Hostinger vs. Wix (2024)

Laura Bernheim

By: Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

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Editor: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to our team. She has written and edited for major news organizations, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, and she previously served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida. Today, she edits HostingAdvice content for clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement.

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Laura Bernheim Laura Bernheim Hosting Expert
“We tested Hostinger & Wix — The winner is Hostinger!”

In the left corner sits Hostinger — one of the market’s most affordable, beginner-friendly hosting providers. In the right corner, we have Wix — a long-time favorite website building platform of HostingAdvice.com. Hostinger is well-known for offering feature-rich web hosting at low costs. On the other hand, Wix is one of the most popular website builders on the market. These providers differ in services but pack a big punch for what each brings in value. Let’s find out which provider wins this round.

Overall Rating
4.8/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Hostinger »
Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Wix »

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Overall Hosting Comparison

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Behind a mission to make life easier for website developers and their customers, Hostinger provides fast, stable, and streamlined services at a price that is very hard to beat.

Founded in 2004, the bootstrapped company hit the 10 million users mark a decade later, achieving ICANN accreditation and localizing services in 39 countries.

Now, Hostinger serves more than 29 million customers and sees an average of 20,000 new users sign up each day — roughly a new customer every five seconds.

The company's team of roughly 1,000 employees maintains several international offices and a strong force of remote workers to ensure Hostinger services and support are always running and responsive.

As such, Hostinger is able to offer around-the-clock live chat support and a 99.9% service uptime guarantee. The company concentrates on resource-rich shared hosting and scalable virtual servers.

The former boasts WordPress-friendly optimizations and an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, along with daily or weekly backups and a free domain name for annual plans. Hostinger clearly aims to strike the perfect balance on price versus performance.

Instead of offering subpar services at the lowest price in the industry, the company equips its infrastructure with high-powered solid-state drives and recently even completed a self-imposed challenge to achieve a perfect score on Google PageSpeed Insights.

Finding SSDs and that level of performance at a price lower than most competitors is a striking victory for the company.

  • 24/7/365 ticket and live chat support
  • 99.9% network uptime guarantee
  • FREE domain, site builder, backups, and SSL certificate
  • Unlimited bandwidth, databases, and email accounts
  • Speedy SSDs optimize performance
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

As a web builder, Wix is an industry leader when it comes to ease of use, setup time, and available features. The browser-based, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) site-building service is hands down one of the foremost brands in this industry niche, and that's not without just cause.

Getting started and familiar with the platform is a straightforward process, and the resulting websites you can build are in keeping with industry standards, as far as design and customization go.

While you're not going to get the same level of support as you would from a leading web hosting service, the feature set available and included in this free service is a pretty exhaustive list. All it takes to sign up — and said signup is free — is an email or a Facebook account.

Once you're in, you can preview thousands of templates, which are all broken up into categories and then further classified by design or industry type.

For example, choose the Online Store category with the Clothing & Accessories subcategory to start selling your custom-printed t-shirts. Your garage band can showcase your latest performances and let family and friends know of upcoming shows by utilizing the Music and Band categories.

You can browse the most popular templates and check out the newest additions. Once you've made your pick, you may feel a tad overwhelmed at the interface — but that's only because the functionality exceeds that of your typical drag-and-drop builder.

You can manipulate and edit virtually any facet of your new website, until it perfectly matches the picture in your head.

Finally, get your finished creation noticed by search engines (and the millions of web surfers that they send to websites) using the Wix SEO Wizard. Just tell the Wizard the words or phrases you want people to search for and find your site, and Wix will spit back out a full SEO report — so you know where you stand in terms of relevant visitors being sent to your site.

Wix premium plan customers can also benefit from $300-worth of search engine advertising credits, upping the chances of increased site visitors.

