Shopify vs Wix: Which Is Better for Your Business in 2025?

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Tony Pham Nov 22 2025

If you're here, you're probably facing the classic question that thousands of shop owners struggle with every day: “Shopify vs Wix, which platform should I choose to start an online business?”. In this article, NextSky will analyze the real-world strengths and weaknesses of both platforms to help you easily find the one that suits you best.

Shopify vs Wix: Overview

Wix

Wix stands out with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. It allows users with zero coding skills to easily create and customize a website. Originally just a website builder, Wix has expanded to include e-commerce features — though they are not as advanced as Shopify’s.

Shopify vs Wix

Shopify

Shopify is 100% focused on e-commerce, offering a powerful toolkit specifically designed for online selling. The platform provides advanced features, excellent scalability, and flexibility suitable for businesses of all sizes. Additionally, Shopify’s massive app store enables deep customization and seamless integration with hundreds of third-party services.

1. Pricing

Wix

Wix offers four paid plans, ranging from $17 to $159/month (billed annually). However, to unlock online selling capabilities, you need at least the Core plan, starting at $29/month.

Light ($17/month): Only suitable for basic websites, no e-commerce support
Core ($29/month): Entry-level e-commerce plan, sufficient for small stores
Business ($36/month): More storage and advanced features
Business Elite ($159/month): For large businesses needing high performance and premium support

Wix also has a lifelong free plan, but it includes ads and very limited storage — making the site look unprofessional and unsuitable for serious brand-building.

Shopify

Shopify is generally more expensive than Wix, but every plan includes full e-commerce functionality from the start — perfect for businesses focused on online sales. Prices range from $29–$299/month (billed annually). Shopify often runs attractive promotions like the first 3 months for only $1/month, significantly reducing initial costs.

Basic ($29/month): Ideal for startups, unlimited products
Grow ($79/month): Suitable for growing businesses, more staff accounts and lower transaction fees
Advanced ($299/month): Optimized for large enterprises with advanced reporting and better shipping rates

2. Ease of Use

User-friendliness is crucial because you’ll be interacting with your e-commerce platform every day. So between Wix and Shopify, which is easier to use?

Shopify

Shopify separates the admin dashboard from the front-end editor, meaning you constantly switch between backend and preview to see changes. This can be time-consuming if you want a pixel-perfect design. On the plus side, Shopify offers hundreds of beautiful themes, and you can switch themes at any time without losing data. Basic steps:

Browse themes in the Theme Store
Customize → Theme Settings → Styles

Note: Shopify has very few free themes; most premium ones cost extra.

Wix

Wix impresses with its truly intuitive drag-and-drop editor and AI assistance (Wix ADI & Wix Editor), allowing even non-technical users to build a store quickly. However, a major drawback is that you cannot switch templates without losing all data — if you want a new design, you basically have to start over:

Choose a new template
Copy and re-enter all content
Re-add apps/features
Reconnect Premium plan and domain

This process can sometimes make Wix feel more complicated than Shopify in the long run.

3. Best for Themes & Templates

Shopify

Shopify makes building an online store simple with 982 modern, elegant, fully mobile-responsive themes. The live editor is user-friendly and highly flexible; if you know CSS/HTML, customization possibilities are nearly unlimited. You can filter themes by price, industry, catalogue size, and features. The only downside: most themes are paid (with a one-time fee of approximately $100–$500), and only 24 are free options.

Wix

Wix offers over 900 free templates, including approximately 130 designed for e-commerce, all of which are modern and visually appealing. However, many templates are not fully mobile-optimized unless you use Wix Studio, and HTML/CSS customization is much less flexible than Shopify (unless you use the less-common Wix Velo, which is aimed at technically savvy users).

wix templates

5. Online selling - Shopify

Shopify is currently the most powerful e-commerce platform thanks to its superior set of sales features. It is ideal for stores with a large number of products or those scaling quickly, while Wix is better suited for small businesses that only sell a few items.

Multi-channel selling

Shopify leads in multi-channel selling with seamless integration to major marketplaces and social platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon. Wix also supports Amazon and some social platforms, but with limitations; for example, to sell on TikTok, you need to install the separate TikTok Shop app.

