Website builders have been around for a long time now. At first, they weren’t sophisticated and offered little to no customisability. Fast forward to today, however, and you have yourself hundreds of different site builders, each with its unique set of capabilities and features.
Amongst these site builders is Wix, a platform that is used by over 200 million people around the world to express their ideas and build their online presence. Surely you’ve heard of them. Their ads are basically everywhere, but primarily on YouTube.
Today, Wix is one of the leaders in website creation for good reasons. They are one of the most versatile and advanced web builders on the market.
Still, our focus today is not going to be on the pros of using Wix. Instead, we’ll take a look at the disadvantages that a regular user might face when using the platform. Keep reading for more.
First off, what is a website builder?
Before we get into the cons of using Wix to build your website, let’s first briefly explain what a website builder is.
A website builder, as the name suggests, is a platform or service that allows you to create a website with little to no coding experience. You see, websites are nothing but a bunch of code, and back in the day, most websites were created by coders from scratch. Examples include GoDaddy, Weebly, Squarespace, Wix (of course!), and many more.
Then came the website builders and saved freelancers, small business owners and regular users a lot of time and money. You see, such solutions became so popular to the point where the website builders’ market was valued at around USD 1.46 billion in 2019. And it’s only going to rise by 2027.
The flexibility and customisation that is offered by these builders are simply unparalleled in the field. You can just drag and drop bits and pieces of the interface and create a good looking and well functional website.
All good, right? Not quite so…
The disadvantages of Wix
The disadvantages that a business owner or freelancer might face when using Wix can be significant. But this does not necessarily mean that you should not use Wix. Some of what we are about to discuss are issues that other website builders have too. Others might just be Wix-exclusive.
Without further a due, let’s get into the disadvantages of Wix.
1. Free plan’s Wix branding
We understand that in the world of website building and hosting, nothing is really free. However, if you happen to go with Wix and you decide to stick with their free plan, there is a catch, two actually.
The first is that your website domain name will include “Wix” in it. That is an understandable compromise for some small businesses, although we wouldn’t recommend it. The second catch, however, is that free hosted sites are forced to carry a Wix branding. That includes ads on every page of your website.
Imagine our website through a Wix free plan for example. For starters, our URL would be like this: rockstarmarketing.wix.com. Plus, each page on our website would include the following banner up top: This site was designed with the Wix.com website builder. Create your website today.
Now, if we’re being entirely honest, this is nothing obnoxious for any potential visitor of your website, but it is annoyingly obvious. So, if you’re serious about your business and its online presence, this is definitely a drawback.
2. Disadvantages of Wix: No interchangeable templates
Some might consider this nit-picking, but we do find it inconvenient that you can’t transfer content from one template to another on Wix. This isn’t exactly a serious problem. However, you should know this before you delve in and use the platform.
Make sure that whatever template you pick is your go-to because if you happen to change your mind later, you will have to manually transfer all of the content you have created initially from your old template to the new one.
3. No free tracking & analytics
Any reasonable website owner will often check to see how well their website is performing and one of the best and easiest ways to do this is by using Google Analytics or other similar tools.
Unfortunately for you, however, Wix only allows you to use these if you upgrade your plan. Yes, you’ve heard us right. Something as simple as a Google API connection can cost you a plan upgrade.
4. Hard to migrate data
Migrating data is one of the most difficult things that any webmaster might face when running a website. Even if something extremely small goes south, you might end up with a huge problem because of it.
Wix does not make this process easy for you. Instead, they make it more difficult than it actually is. Many people on the Internet believe this to be intentional, with the goal of keeping users on the platform.
With Wix, you’re going to have to migrate through RSS and manual save each image, then upload them to your desired CMS. Such a process can easily be automated with a plugin on a platform such as WordPress.
5. Disadvantages of Wix: Lacking SEO features
Wix allows you to access an SEO Wizard that supposedly helps you to maximise content optimisation. However, the amount of work or progress that this wizard is able to accomplish is very limited.
