5 Best Wix Alternative Website Builders in 2022
This article is part of a larger series on Small Business Websites.
Wix is one of the most popular site builders, but its paid plans aren’t the cheapest compared to the best Wix alternative website builders. Wix plans also don’t include unlimited storage and it’s not the easiest or most intuitive to use, especially for beginners. Fortunately, Wix isn’t your only option—several top Wix competitors offer more affordable paid plans, unlimited storage, and features Wix lacks, such as ecommerce in a free version.
Based on our research, here are the five best Wix alternative website builders to consider:
- Squarespace: Overall best Wix alternative and best site builder for small businesses
- Weebly: Best free Wix alternative for basic ecommerce sites and restaurants—starting with the free version
- Bluehost: Top choice among Wix competitors for building a custom or complex site
- GoDaddy: Great alternative for businesses needing online booking tools
- Shopify: Best alternative to Wix for advanced ecommerce and dropshipping
Wix & Best Wix Alternatives at a Glance
Wix & Top Wix Competitors | Free Plan | Starting Price per Month* | Free Domain & SSL | Key Features |
---|---|---|---|---|
✔ | $16 | ✔ | Read our Wix Review | |
✕ | $14 | ✔ |
| |
✔ | $12** | ✔ |
| |
✕ | $2.95 | ✔ |
| |
✔ | $6.99 | ✔ |
| |
✕ | $29*** | ✕ |
| |
*Based on an annual contract and first-year pricing; some providers offer longer-term discounts, GoDaddy and Bluehost have higher rates on renewal, and Shopify and Squarespace both offer month-to-month billing (Squarespace offers monthly billing at a higher rate).
**Lowest tier ad-free plan
***Monthly fee; no discounts for annual billing
Squarespace: Overall Best Wix Alternative
What We Like
- Paid plans cost slightly less than Wix for comparable features
- Clean, visually impactful templates
- Beginner-friendly site editor
- Native SEO tools and guidance
- 14-day free trial with no credit card required
What's Missing
- No free plan
- Less design customizability than Wix
- Small third-party app selection—far fewer than Wix
- Ecommerce is pricey, starting at $23 (full ecommerce costs $27-$49); in comparison, it comes in Weebly’s free and $12 per month plans
Squarespace vs Wix
- Squarespace has a section-based editor vs the true drag-and-drop editor of Wix
- Squarespace has 100+ high quality templates, but a lower quantity to choose from than Wix (800+)
- Squarespace has advanced features, like code embedding for advanced SEO, but Wix’s SEO tools are easier to access and use
- Squarespace has unlimited storage in all of its plans; with Wix, this only comes in the highest-tier Business VIP plan
- Change templates any time with Squarespace, whereas with Wix you have to start over
Cost overview
- Paid plans from $14 per month with annual billing or $19 monthly
- Ecommerce from $23 per month
Squarespace is the best Wix alternative as well as one of the most popular website builders for small businesses in general. Although its template selection pales against Wix’s in quantity, the 100-plus templates Squarespace offers are modern, sleek, and professional-looking. This makes it easier to quickly build a site on Squarespace.
An example of modern and sleek Squarespace templates
While offering less design freedom might seem negative, it makes Squarespace more beginner-friendly. The section-based editor comes with elegant templates and section blocks that make site design easier (and faster) and minimizes the chance of making time-consuming mistakes. Uniquely, Squarespace also offers the ability to change templates without starting over, unlike Wix and most other website builders.
Squarespace Pricing
Personal | Business | Basic Commerce | Advanced Commerce | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Price per Month* | $14 | $23 | $27 | $49 |
Free Domain & SSL | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
SEO Features | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-party Integrations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Advanced Analytics | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Premium Integrations | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Google Workspace With Professional Email for 1 Year | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ecommerce Features | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Transaction Fees | ✕ | 3% | 0% | 0% |
*On an annual billing cycle; monthly billing is also available at a higher rate
Features for Small Businesses
- Design flexibility where you need it: While Squarespace’s editor doesn’t offer the full design freedom of Wix, you can change templates any time and all templates are mobile-optimized. For web design beginners and busy small business owners, this amount of customization is ample.