Anyone could find themselves wanting a website at some point in their career or personal life. Whether you're a stay-at-home mom with a creative writing habit to share or a serial entrepreneur ready to profit from your next great idea, you don't want building your own website from scratch to be a strain — on your wallet, your time, or your brain.

With Wix, you can be your own web designer, developer, and marketer. The interface is easy to use and the end designs are up to snuff with industry standards. When it comes to code-free website building, Wix is a leader and an innovator.

  • FREE signup with email or Facebook
  • Drag-and-drop designing is super easy
  • 1-year domain free with most plans
  • Up to $300-worth of ad credits
  • Access to 1,000s of templates and additional tools in the App Market
  • Get started on Wix now.
Money Back Guarantee
14-day FREE trial
Disk Space
2 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Cheap Hosting Comparison

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#1 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average.

Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to greater lengths — the number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains are all unrestricted for most customers.

Hostinger clients who opt for the slightly more expensive (but still quite reasonable and remarkably affordable) Premium and Business hosting packages enjoy unlimited computing power and a free domain name registration, along with free backups.

Premium customers will see performance that measures up to two times faster than the company's cheapest shared hosting plan, while Business users benefit from speeds up to four times faster.

Those consumers will also receive daily backups (instead of weekly), deluxe support, a free SSL certificate, and twice the processing power and memory.

The company's lowest tier of shared hosting services, geared for small, single sites, gets below the $3-per-month benchmark.

While perfectly adequate for new projects, professional résumés, and new blogs, we recommend users sign up for one of the more upscale plans; room to grow is important, and the forward-thinking decision eliminates any potential hassles with upgrading services or migrating files.

Overall, we appreciate how Hostinger doesn't sacrifice performance and functionality when trying to appeal to budget-minded site owners.

The company's all-SSD infrastructure, combined with the inclusion of an easy-to-use site builder, maxed-out speed boosts, and options for a free SSL certificate and domain name, are sure to facilitate lasting and long-term hosting relationships.

  • Unlimited everything, from storage to databases
  • FREE site builder & WP performance upgrades
  • FREE daily or weekly backups
  • Custom control panel and auto-installation scripts
  • SSH access & unlimited FREE SSL certificates
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Wix is known as a web-leading site builder service that's one of the most affordable — because getting started is absolutely free and about as easy as processes get.

You can log in via Facebook or your Gmail account and be editing your new web property within minutes. All but the most basic of plans include a free domain name voucher for your first year of service, and with Wix comes the wealth of templates to be customized within the Wix Editor.

This interface is extremely intuitive, once you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it. Once you're comfortable, you'll find yourself dragging and dropping images, text, menus, sliders, and more — all without any code — and feeling like a full-fledged web designer extraordinaire.

All of the template designs are up to the latest industry standards, including parallax layouts, a mobile display editor, and responsive designs, and there are thousands of themes to browse.

If you've read our reviews and seen the multitude of features that can be had for a mere few dollars a month, you've probably realized that Wix is not the cheapest on the list. With Wix, you're paying for the user-friendliness of the no-tech-skills-needed platform, as well as the speed at which you can get your new site up and running.

You're paying for accessibility, so to speak. That doesn't mean you're not getting a lot for the price.

Premium plan holders, in particular, can benefit from $300-worth of ad vouchers, free apps for building forms and boosting your site's SEO status, and even priority support.

Bottom line: There is tremendous value in the offerings of Wix plans. Things like 24/7 expert phone support, stellar uptime rates, and mega-powerful servers are not features they tout, but that's intentional. Wix is an awesome website builder service, and if that's what you're looking for, you've come to the right place.

