Weebly vs Wix

December 30, 2022

While the majority of all-in-one website builders make it simpler to construct and manage a website, not all programs are created equal. Your life may be made significantly easier or much more difficult by even minor variations across various systems. The ideal option for your company may not be obvious when deciding between Weebly and Wix. Wix includes enough navigation elements to design your website from scratch.

Both Wix and Weebly are website builders, however, there are significant distinctions between the two. Weebly is quite user-friendly, but there is no theme customization. While Wix provides you with a lot of freedom, it may occasionally become chaotic. Overall, we think you won't be let down by either one, therefore we suggest both. Knowing the differences can help you select the option that best meets your needs.

Which is simpler to use in terms of intuitiveness?

Let's be quite clear about this: both services likely attained their current level of popularity due to how simple they are to use. Their marketing is truthful. Starting takes simply a few minutes. All you have to do is enter your name and email address when creating an account. After selecting one of the several layouts offered, you start rearranging elements using your mouse. 

The Wix editor includes a lot more features and a somewhat more appealing design. Some people might find it a little intimidating because you can adjust the colors, styles, fonts, and even the animation of the photos and text in addition to positioning each piece precisely where you want it. 

Wix makes sure that you never destroy your site, although this sounds like a lot of complexity. Unfortunately, Weebly does not allow for that. When it comes to what you can and cannot do when creating your website, the providers have quite disparate ideologies, which is where things become interesting.

Winner for Ease of Use: Weebly's software is overall easier to use because there are fewer alternatives. Wix ADI is a fantastic alternative for complete beginners, but Weebly still wins this round.

Design and Flexibility of website builder

You have total control over the website design while using Wix. You can include outside fonts. You can incorporate backdrop images and video animations. Based on your industry (music, photography, portfolio, restaurant, etc.), you select a template.

Even better, you can arrange the components however you like. Because you can genuinely put anything wherever you want, even if it makes your website more difficult to navigate, this technique is known as Pixel Perfect. Therefore, a word of caution: if you're feeling daring with your project, you'll need an excellent eye for design. They also provide the Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence), which can create a contact form, connect your social network accounts, and choose the ideal design for your target demographic. If the smart assistant isn't all that "smart," you can adjust the outcomes. If you'd like, you may even totally switch to the default Wix website editor.

Similar outcomes can be achieved using Weebly, but there is less space for experimentation. You can alter pieces in your templates because they are locked in a grid, but it is much more regimented. However, even that isn't Weebly's worst problem in this area. Weebly offers a much smaller selection of designs with only about 40 template options. Wix is the winner in terms of design and flexibility because it offers the most flexibility.

Levels of Response & Navigation

Wix is a great website builder that allows you to choose how your website will appear on a smartphone, which is fantastic! The only bad news is that some elements do need to be moved about occasionally because they aren't always properly aligned. Additionally, they only provide one sub-level of navigation, which is insufficient if you want a sophisticated online home menu.

Weebly uses a more organized approach to constructing websites because all of its templates are already optimized for mobile use. Once you're satisfied with your design, there's no need to make any changes. On all types of displays, from smartphones to tablets, it will typically look good. However, we occasionally run into issues with our Weebly websites where the font size on mobile devices is too small. And there is nothing that can be done to change that.

However, as a huge benefit, your website also has an infinite number of sub-levels, which is wonderful if you want to turn it into an online maze for your visitors (which, ideally, you won't!). No, but in all seriousness: Weebly has significantly more room for expansion than Wix does. Large refers to 50 or more distinct pages. Weebly has a little advantage in terms of responsiveness and navigation levels. 

Ecommerce Features: Create an online store

You'll be able to sell both physical goods and digital items, such as MP3 recordings and cat paintings. Simple product addition and payment methods include PayPal, credit card (Stripe, Wirecard), and offline payment. Search engine optimization is a possibility for all products. Wix is excellent at assisting you with visual presentations as usual. You can easily add videos and images with a zoom effect. Wix and Weebly are the best e-commerce website builders on the market today.

A similar online store builder is provided by Weebly or Square Online, as they are naming their e-commerce solution. It used to be significantly more powerful than Wix's, but that has changed as a result of the astronomical amount of upgrades Wix has made. Square, a payment processor, recently acquired Weebly, indicating a future with a bigger emphasis on e-commerce.

But to be honest, Square has not had a very good impact on Weebly. The contradictory messaging (both Square and Weebly now provide an essentially identical online store under their various identities) and the complete absence of growth of the Weebly website builder have been major problems since the merger.

