Wix vs Shopify: A Comprehensive Comparison (2025)

Choosing the right eCommerce platform is vital whether you are a small business owner or a B2B entrepreneur looking to scale. With countless options available, two giants consistently stand out from the crowd: Wix and Shopify. While both platforms offer robust tools to create and run an online store, their differences can significantly influence your business's success. This comprehensive guide explores the key differences, strengths, limitations, and ideal use cases for Wix and Shopify, helping you decide which platform best aligns with your business goals.

What to Expect in This Comparison: A Deep Dive into Wix vs Shopify

We'll compare Wix and Shopify based on the key factors that matter most to small business owners. This includes pricing, ease of use, design customization, eCommerce features, and customer support. By the end of this post, you'll have a clear understanding of which platform best suits your online business needs.

Who Are Wix and Shopify? Understanding the Basics

Wix started as a simple website builder catering to individuals and small businesses who wanted to establish their online presence. While it offers a range of features, eCommerce is only one component of its broad platform. Its standout strength lies in user-friendly site design. On the other hand, Shopify and Shopify Plus are eCommerce-first solutions designed specifically for online stores.

Key Differences between Wix and Shopify

• Focus on eCommerce: Shopify is engineered with eCommerce at its core, brimming with powerful tools for managing your inventory, dissecting sales analytics, and selling across multiple channels. On the other hand, Wix is a website constructor that functions with eCommerce features, offering more design flexibility, though its eCommerce functionality might be slightly less specialized.
• Scalability: Shopify and Shopify Plus are designed with significant scalability in mind, catering to businesses of all sizes. Wix works excellently for small to mid-sized enterprises but could fall short for those with grand growth objectives or intricate eCommerce demands.
• Design vs. Function: Wix outperforms design flexibility with an extensive template library and a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. Shopify, however, places eCommerce functionality front and centre with streamlined themes calibrated to boost sales.

Whether you're a solopreneur or a growing B2B enterprise, Shopify caters to businesses that want to take their selling strategy to the next level. Now, let's break down the differences.

1. Pricing & Value: Wix vs Shopify - Which Offers More?

Budget is often a deciding factor for small business owners searching for the perfect eCommerce platform.

Wix Plans:

Wix plans start at $27/month for the most basic eCommerce tier. This includes a free domain name (for the first year) and essential online store tools. However, additional features may require upgrades or add-ons.

• Business Basic ($27/month): Online payments, product setup
• Business Unlimited ($32/month): Abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions
• Business VIP ($59/month): Priority support, custom reports

Shopify Plans:

Shopify’s pricing starts at $39/month, but the inclusions are more robust. Shopify also charges additional transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments.

• Basic Shopify ($39/month): Essential features for new stores
• Shopify ($105/month): Advanced analytics for growing stores
• Advanced Shopify ($399/month): Premium tools for scaling enterprises
• Shopify Plus ($2500/month): B2B and enterprise

Verdict: Wix has a friendlier starting price, but Shopify offers more excellent value for scaling businesses.

2. Ease of Use: Wix vs Shopify - Which Platform Wins?

Ease of use is a critical factor for small business owners who may not have a background in web development.

Wix:

Wix is famous for its intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, allowing users to easily create beautiful websites without coding knowledge. Pair that with pre-designed templates, and you’ve got a platform where you can launch an online store in hours. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs who want an all-in-one solution that balances simplicity with functionality.

• Pros: Smooth onboarding and tutorials, no coding required, click-and-edit design makes changes simple.
• Cons: It can feel simplistic for advanced users.

Shopify:

Shopify is designed for eCommerce, so its setup for creating the template may feel less intuitive for first-time users than Wix's. However, it compensates with excellent guidance throughout the setup process and clear explanations for its many functionalities. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with its layout, managing your store is seamless.

• Pros: The clean and user-friendly interface for store management offers a guided experience for setting up payment gateways, shipping, etc., and it provides easy access to educational resources like Shopify Academy.
• Cons: Less control over technical infrastructure.

Verdict: Wix wins for beginners, but Shopify gets bonus points for those committed to building a professional online store.

3. Features and Flexibility: Wix vs Shopify - Comparing eCommerce Capabilities

Your needs will vary depending on whether you sell products, services, or B2B solutions.

