Where Wix differentiates itself is breadth. It isn’t only a website editor; it’s a full suite that includes scheduling, email marketing, invoicing, a CRM, an app market and a native eCommerce platform. That breadth is a double-edged sword, which we’ll come back to — but first, how does the building experience actually feel?
The Editor: Drag-and-Drop Meets AI
Wix offers two distinct ways to build a site, and choosing between them is the first real decision you’ll make.
Wix Editor (classic drag-and-drop)
The classic Wix editor is a true drag-and-drop experience. You can place any element — text, image, button, gallery, embed — anywhere on a page with pixel-level control. If you want the freedom to arrange your site exactly as you pictured it, this is one of the most flexible editors in the industry.
The trade-off is that pixel-level freedom can produce layouts that misbehave on other screen sizes. Wix largely solves this with separate desktop and mobile views plus automatic layout detection, but beginners can still end up with a polished desktop site that looks untidy on phones unless they check the mobile view before publishing.
Wix ADI and AI site generation
If a blank canvas feels intimidating, Wix’s AI-assisted flow builds an entire starter site from a short questionnaire or a single prompt. You answer a few questions about your business, what you want to offer and the style you like, and the AI generates a complete site with pages, copy, images and a colour palette already in place.
The AI sites are useful starting points, though we’d treat them as a draft rather than a finished product — the generated copy is generic and benefits from a proper editorial pass.
Templates and Design
Wix’s template library is one of its strongest assets. There are more than 900 templates organised by industry — photographers, restaurants, consultants, online shops, portfolios and plenty more. Each one is fully responsive, looks current and can be customised without restrictions.
One important caveat: once you publish a site with a given template, you can’t swap it for a different one without rebuilding. This is a long-standing Wix limitation that still catches new users off guard. Choose carefully at the start.
Wix Pricing in the UK: How Much Does It Cost?
Wix runs a freemium model. You can build and publish a site for free — it will carry Wix branding and live on a wixsite.com subdomain — and upgrade to a paid plan when you want your own domain and more features. UK prices are billed in pounds and shown excluding VAT.
Prices are per month on annual billing, exclude VAT, and were checked on 11 September 2026. Monthly billing costs roughly 16–28% more per plan, and promotional discounts change regularly. A custom domain is free for the first year on annual plans, then renews at Wix’s standard rate.
Check today’s Wix plans and offers →Ease of Use
For most people, Wix is easy to use. The editor responds quickly, tooltips appear where you expect them, and the visual structure of a page is intuitive. Adding a section, changing a heading, uploading an image or embedding a video each take one or two clicks.
The learning curve becomes noticeable when you attempt something more advanced — a multi-stage form, a customised checkout flow, or a third-party integration. Those tasks aren’t hard, but they involve submenus that aren’t always where you’d expect. A couple of evenings with the Help Centre is enough to get comfortable.
Key Features
SEO and marketing
Wix’s SEO tools have come a long way. You get editable meta titles and descriptions, structured data, a sitemap submitted automatically to Google, and a guided SEO checklist that walks you through each page. Wix also connects directly to Google Search Console, so you can track how pages perform without leaving the dashboard.
For marketing, Wix bundles email campaigns, pop-ups, live chat, automations and paid-ads management into the same platform. You probably won’t need a separate Mailchimp account unless you send at high volume.
eCommerce
Wix’s eCommerce is solid for small and medium shops. You get unlimited products, multi-currency support, abandoned-cart recovery, product reviews, dropshipping integrations and more than 50 payment providers including Stripe, PayPal and Apple Pay. It isn’t at Shopify’s level for high-volume stores — the checkout is a little less conversion-optimised and the app ecosystem is smaller — but for most independent UK merchants it handles the job without complaint. Note that online selling starts on the Business plan at £25 per month.
Blogging
The Wix Blog is a capable content-marketing tool. You can schedule posts, tag and categorise content, add custom authors, and gate posts behind a paid membership. It isn’t a WordPress replacement for a high-traffic publication, but for a business blog or personal site it works well.
Mobile app
Wix offers two mobile apps: one for editing your site on the go, and one for your visitors if you run a membership community. The editing app is good for small tweaks, though complex layout changes are still better made on desktop.
Want to see the editor for yourself? The free plan has no time limit.
Performance, Security and Support
Wix hosts every site on its own global infrastructure with a 99.9% uptime commitment. Performance has improved markedly over the past few years, with faster image delivery and better Core Web Vitals out of the box. You’re unlikely to hit speed problems unless your site is heavy on custom code or embedded third-party scripts.
On security, every site gets a free SSL certificate, DDoS protection and continuous monitoring. You don’t manage server-level security yourself — Wix handles it.
Support runs on 24/7 live chat and email, with callbacks available to paid users. In our testing, chat replies typically arrived in under five minutes and the agents resolved the query rather than deflecting to documentation.
Our Scoring Breakdown
How we score: each builder is assessed on the five criteria above, weighted towards ease of use and design because those decide whether a first-time site actually gets finished. Reviewed by Oliver Bennett; pricing re-checked against Wix’s UK plans page on 11 September 2026. See our How We Rate page for the full method.
