Wix vs GoDaddy: Pricing & Features & Which Is Best for You in 2020

Wix is a leading site builder that has been around for years, though with GoDaddy’s recent launch of its site builder, you might be wondering: Which is better, Wix or GoDaddy? At first glance, both are very similar, though under further inspection, they are very different. Generally, Wix is better for those who want to build an informational site, whereas GoDaddy is better for those who want a site they can scale with and those looking to acquire leads and bookings.

Wix vs GoDaddy at a Glance

How We Evaluated Wix vs GoDaddy

To evaluate Wix vs GoDaddy, we compared the two providers by using the factors that are generally the most important to small businesses. These include ease of use, affordability, value for price, features and inclusions, the availability and helpfulness of customer support, and customer reviews to see how other real users feel about the platforms they’ve used.

We considered these factors in coming up with this comparison:

• Affordability and value for the price
• Features and inclusions
• Ease of use
• Customer service
• Customer reviews

After reviewing each, we choose GoDaddy as the better overall site builder. It’s not only very easy to use with tons of templates to suit nearly any industry, but it also has more affordable pricing, more robust features for service-based businesses, and enables businesses to scale their site with a WordPress migration service.

Pricing: Wix vs GoDaddy

Wix and GoDaddy are both site builders that offer monthly plans that include the use of its site editor as well as web hosting. Professional-quality plans start at $10 per month with GoDaddy and $13 per month with Wix.

Wix Pricing

What it costs: Wix plans for business-quality websites start at $13 per month with annual billing, or $17 per month with month-to-month billing. Ecommerce plans, or those that accept online payments, start at $23 per month with annual billing, or $28 per month with month-to-month billing. Wix offers a free 14-day trial for those who want to try it before investing in a plan.

• Plans start at $13 per month for professional websites
• Billing cycles available: Monthly, annually, two years, and three years
• Free trial period: 14 days

GoDaddy Pricing

What it costs: GoDaddy plans for professional websites start at $10 per month with annual billing. This includes the use of its site builder and web hosting, making everything your site needs available directly through GoDaddy. While the $10 per month plan allows you to accept online payments for products, those selling online services need to upgrade to the $20 per month plan. It does offer a free one-month trial for those who want to try it before signing up.

• Plans start $10 per month for professional websites
• Billing cycles available: Monthly and annually
• Free trial period: One month

Takeaway: GoDaddy is the winner when it comes to price. It’s not only cheaper than Wix for basic, informational websites, but it’s also cheaper for ecommerce sites. On top of that, it also offers a longer trial period, which gives users ample time to get accustomed to the site editor and build a business website before making a financial commitment.

Features: Wix vs GoDaddy

It can be difficult to spot the differences between Wix and GoDaddy upon first glance. While each offers an easy-to-use site editor, lots of templates to choose from, and web hosting included with all plans, GoDaddy offers unmetered storage and bandwidth, and its entry-level plan includes the ability to accept online payments.

Wix Tiered Features

GoDaddy Tiered Features

Takeaway: In terms of features and value for price, GoDaddy is the winner. While Wix is the better choice for those who value customizations the most, GoDaddy offers a lot more for a lower price. Granted, GoDaddy does not include a free domain name, but you can purchase one at the cost of around $1 per month, so GoDaddy is still cheaper than Wix without a free domain.

Ease of Use: Wix vs GoDaddy

Wix and GoDaddy are both easy-to-use website builders that enable nearly anyone to build a site without any technical or coding knowledge. Despite that they’re both created to make web design easy, each platform uses different means to achieve this.

Wix Ease of Use & Site Editor

Wix website editing interface

Wix has a true drag-and-drop site editor, which makes it very customizable. However, as a long-time Wix user, it has become less user-friendly as it has overloaded its editor with customization options that make it less intuitive and sometimes a bit clunky. For those new to web design, it also lends to more design inconsistencies if users try to overcustomize. Another thing to note is that once you choose a template, you cannot change it without losing all your data.