This is mainly due to the fact that Wix’s search engine optimisation features are a little behind in comparison to other means of website creation. The basics, such as page titles and descriptions, are there, but, other than that, there’s nothing to write home about.
Ahrefs, one of the leaders in the SEO and PPC market, conducted an interesting study where they compared Wix’s SEO with that of WordPress. They studied 3.2 million Wix websites and 3.2 million WordPress websites.
Their conclusion? 46.1% of the WordPress domains get organic traffic while only 1.4% of Wix domains get it. But they also do mention that there is no relationship between the platform used and a site’s ability to rank on Google’s SERPs. So, what’s what?
Well, such results are simply because people who use WordPress tend to do more SEO than on Wix, and the latter is partially to blame for that.
How is that, you ask?
For starters, Wix does not support the Hreflang tag, an important component that allows webmasters to run a multi-language website. And many websites out there run in more than one language. Some run on two, while others feature as many as five different languages.
Additionally, the whole premise of website builders like Wix is to transform your drag and drop actions into code. Unfortunately, while doing this, Wix produces a lot of code bloat, most of which is in JavaScript. And what does code bloat cause? It slows down your website. And in the eyes of search engines such as Google, PageSpeed is an important ranking factor.
Lastly, Wix does not allow users to modify other technical aspects of SEO, such as Robots.txt. This file is important because it can help you to instruct the Google Bot (“Crawlers”) on which page to index and which to avoid, which helps to ensure that only quality pages are indexed.
6. Disadvantages of Wix: Hidden fees
One of the most convenient things about Wix, according to Wix themselves, is the fact that its premium plans are relatively affordable. Indeed, their entry-level premium plan is just $4.50 a month, and their most advanced plan (for businesses and eCommerce) is just $35, currently with a 50% off discount at the time of writing this.
This sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, here comes the first caveat to this: those prices are for yearly subscriptions. In other words, you’re going to have to pay 12 times the amount, in full, at the time of purchase.
You start adding somewhat necessary third-party apps to the mix, and what happens? Things start adding up. Google Ads, for instance, will cost you a whopping $75 per month to integrate into your website. That’s like 3 times the amount of their most expensive plan.
To clarify, Google Ads costs money to run, that’s a given. However, if you want to add it to your own Wix website you’re going to have to pay $75 extra per month.
Well, no one said anything about anything being free. However, we do find it somewhat shady that Wix advertises itself as an all-in-one package kind of subscription. And many other subscription-based online services do this, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s wrong, especially for small business owners.
7. Poor customer support
Wix.com currently has a 1.7 out 5 stars score on Trustpilot, and if that doesn’t tell you something already, then you should take a look at the reviews themselves. One of the most common issues that people have with the platform is its bad customer support, amongst other things.
This is quite sad since customer service is perhaps at the core of any company out there. Without it, no customer with a functional brain will stick around with you. And Wix doesn’t seem to understand that, apparently.
8. It’s limited compared to WordPress
Using WordPress, you can achieve pretty much any tweak or optimisation using plugins. Unfortunately, Wix doesn’t offer that option.
Plugins are especially useful for SEO. Using Yoast SEO or Rank Math, for example, you can easily optimise your content for search engines. In contrast, SEO features provided by Wix are pretty limited.
You don’t have to deal with the disadvantages of Wix
Wix, like any other site builder, has several advantages and drawbacks. To use such a platform, you’ll have to go through a learning curve – one that can seem steep to beginners. If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of building your own site, book a discovery call with us today, and one of our experts will contact you shortly.
Great article, wish I could read that before creating my website with wix🙈
I put lots of work on it all by myself to save money and when published it the adds started coming plus some viruses gets into my phone, that looks so not professional now. Just waste of my time because I’m not sure if should using that website. They asking me to purchase premium plan to get rid of ads and to get professional domain.
Thanks for the comment, Kamila. If you ever need any help with a WordPress website, you know where we are!
