Over the last few years Wix has become a well-known and popular website builder tool. Currently the host over 110 million websites, Wix is clearly a popular option.
It’s easy to use, runs in your browser so there’s no need to download any software, and it also provides its own hosting. It also provides a wealth of other features and benefits to its premium users, from a free domain for a year, AdWords vouchers, and form builders, among many more.
But do you get what to pay for?
I’ll look at Wix’s pricing structure and unpack what you’re offered on each plan. I’ll explore whether you get a good deal on each price point, or whether you might find a better deal elsewhere.
Wix Pricing plans
Price plans differ depending on your geo-location
Before we delve into Wix’s price plans, I should be clear about their range of price structures.
These variations occur on an international level. So, for example, if you’re logging into Wix within the UK you’ll be offered a choice of 7 price plans:
But in India, you’ll only be offered one premium option:
Yet, in Canada, you’re offered 6 plans which are costed in USD rather than Canadian Dollars:
But it gets even more complicated in the U.S. Rather than offering one standard price structure, there are also local variations within the country.
What’s even more frustrating is that you can only access the price plan for the geo-location you’re in at the time of accessing their website. So, for example, whilst in Boston, I was offered a 5-tier price plan:
Yet, when I asked Wix’s helpdesk for clarification on their U.S. price plan, the y replied with a completely different 8-tier structure.
I’ve also seen another price structure, this time 7-tier:
Confusing right?
After pressing Wix for further clarification on U.S. geographical variations, their response was:
“You can only view, which types of Premium Plans are available for you personally, when upgrading your site to premium.
The cost of a Wix Premium Plan differs depending on a number of factors, including:
- The type of Premium Plan
- Your local currency
- The number of years selected
- The use of a vouchers or sales
- Your local tax or VAT laws”
Just take note that, depending on where you are in the country – or indeed the world – you may be offered slightly different tiers, feature options and prices.
For the purposes of this article, I’ll focus on the 8-tier U.S pricing structure so that I can discuss as many pricing options as possible.
Defining the features
At this point it would be helpful to clarify some of the features offered in Wix’s pricing.
Bandwidth
Every time someone lands on your site they’re using up bandwidth. Typically, one Wix webpage takes up around 1.4MB of bandwidth.
It’s tricky to determine how many web you’ll need to max out your bandwidth, because it depends on a number of things such as how many pages they visit, the size of your pages, and the nature of your page content.
At a guess, about 25 web visitors a day will require a 2GB bandwidth.
Storage
This is about how much content you can store on Wix’s servers. Media-rich content like images and videos uploaded to your pages will take up much more storage than simple text copy.
Connect your own domain
This means that you have a choice of connecting your own domain that you’ve purchased elsewhere, or connect your Wix domain, to your Wix site.
For more info on how to connect your own domain to your Wix site, here’s some supporting information to guide you through the process.
Free domain for 1 year
This is available on premium plans when you sign up for a yearly, or 2- or 3- yearly contracts. Wix gives you a domain for free for 12 months, although when the contract expires you then have to pay their standard rate for the domain.
Video minutes/hours
With Wix Video, you’re given a certain number of video minutes and hours depending on your premium plan. This means that if you had a 30 video minute allowance, you can upload up to 30 minutes of video content on your site. If you want to increase your video allowance you need to upgrade your plan.
Ad vouchers
When you pay for yearly subscriptions for the Unlimited, Pro, VIP, Business (Basic, Unlimited and VIP) you receive varying amounts of ad vouchers. These are vouchers you can spend on Google AdWords.
To claim your voucher:
- Sign in to your Wix account, hover over the user panel at the top right, and click Vouchers.
- Click Claim promotional code and copy the code that appears in the Promotional Code column.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account or sign up.
- Click Start Now.
- Enter your details and click to continue.
- Now enter the code on the Billing page of your Google Ads account.
Site booster
Again, available on the higher tier premium plans, the Site Booster is an app that helps you drive more traffic to your site by getting your site found in search engines.
Form builder
Wix’s form builder helps you choose from a variety of templates to build your own form, to capture your audience’s details and grow your contact list. It also integrates with Wix’s CRM so you can keep track of your contacts within your Wix dashboard.
The free plan
The free plan is ok for those who are on a seriously tight budget but need a simple website. It’s also a good option if you just need to get a temporary website up while you’re working on a your permanent site with a designer and developer.
For the free wix plan you get:
- A free website builder
- 1GB bandwidth
- 500 MB storage
- Free hosting
- No set up costs
But the free plan has many downsides. It’s covered in Wix’s advertising and you’re unable to change the favicon (the little image that appears in your browser tab). You also get stuck with the free URL format, (username.wixsite.com/siteaddress).
Its low bandwidth and storage also means that your website will need to be relatively media light and won’t be able to cope with any more than a few daily visitors.
Premium website plans
It’s great that Wix offers a free option, but it’s definitely worth paying for a premium plan.
They all offer you:
- Premium level customer support
- Extra storage and bandwidth
- Google Analytics integration
Connect Domain ($5/month, available in some locations)
The Connect Domain is the cheapest of the paid-for plans. And it’s cheapest because it’s basic. It’s almost as if it’s been put there to force you to choose a more expensive option and it’s no surprise it’s been cut from many locations as an option.