- Add-ons extend functionality: Squarespace offers a mix of extensions and add-ons to give you all the site functionality you need, but sometimes at a price. For example, you must purchase add-ons for member-only areas, email marketing, and appointment booking. Weebly could be the more cost-effective Wix alternative for these types of solutions, and GoDaddy includes appointment booking tools for free.
- Best site builder for creatives and online portfolios: Digital portfolios can take up a lot of storage space, but this isn’t a problem with Squarespace as unlimited storage and bandwidth come standard. This is one of the big reasons Squarespace tops our list of the best portfolio website builders for photographers, graphic designers, artists, and other creatives.
Want to know more? Read our expert Squarespace review and then take advantage of the 14-day free trial to see whether it’s the best option for your website.
Weebly: Best Free Wix Alternative for Casual Ecommerce & Restaurants
What We Like
- Ecommerce, even in the free plan
- Square payments built in, making it great for selling in-person and online
- Beginner-friendly and intuitive
- Section-based editor for fast, goof-proof site building
- Large selection of third-party apps
What's Missing
- Design customization is somewhat limited and not as intuitive as other site builders
- Cheapest paid plan ($6 per month) still displays Weebly branding
Weebly vs Wix
- Weebly’s design capabilities are lacking compared to Wix
- Both offer extensive premium and free third-party integrations
- Weebly offers robust ecommerce on its free plan; Wix’s ecommerce features require a Business plan subscription
- Weebly’s highest-tier plan is slightly less expensive than Wix’s first ecommerce plan
- Weebly includes unlimited storage than Wix, making it better for content- and image-heavy sites
- Weebly includes restaurant selling and marketing tools beginning in the free version; for similar tools you need a Wix ecommerce plan
Cost overview
- Free forever (Weebly subdomain and branding)
- $12 per month (billed annually) or $16 monthly, includes ecommerce
- $26 per month (billed annually) or $29 monthly for large membership sites
In the beginner-friendly ecommerce website builder space, it’s often a toss-up between Weebly and Wix. Both offer free versions and are intuitive and easy to use, but Wix sites are inevitably more customizable due to Wix’s true drag-and-drop editor and vast template library.
With that said, there’s no toss-up for restaurants as Weebly users can integrate GloriaFood’s Restaurant System for free online ordering and reservations. To get comparable tools with Wix requires a Business-tier subscription. For this reason, we named Weebly the best website builder for restaurants.
In fact, where Weebly shines through is by including fairly robust ecommerce features in all plans, including the free one. Few site builders offer any way to take payments in free or entry tier plans. This makes Weebly the best Wix alternative if you’re looking for an affordable way to start selling online.
Build a Weebly website quickly with premade templates and content sections
Note that while Weebly has great ecommerce tools, they are more appropriate for casual online sellers or businesses for which online selling is secondary to its main offerings. For larger sellers or dropshippers, Shopify is better. It integrates with major selling platforms, has advanced ecommerce features on its cheapest plan, and has a wealth of dropshipping integrations available.
Like Squarespace, you need to purchase an add-on for integrated email marketing with Weebly. However, Weebly also allows you to add sections with code, which means you can integrate web forms and sync your data to email marketing platforms like Mailchimp without the need for a costly add-on.
Weebly includes membership site features in its $12 Professional and $26 Performance plans that would require you to purchase at least Wix basic Business plan at $27 per month. And in case you were wondering, this functionality requires an add-on with Squarespace that will cost anywhere from $9 to $35 more each month in addition to the cost of your all-in-one site builder plan.