Pro tip: The Shopify Starter plan costs only $5/month; perfect for instantly starting to sell on social media without building a full website.

Product & storage space

Shopify: Completely unlimited number of products, making it easy to scale your catalog without ever needing to upgrade plans. Typical storage ranges from 100GB–500GB, sufficient for most large stores.
Wix: Suitable for medium-to-large product catalogs (up to 50,000 products). A big plus is that the Wix Business Elite plan offers unlimited storage, which is a clear advantage if you need to store extremely large files and media.

Payment gateways

Shopify supports over 100 payment gateways, Wix supports over 80. Both have their own native payment solutions (Shopify Payments and Wix Payments) that make transactions smooth and simple. Transaction fees:

Wix Payments: 0% transaction fee, processing fee 2.9% + $0.30
Shopify Payments: 0% transaction fee, processing fee decreases with higher plans (from 2.9% + $0.30 down to 2.5% + $0.30 on the Advanced plan)

6. E-commerce - Shopify

When comparing Wix and Shopify purely on e-commerce capabilities, Shopify clearly comes out on top thanks to its powerful features:

Inventory management: Shopify offers comprehensive inventory tracking, low-stock alerts, automatic purchase orders, year-end reports, and user permissions. Its rich app ecosystem further simplifies warehouse management. Wix supports integration via API, but lacks many of Shopify’s native inventory features.
Reports & analytics: Shopify offers in-depth analytics, ranging from visitor data to overall store performance, with the option to upgrade as your plan evolves. Wix offers only basic analytics, sufficient for small businesses but inadequate for scaling needs.
Payment methods: Shopify Payments reduces transaction fees, includes fraud protection, and supports multiple currencies. Wix supports PayPal, Stripe, Square, and “Buy Now, Pay Later” options, but lacks the comprehensive payment customization that Shopify offers.
Shipping options: Shopify offers highly flexible shipping options, integrating with major carriers and supporting shipping label printing for both domestic and international shipments. Wix also handles domestic and international shipping, but lacks label printing and advanced multi-region tax customization.

7. Best for POS - Shopify

Shopify

Highly rated globally, available on all plans (except Shopify Starter)
Supports countertop POS, mobile POS, and multi-store management
Accepts popular credit cards and PayPal via Shopify Payments
Includes hardware, software, reporting, and inventory management

Wix

Basic mobile and POS system, integrated with Wix Payments
Accepts major credit cards, POS software and optional hardware
Only available for merchants in Canada and the United States

If your store is located in the US or Canada, especially in the Booking/Events sector, Wix POS can still meet in-person sales needs thanks to the platform’s powerful built-in scheduling tools.

8. Shopify apps

Shopify

The Shopify App Store has over 13,000 apps (including third-party ones), making it easy to scale your online store. You can find everything from no-code file uploads and custom push notifications to product review management. Apps are organized into 12 categories and 9 collections, helping users quickly find the right solution.

Wix

Compared to Shopify, Wix offers more than 800 apps and add-ons, categorized into six main sections: marketing, sales, services & events, media & content, design elements, and communication. Solutions like Wix Stores, Bookings, Events… provide basic features for free, but premium upgrades require monthly fees.

9. Marketing - Shopify

Email Marketing

Shopify: Shopify offers a built-in email tool that lets you send promotions, share updates, and track campaign performance directly from your admin. It’s easy to use, but customization options are somewhat limited.
Wix: Meanwhile, Wix delivers a stronger email marketing experience with a wide range of high-quality templates and the ability to create your own designs from scratch. As a result, Wix provides more flexibility for personalized campaigns.

SEO Features

Shopify: Shopify includes solid SEO features that can help you rank well when optimized correctly. However, some limitations like less flexible URLs and the inability to edit robots.txt can make advanced SEO a challenge.
Wix: In contrast, Wix offers a more robust built-in SEO setup. You can easily customize meta tags, URL slugs, canonical tags, and structured data. Therefore, Wix gives you a more flexible SEO foundation, especially for beginners.