GoDaddy Ease of Use & Site Editor

GoDaddy website editing interface

GoDaddy has a very user-friendly and intuitive site editor. It offers a wide range of customization options without overwhelming users with unnecessary features that complicate the web design process. Unlike Wix, GoDaddy lets users switch templates at any time without losing their work, adding a greater scope of customization.

Takeaway: It’s a close call, but GoDaddy is the leader. While Wix does offer more customization capabilities, GoDaddy is simply the more user-friendly platform for building a website without any web design experience. It also offers very robust appointment booking features, making it a great choice for service-based businesses, such as consultants, salons, spas, medical practices, and law firms, and any business that accepts appointments and bookings.

Customer Service: Wix vs GoDaddy

It’s not until you’re faced with an issue that you think about customer service, but it’s worth considering as a factor when choosing between two website builders. Wix and GoDaddy both offer support, but offer very different customer services. For example, while both are 24/7, Wix does not offer live support. Instead, users must submit a support ticket, whereas GoDaddy only offers live support services via phone and live chat.

Takeaway: There’s really no comparison here: GoDaddy wins by a long shot. Anyone who has ever had to wait for a response on a support ticket knows how frustrating it is when you aren’t able to access support live. GoDaddy offers a plethora of contact numbers based on which country you’re in, and it’s available 24/7.

Customer Reviews: Wix vs GoDaddy

While Wix and GoDaddy have both been around for a while, GoDaddy’s website builder is relatively new. Both have good average ratings, at 4.3 for Wix and a 4.1 for GoDaddy. Wix users frequently comment that they like how much freedom its drag-and-drop editing interface gives them, but that they wish you could switch templates without having to start over. GoDaddy users like how easy and affordable it is, but that customization freedom is limited.

Wix Customer Reviews

Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

GoDaddy Customer Reviews

Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars

Takeaway: It’s a close call, but Wix comes out ahead of GoDaddy given that it has a higher average rating. It’s also worth noting that since GoDaddy is relatively new, it has fewer reviews.

When to Use Wix

Here’s when to use Wix:

• When you want as much design freedom as possible
• When you prefer a true drag-and-drop site editor
• When you want an affordable way to accept online payments for products

Visit Wix

When to Use GoDaddy

Here’s when to use GoDaddy:

• When you want the flexibility to swap out templates as you wish
• When you need to easily build a professional-looking site as fast as possible
• When you want a site that accepts online bookings and appointments

Visit GoDaddy

When to Use an Alternative

Wix and GoDaddy are two top website builders, but they’re not the only two website builders available. If you’re not sure that either sounds like a good fit for you, consider one of the other top providers, such as Squarespace for top-rated designs, Weebly for affordable ecommerce sites, Shopify for easy-to-build ecommerce sites with sophisticated features, or WordPress for maximum site flexibility, customization, and control.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What’s the best way to build a small business website?

There are two primary ways to build a small business website: with a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, or an all-in-one site builder such as Squarespace or Wix. Site builders are a good choice for those who are new to web design, as they’re created to give people an easy way of building a site. Learn more, including step-by-step instructions on building your small business website.

What are the best Wix alternatives?

The best Wix alternatives are Squarespace for those who want an easy-to-use site builder with top-rated templates, Weebly for those who want an easy way of building an online store, GoDaddy for service-based businesses that want a site that can accept online bookings, and WordPress for those who have the time to learn and want the most web design freedom. Learn more about the top Wix alternatives.

Which site builder is better for ecommerce: Wix or Shopify?

While Wix and Shopify both offer ecommerce features, Wix is generally better for those who want to easily build a business website to passively sell products. Shopify is better for those who want an easy way to build an ecommerce business as the main sales channel and those who use dropshipping. Check out the full comparison of Shopify vs Wix.

Bottom Line

Wix and GoDaddy are both well-regarded site builders. While Wix is better for those who value customization and want maximum design freedom, GoDaddy is better for those who want an easy way of building a professional website and an affordable price, as well as service-based businesses that want to build a site that can accept online appointments and bookings with easy to use and comprehensive built-in booking features.