Weebly Pricing
Free | Personal | Professional | Performance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Price per Month* | $0 | $6** | $12 | $26 |
Free Domain & SSL | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
Storage | 500MB | 500MB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Unlimited Bandwidth | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ecommerce With Unlimited Products | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Online Ordering, Coupons & Gift Cards | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
SEO Features | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-party Integrations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Inventory Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Membership Websites | ✕ | ✕ | Up to 100 members | Unlimited members |
Advanced Ecommerce Tools & Analytics | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
Priority Support | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
*Billed annually, or pay monthly at a higher rate
**Not ad-free—not recommended for business use
Features for Small Businesses
- Robust ecommerce, starting from free: If you’re not impressed with the features Weebly offers startups and small businesses for free, you aren’t looking closely enough. Sell unlimited products, take payments through multiple payment gateways, automatically calculate sales tax and shipping fees, manage inventory, take orders for curbside pickup, and organize products and variants.
- Membership websites: Weebly is one of the best Wix competitors regarding membership website builders. With Squarespace, member areas require the purchase of an add-on ranging from $9 to $35-plus a month. With Weebly, you can build a membership website for $26 per month with no need to pay more for add-ons.
- Accept donations and payments via PayPal: Nonprofits wanting to accept donations should consider Weebly’s Performance plan. Not only can you add a PayPal button to accept donations, but you can also sell products, subscriptions, and create member-only areas to enhance the value of supporting your organization.
Read our Weebly review to learn more, and then head over to Weebly to try out its classic and Square site editors with a free account before committing to a paid plan.
Bluehost: Get Max Customization With a WordPress Site
What We Like
- Hosting plans come with a free WordPress website builder plus free domain, SSL, and email accounts
- 55,000+ WordPress templates and plugins for max site functionality and customization
- Affordable, depending on the hosting plan and price of additional templates and plugins
- Build a WordPress site quickly and easily, without the learning curve
- Switch easily between the Bluehost Builder and WordPress dashboard
- Better for bloggers—no limit on the number of pages your site can have
What's Missing
- Lack of built-in templates and features—WordPress plugins must be installed and activated individually
- No free version or trial period to try the site builder
- Cost of plugins can quickly increase overall cost of your website
- Plugins can be a pain to manage and even present security risks
Bluehost vs Wix
- The Bluehost Builder is not as intuitive or customizable as Wix’s site editor
- Bluehost includes free emails on your domain; Wix doesn’t offer this
- Bluehost’s Basic and Pro tiers cost less than Wix’s base paid plan
- Bluehost’s ecommerce plans cost less than Wix’s ecommerce plan
- Bluehost Builder template library is much smaller than Wix’s
- It’s far easier to build a website on Wix vs building a WordPress website
- WordPress websites are better for SEO, and Wix limits the number of pages on your site, unlike Bluehost
Cost overview
- $2.95 per month for all-inclusive hosting plan with WordPress site builder, free domain, SSL, email addresses on your domain, and unlimited websites
- $9.95 per month for ecommerce with unlimited products, storage, and emails
- $24.95 per month for advanced ecommerce
Unlike most of the other Wix alternatives on this list, Bluehost isn’t a standalone site builder. Bluehost is a well-known web hosting provider that includes a drag-and-drop WordPress website builder with all hosting plans. Since it’s built for WordPress, the Bluehost Builder gives you the templates and features you want without having to learn WordPress.
Bluehost’s editing interface (Source: Bluehost)
This integration means that top Wix alternative Bluehost lacks native templates and built-in features. For example, Bluehost doesn’t come with native ecommerce features like Wix does. However, you can download all these and more through WordPress.
Alternatively, Bluehost does offer full ecommerce plans that are far less expensive than Wix’s ecommerce plans. Bluehost’s Pro and Online Stores plans come with the plugins you need for WooCommerce selling already installed and configured.
