Many of the small businesses that come to me started out on Wix. That was not a bad choice. Wix does a number of things well, and for some business owners it remains the right tool. Below I set out what the platform can do, what it costs per year, what comes on top and when, in my view, you outgrow it.

What Wix does well

Wix is an online website builder with hosting included. You don't need to arrange a server or pick a host. You open the editor, choose a template and start building.

There is a free plan to try the editor, and there are four paid plans. Every paid plan gives you your own domain, no Wix branding and a free domain name for the first year. You pay yearly in advance and there is a 14 day money back guarantee.

You can also do something for findability. You can add structured data (JSON-LD) yourself, and the dashboard has a separate "SEO & GEO" section.

Who it suits

Wix is a good fit if you:

  • want a simple site you manage yourself,
  • don't want to or can't pay a technical partner,
  • sell little or nothing online,
  • are happy with what the templates and apps offer.

Think of a freelancer, a small service provider or an association with a handful of pages and a contact form.

What it costs per year

These are the regular prices as Wix lists them on 3 November 2026, on a yearly plan paid in advance, excluding VAT:

  • Light: €14 per month, €168 per year, 2 GB storage
  • Core: €25 per month, €300 per year, 50 GB storage
  • Business: €34 per month, €408 per year, 100 GB storage
  • Business Elite: €149 per month, €1,788 per year, unlimited storage

Right now Wix shows a 50% discount on Core, Business and Business Elite, which comes to €12.50, €17 and €74.50 per month. For the long run, still count on the regular price. If you pay monthly, the prices are higher. The plan names are fairly new: in 2025 Wix replaced the old Combo, Unlimited and Business Basic plans.

Calculated over three years at the regular price, you end up at €504 for Light, €900 for Core, €1,224 for Business and €5,364 for Business Elite. Each time excluding VAT and without the extras below.

What comes on top

  • Domain name after the first year. It is only free for the first year, after that you pay for it yourself.
  • Apps. Some apps in the Wix App Market are paid.
  • Transaction fees. You can only accept online payments from Core upwards. On Core, according to Webadvisor, you pay a 4% transaction fee on top of the regular payment costs. Business charges no extra Wix transaction fees and calculates VAT automatically. So if you really sell online, Core is not necessarily the cheapest plan.
  • Renewal. According to Webadvisor, Wix raised renewal prices in March 2026, by up to 22% in some regions.

The free plan is not a real option for a business: your site carries Wix branding, you sit on a Wix address instead of your own domain and you can't sell.

Where you run into limits

The main limitation: a site you build in the regular Wix editor has to run on Wix servers. Your content and your domain remain yours, but you can't move the site itself to another host. If you want to leave, you rebuild.

You also have no control over the server, the hosting or the caching. If you switch templates after publishing, you have to rebuild your content. And in Webadvisor's own tests, Wix sites loaded more slowly than optimised WordPress sites.

What is changing now

On 2 November 2026 Wix announced Studio Two, an AI native visual editor for professionals and agencies. You work in standard React code and you can export projects and publish them outside Wix. That is a clear break from the regular editor.

Studio Two goes to Wix Partners first and then gradually to all users. It builds on the same foundation as Wix Harmony, the AI native platform for do it yourself users that Wix launched this year. The launch also includes Aria 2.0, the new version of the Wix AI agent. Existing Wix Studio sites remain supported.

What this means in practice for an ordinary small business site, and what it will cost, is not yet known. For now, the limitation of the regular editor still applies.

When you outgrow it

In my experience you notice it through a few signs:

  • you want integrations with your own systems that the App Market doesn't offer,
  • speed and technical SEO start to matter for your revenue,
  • you pay more every year for apps and renewals,
  • you want the freedom to switch host or partner.

If you recognise those points, a custom website often makes more sense. If you don't, you are better off staying with Wix.

How to approach it

  1. Check the current price at Wix before you order or renew. Discounts and prices vary by region and over time.
  2. Compare the regular price, not the temporary discount, and calculate the cost over three years.
  3. Try the editor for free first. Only pick a paid plan when you go live.
  4. Choose your template carefully before you publish.
  5. If you switch, first make a list of all your pages and URLs and save your texts and images. Build the new site, set up 301 redirects from every old URL to the new page and transfer your domain or update the DNS. After launch, check Google Search Console for 404 errors.

If you are unsure, put your three year Wix cost next to what your own site would cost. My rates are on the pricing page, and how a switch works in practice is explained under switching from Wix.