Weebly shops simply fall short in terms of payment choices. Besides allowing clients to pay offline, they offer the same alternatives as Wix. If the majority of your business is conducted using cash on delivery, bank transfers, or other "offline" methods of payment, this could be a major turnoff. But keep in mind that a fully-featured Weebly e-commerce store will set you back at least $26 per month as opposed to $27 per month for Wix eCommerce. Due to its reasonable cost and the addition of an impressive amount of e-commerce options, Wix is our top pick for tiny web stores.

What is the most effective tool for SEO?

Both Wix and Weebly give you adequate alternatives for getting the highest rating for your pages in search engines. It's important to note that while this wasn't the case previously, they have significantly improved since then.

Both now enable you to edit page titles and meta descriptions as well as URLs and 301 redirects. Wix allows you to utilize headline tags from H1 to H6, however, Weebly restricts you to using only H1 through H6. Although Weebly has an app to ease some of the headline pains, using it isn't always easy because it can sometimes result in formatting problems.

Additionally, Wix alters all picture file names for an equally mysterious reason, which is not ideal if image SEO is essential to you. You can get additional details here if you're a little bit of an SEO nerd. Only the most ardent SEO nerds should be concerned, but still... Thanks to the SEO Wiz helper, Wix offers a few more options and is simpler to set up for beginners. Wix prevails in this match.

Blog: Consistently update

Today, you don't have to struggle with getting a site online or updating it to keep up with changing times. Similar to SEO, blogging features on Wix and Weebly have greatly increased in recent years. That proves the strength of competition, then!

Weebly offers a little bit more in this area than Blogger, even though both include fundamental blogging features.

This is solely due to Wix's editor's poor integration with the rest of the site builder. You can add images, text, videos, and tables, and it does so in an external window. You can add more blog authors and schedule entries, and the editing process is fairly pleasant.

On the other hand, Weebly allows you to design more intricate blog post layouts and you can add any Weebly element from the standard editor (such as forms, image galleries, etc.). The blog's appearance is a little duller than Wix's, exactly like the rest of the Weebly editors. Weebly is still one of the best (free) blogging platforms in our opinion.

Customer service: Is assistance available?

Both Wix and Weebly provide live chat, phone assistance, helpful tutorials, and vibrant online communities. Oh, and if you want to pressure or shame them into responding, you may also bug them on Facebook or Twitter.

Weebly still gets an extra point (or possibly a half point) because they clearly state how to contact them, including their phone number and email address. Wix website builder forces you to use a chatbot, which is occasionally annoying and wants you to look up the answer in their FAQ first. Both websites received the same number of points in our thorough study of the support quality of 10 different website builders, putting them squarely in the middle of the table.

App Markets: Increase the possibilities of your website

The good news is that both services have external app shops that are comprehensive, allowing you to add a respectable number of additional functions to your website. Some of them are cost-free, while others are pricey. Some of them are excellent, while others are not so much. It is therefore difficult to determine which market is superior based solely on price and quality.

The key distinction is that Weebly's App Center is far more limited in scope than Wix App Market. Additionally, it includes more excellent apps created by Wix itself (such as Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants, and Wix Hotels), so you won't have to worry about your third-party app becoming suddenly unsupported (which can happen sometimes). Additionally, Weebly doesn't appear to be regularly updating its App Center. Wix succeeds in tying the score in the app stores.

Find the finest online deal for prices

You'll receive adverts on Wix and Weebly if you want a free website builder (which, in our opinion, doesn't appear very professional). You may add your domain name to Weebly's plan for only a few dollars per month. Sadly, it still has advertisements. Similar plans were offered by Wix in the past (Connect Domain), but they are no longer available (at least not in the US).

The least expensive ad-free options with a custom domain name—the option that our readers prefer—are as follows:

Weebly Pro: $12 per month

Wix Combo: $15 per month

The following are crucial considerations:

  • Both of their free plans are ad-supported and have a self-promotional banner (Wix's is more prominent than Weebly's, but both are still present). You won't even have a personalized domain name.
  • Within the first 14 days, Wix allows you to cancel your premium plan and receive a complete refund.
  • It's even better with Weebly: you have 30 days to make up your mind.
  • In contrast to Wix, which only allows you to test an online store unless you choose one of the eCommerce plans, all of Weebly's plans come with one.
  • After the first year, Wix and Weebly both need you to pay for your domain name (Weebly charges slightly more than Wix).
  • Both need you to pay for an email account using the domain of your website through Google Workspace.

