[ad_1] Wix is one of the most popular website builders worldwide and powers a staggering 160 million websites. Most people choose Wix because it’s easy to use, has lots of features, and there’s a huge collection of templates to choose from. But if you’re thinking about creating a website, you should consider using one of these Wix alternatives instead. What’s wrong with Wix? Well, nothing if you just want to get a website up quickly and you don’t mind paying a monthly fee for it. However, if you want to grow your website, add advanced functionality, improve its SEO, and have full control over your data and content, there are many better alternatives. Bonus: several of these Wix alternatives are a cheaper option too. We recommend these alternatives: For General Websites WordPress (flexible and powerful CMS for creating any kind of site) Gator by HostGator (affordable and easy website creation for small businesses) Divi Theme (adds visual drag-and-drop functionality to WordPress) Webflow (advanced website builder for web designers and agencies) Weebly (simpler and cheaper alternative to Wix) For eCommerce Sites & Online Stores WooCommerce (flexible free eCommerce platform for WordPress) BigCommerce (powerful hosted eCommerce solution) Shopify (Easy-to-use online store builder with lots of tools to maximize sales) For Photography & Art Portfolios SmugMug (Secure and unlimited photo storage and portfolio builder with sales tools for photographers) Format (Stylish online portfolios for photographers with in-built business tools) Advantages of Wix We’re not claiming that Wix is all bad. Certainly, there are millions of people who seem to be happy with using it for their website. So let’s start by taking a look at what makes Wix such a popular choice. Easy to Use Wix’s main selling point has always been how easy it is to use for beginners and that’s certainly true. With its basic site wizard, you can have a site up within minutes. The drag-and-drop builder is very easy to use too, and it’s simple to make customizations to the templates and create your own designs. Great Selection of Templates If you’re not naturally skilled with design or don’t want to spend hours making your website look good, Wix has you covered with over 800 professionally designed templates for pretty much any kind of site. We can’t fault the Wix templates. They really are beautiful and modern designs and there’s something for everyone. Your site certainly won’t look DIY unless you start messing around with them. All-in-one Platform Another big selling point of Wix is that they take care of everything for you including hosting, security, backups, eCommerce tools, marketing, analytics, and so on. You don’t need to sign up for or learn how to use lots of different tools and services. Everything is provided on a single platform. Create a Free Website Of course, a big reason why Wix hosts millions of websites is because you can build a website without paying anything with their free account. This is a good option for small personal sites but doesn’t work for most people because the free sites have a Wix domain address and display Wix ads. There are also significant limits on storage, bandwidth, and features. However, Wix was very clever to offer this free option, as I’m sure many users started out on the free plan and then upgraded when they realized its limitations. If you want to build a website but don’t have much money, there are other options. Wix Vs. WordPress Wix has mainly aimed its product at beginners and creatives to date, highlighting the platform’s ease of use and the fact you don’t need any coding skills to create a professional-looking website. However, the brand has since expanded its focus and is now targeting agencies, developers, and those more experienced in building websites. Wix recently launched a bizarre advertising campaign taking a swipe at WordPress. They sent high-profile tech influencers and WordPress users Bose noise-canceling headphones in a box with a “Top Secret” and a note signed from “WP”. Recipients of the headphones were instructed to scan a QR code, which took them to a video of a man calling himself “WordPress” and complaining that Wix was spreading lies and fake news. The campaign left most of the recipients feeling confused about what they were trying to achieve, especially as there was no indication that the headphones were from Wix apart from the shipping label. Wix later uploaded a series of videos identified as part of their “You Deserve Better” campaign, which criticized WordPress as being a target for hackers, needing regular updates, and generating constant errors. While Wix claimed that the purpose of the campaign was to reach an audience that “doesn’t think or know that Wix applies to their needs,” it attracted ridicule from the WordPress and tech community, with users on Twitter calling out the brand for being “unethical” and “tacky”. So why exactly is the idea of switching to Wix such a ridiculous idea for most WordPress users? Let’s take a deeper look at some of the negatives of the platform. Wix Cons – Why You Should Not Use Wix While Wix has some advantages, particularly for those new to creating websites, there are also many downsides. These negatives are the reason why you’ll rarely see a serious business website built on Wix and why most people move away from the platform once their website grows or they’re updating it regularly. Lack of Data Portability Wix is the only CMS to our knowledge that does not allow you to export your content. While there are some limited export functions for products and other data types, the Wix support database states “Currently, it is not possible to transfer blog posts from one site to another.” In basic terms, this means that once you start building a site on Wix, you’re stuck with it. Of course, you can make local backups of your blog posts and website content in a spreadsheet or word documents, but there’s no easy way to export your
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