  • Start designing for FREE
  • FREE domain with most plans
  • Drag-and-drop templates, specific to industry
  • Exhaustive knowledgebase of articles
  • Huge app market available
  • Get started on Wix now.
Money Back Guarantee
14-day FREE trial
Disk Space
2 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Dedicated Hosting Comparison

Dedicated Rating

N/A

Dedicated Rating

N/A

Neither host currently offers this type of hosting. While we do not recommend choosing these hosts for this web hosting category, we do recommend our expert's top pick for 2024's Best Dedicated Hosting. See 2024's Best Dedicated Hosting »

VPS Hosting Comparison

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#1 out of 9 in VPS Hosting reviews

Hostinger's laser focus on providing affordable hosting solutions shines brightest with the company's VPS packages. The company provides six different virtual server plans, including one that costs less than $5.

Regardless of which plan customers choose, both site owners and visitors will enjoy the all-SSD infrastructure that loads pages up to 30 times faster than many shared hosting services.

Although disk space, RAM, and bandwidth capacities are all a slight touch lower than those of many mainstream competitors, Hostinger's prices reflect the limitations.

Site administrators likely won't miss an extra 10GB of storage, but they're more likely to notice and appreciate the $5 or so per month they save on high-powered hosting.

A key distinction to be aware of, though, is the lack of managed services. Experienced developers should have no problems using the company's powerful control panel, however, and we have faith that the Hostinger support team is prepared to handle any task or challenge thrown its way.

Customers can manage computing resources through the admin portal, which enables admins to reboot servers or turn them on or off.

Users can quickly install or update operating systems or applications with just a few clicks, or view performance statistics or manage root access passwords.

Those who prefer cPanel can opt to manage backups and restores, among other components, in the familiar interface. Unlike Hostinger's shared hosting services, virtual server plans do not include a free domain registration. However, the ICANN-accredited registrar offers incredibly cheap domain registrations.

Addresses ending in .com and .net cost less than $10 per year, while .biz and .org domains are still a few dollars more affordable when registered through Hostinger, compared with most competitors. Domains with those extensions cost about $12 per year.

  • Cloud-based SSD storage for speed and reliability
  • Double your RAM with burst periods
  • FREE dedicated IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
  • Custom control panel for reboots and OS installs
  • HostingAdvice readers enjoy more than 50% off
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
50 GB NVMe - 400 GB NVMe
Domain Name
New or Transfer

VPS Rating

N/A

Wix does not currently offer this type of hosting. We would not recommend choosing this host for this hosting category.

WordPress Hosting Comparison

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#3 out of 8 in WordPress Hosting reviews

As much as we love WordPress, one of our biggest pet peeves is when hosting providers exploit the popularity of the world's most-used content management system by offering so-called WordPress hosting that, in reality, is exactly the same as the host's shared server plans.

Fortunately, Hostinger's ultra-fast infrastructure and easy access to SSL certificates and backups sets up the company to outperform the vast majority of the violators of our admittedly made-up rule.

One prime benefit to WordPress hosting with Hostinger is that customers can enjoy the same affordable rates for which the company offers shared hosting. For less than $5 per month, users will benefit from optimal hardware, unlimited features, and better-than-average security programs.

When setting up a new hosting account, users are asked if they want to install WordPress as soon as they log into the account management portal.

Hostinger does an exceptional job at streamlining the installation and setup process for even the least-experienced site owners.

In addition to the more performant storage on solid-state drives, Hostinger's top two shared plans come optimized for WordPress by increasing page load performance between three and five times more than the base package.

Also, the top-tier Business plan comes with twice the processing power and memory. Otherwise, site administrators can enjoy unlimited MySQL databases, phpMyAdmin, and the ideal InnoDB storage engine.

Although we'd like to see more features specific for WordPress, such as caching tools and automatic updates, Hostinger includes server security from BitNinja and SpamAssassin protection for email. Most WordPress users will be very well served by choosing Hostinger to house their website.

  • 1-click WP install, PHP 7+, HTTP/2, and NGINX
  • All-in-one security protections from BitNinja
  • WordPress optimizations boost performance
  • No price markup for WordPress services
  • Daily backups and FREE SSL certificate
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
100 GB SSD - 200 GB NVMe
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

WordPress Rating

N/A

Wix does not currently offer this type of hosting. We would not recommend choosing this host for this hosting category.

