Wix review: the most flexible mainstream builder, with a few catches

Wix does almost everything a small business needs. The trade-offs are cost as you grow, regional pricing and a busy editor.

We.Inc is free to start, no credit card. AI building from $20/mo.

The verdict

Wix is a strong all-rounder: a real free plan, a huge template and app library, and built-in bookings, stores and marketing tools. It suits people who like to design by dragging things around and want everything in one dashboard.

The catches: selling online needs Core or higher, templates are hard to swap later, and prices vary by country, so check wix.com/plans for yours.

Wix at a glance

	Wix
Price	Free plan on a Wix address. Paid US prices could not be read on Sept 25 (Wix showed us a regional page and says prices vary by location); our Sept 24 US check recorded Light $17, Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159 a month on annual billing
Free plan	Yes, on a Wix address with Wix branding
Selling online	Core and above
Best for	Small businesses wanting design freedom and many built-in tools
Watch out for	Regional pricing, template lock-in, busy editor

Prices checked September 2026 (September 25) on each vendor's own pricing page, in US dollars. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their page before you buy.

Pros and cons

Wix

Best for: People who want design freedom and lots of built-in business tools

Price: Free plan on a Wix address. Paid US prices could not be read on Sept 25 (Wix showed us a regional page and says prices vary by location); our Sept 24 US check recorded Light $17, Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159 a month on annual billing

Pros: Free plan to build and test; Hundreds of templates and a large app market; Bookings, stores, events and email marketing built in; AI site creation inside the editor

Cons: Free and Light cannot take payments; Switching templates after launch is hard; Freedom to place anything anywhere makes messy mobile layouts easy; Prices differ by country

We.Inc

Best for: People who want to describe a site or web app in plain English and have AI build it

Price: Free plan: up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, no AI. AI building from $20/mo (Starter, 250 credits). Pro $49/mo, Max $99/mo.

Pros: Describe what you want in chat and AI builds a full, editable site or app; Edit by clicking on the page, by asking in chat, or in a real code editor; Export the React and TypeScript code to GitHub, so you are never locked in; Unlimited sites on paid plans, custom domains from Starter

Cons: The free plan is templates only; AI building needs a paid plan; Newer platform with a smaller app marketplace than the big names; Store features are simpler than a dedicated ecommerce platform

Verdict by buyer

Trying Wix or building a draft: the free plan. A brochure site for a local business on its own domain: Wix suits you if you enjoy arranging pages yourself, on Light. Taking bookings, payments or running a store: Wix is a strong fit, from Core. Someone who wants the site written for them, or wants to own the code: look at an AI builder instead. Someone who cares most about polished templates with few moving parts: compare Squarespace first.

What Wix does well

Breadth. Whatever a small business needs, bookings, a store, a blog, events, forms, there is usually a Wix tool or app for it, all managed in one place. The free plan is generous enough to build a whole site before paying.

Where Wix falls short

The editor's freedom cuts both ways: it is easy to end up with a desktop layout that needs separate fixing on mobile. Once built, a site is tied to its template. And because Wix prices by region, prices you read online may not be yours.

Who should choose something else

If you would rather describe your business and have a site written for you, or want to own the code, an AI builder fits better. If you want the most polished templates, look at Squarespace.

Where We.Inc fits: the free plan publishes up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, with no AI and no custom domain, and needs no credit card. AI building, where you describe the site and it is written for you, starts at $20 a month (Starter, 250 credits); Pro is $49 and Max is $99.

What Wix costs: first year and three years

Plan fees only, using our September 24, 2026 US check on annual billing and assuming the price stays the same at renewal: Light is $204 in year one and $612 over three years; Core is $348 and $1,044; Business is $468 and $1,404. Wix sets prices by country, so swap in the number wix.com/plans shows you.

Not included: the domain after any free first-year offer, payment processing on sales, paid apps from the Wix App Market and email inboxes. Add your own figures in our website cost calculator for a full total.

A five-task test to run before you pay for Wix

Prices only tell you half the story. The fairest way to judge Wix is to give it the same small job you would give any builder: a five-page website for a local service business (home, services, about, reviews and contact).

1. Build the service list with a price or short description for each service. 2. Add a quote request form and send yourself a test entry to check it arrives. 3. Connect a custom domain and confirm the site loads on it with a padlock. 4. Change one piece of content, such as a new service or opening hours, and time how long it takes. 5. Check the result on a phone.

Note which plan each step needed. That tells you the plan you will really pay for, which is often not the cheapest one advertised. When the site is live, run it through our free website grader to check search basics and speed.

How to score the test

Use the same rubric for every builder you try, Wix included, so the scores mean something. For each of the five tasks give 2 points if it worked on the plan you intend to buy, 1 if it needed a higher plan or a paid app, and 0 if you could not do it. Note the time the content update in task 4 took. We have not published scores of our own because we have not run this test yet; the rubric is here so your comparison is fair.

Ownership, support and moving away

Wix hosts the site on its own system and adds features through the Wix App Market, so many integrations are apps with their own prices. You can connect a domain bought elsewhere. There is no export that lets you run the whole site on another host: you can copy your content, but the design and pages must be rebuilt if you leave. Switching templates once a site is built is also hard, so a redesign usually means rebuilding too.

Who wrote this and how

We.Inc makes a competing website builder, so read this with that in mind. Every price on this page comes from the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown, with a link to it. We say where the other option is the better choice, and we do not publish scores for tests we have not run.

Start from a template

Sources

Wix: Plans (wix.com/plans) (Checked Sept 25, 2026)
We.Inc: Pricing (Checked Sept 25, 2026)

Frequently asked questions

Is Wix good for small business?

Yes, for most small businesses it covers everything needed. Selling online needs Core or higher.

How much does Wix cost?

Our September 24, 2026 US check recorded Light $17, Core $29, Business $39 and Business Elite $159 a month on annual billing. Wix says prices vary by location.

Is the Wix free plan worth using?

It is ideal for trying Wix and building a draft. For a business, the Wix address and branding make a paid plan worth it.

Can I move my site off Wix?

Not as a working site. You can copy content, but the design and pages must be rebuilt elsewhere.

How much does Wix cost over three years?

In plan fees alone, $612 on Light, $1,044 on Core or $1,404 on Business on annual billing, based on our September 24, 2026 US check and assuming no price change. Apps, domain renewal and payment fees are extra, and prices vary by country.