What is The Cost of Wix vs WordPress?
Are you ready to build a website for your business?
You’ve heard about Wix and WordPress, but you’re not sure what the true costs are for each?
By the end of this guide, you’ll understand the true cost differences between Wix and WordPress, both in year one and over the life of your site.
I’ll show you exactly what you’ll pay for each platform, what’s included at different price points, and where the surprise costs typically show up.
Understanding the Two Different Pricing Models
Quick Answer: Wix uses an all-in-one subscription model starting at $17/month for business websites. WordPress is free software, but you’ll pay separately for hosting ($10-50/month), a domain, and any premium themes or plugins you need.
The first thing to understand is that Wix and WordPress take completely different approaches to pricing.
How Wix Pricing Works
Wix is a subscription service.
You pay a monthly or annual fee, and most of what you need is included.
Your hosting, security, backups, and basic features are bundled into one predictable bill.
There are no surprise technical fees because Wix handles the infrastructure.
You pick a plan tier, and you know exactly what you’re paying each month.
How WordPress Pricing Works
WordPress itself is free, open-source software. But you need to pay for the pieces that make it work online.
You’ll buy hosting from a company like SiteGround, Bluehost, or WP Engine.
You’ll register a domain.
You might purchase a premium theme.
And you may need paid plugins for certain features.
The total cost varies depending on which services and tools you choose.
Some businesses spend $200/year. Others spend $2,000+.
Wix Plans and Costs
Quick Answer: Wix business plans range from $17/month (Light plan) to $159/month (Business VIP). Ecommerce plans start at $29/month. All plans include hosting, SSL, and basic support.
Let me break down what you actually get at each tier.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | What’s Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | $17 | $204/year | Custom domain, 2GB storage, no Wix ads, basic features |
| Core | $29 | $348/year | 50GB storage, standard analytics, customer support, basic SEO tools |
| Business | $36 | $432/year | 100GB storage, priority support, advanced SEO, accept payments |
| Business Elite | $159 | $1,908/year | Unlimited storage, VIP support, professional logo, all business features |
Most local service businesses land on the Core or Business plan. The Light plan works if you just need a simple informational site without advanced features.
If you’re selling products online, Wix offers separate ecommerce pricing that starts at $29/month (Basic plan) and goes up to $159/month (Enterprise). These plans include payment processing, inventory management, and shipping calculators. Transaction fees vary by plan.
WordPress Costs
Quick Answer: Expect to spend $200 to $500 in year one for a basic WordPress site (domain, hosting, theme). Ongoing costs run $120 to $600 annually. Premium features, advanced plugins, or managed hosting can push this to $1,000-$3,000+/year.
Let me break down the individual pieces.
| Hosting Type | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | $3 – $10 | $36 – $120 | New sites, low traffic, tight budget |
| Managed WordPress | $15 – $50 | $180 – $600 | Growing businesses, hands-off maintenance |
| VPS Hosting | $20 – $80 | $240 – $960 | High traffic, custom needs, more control |
| Premium Managed (WP Engine, Kinsta) | $30 – $100+ | $360 – $1,200+ | Mission-critical sites, professional support |
Most local service businesses start with shared hosting or managed WordPress hosting. As your site grows, you’ll likely upgrade.
Domain, Themes, and Design
A domain name costs $10 to $20 per year with most registrars. Some hosting providers include a free domain for the first year.
Free WordPress themes are available, but most businesses invest in a premium theme for better design and features. These run $30 to $100 as a one-time purchase. Custom WordPress design from a professional can cost $2,000 to $10,000+, but that’s optional and depends on your needs.
Plugins and Extensions
This is where costs can add up. Many plugins are free, but premium plugins for forms, SEO, security, backups, and ecommerce typically charge annual fees.
Common premium plugins and their costs:
- SEO plugins (Rank Math Pro, SEO Press): $50 – $100/year
- Security plugins (Wordfence Premium, Sucuri): $100 – $200/year
- Backup plugins (UpdraftPlus Premium, BlogVault): $50 – $100/year
- Page builders (Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder): $50 – $100/year
- Form builders (Gravity Forms, WPForms): $40 – $100/year
You won’t need all of these, but budget $100 to $300/year for essential premium plugins if you want professional functionality.
Comparing Costs for Year One
Quick Answer: In year one, Wix costs $204 to $432 for most business sites. WordPress costs $200 to $800 depending on your hosting, theme, and plugins. The ranges overlap, but WordPress can scale higher or lower based on your choices.
