What’s The Difference Between Wix and WordPress When Building Small Business Website

When it comes to deciding whether you should use website builders, like Wix or Squarespace or WordPress, your decision will most likely depend on your budget.
There are many other factors small business owners should consider which platform to use including ease of use, number of features, and e-commerce options. However, in most cases, the cost is the determining factor.

Wix, Squarespace and other website builders are do-it-yourself platforms designed for small businesses operating on a limited budget. If you don’t have a lot of cash and willing to sacrifice some control, website builders might be a good option for you.

Main Difference Between Using Website Builders and WordPress 

The main difference between these using WordPress and website builders is an important one and is best demonstrated using this analogy. Building your website with WordPress (WordPress.org, not .com, which is a self-hosted CMS.) is similar to buying your home, whereas building it on Wix is more like renting. When you build your website with Wix, Squarespace, Weebly and other builders you don’t own it, you are simply leasing the space on their platform.

Once you build your small business website on Wix, it’s not transferable and is not considered an asset of your business since it is not owned.

Small businesses that can afford to invest a little more upfront should instead use WordPress to build their website. Owning your own WordPress website results in true ownership.

WordPress (WordPress.org) is an open-source free web development software that can be installed on any hosting. You can move your website to host company of your choice, install plugins, save it to a local machine and claim the website as an asset. This option also offers more design and functionality flexibility since you don’t need to comply with every rule and regulation dictated by the company where your website was built.

Should I Build My Own Small Business Website?

If you have a limited budget, you can certainly try to develop your website using online website builders.
But be warned. Wix, Weebly, Squarespace and other website-building software all claim to be super easy to use, when in reality it can take time to learn how to use them. Just like with anything else, there is a learning curve. It takes more to create a professional website than tweaking a few settings and throwing in some images. And if you decide you don’t like the builder you’re using, you can’t download your website and move it to another platform so all your work will be lost.

If you think your company website is crucial to your business’ success, in most cases, it’s worth paying extra to hire professionals instead of doing a job yourself.

If you’re a business owner who values your time and prefer to focus on running your business instead of learning design and coding, hiring a website designer would be advisable.

If you think websites cost too much, you might be surprised to learn that there are many affordable small design agencies and freelancers around. They’ll be able to design a well functioning site while you can focus on running your business. This option will probably cost you more upfront, but after your WordPress is launched, there are no additional payments you have to make, other than the hosting that all websites require.

If you’re still not sure whether you should be using Wix or WordPress for your small business, check out additional resources below to see other differences between these two platforms and decide which one might be more suitable for you.