Wix vs WordPress for a Small Business Website in 2026: Three Routes, Today's Prices and Who Does the Upkeep

Key takeaways

• It is three routes, not two. Wix is one hosted product. "WordPress" can mean WordPress.com, which runs WordPress for you on paid plans, or the free WordPress software installed on hosting you rent. The costs and the upkeep differ a lot between the last two.
• Wix's plans run from $17 to $159 a month on yearly billing (Light $17, Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159), according to Wix's pricing page on 26 October 2026. Taking payments and bookings starts at Core.
• WordPress.com's plans run from $4 to $45 a month when billed yearly ($4 for Personal, $8 for Premium, $25 for Business, $45 for Commerce) on the same day, and its page lists plugin installs from the Personal plan up.
• Two widely read comparisons are out of date. One lists Wix Business at $22 a month; Wix's page shows $39. Another lists WordPress.com at $9 to $70; WordPress.com's page shows $4 to $45.
• The real difference is upkeep. Wix and WordPress.com look after the software for you. Self-hosted WordPress gives you full control and the full job of updates, backups and plugin conflicts.

The short answer

Choose Wix if the owner or a small team will run a site of a few dozen pages, wants bookings or simple payments built in, and has no developer to call. Choose WordPress if the site will be content-heavy, needs features only a plugin offers, or must be movable to any host later, and someone will look after updates. Within WordPress, WordPress.com suits owners who want WordPress without running a server, and self-hosted WordPress suits sites with a developer or a care plan behind them.

Disclosure: we are a web design studio and we work on Wix, WordPress and other platforms, so we have no reason to push you to one. Nobody paid for this page. Prices are from the makers' own pages on 26 October 2026, in US dollars, before tax.

What the top results say, and what is out of date

On 26 October 2026 we searched Google (United States, English) for "wix vs wordpress". The results included Tooltester, Wix's own comparison page, All About Cookies, Zapier, G2, Slickplan, YouTube reviews and several Reddit threads. We read Tooltester and G2 in full.

• Tooltester ("Wix vs WordPress 2026", dated 2 April 2025) ranked first. Its round-by-round review is detailed and it compares Wix with self-hosted WordPress, which is the right comparison. Its price box, though, lists Wix Business at $22 a month and labels Core "para tiendas online", a leftover in Spanish. Wix's pricing page shows Business at $39 on 26 October 2026.
• G2 ("Wix vs. WordPress: Which Website Builder is Better?", 27 March 2026) builds a test site on the free plans of both. Its table puts WordPress.com plans between $9 and $70 a month, while WordPress.com's own page runs from $4 to $45 on 26 October 2026. It also says plugins need a higher-tier plan, while WordPress.com's page today lists plugin installs on Personal.
• All About Cookies (6 October 2026, from Google's listing) compares Wix with WordPress.com, not with self-hosted WordPress, and says Wix wins every category.

So the pages disagree partly because they compare different things, and partly because prices moved after they were written. The rest of this guide keeps the three routes apart and dates every price.

The three routes in one table

For how WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress differ in cost, our WordPress website cost guide has the full breakdown, including build prices.

Plan prices on 26 October 2026

Wix

Read from wix.com/plans. Yearly subscriptions paid in full; Wix says prices and currency vary by location and tax is extra.

All paid plans list a free domain for one year. Wix's FAQ says the voucher only works for a new domain bought from Wix, not for one you already own. A free plan exists, without your own domain.

WordPress.com

Read from wordpress.com/pricing. Yearly billing, tax excluded.

The page says each plan auto-renews, but on 26 October 2026 the renewal figure was not filled in on the page (it showed a template placeholder), so we cannot give renewal prices from today's read. A week earlier, on our 19 October read of that page, Business showed a $28 monthly renewal.

