When we talk about website builders, two giants that strike our mind are Wix and Weebly. Currently, they are the two leading online website builders catering for beginners as well as professionals. Narrowing down to these two options is pretty easy but choosing one out of these two can be a pain. Especially when they offer almost indistinguishable services and features, it becomes difficult to determine the right platform to build a website. Therefore, we represent you a comprehensive Wix vs Weebly to sort out the key differences to help you select the right one.
For your convenience, we have dug deeper into Wix vs Weebly Website builders to figure out what they have to offer. This article will also lay a side-by-side comparison followed by a detailed differentiation based on the features offered by these two website building platforms. We are going to place a verdict at the end of every section to make the comparison more clear and understood. Before we dive into the Wix vs Weebly comparison, allow me to offer a brief introduction to the both of the platforms along with their pros and cons, respectively.
What is Wix?
Wix is a leading cloud-hosted, all-in-one website builder that includes domains and hosting as well. It offers a highly intuitive interface to build and launch websites through its unstructured drag-and-drop editor. By unstructured editor we mean it that it offers full freedom to drag and drop website elements according to your requirement without any restrictions. In fact, you can create a layout you have always imagined. Due to the unstructured behavior, it may take some time to get a grip on but users eventually get used to it. For more ease of use, it offers Wix ADI (AI Design Interface), an AI-based tool that asks a few questions about your requirements and automatically designs a fully-functioning website for you.
When it comes to features, Wix comes with an endless list of both in-built and add-on features. Moreover, the pricing is affordable and flexible, efficiently planned for various users. In addition, there are dedicated plans offered by Wix to build, launch, and support eCommerce websites. Overall, Wix is a pretty formidable website building platform that makes it quite popular amongst website owners.
Pros and cons of Wix solution
The merits and demerits of Wix website builder are as given below-
Pros
- Easy to use
- Wix ADI
- Generous free version
- Attractive 500+ templates
- Extensive App Market
- Freedom to create unique website layouts
- Corvid to make advanced customizations
Cons
- Limited features with free version
- Add-ons can lead to higher monthly cost
What is Weebly?
Weebly is another modern website builder that enables users to create websites without coding or other technical skills. This solution is suitable for anyone aiming for a simple website up and running to establish an online presence for their business. All you have to do is sign up for a Weebly account and opt for in-house offered domain names and hostings. You can also go for custom domains from domain registrars and hosting from web hosting providers. Similar to Wix, Weebly also comes with a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to create a fully-fledged website without having to code.
Moreover, there is a free plan that also includes some eCommerce features, unlike Wix. Even the paid plans are quite affordable as compared to Wix. Furthermore, Weebly comes with over 350 free and paid extensions in its App Centre. Therefore, if you are looking for a unique feature that is not in-built, chances are you can get it in the App Centre.
Pros and cons of Weebly solution
Weebly comes packed with a lot of pros and downfalls as well. Let’s find out which aspects of Weebly are more tempting and which are not-
Pros
- Easy-to-use editor
- Beautiful 50+ templates for different industries
- Over 350 extensions in the App market
- Free plan also includes eCommerce features
- Affordable paid plans
Cons
- Restricted design customization
- Add-ons can lead to overall expensive costs
Comparing Wix vs Weebly
Here are some of the major differences between Wix and Weebly. To keep it short and crisp, I have sorted all the information in a brief comparison table-
| Factors | Wix | Weebly |
| Editor type | Unstructured | Section-based |
| Founded in | 2006 | 2006 |
| Number of Plugins | 250+ | 350+ |
| Number of Templates | 500+ | 70+ |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Easy |
| Online knowledgebase | Extensive | Available but cluttered |
| Language/Localization support | Limited | Needs improvement |
| eCommerce tools | Available | Available |
| Customer Support | Phone call, email, and live chat | Phone call, email, and live chat |
Features of Wix vs Weebly
Although all website building platforms are supposed to offer similar features, yet they can be a bit distinct from one another. Find out some differences between the features of Wix vs Weebly, in the following section-
Learning Curve
As mentioned above, Wix comes with an unstructured drag-and-drop editor that allows you to drag and drop website elements freely without any restriction. Therefore, you can create a unique website layout without having to code. However, the drawback to this method is that there is a slight learning curve to it, since users need some practice to get a grip on this editor. In addition, there is Wix ADI, that automatically creates a holistic website for you based on your answers to its questions. Meanwhile, it displays the progress while building the website. Lastly, it offers Corvid, which is a latest addition. This tool is meant for advanced users and professionals only who want to take customization a notch up by throwing-in their custom blocks of CSS or HTML. Corvid grants access to the raw HTML and CSS file to the users of the website.
Coming to Wix, it has no learning curve since the editor is WYSIWYG with section-based drag and drop. It means you can only move around a section of the website element that somewhat restricts the degree of customization. However, this feature is there to ensure more ease of use for intuitive website building. In fact, it offers access to the HTML and CSS files. Nevertheless, it lacks anything advanced like Wix ADI, so you will have to build your own site. Overall, Wix wins this round since it has unlimited options that cater to users with different levels of skills.