Site Builder Hosting Comparison

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

#3 out of 9 in Website Builder Hosting reviews

Whether you're taking your first foray into website hosting or are a developer looking to save some time, a strong website builder can dramatically streamline the creation process and enable users to launch a website in five minutes or less.

Fortunately for customers, Hostinger has invested heavily in crafting an impressive visual editor sure to appeal to users of all levels of experience. More than 2 million websites have been created through Hostinger's free tool.

The drag-and-drop interface can be launched in a single click from customers' hosting account management panel. Site owners can choose from hundreds of templates, which are organized into dozens of categories.

The overall designs might not be as flashy as the templates found on well-known site builders, including Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, but users will have plenty of modern options from which to choose.

From there, the WYSIWYG platform intuitively guides users through various steps of adding and editing text, organizing navigational menus, and managing SEO settings.

While some drag-and-drop editors actually make adding and aligning elements surprisingly difficult, Hostinger assists users by having images, text boxes, and the like snap to a grid — ensuring your design has the greatest impact.

All in all, we have a soft spot for hosts that deploy in-house solutions for website builders, as opposed to those companies that white-label third-party products.

As with other Hostinger services, the company shows a refreshing dedication to providing top-notch services and experiences for their customers.

  • Drag-and-drop design from custom tools
  • FREE access to hundreds of specialized templates
  • Built-in ecommerce and payment processing
  • Easily switch among widescreen, desktop, tablet, and mobile previews
  • Support for 31 languages and 99.9% uptime
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#1 out of 9 in Website Builder Hosting reviews

Website building is where Wix shines. The thousands of templates, the intuitive editor, the industry-leading designs that cater to a variety of specific fields and use cases — all these facets represent a platform that excels at facilitating easy web design for the non-tech-savvy user.

Sign up with your Facebook account or email address and get started for free. I'll admit, the Wix Editor may appear daunting when you first meet it, but get to know the interface.

Once you familiarize yourself with the environment, you'll realize that what first comes across as overwhelming is actually empowering — the customization functionalities to be had are many, and they're awesome.

There's no need for coding of any kind. Just drag and drop elements of your new site and BAM: What You See Is What You Get (i.e., Wix is a WYSIWYG website builder!). You don't have to design your website from scratch with Wix, though blank templates are available.

There are thousands of templates, each one categorized by design need and further classified into industry niches, and the site's look can be molded to match your brand or personality very easily.

Layout and design options include parallax themes (where the viewer scrolls down the screen and one page rolls seamlessly into the next), custom sliders, multiple columns, mobile-specific and mobile-responsive displays, and tons of button and menu navigation tricks.

While Wix isn't our favorite host in terms of expert support or top-of-the-line hardware, it's an industry-leading platform for website building.

It's popular for many reasons: the simple startup process, the ease of use, the array of customization options, and the WYSIWYG results, as examples. Its reputation precedes it, and we can totally see where the rave reviews are coming from.

  • No coding skills needed with drag-and-drop builder
  • 100s of templates with niche-specific designs
  • Add features via the App Market and Wix Events
  • Easily create ecommerce functionality easily
  • Great way to build small sites on a budget
  • Get started on Wix now.
Money Back Guarantee
14-day FREE trial
Disk Space
2 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
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Hostinger vs. Wix - Our Conclusion

Laura Bernheim Laura Bernheim Hosting Expert
“We tested Hostinger & Wix — The winner is Hostinger!”

That’s all for this round. If you’re looking to build a website with zero coding know-how, Wix may be your best bet. But, if you have an existing website and need to find an affordable hosting provider, you can’t go wrong with Hostinger. While each provider packs an enormous punch for its value, your choice should depend on your needs.

Overall Rating
4.8/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Hostinger »
Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Wix »

About The Author

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.
Laura Bernheim