On this plan you get:
- 1GB bandwidth
- 500MB storage
- The ability to connect your own domain
The main problem with this plan is that you have Wix’s advertising all over it and you have to put up with the Wix favicon.
The ability to connect your own domain means that you don’t have to use the username.wixsite.com/mysite format. This obviously helps you with your SEO and findability online.
Combo “For personal use” ($11/month)
At $11 per month, the Combo plan offers you an add-free website (ads appear on websites built on the free and Connect Domain plans).
Its main benefit is that you can connect your own custom domain and you get more storage and bandwidth. Other than that, it’s not that much different from the Connect Domain tier, which is probably why Connect Domain has been scrapped in most instances.
You’re also given:
- 2GB bandwidth
- 3GB of storage
- Connect your own domain
- 30 video minutes
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
The Combo plan is ideal for sole traders and small business websites with low traffic. Its limiting 2GB of bandwidth per month means that it couldn’t cope with large numbers of visitors. As a gauge, an average Wix web page being 1.4 MB, so any more than 25 visitors in one day will be too much.
However, if you’re just starting out then 2GB should be enough. You might then decide to upgrade your Wix plan when you start seeing your visitor numbers increase.
In fact, Wix does warn you in advance as you start to reach your bandwidth limit, so you can monitor this as you go along.
While the bandwidth is relatively small, the storage allowance of 3GB should be sufficient for most websites.
Unlimited “Entrepreneurs and freelancers” ($14/month)
This plan is targeted at businesses which expect a good level of traffic and need a decent amount of storage.
On the Unlimited plan you’re offered:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- 1 video hour
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
The downside of this plan is that if you choose to pay monthly, then you won’t be able to connect your own domain name as well as have access to the apps or $300 voucher.
Pro “Complete online branding” ($19/month)
The Pro tier, Wix’s most popular plan, is perfect for growing businesses that need a more professional look-and-feel, extra storage for rich-media content, and some lead generation and SEO functionality.
You get:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- 2 video hours
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
- Events calendar worth $48
- Professional logo worth $50
- Social media logo files
VIP “First Priority Support” ($29/month)
As the name suggests, the VIP plan is the more superior of the non-business/eCommerce plans. It offers unlimited bandwidth, so is ideal for websites with high volumes of traffic.
It also appeals to websites that need an calendar, such as events or service websites.
Their VIP priority response is also an added benefit for businesses that need to reply on ad-hoc rapid support.
On the VIP plan you’re offered:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- 2 video hours
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
- Events calendar worth $48
- Professional logo worth $50
- Social media logo files
- Priority response
- VIP support
Premium Ecommerce and Business plans
Wix’s eCommerce and Business plans range from $20 to $500+ a month, and are there to cater for businesses that need an online store.
Business Basic “Accept your own payments” ($20/month)
- Accept online payments
- 100% commission free
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- 5 video hours
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- Google Analytics
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
Business Unlimited “Grow your business” ($25/month)
This is Wix’s most popular Business plan.
- Accept online payments
- 100% commission free
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 35GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- 10 video hours
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- Google Analytics
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
- Professional logo worth $50
- Social media logo files
Business VIP “Get the full site” ($35/month)
- Accept online payments
- 100% commission free
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 50GB storage
- Connect your own domain
- Unlimited video hours
- Wix ads removed
- Free domain for free for 1 year
- Google Analytics
- $300 Ad vouchers
- Site Booster App worth $60
- Form Builder App worth $48
- Professional logo worth $50
- Social media logo files
- Priority response
- VIP support
Enterprise “End-to-end business solution” ($500/month)
The Enterprise plan isn’t included in most geo-locations’ pricing structure. It offers a bespoke multi-level approach to your website build, management and support, including:
- Onboarding and scale up
- Maintenance and infrastructure
- Professional services
- Security
- Support
- Business integration
Saving money by paying yearly
The prices that are shown are what you’d pay if you sign up to yearly subscription.
So, to break it down, you’ll actually be paying more if you sign up to monthly membership:
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Saving on yearly contract |
| Combo | $14.50 | $11 | 25% |
| Unlimited | $16 | $14 | 14% |
| Pro | $24 | $19 | 21% |
| VIP | $35 | $29 | 17% |
| Business Basic | $25 | $20 | 20% |
The savings increase if you sign up to 2-yearly contracts too, and are charged automatically at the end of each 2 years for the whole 2-year period.
Other costs to consider
One of this issues I have with Wix pricing is that there are some issues that aren’t made explicit within the pricing outlines.
The free custom domain is limited to certain extensions
Firstly, the free custom domain it offers you only comes with certain extensions, among which are .com, .boz, .net, .org, .co.uk or .info. If you want a different extension then you’ll have to purchase it elsewhere.
If you want to purchase a domain from Wix, it’ll cost you $14.95 per year (this is free for the first year if you’ve bought a yearly subscription).
This isn’t particularly expensive (Squarespace domains cost $20 a year, for example, although they also include WHOIS privacy).
