A Small Business Owner’s Honest Review of Wix vs. WordPress CMS

Choosing a new website content management system can feel like buying a work truck. You want something reliable, easy to maintain, and built to handle growth. You also don’t want to realize six months later that you picked the digital version of a lemon.

Over the years, I’ve worked with a wide range of website platforms in both in-house marketing roles and agency settings. Two platforms come up again and again for small and midsize businesses: WordPress and Wix.

Both platforms have strengths and trade-offs. The right choice depends on your goals, budget, and how hands-on you want to be after you launch your new website.

This article breaks down the pros and cons of each content management system in plain English, without the technical jargon or sales pitch.

First, what as a CMS?

A content management system, or CMS, is the software used to build and manage your website content. By website content, this includes:

Popular CMS platforms include WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, and Joomla. For this article, we’ll focus on WordPress and Wix because they tend to be two common options for growing businesses planning a website redesign or a brand new website.

WordPress: Flexible and built for growth

WordPress powers more than 40% of websites online, according to research by W3Techs. As a popular CMS, it’s flexible, customizable, and supported by a massive community of developers and designers.

Pros

One of WordPress’s biggest strengths is freedom. You have thousands of themes and design options available right from the start. Whether you want a clean corporate look, a bold modern design, or something fully custom, WordPress gives you room to build it.

Businesses often choose WordPress because it scales well over time. A simple 5-10 page website today doesn’t have to stay simple forever.

Eventually, you may want to add:

WordPress handles those upgrades well through plugins and custom development.

Another advantage is hosting flexibility. You aren’t tied to one hosting company, and that gives you more control over pricing, performance, and support.

Cons

WordPress is powerful, but it’s not always simple (especially for those of us who aren’t developers). Plugins require updates, and security patches need attention. Occasionally, one plugin update decides to pick a fight with another plugin. Suddenly, your website contact form stops working on a Tuesday afternoon. Not ideal when your schedule is already filled to the brim.

If you’re not comfortable managing technical issues, you’ll likely need support from a web developer or agency. That’s not necessarily a deal breaker since many businesses prefer having a trusted partner manage website maintenance anyway. Regardless, it’s important to understand that WordPress usually requires more ongoing involvement than Wix.

Wix: Easy to manage and quick to launch

Wix has become increasingly popular with small businesses because it makes website management far less intimidating.

In simple terms, Wix is designed for business owners who want fewer technical headaches.

Pros

The biggest advantage of Wix is ease of use. Its drag-and-drop editor makes updating content simple, even for non-technical users. You don’t need coding knowledge to edit text, move sections around, or add images.

That level of convenience can be a big deal for busy business owners. Wix also bundles hosting and website management together. Everything lives in one place, which simplifies setup and maintenance. For businesses that want to launch quickly and manage updates internally, Wix tends to feel more approachable than WordPress.

Cons

The trade-off for simplicity is flexibility. Because Wix is a proprietary, closed platform, you have fewer customization options compared to WordPress. You’re also tied to Wix hosting, so if you decide later that you want to move your website elsewhere, the process becomes more complicated.

Another challenge is formatting. Often times, Wix CMS feels like the equivalent of Microsoft Word, where a seemingly simple change causes other elements on the page to go off the beaten path. For example, a page that looks polished on desktop doesn’t always translate perfectly to mobile devices. Adjustments often need separate attention to make layouts look clean across screen sizes. It’s not impossible to manage, but it can take a lot more fine-tuning than many business owners might expect.

Additionally, I’ve experienced parts of a site missing and no longer accessible in the site version history, with no clear explanation as to why the page content disappeared. This can be a major headache requiring immediate attention, getting in the way of day-to-day business operations.

Finally, some of the seemingly small changes aren’t always doable. For example, the date format on blog articles is limited to the format that Wix provides. So if you’d like to display the date as “June 1, 2026,” then you’re out of luck since Wix sets it as “June 1” or “3 days ago.”

Other important factors to consider

1. Long-term support

Your website isn’t a one-time project. As your business grows, you’ll probably want to make upgrades, improvements, and new functionality. That means access to qualified support matters.

Because WordPress is so widely used, finding web developers and marketing agencies with WordPress experience is relatively easy.

With smaller or less common platforms, your support options become more limited. That matters more than many businesses realize during the initial website build.

2. Marketing tool integrations

Your website should work smoothly with your marketing tools. That includes platforms like:

Fortunately, both Wix and WordPress support many common marketing integrations. Before choosing a platform, it helps to confirm that your existing tools work well with your future website plans.

3. Ongoing costs

Website costs go beyond the initial design project. You should also account for:

Sometimes the cheaper upfront option becomes more expensive in the long term (bringing us back to the work truck analogy). And yes, sometime the opposite happens. The key is understanding the full picture before making a decision.

So, which CMS platform is better?

The candid answer is that it depends on your business goals. That said, we do prefer WordPress CMS in most situations.

WordPress might be the better fit if:

Wix might be the better fit if:

Final thoughts on Wix vs. WordPress

A website redesign can be a major investment for any small or midsize business. The platform you choose affects not only how your website looks, but also how easy it is to manage, scale, and market your business online.

Keep in mind that companies redesign their website quite often, so in a few years you may end up choosing an entirely different CMS based on your experience with your previous website.

Both Wix and WordPress serve different types of businesses well. The best choice is usually the one that aligns with your team’s comfort level, long-term goals, and available resources.

And if you find yourself comparing website platforms at midnight while questioning all your life choices, you aren’t alone. That seems to be part of the process, too.