WordPress or Wix? These are the differences that really matter 😎

Wix and WordPress are often portrayed as simple versus complex. Wix is said to be mostly easy, WordPress mostly technical. In practice, that image is too simple. The real question is: What does your organization need to make a difference online?

Choosing a platform is not just about how quickly you put a Web site online. It's about manageability, findability, flexibility and future-proofing. Does it fit your marketing approach, your content strategy and the role the Web site plays in your organization?

In this comparison, therefore, we look at the impact of both systems on:

• Daily management and ease of use for your team
• SEO and visibility, including in AI-driven search results
• Scalability and flexibility as you grow
• Security, ownership and control of data
• Cost now and total long-term investment

Thus, we help you choose not the "best system," but the one that best fits your brand, ambitions and digital maturity.

Wix is a SaaS platform. Everything is in one package: hosting, CMS, updates, security and a visual editor. You create an account, choose a template and can instantly build pages via drag-and-drop.

That approachability is Wix's strength. For the self-employed, small organizations or temporary campaign sites, it's nice that you can quickly put something online without technical knowledge. Many basic features are included: forms, simple SEO settings and standard design options.

At the same time, Wix is a closed platform. That means you work within the boundaries set by Wix. You can't choose your own server, have limited access to technical settings and are stuck with the way Wix structures content, data and design.

As long as your requirements are simple, that works fine. But as soon as you:

• Want to serve multiple audiences
• Want to get serious about SEO and content marketing
• Need custom links to other systems
• Want to scale up internationally

Then you find that the limitations of a closed platform can get in the way of your growth.

WordPress is an open source CMS and forms the basis of more than 40 percent of all websites worldwide. Instead of one fixed package like Wix, WordPress is a flexible platform that you can fully customize.

To do that, you make choices. You choose a hosting party, determine how maintenance and security are arranged and how the CMS is set up. You can do this yourself, but organizations often consciously choose a WordPress agency or Internet agency for this purpose.

That freedom is exactly why WordPress is suitable for organizations that see their website as a strategic platform. Not just as a digital brochure, but as a place where branding, campaigns, content, marketing automation and sometimes even recruitment and service come together.

WordPress allows you to:

• Set up multilingual websites with complex structures
• Linking with CRM, marketing automation and other tools
• Add custom functionality that fits your processes
• Grow from a compact site to a comprehensive platform without having to start from scratch

So the difference is not only in the CMS itself, but more importantly in how it is set up and managed. A thoughtful WordPress setup actually makes management easier for marketing teams.

Wix scores high on instant ease of use because of its visual editor. You drag and drop elements onto a page and immediately see the results. For a small site with a few pages, this works nicely.

WordPress requires more thinking on the front end, but delivers peace of mind in the long run. With a good setup, you work with fixed content blocks, clear page types and monitored styles. At least with us, that too is done in a visual way and via drag-and-drop, that is:

• Marketing teams can safely modify content without breaking the design
• New pages automatically stay within the corporate identity
• Structure and navigation remain logical even as the site grows

So the real difference is not in whether you can operate it, but in how manageable it remains as the site gets bigger. Wix keeps it simple by giving you fewer options. WordPress keeps it manageable by giving you structure and smart content models.

Especially with larger brands, recruitment websites or content-rich organizations, we see that this structure in WordPress saves a lot of time and errors.

Wix offers standard SEO capabilities such as customizing meta titles, descriptions and URLs. For small websites or temporary campaigns, this is often sufficient.

But once SEO becomes an important channel for new leads, members or clients, you run into limits at Wix. Consider:

• large content clusters around key themes
• internal link structures at scale
• Technical optimizations for speed and Core Web Vitals
• international SEO with multiple countries and languages

In WordPress, you have much more control over technology and structure. You can set up content architecture, taxonomies, internal links and landing pages exactly as your SEO strategy needs. That makes it easier to build authority around the topics you want to be found on as an organization.

On top of that, search behavior is changing rapidly. AI search engines and tools like ChatGPT are using content to provide answers. Articles that are well-structured, technically sound and thematically strong stand a better chance of keeping up with that. In our article on staying findable in AI with llms.txt, we explain why that structure is so important.

Therefore, for organizations looking to use content as a growth engine, WordPress offers a clear strategic advantage.

Most Web sites start small, but rarely stay that way. New services, campaigns, audiences or regions require expansion. The question then becomes: does the platform grow with you, or does your organization outgrow the platform?

Wix allows you to grow with it to a certain extent, but you always stay within the framework of the platform. After that, if you want to make a move to more customization, you often have to start over in another system.

WordPress, on the contrary, is strong on growth. You can:

• Add new page types and landing pages
• Set up subsites or country websites within the same structure
• roll out campaign pages that do match the corporate identity
• Expand functionalities without replacing the foundation

This is why organizations often consciously choose a professional web agency that uses WordPress as its foundation. You invest in a foundation that will last for years and remain flexible as your ambitions change.

With Wix, hosting, updates and security are managed centrally. That's comfortable: you don't have to keep an eye on anything yourself. The downside is that you have little insight into what exactly is happening and can hardly deviate from the default settings.

WordPress requires more direction, but also gives more control. With a well-designed maintenance process and secure hosting environment, a WordPress website is just as stable and secure, with the added benefit of making your own choices in:

• hosting party and server location
• backups and monitoring
• additional security layers and access management
• How long you keep data and where it is stored

For organizations in healthcare, finance or B2B with sensitive customer data, for example, that control is essential. In our article on security in WordPress, we show what measures you can take to mitigate risks.

At first glance, Wix often seems cheaper. You pay a monthly fee and get hosting, CMS and some features in return. Especially in the start-up phase or for a small site, this seems attractive.

But as your website grows, monthly costs increase. Additional apps, more storage and heavier packages make the total sum higher. And if at some point you run into the limits of Wix, you still have to invest in a new platform.

With WordPress, the situation is different. The initial investment is often higher, especially if you choose custom design and setup. On the other hand:

• you don't pay a fixed platform fee to a SaaS provider
• you can more easily build on instead of starting over
• you have more control over hosting costs and licenses
• the site is more scalable as marketing and content grow

Therefore, for organizations with serious growth ambitions, WordPress is often more cost-effective over several years. You're not just investing in a website, but in a digital platform that moves with your brand.

There is no platform that is best for everyone. The choice between Wix and WordPress depends on what your website needs to do for your organization.

Rather choose Wix if you need a simple website, without complex links or growth scenarios. You want to get online quickly, content changes little and SEO plays a limited role.

Be more likely to choose WordPress if your website plays an important role in marketing, visibility and growth. Think content marketing, campaigns, international ambitions, recruitment or lead generation.

Then WordPress becomes interesting because you:

• Have more control over SEO, content structure and technical performance
• Can interface with existing systems and tools
• build out the site step by step without starting from scratch
• maintain greater control over data, security and ownership

Still in doubt? Then look not only at the tool, but especially at the question: how should our website support the brand and the organization in the coming years? From our work as a branding agency and web agency, we like to think strategically about this.