At the same time, Wix is closing in fast, offering the majority of features that Shopify has and introducing the lacking ones on the go. So if you don’t have the most advanced and complex eCommerce needs, Wix can do the job perfectly well too.

Shopify is the winner of this category: Choose Shopify for streamlined eCommerce tools

Marketing your business with Wix vs Shopify

• Wix focuses more on its internal features, offering a solid SEO suite and its own email marketing service.
• Shopify gets most of its marketing features thanks to a very extensive app market – just beware, most apps will cost extra.

There’s more to business than just selling; So let’s have a look at how Wix and Shopify compare in the marketing field:

• SEO tools
• Email marketing
• Analytics
• Blogging

Wix vs Shopify SEO

When it comes to SEO, Wix has more built-in optimization options, while Shopify offers the basics and relies on apps.

Wix is pretty good when it comes to SEO. For beginners, it offers the SEO Wiz tool. It guides you through the very basics of SEO, helping to index the site on search engines and add keywords to titles and descriptions.

You can use the tool or simply edit the titles, descriptions, and alt texts for each page/image that you have in the editor.

For more serious tinkering, there are also possibilities to edit the site’s robots.txt and sitemap files, as well as set up redirects. You’ll find these tools in the dashboard.

Meanwhile, Shopify, actually, isn’t all that advanced when it comes to search engine optimization. You can absolutely change and edit everything, but it’s certainly not as straightforward.

There will still be options for editing page titles and descriptions. As well as seeing how certain pages or products will look on Google’s results.

Of course, not to worry – as with most things, Shopify has an app for SEO too. A bunch of them, to be honest. Just beware – the premium versions can cost a hefty buck.

So Wix is more of an in-house SEO guru, while Shopify takes care of basics and allows third-party tools to manage the rest.

Email marketing

Both Wix and Shopify have an in-house email marketing solution. It’s free to start, but for more serious work – extra costs can add up.

Wix has a built-in marketing tool with no additional app installations needed.

Wix Ascend is a marketing tool that helps anyone easily build and send out impressive-looking emails and newsletters.

It’s rather excellent – I really liked the templates (Wix’s specialty!), which you get for the easy start of your campaigns.

There is a free version – but it’s very limited (5,000 emails a month). For serious work, I suggest going premium. Prices start at $5 a month.

As for the next contender, you can use the Shopify Email to create and send out branded marketing campaigns.

You get 2,500 free emails each month, and each additional 1,000 will cost you $1. Not too bad, considering that the app has pre-made templates that will automatically pull your logo and branding.

Sure, it’s not all that advanced, so you can always look at Shopify’s app store for alternatives.

I really enjoyed how the Wix email marketing tool is integrated straight into the dashboard. Meanwhile, Shopify’s Email app is very useful too, especially the automated template branding.

Analytics

For a data-driven marketing strategy, analytics is a must. Shopify has both a built-in analytics dashboard and many third-party tools to help you out. Wix also has a built-in analytics dashboard among third-party options.

Wix Analytics tool is free but not very advanced. You can track data such as traffic sources, mobile-vs-desktop usage, countries, and more. But custom reporting is not an option, especially for online stores.

It’s better to set up Google Analytics for your store. It’s free, and the integration is easy – you’ll only need to paste GA tracking code into the Integrations section in your dashboard.

Shopify Analytics is a useful but pretty limited tool too.

All the available features like advanced reporting only unlock with the Advanced Shopify plan, meaning that it’s not ideal for small businesses.

Fortunately, many integrations (Google Analytics recommended) are available for free, so you’re not missing out on anything. The only challenge might be setting up everything correctly.

So while both platforms do have custom analytics solutions, Google Analytics remains unbeatable for accurate and custom reporting.

Blogging

Blogging is still among the best tools to market your business, and both Wix and Shopify seem to understand it. Both contenders offer convenient and helpful blogging tools.

Wix has its blogging platform built into the main dashboard. It’s easy to add new posts, remove outdated content, or even import blog posts from WordPress.

The editor itself is clean and straightforward. It has both the standard text formatting tools and several design elements – buttons, dividers, and blocks to make the posts more engaging.