Bluehost Builder Pricing
Basic | Pro | Online Stores | |
---|---|---|---|
Starting Price per Month* | $2.95 | $9.95 | $24.95 |
Renews At | $10.99 | $14.99 | $39.95 |
Free Domain & SSL | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Addresses | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Storage | 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Unlimited Bandwidth | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-party Integrations** | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
SEO Tools & Features** | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Advanced Analytics** | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Built-in Ecommerce | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
*On an annual billing cycle
**Download and install features like these through a WordPress plugin
Features for Small Businesses
- Free CloudFlare Content Delivery Network (CDN): Site speed is not only a major ranking factor with search engines, it’s essential to a good site visitor experience. Bluehost provides free CloudFlare CDN with all shared hosting packages. This service distributes your site’s files to a network of servers so the files can be served up by a server nearer to the site visitor for faster site and page load times.
- Eliminates the WordPress learning curve: All-in-one website builders are often the best choice for small business websites. However, if you want the maximum customization and functionality you can only get with a WordPress site, Bluehost is the way to go. The Bluehost Builder eliminates the learning curve to using WordPress, with WordPress and essential plugins pre-installed and ready to go—see why Bluehost is one of the best WordPress alternatives.
- New ready-made ecommerce online stores: Bluehost’s ecommerce-ready plans come with WordPress and WooCommerce pre-installed, as well as other plugins you need to quickly and easily build an online store. Package prices are significantly cheaper than Wix’s Business and Ecommerce plans, but may not include apples-to-apples features.
We’re big fans of Bluehost’s web hosting packages that include the Bluehost Builder, a true drag-and-drop site builder for WordPress websites. Find out why by reading our Bluehost review.
GoDaddy: Best Wix Competitor for Businesses Needing Online Booking Tools
What We Like
- Intuitive interface and editor, even on mobile
- Free-forever plan similar to Wix
- Solid features for small businesses like appointment booking, social media integrations, listings management, and online forms, even in the free version
- First-year pricing is very affordable
- Manage your Google Business Profile and Yelp listings from the dashboard
What's Missing
- Small selection of templates
- GoDaddy’s artificial design intelligence (ADI) chooses a template for you and you can’t choose from the template library
- Fairly steep increases after first-year pricing
- Free domain isn’t included in website builder plans
- No third-party app marketplace
- Ecommerce tools aren’t as advanced as other Wix alternatives
GoDaddy vs Wix
- GoDaddy has the superior booking system and it’s available in the free version
- Not as customizable as Wix in both template selection and editor
- GoDaddy is more beginner-friendly
- Both Wix and GoDaddy have SEO wizards and tips to guide you through site setup and ensure your site is search-friendly
- GoDaddy’s plan prices are cheaper for comparable plans, especially the first year
- Wix has a large third-party app marketplace; GoDaddy doesn’t have as many integrations
- Wix includes a free domain for 1 year with paid plans; domains aren’t included in GoDaddy website builder plans
- GoDaddy provides more storage and bandwidth than Wix
Cost overview
- $6.99 per month the first year with annual billing or $16.99 monthly
- Ecommerce for $14.99 per month the first year with annual billing or $29.99 monthly
Like Wix, GoDaddy is an all-in-one website builder marketed toward beginners. However, GoDaddy sites are nearly as customizable as Wix’s. You get a preselected template and it lacks a true drag-and-drop editor, although you can drag sections around the page. However, the interface is really intuitive, even for beginners. You can build a website for your business very quickly, including online appointment booking and contact forms for lead generation.
Create a GoDaddy website quickly and easily with the section-based editor
While it might not be very customizable, GoDaddy enables you to create a professional-looking website in very little time. It eliminates complications that come with Wix’s extensive design freedom.
GoDaddy also has solid built-in features for affordable prices, including SEO and marketing tools to help you grow your company. It has a very advanced booking system that lets you book dates, times, and recurring appointments, making GoDaddy the best Wix alternative for service-oriented businesses like spas and salons.