Ready to use Templates/Themes
Wix comes with a variety of templates for different website types and industries. They offer over 500 different templates, neatly placed in categories and you can choose templates based on your industry. All the templates are exceptionally stunning, professionally designed, and mobile responsive. Moreover, the editor allows you to make customizations in no time and your website will be up and running within a couple of hours. Moving on to Weebly, it currently offers 50+ templates. The number can be increased by accessing older templates but it is probably not a good idea as they are not mobile-responsive. Therefore, the quantity is low but the quality of the Weebly templates is great. Overall, Wix wins this round with its large repository of good-looking templates.
Degree of customization
As mentioned earlier, Wix comes with an unstructured editor that offers complete control over the design. It means that you can rearrange the website elements to your heart’s desire. The technical name for this technique is pixel perfect that enables you to position things wherever you desire. Moreover, you can add external factors with ease including fonts, videos, images, animations background, and more.
On the other hand, Weebly restricts you with its section-based editor that only allows you to move a section of elements around. The reason for the locked grid is that you can rearrange the blocks with ease but in a structured manner. In fact you can achieve the same results, Albeit with less room for exploration and flexibility. Clearly, Wix wins this round.
Support for SEO
Success or failure of any website depends upon its SEO. Any website owner aims to drive traffic to its website using on site SEO techniques. Therefore, it is essential that you go for a website development tool that offers more support for SEO. both Wix and Weebly allows you to add and edit meta descriptions and titles, URL names, 301 redirects, rich snippets, heading (H1 to H6), and other essential SEO practices. However, Weebly restricts headings and requires third-party apps to fix this issue. Overall, it is a bit tricky but is possible with Weebly. Therefore, this round is a tie between these two.
Support for eCommerce store
Wix was the leading website builder when it came to eCommerce site building till 2018. Then Square Payment acquired Weebly and suddenly this platform was excelling in the eCommerce industry. Firstly, Weebly comes with way more affordable eCommerce plans which makes the advanced features accessible to beginners as well. Secondly, Weebly’s acquisition with Square resulted in a seamless integration with the payment modules. Wix, on the other hand, is just more polished and feature-rich but the expensive plans give it all away. Both Wix and Weebly are great platforms for eCommerce website development, however, Weebly wins this round as well.
Support for Blogging
Weebly and Wix, both offer support for basic blogging features like post editing, post saving (drafts), post scheduling, RSS feed, comment section, and more, while they are both quite great, I’d have to tilt towards Weebly as it delivers more in this department. This platform allows you to create more complex layouts for blog posts and you can add any Weebly element from the regular editor including forms, image galleries, etc. Weebly wins this round!
Add-ons and Extensions
Wix and Weebly, both come with an App Market, featuring third-party apps, wix has slightly fewer apps in its market, ranging to upto 250 while Weebly offers over 350 apps in its App Centre. The only downfall I noticed is that Weebly’s add-ons cost more on an average as compared to Wix. However, Wix has less number of in-built features as compared to Weebly, so might not even need add-ons. Overall, Weebly outweighs Wix again in this round.
Speed
Sadly, Wix’s score on website speed test tools was not as impressive. However, it allows tweaks and customizations to make improvements but it takes some efforts. On the other hand, Weebly scored some pretty impressive rates on Google’s speed test. Clearly, Weebly wins this round as well.
Backup and restore options
Wix allows you to save as many versions of your site as you like. That way, you can instantly restore to the original version (or desired version) of your website, in case you end up deleting something accidentally or losing data. On the other hand, Weebly allows you to download your website as a zip file and you can store it according to your convenience. Overall, both platforms offer adequate backup and restore options but in a manual way, so it’s clearly a tie.
Customer support
When building your website using Wix, you will see little help buttons explaining exactly what the certain feature does. In case you feel stuck, there is a plethora of FAQs, articles, video tutorials in their knowledge base. Moreover, for dedicated immediate support, they offer round the clock support via email, phone calls, and live chat. Wix is also known for its prompt response on social media, i.e., Facebook and Twitter.
On the other hand, Weebly is not so far behind. They have an extensive knowledge base full of video tutorials, FAQs, and blog posts. You will see a phone number and email address listed on their contact us page. Moreover, there is a live chat option available as well. Overall, Wix offers everything as Wix but their FAQs and knowledgebase is a bit cluttered that can be annoying sometimes. Therefore, Wix wins this round with .05 point.
Pricing
Wix offers a generous free version with essential features. Moreover, there are paid versions available as well with some advanced tools. Following are the plans offered by Wix-
Similar to Wix, Weebly offers a generous free version as well with some eCommerce features. Moreover, there are more affordable paid versions available with Weebly. Following are the plans offered by Weebly-
Wix vs Weebly: Final Words
Indubitably, Wix was the leading online website builder, but the keyword is: was. With the recent development and acquisition with Square, there are significant improvements noticed in the Weebly platform, especially when it comes to eCommerce. Now the two platforms are much closer in terms of their overall functionality, apart from a few specific differences. Having said that, Weebly is better suitable for smaller online stores like restaurants or grocery stores. On the other hand, Wix caters better for larger stores with a significant number of products. Moreover, if you need more designing flexibility then go for Wix. However, if you wish to build a simple website up and running, opt for Weebly. Choose wisely to get the best out of these website building solutions.
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Hopefully, this article clears any doubt you had regarding Wix vs Weebly. However, if we missed anything or you want to ask anything, please drop a comment below. We are always ready to help our readers out!