Wix vs. Shopify (2024)

Alexandra Anderson

By: Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra is a web marketer, Agile Product Owner, and die-hard wordsmith who's contributed to HostingAdvice, InMotion Hosting, HostGator, and other prominent hosting and technology blogs, as well as Forbes. She has a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech and more than 10 years of experience building websites, advising on web and mobile app design, and crafting content that engages and converts. Her primary subject matter expertise spans WordPress, UX design, Agile project management, and, of course, web hosting.

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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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Alexandra Anderson Alexandra Anderson Hosting Expert
“We tested Wix & Shopify — The winner is Wix!”

Wix versus Shopify — two wildly popular service providers, duke it out in this host comparison. While these are not your typical web hosting companies, Wix and Shopify offer essentials for websites and online stores alike. Shopify, one of the world’s largest eCommerce platforms, can take your online store from basic to extraordinary with its built-in reporting, free site building tool, and choice of point-of-sale systems. Wix can help you get your website up and running in no time with its user-friendly platform and endless customizations for users wanting a best-in-class site builder. Review each host closely to see why our winner came out on top.

Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Wix »
Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Shopify »

Disclosure: When you sign up through links on our site, we often earn referral fees from partners. For more information, see our ad disclosure and review policy.

Overall Hosting Comparison

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)

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

Shopify is easily one of the more well-known ecommerce web builder platforms in the hosting industry. Plans are fully hosted, include a free site builder tool, and allow you to showcase an unlimited number of products with unlimited file storage as well.

Compared to other web hosts, Shopify is not going to offer you the same level of robustness in terms of technological offerings, but the company's ecommerce features are on point.

Online store building is Shopify's bread-and-butter service, and the company is darn good at it. First of all, the Shopify theme store features hundreds of free and premium theme options that are relatively easy for customers to manipulate. Dev-savvy folks can further customize their storefronts and themes via the Shopify API.

You can actually start building your online marketplace today — for free for three days — and select your plan later. The Shopify experts are on call and ready to help 24/7.

Once you've built your online store with Shopify, build your business by processing product transactions through a myriad of payment methods. Shopify users can sell via social media, by integrating a Buy Now button, or by using the Shopify POS system.

Serious ecommerce folks may even opt to purchase the retail package add-on, which includes a cash register, receipt printer, and barcode scanner.

All in all, Shopify offers everything you need to run an efficient and lucrative online business. The commerce-oriented features are many, and they only advance with each upgrade in service package. Also, you can buy or transfer your domain name, or park your online store at a free MyShopify.com subdomain.

If you're ecommerce-focused, trust Shopify for your online store building.

  • Sell via social media or hosted commerce platform
  • FREE website builder and hundreds of themes
  • Unlimited products and unlimited bandwidth
  • PayPal or Shopify point-of-sale systems
  • Advanced reporting and real-time shipping updates
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.
Money Back Guarantee
3-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE Subdomain

Cheap Hosting Comparison

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)

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

The great thing about Shopify is how the feature set centers around ecommerce, a focus of many shared hosting shoppers.

Shopify plans are fully hosted, but most of the company's plans are significantly more costly than a majority of the shared hosts we've come across.

The three-day free trial is key to Shopify's success, giving customers a chance to try out the platform before committing to such an expense.

If you're serious about building an online store, Shopify offers a superb range of plan options and feature additions to make successful stores happen within a reasonable budget. Plus, you can host your business at a complimentary MyShopify.com subdomain, or at a new or existing domain of your own.

All plans allow you to showcase an unlimited number of products, and you can sell them via Facebook, a Buy Now button, or the Shopify POS system.

Accept payments via Shopify Stripe and ask for help when you need it because the Shopify experts are available around the clock to help with anything from Shopify theme development to transaction issues.

As you're building your online marketplace, you have hundreds of customizable themes to choose from, and the more technically inclined user can manipulate themes via the Shopify API.

Shopify is great for online store building. It's a one-stop shop for building and hosting an online marketplace and should be considered as such. If you're looking for a super cheap shared hosting option, there are other providers to consider, but if you want a leading ecommerce platform, Shopify may be your winner.

