Main Event: Wix vs. Web.com
Are you looking for a website builder that gives you the best value for your time and money? This head to head feature battle pits a relative rookie to the scene against an old veteran. We’ll break it down and help you decide which site builder is the right one for you.
The Combatants:
Founded in 1997, Web.com is one of the oldest site building companies. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, it has helped over 30 million small and medium sized businesses launch their own websites. By contrast, Wix was launched in 2006, and as the 'cooler' kid on the block. The US based upstart has been garnering increased fanfare ever since. Who will come out on top?
1. First Impressions
No CMS is worth its salt if it doesn’t have an attractive website itself. Wix’s home page is clean, crisp and well laid out, which fits beautifully onto your desktop browser. Web.com’s home page has a more classic, condensed and bustling look to it. Winner: Wix.com
2. Templates
This is a key strength of both platforms. Like two boxers with big left hooks, Web.com and Wix offer a powerful array of nearly 10,000 templates to choose from.
Wix provides a spectacular selection of unique templates from over 20 categories, ranging from one pagers to online stores, from photography and restaurants to weddings, music and a vast lineup of services and blogs.
Web.com offers stunning designs in over 30 categories, which you can tailor to your particular industry, theme and style. You’ll be spoiled by choice. Switching templates is simple, and when you do so, Web.com will migrate all of your data over for you. Something that you can’t do in Wix right now. Winner: Web.com
3. User Experience
Catering to small business owners, Wix is efficient and easy to use. Its admin panel is well organized and clever, making your site building process simple, fast and fun. Wix also provides you with a multitude of pre-uploaded, high quality images to choose from.
Web.com's service is robust but is not as simple to use and you’ll need more time, effort and patience to produce what you want. Web.com specializes in custom built sites rather than do-it-yourself options, and will emphasize that to you along the way. Winner: Wix.com
4. Web Editor and Features
Both builders offer analytics, SEO tools, custom domain names, hosting, and social media features. However Wix’s editor is clearly more dynamic and flexible, offering you optimal design and a wide range of customization tools that result in a unique, professional and responsive site. Its drag-and-drop function is perfect for beginners, and the editor has new and exciting features that are not common to all web editors. It’s also got a solid blogging function which enhances its value as site building platform. And if you’ve got some coding or design skills, you can tinker with the code to get the ultimate look you want.
Web.com does provide a good basic framework giving you a broad and smooth experience with the editor, but their opponent has raised the bar here. Winner: Wix.com
5. e-Commerce
Web.com has incredible e-Commerce solutions that assist you in easily managing and tracking your sites. Its features include full payment processors like PayPal, simplicity in adding products, order management and customer tracking tools, coupon code-makers and custom reports. Wix does provide a functional store builder with many features, but at times it may not integrate fully with the design and flow of your website. Winner: Web.com
6. Mobile Ready
Wix's interface allows you to switch to mobile site design, and will automatically arrange your photos vertically so your clients won’t need to scroll sideways, as you often need to when viewing sites on mobile devices. Web.com doesn’t provide mobile dedicated themes, nor do they supply a mobile app for editing. Their themes will attempt to adjust to your mobile device, but this can be choppy and uneven at times. Winner: Wix.com
7. Customer Support and Perks:
Web.com offers you a free domain name when you sign up for a monthly hosting plan. Their ample phone support is given Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. est. They also provide email support, FAQs and tutorials, but they don’t offer live chat support nor do they provide user forums and searchable knowledge bases. The ace in their sleeve is that personalized website coaches are available to walk you through every step of your site design process, even critiquing your site for optimal efficiency, performance and style.
Wix plans also include a free domain name plus some money for advertising credit. They provide a comprehensive support centre, full of documentation, FAQs and general help articles. Their user guides are good, but not great, and priority email support is only available on certain packages or as a paid upgrade to other plans. Winner: Web.com
Judges Decision:
Both Web.com and Wix deliver quality service and allow you to design a great website. But by unanimous decision, Wix is our judges’ preferred choice, because its spectacular templates and high functioning editor are way ahead of the curve.
Apr. 3, 2016
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