I actually disagree with the poor support as of November 2022. They have been helpful and very responsive via chat or email.
Appreciate the update, Eddie. Glad to see it’s improving and that you’ve had a great experience. We’ve spoken to a fair few who haven’t and Trustpilot says it all. But very glad to hear they’re working on it.
Thanks
No wix for us
Thank you for this update. Personally, I have used Wix for many years–and quite happily. But lately there are just too many glitches and downtime. I also have had nothing but constant issues with my email since switching my premium plan from one of my Wix websites to another Wix website. I spent over four hours in chats, emails, and–eventually-an escalated phone call to resolve that email issue–only to find it stopped working a couple of days later. (In fairness, they did give me a free month added to my plan, but…)
I have no idea what’s changed, but it’s changed for the worse. They eventually DID get my email working a second time, but emails ALWAYS take at least 18 minutes (usually more like 45) to come through from the sender. (I’ve tested this with my work email, and have had several friends also test it using their emails.)
Also, several times when I just “check” my website, it either is down, or the slider image is empty. Then, a few hours later, everything magically works again. They really need to get their act together.
Sigh. My plan expires in two months, and I have already signed up for a new service. Just. Not. Worth. It. Anymore.
Unable to use a tablet or phone to update your website and if you have a contact form for users to complete and send to you the email is received but no message included. I am losing g a lot of business as I don’t have a laptop or PC. No help or support is offered and you are expected to purchase a laptop or computer to use them. I have had a fully operational website with vistaprint for 12 years with no problem. They have partnered with Wix and migrated all websites which are now unusable if you only have a tablet and phone.
Hi I have heard wonderful things about Wix and not so wonderful things in your report. I have been hunting for a host with site building for months and gotten involved with two companies that were terrible, just as bad as you described in your article if not worse. On one I had to go through such a mess to just sign up I gave up before I even got to building a site. I wasn’t willing to give them my first born. I am no pro but I have built a number of sites for people so I know a little something. So all your article did for me is confuse the issue even more than I was confused before. What I’m I to look for that shows signs of good service? I get no free advertising of host. Good support. Clear idea of what the website builder is and how to use it. No hidden ad on charges or fees. Can website me moved with out extra fees. Can website be updated without major relearning or rebuilding? I’m sure I have missed something but I haven’t found a host that meets my needs.
Not everything is as bad, as you put in. I was working with Wix for the last 3 yrs and I make them listen to most of the concerns(I own a bad review too), but at the same time, I still keep my hopes that this won’t be for long.
SEO- they are improving it.
Not able to update websites on phone with drag and drop options only available on desktop, the rest is possible pretty much on phone. Well, I do belive Wix should be transparent about that. I was confused too.
Prices ads up – yep and by the time I looked amd choose Wix, I was expected it. It is possible to just purchase premium plan and pretty much everything is there for you. 2 things you need to consider from 2023 -pay extra to use Modelysta for drop shipping and Email marketing. The rest of the addon apps are nice, but not essential to any type of business. You can find work arounds.
Glitchee- pain in the a.. I hate them too and I can understand why they happen. When any new changes applied it glags on some websites, then they go and correct it till all is sorted.
Customer serbice – omg vasic level is a pain. They are so polite to frustraition and always everything is perfect to them. Till you get to higher team, which not always get you anyone better. II guess this will be their next challange for sorting. I can help and they know it, but this time I asked to be paid, not volunteering helping them out anymore.
Migrating date- I had issues csv file one. Haven’t tried to mpve away anything as yet, but I can expect issues again and this will be due to the fact the date is collecting on different ways, but I can pretty much sort this part out, as I keep my original date.
After 3 yrs I am still with them. I hope the new changes will be well worth it. Well, the ideas are mine, so they will be 😅😜 I am def not a WordPress fan, but if you want basic and simple, but SEO powerful website – Jimdo is great.I will keep mine alongsite with my Wix one. Building websites for the future, I got options for my customers.