Wix:

Wix eCommerce offers a user-friendly and solid toolkit ideal for startups and smaller online stores, providing essential features like add-to-cart functionality, flexible payment gateways, inventory tracking for up to 50,000 products, and seamless integrations with key apps like PayPal and Shippo, making it easy to launch and manage a basic online store. However, businesses seeking advanced eCommerce capabilities should be aware that crucial features like abandoned cart recovery and advanced analytics are tiered behind higher-cost Wix Business and eCommerce plans, which might present a cost barrier for budget-conscious startups and growing businesses needing to scale, making it essential to carefully evaluate the tiered pricing structure and long-term feature requirements as the online business expands beyond basic needs.

• Pros: User-friendly platform, essential eCommerce features included, scalable inventory management, helpful app integrations.
• Cons: Advanced features require plan upgrades, cost can increase for essential tools, may lack inherent advanced functionality compared to dedicated eCommerce platforms at lower tiers.

Shopify:

Shopify is perfectly equipped to meet the demands of business owners seeking a robust and scalable online selling solution, offering the capabilities needed for serious eCommerce growth: Benefit from unlimited products and strong inventory management tools to handle extensive catalogues, gain deep insights with advanced analytics, including detailed sales reports, directly improve conversions with abandoned cart recovery, and expand your reach through multi-channel selling with seamless integrations for Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon. Furthermore, the extensive Shopify App Store, featuring over 6,000 integrations, allows businesses to meticulously fine-tune their store and extend functionality to accommodate specialized needs, ranging from B2B invoicing solutions to navigating complex tax compliance requirements, solidifying Shopify's position as a leading platform for businesses ready to scale and optimize their online presence.

• Pros: Unlimited product listings, robust inventory management, advanced analytics & reporting, built-in abandoned cart recovery, multi-channel selling capabilities, vast app store for extensive customization, designed for scalability and high-volume sales.
• Cons: Shopify is positioned at a higher price point compared to simpler eCommerce solutions.

Verdict: Shopify offers more advanced eCommerce tools, particularly for larger stores or growing businesses.

4. Design and Customization: Wix vs Shopify - Appearance Matters

How your store looks can directly impact customer trust and conversions.

Wix:

Wix empowers users with a vast library of over 800 customizable templates, offering a significant advantage for small business owners who value creativity and design flexibility. These professionally designed Wix templates can be extensively tweaked and personalized using Wix's intuitive drag-and-drop editor, making designing a store achievable even for those without coding experience. 
However, consider this crucial limitation regarding Wix templates:  Wix templates are not interchangeable. You are locked into that choice once you've selected a template for your Wix store. Should you decide to redesign your website with a different aesthetic or structure in the future, you will need to start from scratch, rebuilding your site on a new template.

• Pros: Extensive library of templates, highly customizable with drag-and-drop editor.
• Cons: Templates are not interchangeable after selection, requires a complete rebuild for design changes.

Shopify:

Shopify boasts a smaller collection of themes—about 100 options total—but these are purposefully designed for eCommerce. While they are less customizable compared to Wix templates, each theme is highly optimized for fast loading, streamlined checkouts, and mobile responsiveness. For advanced users, Shopify’s themes can be adjusted using Liquid, its coding language.

Verdict: Wix is ideal for creative freedom, while Shopify themes are built for sales-first functionality.

5. Scalability: Wix vs Shopify - Planning for the Future

Wix:

Wix handles small stores well. However, as your B2B business grows and you add more products or deal with higher traffic volumes, you may find its limitations restrictive.

Shopify:

Shopify's infrastructure can handle growth without breaking a sweat. Everything from its robust server performance to features (like multi-currency support and advanced shipping options) is designed to support scalability.

Verdict: One of the biggest differentiators between Wix and Shopify is scalability. Shopify is the clear choice for long-term growth.

6. Support and Resources: Help When You Need It

Having reliable support is crucial when running your business online.

Wix:

Wix provides 24/7 support via email and even offers callback services in certain regions. Its help center has plenty of tutorials to guide small business owners through the platform.

Shopify:

Shopify offers 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support, a level of accessibility most online business owners appreciate. Its robust knowledge center and Shopify Academy provide valuable tips and tools for entrepreneurs.

Verdict: Shopify edges out Wix for its availability and the sheer volume of educational resources.

Final Recommendation: Choosing the Right Platform for Your Business

If you’re a small business owner starting out or only need basic eCommerce functionality with creative flair, Wix will likely meet your needs. It’s cost-effective, easy to use, and provides plenty of design options to make your site stand out. However, if your primary objective is to grow a thriving, sales-driven online store, Shopify is the clear winner. Its scalability, advanced tools, and focus on eCommerce make it a long-term asset for B2B businesses. Whatever you choose, both platforms offer free trials—so test them out to see which fits your workflow and aligns with your vision.