Let me show you what a typical local service business actually spends.
| Expense | Wix Light | Wix Core | Wix Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Subscription | $204 | $348 | $432 |
| Domain (if not included) | $15 | $15 | $15 |
| Wix Apps (optional) | $0 – $100 | $0 – $100 | $0 – $100 |
| Total Year One | $219 – $319 | $363 – $463 | $447 – $547 |
These numbers assume you’re not hiring a designer. If you pay someone to build your Wix site, add $500 to $3,000.
| Expense | WordPress Budget | WordPress Standard | WordPress Professional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | $60 | $180 | $360 |
| Domain | $15 | $15 | $15 |
| Theme | $0 (free) | $60 | $100 |
| Plugins | $0 (free) | $150 | $300 |
| SSL Certificate | $0 (included) | $0 (included) | $0 (included) |
| Total Year One | $75 | $405 | $775 |
These numbers also exclude professional design or development. Custom WordPress builds typically start at $3,000 and go up from there.
Ongoing Annual Costs
Quick Answer: Wix ongoing costs are $204 to $432/year depending on your plan. WordPress ongoing costs run $120 to $600+/year depending on hosting and plugins. Both can increase if you add premium features.
After year one, here’s what you’ll pay to keep your site running.
Your Wix subscription renews at the same rate.
If you started on the Core plan at $348/year, that’s what you’ll pay each year unless you upgrade or downgrade.
Some Wix apps charge separately, so if you add booking systems, chat widgets, or marketing tools, those may add $5 to $30/month on top of your base plan.
WordPress hosting renews annually.
Shared hosting often starts with a promotional rate (like $3/month) that jumps to full price ($10/month) after year one.
Premium plugins also renew annually.
If you’re using four or five premium plugins, expect $200 to $400/year in renewal fees.
Domain renewal is another $10 to $20/year.
Total ongoing: $120 to $600+/year for a standard business site.
Hidden Costs and Surprise Expenses
Quick Answer: Wix hidden costs may include app subscriptions, storage overages, and migration difficulty. WordPress hidden costs may include plugin renewals, developer fees for customization, and potential security cleanup if your site gets hacked.
Let me walk you through the expenses people don’t see coming.
Wix App Costs
Wix Apps: Many advanced features require paid apps from the Wix App Market. Booking systems, email marketing, and advanced forms often cost extra.
Storage and Migration
Storage Limits: If you upload lots of images or videos, you might hit your storage cap and need to upgrade to a higher tier.
Migration Costs: If you ever want to leave Wix, you can’t export your site directly. You’ll need to rebuild from scratch on a new platform, which can cost thousands if you hire help.
WordPress Plugin Renewals
Plugin Renewals: Free plugins are great, but many critical features require premium versions with annual fees. These may add up fast.
Developer and Security Costs
Developer Fees: WordPress gives you flexibility, but that often means hiring a developer for customization. Even small changes can cost $100 to $500.
Security and Maintenance: If your site gets hacked or breaks after an update, fixing it can cost $200 to $1,000+ depending on severity.
Performance Optimization
Performance Optimization: As your site grows, you may need caching plugins, CDN services, or better hosting to keep it fast. Budget $10 to $50/month for these tools.
Costs Over 3 Years
Quick Answer: Over three years, Wix costs $600 to $1,300 for a business site. WordPress costs $400 to $2,000+ depending on hosting and plugins. The gap widens if you add custom features or professional support.
Let me show you the math, but just don’t fall asleep on me:
Light Plan: $204/year x 3 = $612 | Core Plan: $348/year x 3 = $1,044 | Business Plan: $432/year x 3 = $1,296
Add $100 to $300 if you’re using paid Wix apps.
Budget Build: $75 (year 1) + $120 (year 2) + $120 (year 3) = $315 | Standard Build: $405 (year 1) + $350 (year 2) + $350 (year 3) = $1,105 | Professional Build: $775 (year 1) + $600 (year 2) + $600 (year 3) = $1,975
These numbers assume no major upgrades or redesigns. If you switch hosting providers, add premium plugins, or hire a developer, your costs will increase.
Which Platform Costs Less Long-Term?
Quick Answer: WordPress can be cheaper long-term if you stick with basic hosting and free plugins. Wix offers more predictable costs but less flexibility. Your total expense depends more on how you use the platform than which one you choose.
Here’s how I’d think about it.
Wix makes sense if you want predictable monthly costs without surprise technical expenses, don’t plan to add complex custom features down the road, value simplicity and don’t want to manage hosting or plugins yourself, and you’re comfortable staying on Wix long-term since migration is difficult.