Generally speaking, it’s cheaper to buy a domain from a cheap registrar such as Name.com or Namecheap.
The free domain is available for one year only
Your free domain is only available for a year, and only if you sign up to a yearly contract. When your free year ends you’ll have to pay for your domain each year after that.
Paying monthly can exclude you from certain features
Also it’s worth noting that if you pay for the Combo plan on a monthly basis (rather than paying each year), you’re not allowed to connect your own domain. This is a pretty big deal considering one of the main pulls of the Combo plan is that you can connect a free domain. It’s disappointing that Wix aren’t more transparent about this.
Paying monthly on the Combo plan also excludes you from the premium apps or ad credits that the more expensive plans offer.
There’s no option for unlimited storage
Another costing issue is the lack of unlimited storage. Most of Wix’s competitors like WordPress, offer it on their more expensive price plans. This automatically precludes businesses that have media heavy needs.
Mailboxes aren’t included
Wix also fails to offer a mailbox too, so instead you’ll need to purchase a G Suite mailbox to connect to your domain. Wix does offer a 50% discount on this but it’ll still mean you need to pay between $2 and $22.50 per month for your email account.
It’s one premium plan per website
When you upgrade to a premium plan, it’s available for one website only. If you have more than one website you want to benefit from premium features, then you’ll have to apply for upgrades for each site.
When your premium plan comes into effect
Once you’ve upgraded from a free to a premium account, then your upgrade will be available immediately.
To check this, you can go to your dashboard, and you’ll see a purple “Premium” ribbon across the top left of the page:
Also, within Billings and Payments, your premium plan will show up next to the relevant website:
Choosing the right plan for you
With so many options available to you, it can be tricky to work out which one to choose.
The simplest way to do this is to first define your monthly – or if possible, yearly – budget. It helps to keep the cost down if you can pay for a year, and it also opens you up to more benefits.
However, if you’re unfamiliar with running a website then you’re better to avoid locking yourself into a 2-year contract.
Next you need to know your website goals. What to you want to achieve with your website? Is it exposure? An informational platform? An online store?
Once you know your goals, you can start to pinpoint your features shopping list. Do you need a lot of storage (ie will you be hosting lots of rich-media files on your site), and will you need extra video hours to host your video media?
Other things you need to consider is how many web visitors you will be expecting so that you can determine your bandwidth needs.
If you already have a site and are transferring over to Wix, then you’ll have a good idea of your traffic from your Google Analytics.
However, if you’re starting from scratch with Wix then it’s unlikely you’ll be seeing heavy traffic to start with. As your traffic builds up you can gauge whether or not you need to upgrade to a plan with more bandwidth included.
Do you get what you pay for?
Overall, Wix is a good all-rounder, offers something for everyone and is great value for money.
Whilst it’s nice that Wix offers a free option, there are generally better options for free websites out there, like Weebly which offers you unlimited bandwidth, ecommerce features, and an attractive subdomain from the get-go.
Having said that, a free plan is fine for those who need to start somewhere and are needing a temporary holding website which they develop their permanent one.
Connect Domain, which has been scrapped from most locations’ plans is not worth the upgrade from the free plan. Even at $5 a month, you’re better off paying slightly more to get a huge amount more features.
Both the Combo and Unlimited plans are good options for medium and growing businesses with modest visitor numbers and storage needs. You’ll also be free from the Wix ads and ugly domain name. If you’re not an online store, sign up to Combo and upgrade as your needs increase.
For businesses with an online store, the business and eCommerce plans are cost-effective too. The main way to determine which to choose is to determine your visitor expectations and your storage needs and match those to the relevant plan.
For eCommerce Businesses, I’d recommend opting for the Business Basic plan and upgrading to Business Unlimited as your store grows.
It’s worth noting though, that Wix’s eCommerce functions aren’t as powerful as the biggest eCommerce player, Shopify. It also doesn’t allow you to access help via Live Chat like Squarespace does.
It can be tricky to compare price plans like-for-like, because each website builder will include different variables on each tier. But for a rough guide, comparing Wix price points against Weebly and Squarespace equivalents, here’s a breakdown:
| Basic | Personal | Standard | Business | Advanced | |
| Wix | $0 | $11 | $14 | $20 | $35 |
| Weebly | $0 | $8 | $12 | $25 | $49 |
| Squarespace | – | $12 | $18 | $26 | $40 |
Typically, the more you need from your web builder, the better the deal you get on Wix relative to its competitors. However, for the more modest plans, Wix is about average – not the cheapest, nor the most expensive- amongst other web builders.
In summary
It feels like Wix’s pricing structure needn’t be so complicated. Its region-specific price structure makes it tricky to reliably determine how cost-effective it is as a platform.
That aside, Wix seems like a good option for individuals and businesses starting out with a website and wanting to the space to grow.
The benefit of Wix’s flexible pricing structure is that you can upgrade your plan with no fuss and immediate effect. (Incidentally, cancelling your account is quite straightforward too).
Wix’s 2-week money back guarantee does mean that you can get started with Wix and change your mind within your 14 day period.
My advice: outline your goals and needs from your web builder, match it to one of Wix’s premium plans, and give it a go for a 2-week trial.