Additionally, I was able to quickly add SEO data such as meta title, description, and slug straight in the editor.

Similarly, Shopify's blogging tool is also built into the main dashboard, so no need for extra apps.

The editor interface is not as chic as Wix’s, but it has all the necessary features. At the same time, it’s not as easy to add buttons or other design elements to make your posts stand out.

As for SEO, I did not need to leave the interface to add the title, description, and slug. In fact, all the settings were even more conveniently placed here than in Wix.

So while both platforms have great blogging tools, I enjoyed editing content using Wix more. Meanwhile, Shopify was more convenient for the technical part of publishing.

Marketing with Wix vs Shopify: key takeaways

In terms of marketing, surprisingly, Wix has more coherent built-in tools, while Shopify relies on applications to do the job. At the same time, both have the essential tools integrated that cover marketing basics – email, SEO, analytics, and blogging included.

Wix is the winner of this category: Pick Wix for in-house marketing tools

Customer support

Wix customer support is available via email, live chat (in certain regions), and callbacks with varying working hours. Yet, callbacks in English are 24/7. Meanwhile, Shopify makes its support accessible 24/7 via live chat, phone, and email. Keep in mind, neither of the providers makes it easy to contact their agents.

If you find yourself stuck with Wix, you can reach customer support straight from your dashboard. Or so you’d think.

The thing is, Wix has perhaps the most extensive knowledge base I’ve seen. And before you’re given a chance to contact a real human being, it will make you look at the related articles to help you out.

Not my favorite approach, but it does encourage reading (wink-wink).

Shopify is pretty similar. It does make you look through relevant articles before allowing you to contact the support. Fortunately, the Help Center article section is very extensive, and there’s even an active Community section for general advice/questions.

So when it comes to customer support, no matter which option you choose – both platforms will offer the same experience.

Performance

• Both Wix and Shopify return rather average performance results.
• Shopify is better than Wix on the majority of the metrics.
• Both builders offer decent real-life performance.

Now, let’s take a look at the performance of these two platforms. After all – a fast website means a highly converting website. Visitors won’t wait for ages with wallets in their hands just to give you their card details.

In order to see which of these platforms make faster websites, I tested both of their test sites on GTMetrix. This platform measures the overall site and platform as speed, as well as optimization.

These are the results for Wix:

These are the results for Shopify:

One thing jumps out pretty much immediately: none of these platforms are very good. Shopify gets a C, while Wix gets a D.

What’s more, it takes 3.7 seconds to fully load a Shopify site – and a massive 8.4 seconds to load Wix. Both are worse than Google’s recommended 3-second threshold for the best online experience.

However, not all is doom and gloom. It takes 2 seconds for a Shopify website to load its major details and become interactive. For Wix, it takes around 3. And so, in real-life performance, both platforms do pretty well. A lot of that time is spent doing the backgrounds tasks, which your visitors simply won’t notice.

You can reduce your website’s load time by removing the unnecessary files and compressing all the media to the smallest size. But even with uncompressed stock footage offered by the platforms, both Wix and Shopify offer decent real-life performance.

Wix vs Shopify pricing

Wix has 3 eCommerce plans that start at $23/mo, making it cheaper than Shopify. Which, in turn, has 3 regular Shopify eCommerce plans starting at $29/mo. Additionally, there’s Shopify Lite for $9/mo to simply integrate payment into any website and Shopify Plus for enterprises (from $2,000/mo).

Wix eCommerce plans

Plan	Features
Business Basic ($27.00/month)	20GB of storage, $300 in ad vouchers, unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, and sales on social channels.
Business Unlimited ($32.00/month)	Storage bumped up to 35GB, automated sales tax, subscription sales, dropshipping, product reviews, and advanced shipping options.
Business VIP ($59.00/month)	50GB of storage and all of the above, plus priority support, custom data reports, and loyalty program feature, as well as more reviews, and sales tax calculations.

The plans are pretty inclusive. All of them include unlimited product listings and abandoned cart recovery – essentials to get you started. Plus, free domain, SSL, and PCI compliance are counted in.

Just one thing to consider – transaction fees.