  • Site builder with FREE and premium themes
  • Unlimited bandwidth, storage, and products
  • Easy-to-use dashboard for managing orders, shipping, and payments
  • Tons of features, including discount codes
  • FREE MyShopify.com subdomain or use your own
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.
Money Back Guarantee
3-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE Subdomain

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

N/A

VPS 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 VPS Hosting. See 2024's Best VPS Hosting »

WordPress Hosting Comparison

WordPress Rating

N/A

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

WordPress Rating

★★★★ 3.8/5.0

Although Shopify isn't your traditional web host, WordPress fans can take advantage of Shopify's ecommerce capabilities without redoing their online store. For just $5 per month, you can integrate a Shopify link into your existing WordPress blog.

The Shopify experts will generate a few lines of code for you and — voila — a stand-alone storefront is made for your site. Plus, you can customize via the Shopify API. All you have to do is add your unlimited number of products and your Shopify/WordPress online store is officially in business.

You benefit from all the easy payment processing solutions, including the Shopify Stripe Payment system, which accepts debit and credit cards.

If you decide to upgrade your Shopify plan, the USPS shipping discounts and ecommerce features advance with you; you can even get a free SSL certificate.

Shopify is a fine option for implementing top-notch ecommerce functionality into your existing WordPress website. It's not necessarily the most cost-conscious option, but for those who are serious about online store building, Shopify is certainly worth considering.

  • Add a Buy Now button to your WP site for $5/month
  • Easily copy and paste Shopify-generated link to sell unlimited products
  • Starter Plan boasts no-code pathway to start selling
  • 100+ payment gateways accepted with secure checkout
  • Process transactions easily with Shopify Stripe Payments
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.
Money Back Guarantee
3-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE Subdomain

Site Builder Hosting Comparison

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)

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

Shopify is a fully hosted web building platform that specifically serves the ecommerce niche. All plans include a free site builder tool and you can browse the Shopify theme store for a design that most closely matches your brand.

Themes are fully customizable, with drag-and-drop elements or the Shopify API. Best of all, you can start building your store at no cost with Shopify's 3-day free trial.

Host your online store at a new or existing domain name, or take advantage of the free MyShopify.com subdomain the company provides. The Shopify experts have made it simple to display and sell an unlimited number of items online, and processing them is a snap.

The Shopify Stripe Payments system allows merchants to accept and process credit and debit transactions after customers make a purchase via Facebook, by clicking on a Buy Now button, or on other social media platforms.

Depending on which plan you sign up for, you can get advanced reporting, shipping, and shopping cart features as well. All plans include the option to entice customers with discount codes, too!

If you're shopping for a web builder to build an online store, look no further than Shopify. Build your business, build your brand, and boast an unlimited number of products with ease. Online store building is Shopify's specialty, and the team is available to help you any time of day.

  • Plans include a website builder with tons of Shopify themes
  • Get help with your name, logo, and online presence
  • Sell unlimited items via social media, a button, or POS
  • Developers can easily build on the platform via the API
  • Shopify experts available 24/7 to assist you
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.
Money Back Guarantee
3-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE Subdomain
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Wix vs. Shopify - Our Conclusion

Alexandra Anderson Alexandra Anderson Hosting Expert
“We tested Wix & Shopify — The winner is Wix!”

Wix and Shopify have earned their reputations in the web hosting industry — each for different reasons. Wix is one of the best browser-based, drag-and-drop site builders. At the same time, Shopify is a leader when it comes to eCommerce. Shopify gets a little pricey with some of its premium plans, but we find that the value it brings is worth the high price tag. No matter your needs, either host is the best of the best for your next online endeavor.

Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Wix »
Overall Rating
4.6/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Shopify »

About The Author

Alexandra Anderson’s interest in website administration was sparked in her teens, priming her for a fast-paced career in managing, building, and contributing to online brands, including HostingAdvice, Forbes, and the blogs of prominent hosting providers. She brings firsthand experience reviewing web hosts, perfecting website design, optimizing content, and walking site owners through the steps that add up to a successful online presence. With a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech, she combines her extensive writing experience and technical understanding to unpack some of the most complex topics that daunt novice website owners, as well as the subjects that excite veteran technologists within the HostingAdvice readership.
Alexandra Anderson