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Published: August 31 2023
How to Choose a Wix Alternative for Website Building
Wix is a powerful website builder, but like many other similar tools, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. This leaves many business owners and web developers looking for Wix alternatives in search of a solution that truly meets their needs.
Fortunately, tons of Wix alternatives are available at different prices and offer slightly different functionalities to fill any gaps.
In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know if you’re considering choosing a Wix alternative to build your website. We’ll start by reviewing what Wix is, what it offers, and where it’s lacking before diving into the steps for choosing an alternative to Wix.
To wrap things up, we’ll review some top Wix alternatives for your website needs.
What is Wix?
Wix is a popular website-building tool known for its drag-and-drop website builder. It offers plans for businesses and creators of different sizes.
What’s nice about Wix is that its WYSIWYG interface makes it easy to design fully-branded sites without requiring technical experience. Plus, Wix sites are automatically built with performance in mind, which is great for improving the user experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO).
Advanced Features
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Drag-and-drop editor (Editor X)
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Website building and hosting
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Ecommerce capabilities
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Social media integration
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Customizable templates
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Analytics and reporting
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Privacy and security
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Mobile optimization
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App integrations
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Custom domain
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24/7 support
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SEO tools
Pricing
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Light: $16/month — basic website building tools for up to two admins with two GB of storage
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Core: $27/month — adds basic support for ecommerce plans and analytics tools with two admins and 50 GB of storage
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Business: $32/month — adds slightly better support for the features on the Core plan with 10 admins and 100 GB of storage
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Business Elite: $159/month — advanced business tool for 15 admins and unlimited storage
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Enterprise: Contact Wix for pricing to unlock access for advanced users and extra features.
Why Consider an Alternative to Wix
As we mentioned, Wix is a powerful option for building websites, but it’s not the best solution for every single use case. You should consider using an alternative if Wix doesn’t completely meet your needs.
For starters, if Wix doesn’t offer the usage and storage capabilities at a price point that matches your budget, you may want to consider an alternative. In fact, limitations on the more affordable plans are a common pain point for Wix users, according to the platform’s Forbes profile.
Another reason for choosing a Wix alternative could be because of a special use case you have. For example, Wix offers some ecommerce support as a secondary offering to its website-building tools. But a solution focused on ecommerce, like Shopify, has more tools dedicated to online retail.
How to Choose a Wix Alternative
If you have an inkling that Wix isn't the right solution for you, it’s time to start looking for an alternative solution. Here are a few steps you should follow.
1. Know What to Look For
Understanding what you need from a website builder will make choosing a Wix alternative easier. If you’re thinking that Wix might not be the website-building solution for your needs, you likely have identified some needs that Wix doesn’t meet.
Start by thinking about what you need at a high level. Obviously, you need a website for your business, but what role will this site play in your business? Will your site be a marketing asset, or will it be part of your business’s offer?
Developing a better understanding of the purpose of your site will help you understand what you need from a website builder.
2. Consider Pricing
Budget plays a major factor when investing in a tool like Wix. Some people can only afford a solution that's free or just a few dollars per month, whereas some businesses can afford a much larger investment.
To take this a step further, if a platform has a plan within your budget, make sure that the premium plan includes the support for all of the features you need. Look for usage and storage limits, as well.
3. Look for Plugin Support
When seeking alternatives to Wix websites, it’s important to consider plugin support. If you’re not familiar, plugins are tools that make it easy to integrate other technology into your website builder seamlessly.
As you compare platforms, take a look at the plugins and integrations they have to offer. Oftentimes, you can view plugins based on category or functionality.
There are plugins for everything from SEO support to sales tools. For example, leveraging plugins like NinjaForms helps you easily implement lead-scoring functionality within your website. Yoast is a popular option for SEO.
4. Leverage AI
Selecting alternatives to Wix websites requires careful consideration, but you don't have to do it alone. Using AI business tools can simplify the process and aid in decision-making, helping you choose the perfect website builder to meet your specific needs.
For example, analyzing your website's performance is crucial. AI tools like SEMrush, Frase, and Surfer help optimize your site for search engine visibility, keeping track of keyword performance, site audits, and providing actionable insights to boost your website ranking.
One exciting AI tool, Genny by LOVO AI, can transform your website experience with text-to-speech functionality. Offering a variety of unique voice options and emotions, Genny can make your website more interactive and engaging, standing out from the crowd.
5. Ensure Accessibility
Accessibility is huge for businesses that want to serve diverse audiences. Your site should be accommodating and accessible to people with different health issues and impairments, such as blindness, language issues, and so forth.
As you explore Wix alternatives, you can use accessibility checkers for websites like accessiBe to ensure your website meets accessibility standards.
6. Take a Trial Run
Once you narrow down your options for Wix alternatives, we recommend taking advantage of free trials. Some site builders offer free trials, and others offer forever free plans with limited functionality.
Many website builders let you try their platform risk-free, meaning you don’t need to enter a payment method to get started. However, if you enter your credit card information for any free trials, make sure you keep track of the end dates so you can cancel before you’re billed.
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Top 5 Wix Alternatives in 2023
There are several alternatives to Wix for website building on the market. Most of these are comparable to Wix in functionality and generality, but some are meant to support specific types of websites.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the top Wix alternatives in 2023.
1. WebWave
WebWave is a drag-and-drop website builder for creating dynamic websites without any technical experience. This code-free solution makes it easy to create websites in a process that's comparable to graphic design.
With WebWave, you can start with a blank page and layer on elements to create a perfectly branded asset, or you can start with a template and customize it from there.
This tool is extremely affordable, with various plans ranging from free to $22/month. Or you can sign up for a free plan and it’s 100% free. No credit card is required.
2. Squarespace
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Squarespace is one of the most well-known website builders on the market, making it one of the most obvious Wix alternatives. This drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create many different types of websites, including ecommerce stores.
What’s nice about Squarespace is that it’s simple to implement a branded color pallet that's applied universally across the site. This makes it extremely easy to create a cohesive look across your site and is the perfect blogging tool.
Squarespace offers pricing plans for personal users, businesses, and commerce (with advanced ecommerce features), ranging from $16/month to $49/month.
3. WordPress
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WordPress is the most popular website builder on the market (used by almost half of the websites on the internet). It's particularly well known for its extensive collection of plugins. It integrates seamlessly with nearly 60,000 other tools. This makes WordPress a highly customizable solution for website building.
WordPress offers a wide range of plans, from a forever-free option (read: basic plan with limited features) to high-ticket enterprise plans. The extensive plugin library paired with the flexible pricing means that WordPress is a great choice for all different types of users.
4. Shopify
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When it comes to building a website for your ecommerce store, Shopify is the way to go. This tool is dedicated to building online stores. It's equipped with a large collection of retail tools (think: inventory management) that make it easy to handle everything from listing products to fulfilling orders.
Shopify’s retail website building tools range from $39/month to $399/month.
5. Maestro
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If you’re looking for a Wix alternative that focuses on video website building, Maestro could be the tool for you.
This tool is great for businesses that want to put video content front and center, and it’s particularly valuable for those already making money with live and/or on-demand video.
Maestro’s drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create a series of landing pages and live-streaming video channels that truly represent your brand.
Maestro offers plans for businesses of any size, starting with a Starter plan that's forever free.
Final Thoughts
Equipped with the right information, choosing a Wix alternative should be fairly straightforward.
If you spend some time defining what you need from a website builder and comparing that list against the features of some of the top Wix alternatives, you should find the perfect solution in no time.
Happy website building!
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