Wix itself does not charge any fee for the sales that you make, but the payment provider will. Wix Payments is the most convenient option, and it charges 2.9% of the transaction, plus $0.30. So count this into your budget calculations.

As for the plans...

Shopify eCommerce plans

Plan	Features
Basic Shopify ($29.00/month)	Provides all the essential elements for creating a new online store and charges a 2.9%+30¢ transaction fee.
Shopify ($79.00/month)	More staff accounts, professional reports, international pricing, more shipping options, and lower (2.6%+30¢) transaction fee.
Advanced Shopify ($299.00/month)	Third-party calculated shipping rates, up to 15 staff accounts, and an even lower (2.4%+30¢) transaction fee.
Shopify Lite ($9.00/mo)	No website. Allows you to add a Buy button to your blog or portfolio and sell in person using Shopify Payments features.
Shopify Plus (from $2,000/mo)	Enterprise plan for custom terms, resources, and features.

What I like about Shopify is that right from the cheapest website plan, it doesn’t restrict you from essential features. You can sell on all possible sales channels like marketplaces or discount codes. You get everything – unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, staff accounts, gift cards, shipping, and multiple currencies and languages.

However, when it comes to actually picking a plan, some calculations should be done due to… Transaction fees.

• Basic Shopify has a 2.9%+30¢ fee for every transaction.
• Shopify has a 2.6%+30¢ fee for every transaction.
• Advanced Shopify has a 2.4%+30¢ fee for every transaction.

Generally, the more you sell, the lower the transaction fee you want. Even if the plan is more expensive itself.

And just like that, the difference between Shopify and Shopify Advanced evaporates, and Shopify Basic becomes unsustainable for small businesses.

Now, let’s do a quick comparison and see how the Wix vs Shopify plans stack against each other.

Wix Business Basic vs Basic Shopify

Similarly priced, Wix’s Business Basic vs Shopify Basic shares the same transaction fees and allow for unlimited products. The few ways in which Shopify offers more are integrated discount codes and gift cards alongside the possibility to add multiple currencies and sell on all sales channels including marketplaces (such as Google). The latter is restricted on Wix.

Feature	Wix Business Basic	Basic Shopify
Price	$27/mo	$29.00/mo
Transaction	2.9%+30¢	2.9%+30¢
Products	Unlimited	Unlimited
Abandoned cart recovery	Yes	Yes
Discount codes/gift cards	3rd party	Yes
Selling on all channels	Social media only	Yes
Multiple currencies	No	Yes
Multiple languages	Yes, not supported in ADI	5

Generally, these plans are both targeting small online stores. It makes sense to use them if you’re moving your physical business online for the first time or have just a couple of dozen products to sell.

To determine which option is better, consider if you’ll need to support multiple currencies or sell on channels like Google Marketplace.

Wix Unlimited vs Shopify plan

The mid-tier plans highlight new differences in terms of prices and transaction fees. While Wix is cheaper, its transaction fee is higher. Meanwhile, Shopify being more expensive has exactly the same features as Wix.

Features	Wix Unlimited	Shopify plan
Price	$22.00/mo	$79.00/mo
Transaction	2.9%+30¢	2.6%+30¢
Products	Unlimited	Unlimited
Abandoned cart recovery	Yes	Yes
Discount codes/gift cards	3rd party	Yes
Selling on all channels	Yes	Yes
Multiple currencies	Yes	Yes
Multiple languages	Yes, not supported in ADI	5

The plans are targeting fully-established or growing business operations where you plan on running multiple sales channels and introducing data-driven marketing tactics.

If you’re interested in the mid-tier plans, you need to consider Wix vs Shopify transaction fees:

If you have 50 transactions a month at an average sale of $50:

• Wix will cost you: 2,500 x 2.9% + (0.30 x 50) + 27 = $114.5 in fees
• Shopify will cost you: 2,500 x 2.6% + (0.30 x 50) + 79 = $144 in fees

If you have 500 transactions a month at an average sale of $75:

• Wix will cost you 37,500 x 2.9% + (0.30 x 500) + 27 = $1,264.5 in fees
• Shopify will cost you 37,500 x 2.6% + (0.30 x 500) + 79 = $1,204 in fees

For smaller online stores, Wix makes much more sense. However, the more you sell – the more expensive it will get. In that case, Shopify’s more logical.