GoDaddy Website Builder Pricing
Free | Basic | Premium | Commerce | Commerce Plus | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First Year Price per Month* | $0 | $6.99 | $13.99 | $14.99 | $29.99 |
Renews At* | $0 | $11.99 | $21.99 | $24.99 | $44.99 |
SEO Features | Basic | Basic | Advanced | Advanced | Advanced |
Connect to Domain | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Unlimited Storage, Bandwidth & Free SSL | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Website Chatbots | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Booking & Appointments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-party Integrations | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Accept Payment at Time of Booking | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Recurring Bookings | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ecommerce Tools | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Sends per Month | 0 | 100 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
*On an annual billing cycle
Features for Small Businesses
- Sell on Facebook and Instagram: 76% of consumers purchased something they saw on social media, a social selling statistic that is only going to climb. Meet your customers where they are and use the advanced targeting offered by social media ad platforms to get the most from your ad spend on Facebook, Instagram, and other social marketplaces. This is available to you in both of GoDaddy’s ecommerce plans.
- Manage social channels and business listings: Starting in the free version, GoDaddy users can post to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and manage Google Business Profile and Yelp listings from the dashboard.
- Advanced booking tools for service and sales appointments: GoDaddy’s advanced online booking tools make it a no-brainer for service-based businesses. Starting in the free version, clients can book appointments, including choosing a preferred service provider and one or multiple services. For example, a salon client could book an appointment for specific services with their favorite stylist. The booking tools are also great for sales-oriented companies that might want prospects to be able to book online demos and sales presentations. These tools are included in the free version, which is one reason GoDaddy made our list of the best cheap website builders.
GoDaddy offers one of the fastest ways for you to create and publish a website that looks professional, has built-in SEO to get found online, and includes marketing tools in a free website builder. Plus, they have plans to scale as your business grows. Read our GoDaddy website builder review to learn more.
Shopify: Best Wix Alternative for Dropshipping
What We Like
- Built for ecommerce with top-notch features like easy tax calculations and international selling tools
- Large third-party app marketplace with many dropshipping integrations
- Decent SEO features
- Integrates with Amazon, Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram for social and marketplace selling
- 14-day free trial
What's Missing
- Limited free template selection and design capabilities (less than 10 free templates are offered)
- Plans are expensive, especially after the first tier
- Top-quality themes for Shopify come at an additional price
- No free domain like you get with Wix and most other site builders
Shopify vs Wix
- Shopify is an ecommerce platform and so has better overall online selling features than Wix
- Shopify has a much larger selection of ecommerce integrations
- Shopify plans start at $29 per month, just a bit more expensive than Wix’s base ecommerce plan
- Shopify has extremely limited design capabilities; Wix offers full design freedom
- Wix has 800+ templates vs fewer than 10 available through Shopify
Cost overview
- $29 per month for robust ecommerce and dropshipping
For larger ecommerce sellers, dropshippers, or small businesses banking on building an online store, Shopify is a great Wix alternative. Like Wix, its capabilities are impressive. It integrates with almost every major online platform and has over 4,000 different third-party apps—of which many are centered around ecommerce.
Sell with Shopify
Shopify’s design features are very basic, with only eight free templates available and no drag-and-drop editor. Its plans are also expensive. However, for serious ecommerce, it can’t be beat. It comes with advanced features like abandoned cart recovery, easy tax computations, and inventory management.
Shopify is mainly for ecommerce—if you’re not planning on selling online extensively, Shopify may not be the best Wix alternative for you. If it sounds too much for your needs, then Weebly might be a better ecommerce choice as it’s cheaper and much more beginner-friendly to use.
Shopify Pricing
Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
---|---|---|---|
Price per Month* | $29 | $79 | $299 |
Free Domain | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
Unlimited Storage, Bandwidth & Free SSL | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-party Integrations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ecommerce Tools | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Transaction Fees** | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
SEO Features | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
*On a monthly billing cycle; no discounts are available for annual prepayment
**When not using Shopify Payments
Features for Small Businesses
- Save on shipping costs: Small businesses rarely have the clout to negotiate shipping discounts with major carriers. Shopify levels the playing field. Basic plan subscribers can save up to 77% on shipping costs with DHL Express, UPS, and USPS.