Weebly is the clear winner in this contest, in our opinion. Most of the time, the Combo plan ($15/month) from Wix or the Professional plan ($12/month) from Weebly should be selected because they provide access to all business features. When these two are compared, Wix is significantly more expensive but also offers many more features and attractive designs. Weebly is ultimately the more cost-effective and best website builder.

Options for Backup and Restore

For local storage, Weebly allows you to physically download a copy of your website. You'll have a copy of your material stored somewhere else, which is beneficial. The main drawback, however, is that you cannot upload this file to Weebly's server and restore your website to a previous version because it is not restorable. Additionally, it won't operate correctly if transferred via FTP to a separate host because dynamic elements (such as a blog, store, etc.) won't work.

In its place, Wix provides a rather helpful feature. The Site History feature keeps track of your changes and periodically stores a duplicate of your site. You can then quickly return your site to a previous state. Because you don't need to remember to create backups and you can quickly restore your site, this approach is far superior to Weebly's. If you're familiar with Google Docs or Apple's Time Machine, it's somewhat similar. While Weebly does allow you to generate a backup, it can't compete with what Wix has to offer.

Features and Flexibility

Comparing Wix vs Weebly, the former is superior in terms of functionality and versatility. Here are some essential tips for both.

Out-of-the-box

Weebly: Weebly, whose platform is specifically upgraded for eCommerce, strives to give a trustworthy and substantial website, particularly for online selling.

Wix: Their platform is so simple to use that you may have a website up and operating the same day that you open it. When it comes to building and promoting your website and business, it seems to have no limits in terms of customization features.

Templates and Themes

Which of Wix and Weebly would produce stunningly gorgeous websites?

Weebly: Weebly has fewer templates than Wix, with only about 70 styles available, most of which are exquisite and well-designed.

Wix: There are more than 510 customizable templates available on Wix. The drawback is that not all of these designs are stunning, and some design components on some templates appear to be boring and repetitious.

Tools for Customization

Which website builder, Wix or Weebly, allows you the most creative flexibility when designing your website?

Weebly: As was already noted in our Wix vs. Weebly comparison, Weebly has some restrictions in this regard. Contrary to Wix, which allows you to drag and drop elements anywhere you wish, you cannot drag and drop site elements. Additionally, if you choose a color theme for your website, it is used throughout. If you know how to edit code on the backend, you can alter the Weebly Code Editor elements.

Wix: When it comes to customization, Wix appears to be the winner in the Wix vs. Weebly comparison. All of the components on your page have total freedom thanks to them. Wix only prohibits changing your template after it has gone live. You must start from scratch if you want to entirely redesign your website using a fresh template.

Integrations with 3rd Parties

Which of Wix and Weebly offers more integrations if you want your site to be as functional as possible?

Weebly: There are over 100 more apps in the Weebly App Center than in Wix, but there are fewer categories, making it harder to find what you're looking for right away. Customers can recommend new apps that Weebly should add in the future.

Wix: Both Wix and Weebly offer app shops to expand the functionality of your website. These app stores include forms and banner builders for lead generation and marketing, video and music, social media integration, email marketing and other communication tools, and a wide range of additional features.

Hosting

Both Wix and Weebly are platforms for creating fully hosted websites. You don't have to use a third-party hosting company.

Migration

Weebly: You can download your website and move it to another system, but you are unable to upload the previously downloaded file again to your website.

Wix: Changing the platform on which your website runs is not an option with Wix.

Conclusion 

Is Wix or Weebly superior, then? For complete beginners, Weebly is simpler to use than Wix, which has more features once you know what you want. Overall, Weebly is the better website builder for most users who, in our experience, are just getting started, but Wix isn't far behind.

What is the ideal purpose for Wix?

When it comes to website builders, Wix is a solid choice. It is quite simple to use and will help you save a ton of time and effort. Additionally, it is the builder of choice for small firms and solitary entrepreneurs due to its reasonable pricing options.

Wix's one significant but manageable problem is that it prevents you from changing templates once your site goes live. Furthermore, switching providers can be challenging if you decide to do so as migration is a laborious procedure.

We are nonetheless impressed by the freedom and ease that Wix offers. Wix is our suggested website builder for general use, taking everything into account.

What is the best use for Weebly?

In this platform comparison between Wix and Weebly, it must be noted that Weebly also fulfills several requirements. Weebly is easy to use and has even more functionality than our suggested platform, Wix. It doesn't have the tools you need, though, if you want to grow your company.

Because of this, Weebly is ideal for novices who require a strong, fully functional website as well as all the crucial marketing and analytics tools to support the success of an online store.

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