Platform guide · Hosted website builder
Wix, where the site comes first.
A hosted, drag-and-drop website builder with built-in e-commerce — ideal when design, simplicity and getting online quickly matter most.
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- Type
- Hosted website builder
- Hosting & security
- Included and managed
- Try it
- Free plan (accepting payments requires an eligible paid plan)
- Best suited to
- Creators, services & small shops
Plans and pricing change regularly and vary by region — always check the official site. Estimate your total costs →
Related guide: Wix vs WooCommerce for service businesses · The best ecommerce platform for beginners
The basics
Wix as a website builder and e-commerce platform
Wix is a hosted website builder. You start from a template or a blank canvas and design pages by dragging elements exactly where you want them — no code required.
E-commerce is part of the same platform. With an eligible paid plan you can accept online payments and sell physical or digital products, alongside other business tools such as bookings and events.
This makes Wix a strong option when your website is as important as your store — for example a studio, a creator, or a service business that also sells.
Fit
Who is Wix suitable for?
A good fit if
- You want a beautifully designed site without writing code
- Your business mixes content, services and selling
- You need bookings, events or appointments alongside a shop
- You’d like a free plan to experiment before committing
Consider alternatives if
- E-commerce is your main focus and you expect to scale significantly
- You want to self-host or fully control your code
- You may want to switch templates on an existing site later
What you can build
Website and e-commerce capabilities
- Visual editor
- Free-form drag-and-drop editing with a large template library covering many industries.
- Online store
- Product pages, cart and checkout, inventory, and support for physical and digital products on eligible plans.
- Business tools
- Built-in options such as Wix Bookings, Wix Events and restaurant features, managed from the same dashboard. Accepting certain payments or selling paid tickets requires an eligible paid plan.
- Developer options
- With Velo, Wix’s development platform, developers can add custom JavaScript code and functionality. It runs within Wix — it doesn’t give access to the underlying hosting infrastructure.
- Marketing
- Built-in settings for SEO titles, descriptions and URL slugs, email marketing and social tools, plus apps from the Wix App Market.
See the editor for yourself
Wix has a free plan, so you can explore templates and the editor before choosing a paid plan.
Honest trade-offs
Advantages and limitations
Strengths
- Highly flexible visual design with no code
- Hosting, security and updates handled for you
- Website, store and business tools in one place
- Free plan available for building and testing
Limitations
- Accepting payments requires an eligible paid plan
- In the Wix Editor, an existing site’s template can’t simply be switched — a new template means creating a replacement site
- E-commerce tooling is less extensive than a commerce-first platform like Shopify
- Wix sites run only on Wix’s infrastructure; some content and data can be exported, but not the site itself
Wix vs alternatives
How Wix compares
Next steps
Getting started with Wix
- 1
Create a free account
Sign up and choose what kind of site you’re building.
- 2
Pick a template
Start from a template or a blank canvas. Choose carefully — an existing site’s template can’t simply be switched later.
- 3
Design your pages
Drag, drop and edit until the site feels right.
- 4
Add your store
Add products, set up shipping and connect a payment method.
- 5
Upgrade and publish
Choose a plan that supports online payments, connect a domain and go live.
FAQ
Common questions
Ready to explore Wix?
Start free, build your site, and upgrade when you’re ready to sell.