Wix Business VIP vs Advanced Shopify

When it comes to the highest-tier plans, Wix is much cheaper, yet Shopify features a significantly lower transaction fee.

Features	Wix Business VIP	Advanced Shopify
Price	$59.00/mo	$299.00/mo
Transaction	2.9%+30¢	2.4%+30¢
Products	Unlimited	Unlimited
Abandoned cart recovery	Yes	Yes
Discount codes/gift cards	3rd party	Yes
Selling on all channels	Yes	Yes
Multiple currencies	Yes	Yes
Multiple languages	Yes, not supported in ADI	5

While the features are similar, we do need to make calculations to find out which plan is more budget-conscious when it comes to transaction fees:

If you have 100 transactions a month at $50 per sale on average:

• Wix will cost: 5,000 x 2.9% + (0.30 x 100) + 49 = $224 in fees
• Shopify will cost: 5,000 x 2.4% + (0.30 x 100) + 299 = $449 in fees

Yet if have 500 transactions a month at $100 per sale on average, things quickly even out:

• 50 000 x 2.9% + (0.30 x 500) + 49 = $1649 in fees
• 50,000 x 2.4% + (0.30 x 500) + 299 = $1649 in fees

So once again, Wix is cheaper for smaller businesses, while bigger businesses should make more accurate calculations to determine the worth of plans.

Wix vs Shopify pricing: key takeaways

Wix is cheaper than Shopify, even with those plans where Shopify transaction fees are lower. It especially makes sense to start an online store for smaller businesses on Wix if you’re budget-conscious. Features for the price are pretty similar too. At the same time, Shopify can be a better fit for stores that generate a lot of transactions.

Wix is the winner of this category: Pick Wix for cheaper plans

Wix vs Shopify: comparison summary

Both Wix and Shopify rule – in their own special way. Let's see in which areas each of the platforms excel when it comes to selling online

Features	Winner	Verdict
Ease of Use	Shopify	Wix has both a simplistic and very easy ADI and a classic Editor that allows full design freedom. Shopify native customization options are limited yet easier to use.
Templates	Wix	Wix has 100s of free templates, 120 of which are dedicated to eCommerce. Shopify's all 80+ templates are eCommerce-ready 100%, but only 9 are free.
eCommerce	Shopify	Shopify is the master of eCommerce, integrating powerful and convenient tools for business management. Wix has the essentials but not the advanced tools.
Marketing	Wix	Wix wins this section because all the main tools like email marketing, SEO, and blogging are built-in and powerful. Shopify has all the essentials too, but not as advanced.
Customer support	Shopify	Shopify's support is straightforward and available 24/7 via all channels. Wix tends to be more complex.
Performance	Shopify	Shopify was much quicker to load my storefront than Wix, proving that a website-builder-made website can be fast.
Pricing	Wix	Wix is cheaper, especially if you're running a smaller eCommerce store. Meanwhile, Shopify makes sense if you have large business operations to run.

Really, I found Shopify to be a very suitable option for an eCommerce store. The platform is created exactly for that after all. All the main features are there, and everything is super foolproof, that even a complete beginner would have no issues setting everything up.

Visit Shopify

Wix tries something very similar, but with a different approach. You get a lot of design freedom yet no specific focus for an online store, as you'd get with Shopify.

That being said, excellent point-of-sale options, great design flexibility, and 2 editors make it a more versatile option for those who do not wish to build an online store. So if you're looking to run a simple blog – go with Wix.

Visit Wix

Overall, my verdict here is pretty clear:

The platforms are different in their approaches. Use Wix if you want a highly customizable website that does online shopping. Use Shopify, if you want an online shop for a serious business.

Best website builder deals this week:

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More Wix comparisons you might want to read

• Wix vs GoDaddy
• Wix vs Squarespace
• Wix vs Weebly

More Shopify comparisons for you to check out

• Shopify vs WordPress
• Shopify vs Squarespace
• Shopify vs Weebly

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Wix vs Shopify FAQs