Shopify vs Wix: Which Should You Choose?

Trying to decide between Shopify and Wix can feel like choosing between two great restaurants — both have tasty options, but one might fit your appetite better. I’ve built a few small online projects and helped friends launch stores, so here’s a friendly, no-fluff comparison to help you pick the right platform.

Quick take: Who wins?

If you want a serious, scalable ecommerce business with advanced selling tools, Shopify usually wins. If you want a simple, designer-friendly site with light ecommerce, Wix is easier and cheaper to get started with.

Pricing and plans

Price matters. Wix is generally more affordable at the entry level, offering a lower-cost plan and a free tier (with Wix branding). Its ecommerce plans are fine for small stores. Shopify’s plans start higher, but they include powerful ecommerce features, reporting, and better scalability.

Think of it like this: Wix is great for a boutique or artist selling a handful of items. Shopify is built for stores that expect growth, lots of SKUs, or need advanced sales channels.

Ease of use and setup

Both are user-friendly, but Wix wins on pure drag-and-drop design. If you love visual builders and want pixel-perfect control without touching code, Wix is delightful. Shopify’s editor is straightforward, but it’s more structured — which actually helps when managing many products later.

Real-world example

I helped a friend set up a candle shop: she loved Wix’s editor and had her store live in an afternoon. Another friend selling vintage clothing needed inventory variants and multi-channel sales, and Shopify handled that with fewer workarounds.

Design and templates

Wix offers hundreds of templates and a lot of design freedom. Shopify’s themes are elegant and focused on conversion; there are fewer templates, but they’re optimized for selling and mobile performance.

SEO and marketing

Both platforms let you edit meta tags, URLs, and alt text. Shopify tends to have better built-in SEO performance for ecommerce due to clean code and fast hosting. Wix’s SEO tools have improved a lot — and for many small sites, Wix is perfectly adequate.

Ecommerce features and selling tools

Here’s where the platforms diverge most:

• Shopify: Excellent product management (variants, bulk actions), robust checkout, abandoned cart recovery, multi-channel selling (Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram), and advanced reports. It’s built specifically for ecommerce.
• Wix: Strong for small shops. You get basic product options, decent checkout, and built-in marketing tools. But for complex inventories, subscriptions, or large catalogs, it’ll feel limited or require third-party apps.

Apps, integrations, and payment gateways

Shopify has an enormous app marketplace for everything from dropshipping to accounting. It also connects to a wide range of payment gateways worldwide. Wix has a growing app market and supports major payment providers, but coverage and depth are more limited compared to Shopify.

Performance, hosting, and security

Both platforms include hosting, SSL, and handle security. Shopify’s infrastructure focuses on uptime and speed for high-traffic stores. Wix is reliable for typical small-to-medium traffic sites. If you anticipate large spikes or global audiences, Shopify’s edge becomes clearer.

Scalability

Starting small? Both are fine. Planning to scale to thousands of products, multiple locations, or wholesale? Shopify will serve you better long-term. Migrating later from Wix to Shopify is possible but takes time and effort, so consider where you want to be in 1–3 years.

Support and community

Shopify provides 24/7 support and a massive knowledge base and developer community. Wix offers solid support and lots of tutorials, and its community is friendly for beginners. If you value round-the-clock expert ecommerce support, Shopify’s network is hard to beat.

Which platform is best for you?

Here’s a quick checklist to help decide:

• Choose Wix if: You want a low-cost, beautiful site quickly; you sell a small number of products; and you value design flexibility over advanced ecommerce tools.
• Choose Shopify if: You’re focused on ecommerce growth, need advanced inventory and sales features, or expect medium-to-high traffic and want robust multi-channel selling.

Want to try them out?

Both platforms offer trials. Take a weekend to build a test site on each and notice which feels natural. If you want the official info, visit Shopify’s website or Wix’s website for plan details and demos.

Final thoughts

I often recommend starting with your business goals, not the platform features. If you’re testing an idea and want speed and design freedom, try Wix. If you’re serious about building a scalable online store with fewer limits, go with Shopify. And remember: whichever you pick, success will come from your product, marketing, and customer care — not just the platform.

If you want, tell me what you’re selling and I’ll suggest the best platform and a simple setup plan.