- Help with chargebacks and returns: As a serious player in the ecommerce space, Shopify can help analyze your transactions to reduce costs related to chargebacks, refunds, restocking, and fraud.
- Sell to international customers: Shopify enables international sales and ensures smooth site visitor experience. For example, it will automatically route site visitors to the correct store domain based on their market. It also provides language translation, currency conversion, and gives shoppers the ability to pay in their local currency.
For large-scale ecommerce or online sellers wanting dropshipping features, Shopify is the best Wix alternative. Get more details in our expert Shopify review.
How We Evaluated the Best Wix Alternatives
As Wix is known to be a beginner-friendly yet customization-heavy website builder, the best Wix competitors have comparable services and pricing, as well as features that set them apart. We judged Wix alternatives as to the design-forward features and templates and the number of integrations, like ecommerce, each offers.
These top Wix alternatives are all easy to use and have something to offer small businesses, depending on your needs. The best overall is Squarespace. Its paid plans are comparable to Wix’s but include unlimited storage and bandwidth with all plans. Plus, Squarespace gives you the freedom to change the look of your website easily, at any time, by switching templates. Try it risk-free with the 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Click on any of the tabs to learn more about our evaluation criteria.
30% of Overall Score
Wix offers great value for the price, including a free-forever plan you can start with. The best Wix alternatives were judged not only for their plans and pricing, but also for the features they provide on each plan tier, the length of the tie-in period, and discounts offered during the first year or for annual prepayment.
40% of Overall Score
The best website builders offer unlimited storage and bandwidth, and free SSL certificates. Free backups also ranked highly in our evaluation.
5% of Overall Score
Small businesses need unique features, depending on what the business does. Each of these Wix alternatives offers niche features that set them apart, from inventory management and ecommerce to online booking, social media, and marketing tools. The website builder that you choose should have features aligned with your business needs.
5% of Overall Score
Wix is known for a large selection of more than 800 free and sleek templates. While it has the most extensive library in the market, these Wix competitors also offer a decent amount of templates as well as high quality.
10% of Overall Score
Building a website isn’t the easiest thing to do, so having a good support system to help you troubleshoot any problems is a must. We rated these website builders on whether they offer 24/7 support, publish helpful articles and tutorials, the channels on which support can be reached, and the quality of the support provided.
10% of Overall Score
We evaluated each of these Wix competitors based on our years of website building experience and hands-on experience using the site builders. We looked at how intuitive and beginner-friendly they are, the ease with which you can design and build the website you envision, and how well we think these builders perform in general.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the best website builders?
All-in-one site builders make it easy and affordable to build a professional-looking website with good features and capabilities, quickly, despite having no background or experience in website development. Wix and all of the Wix competitors here are leading, all-in-one website builders. However, the best website builder for your business’ website will depend entirely on what features your business needs and your budget.
What’s the easiest way to build a website for my business?
Using an all-in-one website builder like Wix or any of the top Wix alternatives listed above is the easiest way to build a website for a small business. These website builders help you design your website, add the features you need, and host everything once your site is published. Everything is done step-by-step, so you don’t have to look elsewhere for your building needs.
Which is more customizable: Wix or WordPress?
Although Wix comes with over 800 free templates, a true drag-and-drop editor for extreme customization, and a large selection of third-party plugins, WordPress is still the more customizable website platform. WordPress has thousands of templates, plugins, and code-enabled integrations for an endless amount of combinations. See the full breakdown of Wix vs WordPress to decide which is better for you.
You Might Also Like…
- Decide on the best website builder for you between Wix and GoDaddy.
- Market your business locally and boost your sales with local SEO.
- Want more options for building a WordPress website? We rank the best WordPress website builders here.