The Bottom Line
Wix earns its place at the top of our rankings because it balances three things most website builders only get two of right: design freedom, ease of use and breadth of features. The editor is flexible enough for designers who care about details, yet friendly enough for complete beginners. The template library is the deepest in the industry. And the bundled tools — SEO, email marketing, scheduling, analytics — save you stitching together half a dozen separate services.
Where it loses ground is value at the entry level and the one-way nature of the platform: you can’t change template after launch, and you can’t take the site with you. If neither of those is a dealbreaker, Wix belongs on your shortlist whether this is your first website or your tenth. Start on the free plan, build something real, and upgrade only when you need a custom domain or a shop.
Wix vs the Competition
Wix isn’t the cheapest builder in our ranking, and it isn’t the best value if all you need is a simple brochure site. Here’s how it compares with the three builders that most often come up as alternatives.
Provider
Score
Price from
Best for
Action
This review
Score
9.8
Price from
Free planPremium from £9/mo
Best for
Design freedom, 900+ templates and an all-in-one toolkit
Score
8.9
Price from
£1/moThen from £16/mo
Best for
The cheapest way to get a first site online, with a named account manager
Score
9.3
Price from
£1/moUK data centres
Best for
UK-hosted sites, UK-based support and 99.99% uptime
Score
9.5
Price from
£2.99/moOn a 48-month term
Best for
Cheap hosting bundled with an AI builder, if you can commit long term
Scores reflect our own testing of each platform. Introductory prices apply for a fixed initial term and renew higher — check each provider’s current terms before buying. Prices exclude VAT and were verified on 11 September 2026.
Short version: pick Wix if design control and an all-in-one toolkit matter most; pick IONOS or Fasthosts if the lowest possible starting price is the deciding factor; pick Hostinger if you want cheap hosting plus a builder and don’t mind a four-year commitment. For a full side-by-side, see our website builder comparison.
Who Is Wix Best For?
Wix stretches across a wide range of projects, but which plan you actually need — and whether it’s the right platform at all — depends on what you’re building.
Small business owners
You want a credible site live inside a weekend, with contact forms, opening hours and enquiry tracking handled in the same dashboard rather than bolted on.
We’d start on Core — £16/mo
Freelancers and creatives
A portfolio where the layout is the point. This is where the drag-and-drop editor earns its keep: you can place work exactly where you want it instead of fighting a fixed grid.
We’d start on Light — £9/mo
Appointment-led local services
Salons, clinics, studios and trades that live or die by the booking calendar. Wix Bookings is built in, but taking payment for an appointment means stepping up from Light.
We’d start on Core — £16/mo
Small online shops
Up to a few thousand products, UK and international customers, and no appetite for running a separate store platform alongside the website.
We’d start on Business — £25/mo
Less of a fit: high-volume retail, anything that needs server-level control, and buyers whose first question is the lowest possible monthly price. The comparison above is the faster route for those three.
Ready to Build Your Website with Wix?
Start on the free plan to try the editor and browse the template library, then upgrade from £9 per month when you’re ready for your own domain. No card required to begin.
Get Started with Wix
On Wix’s official siteFrequently Asked Questions
Is Wix really free?
Yes. You can build and publish a complete website on Wix’s free plan with no time limit. The free plan uses a wixsite.com subdomain and displays Wix branding. To use your own domain and remove the branding you’ll need a paid plan, starting at £9 per month on annual billing.
How much does Wix cost in the UK?
On annual billing, Light is £9 per month, Core £16, Business £25 and Business Elite £119. Prices exclude VAT, which is added at checkout, and monthly billing costs roughly 16–28% more. Wix runs promotions regularly, so the price you see at checkout may be lower.
Can I move my Wix site to another platform later?
Only partially. You can export blog posts as XML and download your media files, but the design, layout and most interactive elements are tied to Wix and don’t transfer. If platform portability matters to you, weigh that up before committing.
Does Wix include hosting and a domain?
Hosting is included with every Wix plan, free or paid. A custom domain is free for the first year on annual paid plans, then renews at Wix’s standard domain price. You can also connect a .co.uk or other domain you’ve registered elsewhere.
Is Wix good for SEO?
Yes. Wix has invested heavily in SEO over the past several years. Every site comes with editable meta tags, structured data, automatic sitemap generation and Google Search Console integration. The built-in SEO checklist is genuinely useful for beginners, and a well-optimised Wix site can rank as well as one built on any other platform.
Can I sell products on Wix?
Yes, but you’ll need the Business plan (£25 per month) or higher. Once enabled, Wix eCommerce gives you unlimited products, abandoned-cart recovery, multi-currency support and more than 50 payment providers. It works well for small and medium shops.
How does Wix compare to Squarespace or Shopify?
Wix is more flexible than Squarespace and easier than Shopify, but it’s a generalist. Squarespace has a more consistent design language, and Shopify is purpose-built for eCommerce at scale. For most small businesses and creators who need a website with some commerce attached, Wix strikes the best all-round balance.