WordPress makes sense if you want full control over your site and the ability to customize anything, you’re comfortable managing (or paying someone to manage) technical details, you want the option to switch hosting providers or platforms without rebuilding from scratch, and you need advanced features or integrations that Wix doesn’t support natively.
What About Ecommerce Costs?
Quick Answer: Wix ecommerce plans start at $29/month with transaction fees. WordPress with WooCommerce starts around $20/month for hosting plus $0 to $200/year for extensions. Both can scale to $100+/month as you add features.
If you’re selling products, the cost equation changes slightly.
Wix charges $29 to $159/month for ecommerce plans. The Basic plan includes payment processing but charges transaction fees. Higher tiers reduce or eliminate those fees. You’ll also pay payment processor fees (2.9% + 30¢ per transaction with most providers).
WooCommerce (the most popular WordPress ecommerce plugin) is free, but you’ll need ecommerce hosting ($15 to $50/month for faster servers), payment gateway fees (Stripe or PayPal at 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction), and extensions for shipping calculators, subscriptions, and bookings ($50 to $200/year each). Total WordPress ecommerce costs typically run $300 to $1,000+/year depending on which extensions you need.
Support and Maintenance Costs
Quick Answer: Wix includes support in your subscription. WordPress support varies by hosting provider, but many businesses pay $50 to $150/month for ongoing maintenance and updates from a developer or agency.
This is one of the biggest differences between the two platforms.
Wix offers email and phone support on all business plans. Higher tiers get priority support. You can also access their help center, tutorials, and community forums at no extra charge. If something breaks, Wix is responsible for fixing it since they control the entire platform.
WordPress itself doesn’t offer support. Your hosting provider may help with server issues, but they won’t troubleshoot your theme or plugins. Many businesses hire a WordPress maintenance service or developer to handle updates, backups, security, and fixes. This typically costs $50 to $150/month or $600 to $1,800/year. If you’re comfortable handling updates yourself, you can avoid this expense. But if something breaks, you’ll pay hourly rates ($75 to $150/hour) to fix it.
Making the Right Choice for Your Budget
Quick Answer: Choose Wix if you want simplicity and predictable costs. Choose WordPress if you want flexibility and don’t mind managing technical details. Your decision should factor in both money and time.
After working with dozens of local businesses on their websites, here’s what I tell people.
When Wix Is the Better Choice
If you’re just starting out, have a limited budget, and want something up fast without technical headaches, Wix is a solid choice. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying, and you won’t get surprise bills. Essentially, you are renting a website on Wix. You own the words and images, but not the design and development.
When WordPress Is the Better Choice
If you’re planning to grow, want full control, or need custom features down the road, WordPress gives you more options. Yes, it requires more effort upfront, but you’re not locked into one vendor.
Budget Considerations
Understanding what affects web design costs helps you see how your choice of platform fits into your overall budget.
And if you’re still trying to figure out how much a website should cost, that guide breaks down typical pricing for different types of sites.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Quick Answer: Common mistakes include underestimating ongoing costs, not budgeting for plugins or apps, choosing cheap hosting that slows your site down, and not accounting for maintenance or support.
Let me walk you through the mistakes I see most often.
Many people compare year one costs and make a decision based on that alone. But you’re building a site you’ll use for years. Look at three-year totals to get a realistic picture.
With WordPress, $3/month shared hosting sounds great until your site loads slowly and you start losing customers. Spending an extra $10 to $30/month on better hosting often pays for itself in better performance.
Whether you’re on Wix or WordPress, assume you’ll need to pay for a few premium features at some point. Budget $100 to $300/year for these extras.
Your site won’t run itself. Either plan to spend time updating it yourself, or budget for someone to do it for you. Skipping maintenance leads to security issues and broken features.
If you want to avoid getting overcharged for your website, understanding these ongoing costs is critical.
Additional Resources Worth Reading
Before you commit to either platform, I’d recommend checking out these guides:
- The hidden costs of web design covers expenses most people don’t anticipate until it’s too late.
- How to budget for a new website walks you through creating a realistic budget that accounts for everything.
- The hidden cost of cheap web design explains why the cheapest option often costs more in the long run.
- Comparing web design prices gives you market context for what professional sites actually cost.
And if you’re planning to maintain your site yourself, website maintenance costs breaks down what you’ll need to budget annually.
Want Your Website To Get You More Local Leads?
If you’re looking for a professionally built WordPress site that generates leads for more of your favorite customers, take a look at our web design services.
And yes, we build all websites in WordPress, as we want our clients to have complete ownership and access to their website.