CMS Features

Shopify: Shopify supports blogging, but only with basic tools and limited capabilities such as missing blog analytics or internal blog search. Because of this, Shopify isn't ideal for content-heavy strategies.
Wix: On the other hand, Wix makes it simple to build visually appealing blogs with intuitive editing tools. Although it lacks an archive feature, Wix still provides a more comprehensive CMS experience than Shopify.

10. Page speed - Shopify vs Wix

Shopify

In terms of performance, Shopify is one of the fastest options, often ranking second in tests. Mobile loading speed is extremely fast, allowing customers to immediately focus on your website. According to Darren’s test, Shopify loads in an average of just 1.3 seconds, which is clearly superior to Wix, a key factor in the success of any e-commerce website.

Wix

Wix also provides optimization guides for the homepage, text, images, and animations to improve speed. When applied correctly, a Wix site can achieve an optimal performance of 85–90%. You can also refer to Wix’s best practices to further boost loading speed.

11. Customer support: A tie

Both Shopify and Wix have constantly updated help centers, making it easy to find information and connect with a global user community.

Shopify

Shopify offers 24/7 support via email, phone, and live chat, ensuring issues are resolved quickly and your website runs smoothly. Users can also exchange experiences with experts and other merchants through the Shopify Community Forum.

Wix

Wix stands out with lively tutorial videos and direct tips right inside the editor. Support via tickets and callback is always available in English; other languages are supported only during business hours.

12. Multilingual & multi-currency capabilities

Language

Shopify: Native multilingual support for up to 20 languages (Shopify Plus), with easy translation additions.
Wix: Requires the Wix Multilingual app to add and translate content — more steps involved.

Multi-currency

Shopify: Supports over 130 currencies, simply enable Shopify Payments and add a currency converter.
Wix: Does not support true multi-currency checkout — only displays prices in different currencies.

Tax calculation

Shopify: Full control with multiple tax rates and basic automatic tax calculation.
Wix: Simple on/off tax settings; can use Avalara for real-time tax calculation.

13. Page loading speed

Data shows that an ideal website should load in under 3 seconds to prevent visitors from leaving. When comparing the two platforms, Shopify clearly outperforms Wix in speed.

Shopify: One of the fastest Wix alternatives, with an average load time of just 1.3 seconds according to Darren’s performance test. Fast mobile loading enables customers to access content instantly, a critical factor in e-commerce success.
Wix: Performance has improved thanks to optimization guides for homepage, images, text, and animations. When best practices are followed, Wix sites can reach 85–90% optimal performance, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Website builder evaluation guidelines

To ensure comparisons are always accurate and fair, we regularly test, update data, and gain hands-on experience on each platform. Our research process focuses on 7 core criteria:

Sales features: 30%
Design: 15%
Support & help: 15%
Website functionality: 15%
Pricing: 10%
User experience: 10%
Reputation: 5%

The entire evaluation is conducted by personally testing each platform. Therefore, every comment made about Wix or Shopify in this article is based on actual hands-on experience. The evaluation process consists of three steps: surveying businesses to establish the methodology, testing each website builder individually, and compiling the final scores.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which platform is easier to use, Shopify or Wix?

Wix is often considered to be more user-friendly, especially for beginners, due to its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and simpler interface. Shopify, while powerful, may have a steeper learning curve, particularly for users unfamiliar with eCommerce platforms.

Can I switch from Wix to Shopify (or vice versa)?

Yes, it is possible to migrate your website from Wix to Shopify or vice versa. However, the process may involve some manual work, especially if you have a large amount of content or data. Both platforms offer resources and tools to assist with migration.

Is Shopify more expensive than Wix?

Generally, Shopify tends to be more expensive than Wix, especially for eCommerce-focused plans. However, the pricing ultimately depends on the specific features and functionality you require for your website or online store.

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Tony Pham

Hello! I'm Tony Pham, a full-stack Shopify, Magento, and WordPress developer with over 12 years of experience in both front-end and back-end development.

Since 2016, I have been proudly working at Nextsky as the Tech Lead, where I continue to enhance my skills and contribute to exciting projects. One of my proudest works is the Agile theme, which passed Shopify's high standard and is currently available on Shopify Theme Store.

I am passionate about researching new technologies and staying updated with the latest trends in the industry. It not only makes my life more fulfilling and exciting but also allows me to bring better service to clients.