Self-hosted WordPress on rented hosting

The WordPress software is free to download. The cost is hosting, a domain, any paid themes or plugins, and whoever maintains it. As one example, Hostinger's WordPress hosting page on 26 October 2026 offered its Premium plan for $119.52 paid up front for 48 months (shown as $2.49 monthly), then $10.99 monthly on renewal, with the domain free for year one. That was a Black Friday offer, so check the term and the renewal before you compare it with a monthly plan elsewhere.

Two years of platform costs, side by side

Plan fees only, at the yearly prices above. Domains after the first year, paid apps, plugins, email and design work are not included.

The cheapest route on paper is self-hosted WordPress. It is also the route where your time, or a developer's, is the biggest cost: updates, backups, security and plugin conflicts become your job. Our maintenance cost guide puts numbers on that side, and who is responsible for PHP updates explains the split between you, your host and your developer.

For the full first-year cost of a Wix site, including domain renewal, apps and card fees, see what a Wix website really costs.

Where each one is stronger

Wix is stronger when:

• the owner edits the site and wants to move things on the page directly
• bookings, scheduling or simple payments are needed without adding plugins (Core and above)
• nobody wants to think about updates, hosting or security
• the site will stay at a few dozen pages

WordPress is stronger when:

• the site is built around regular articles, guides or a large resource library
• a feature only exists as a plugin (memberships, advanced forms, directories, complex stores with WooCommerce)
• you want to be able to move the whole site to another host or developer
• a developer or a care plan is in place to keep it updated

Keep Wix if your current Wix site brings enquiries, you can edit it yourself and you are not hitting a limit. A move costs a rebuild and carries search risk.

Keep WordPress if it is updated, backed up and fast, and your team can publish without help. Most WordPress problems we see are maintenance problems, not platform problems.

Which should you pick? By the job your site does

Still deciding between more builders? Our Wix vs Squarespace comparison and the small business platform guide cover the wider field.

Moving between them later

Moving is a rebuild. G2's guide says Wix has no one-click move to WordPress, so pages, posts and images are moved by hand or with third-party tools. Going the other way, the design has to be rebuilt in Wix. In both directions, every changed address needs a permanent redirect so search traffic follows; the steps, in order, are in the redesign SEO checklist. Choose for the next three to five years, not for this month's price.

How we can help

We work on Wix and WordPress sites as they are, so nothing needs to move unless you want it to. For new WordPress sites, our WordPress development service usually takes four to eight weeks from an approved design, depending on templates, custom content types, WooCommerce and migration work. Work is priced from the scope, never by the hour, and once the final payment is made the design, copy and code are yours, with the domain, hosting and analytics accounts in your name.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wix or WordPress cheaper?

On plan fees alone, WordPress is usually cheaper: the Personal plan at WordPress.com costs $4 monthly and self-hosted plans can cost a few dollars a month, against $17 for Wix Light, on 26 October 2026. Once you count the time or developer fees to maintain self-hosted WordPress, the gap can close or reverse.

Is Wix or WordPress better for SEO?

Both let you set titles, descriptions, addresses, alt text and redirects. WordPress gives more control through plugins, which matters most for large content sites. For a small service site, the content and links matter far more than the platform.

Is WordPress.com the same as WordPress?

No. WordPress.com sells plans that host and run WordPress for you. WordPress.org is where you download the free software to run on your own hosting.

Can I move my Wix site to WordPress?

Yes, but not in one click. Content is moved by hand or with tools, the design is rebuilt, and old addresses need redirects.

Which is easier for a beginner?

Wix, for most owners: you edit the page directly and never deal with updates. WordPress.com is a middle ground. Self-hosted WordPress has the steepest start.

Can Wix handle bookings and payments?

Yes, from the Core plan at $29 a month on yearly billing, which lists accepting payments, basic eCommerce, and scheduling and services.

Do I need a developer for WordPress?

Not to start, especially on WordPress.com. For a self-hosted business site, someone should own updates, backups and security, whether that is you, your host's managed plan or a developer.