You’re here because you’ve heard some version of this: Wix looks easy, but pros say to avoid it. That’s not clickbait-it’s a pattern. Wix can be great for a quick brochure site. But when you care about speed, SEO control, scaling, or future-proofing, the trade-offs stack up fast. I’ve built on Wix, fixed sites that outgrew it, and moved clients off when costs and limits kicked in. Here’s the plain, evidence-backed take so you can decide with eyes open.
When people say Wix not recommended, they’re usually bumping into one (or more) of these jobs that Wix doesn’t nail once a site gets serious:
If those jobs aren’t on your list-say you’re launching a local service site with a few pages and a booking form-you’ll likely be fine on Wix. But once any of those needs appear, the cracks show.
Here’s what tends to bite teams after launch. This isn’t theory-it’s the stuff I’ve had to fix for clients, from small studios to scrappy e‑commerce shops.
1) Performance and Core Web Vitals
Out of the box, Wix sites often ship more JavaScript, more widgets, and heavier animations than lean builds. That overhead makes it harder to hit good Core Web Vitals on mobile. Google Search Central is clear: fast load and quick interaction matter for crawling, indexing, and users staying on the page. The HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac reports that site builders, as a category, tend to deliver more client‑side code than hand‑tuned sites-which tracks with what I see in audits. Can you get a Wix site to pass Core Web Vitals? Yes-with a strict design, compressed images, and minimal apps. But it’s easy to fall out of spec the moment you add sliders, chat widgets, or fancy effects.
Rule of thumb: If your homepage relies on big galleries, video backgrounds, or multiple third‑party embeds, budget extra time to tame CLS, LCP, and INP-or pick a platform with lighter output and more control.
2) SEO depth and technical control
Wix has improved-meta tags, redirects, robots.txt edits, and structured data are available. But advanced SEO gets tricky. If you want to programmatically manage schema across thousands of pages, generate custom canonicals at scale, fine‑tune URL patterns beyond what the builder allows, or run headless content models, you’ll feel boxed in. Things like rigorous log analysis, server-level redirects, or custom sitemaps for complex architectures are either limited or app-dependent. Google’s guidance rewards clean HTML, fast render, clear internal linking, and sensible IA-you can do some of that in Wix, but deep technical SEO is not where it shines.
3) Total cost of ownership (TCO)
Wix pricing is simple at first: a site plan or a business plan, billed monthly or annually. But the real cost shows up when you add apps for things like advanced forms, memberships, bookings, multi‑currency, or subscriptions. You also pay for storage, bandwidth tiers, and sometimes transaction fees depending on setup. Over two to three years, I often see Wix costs meet or exceed a managed WordPress stack (host + quality theme + a few paid plugins) or a Webflow plan-especially for stores and content-heavy sites.
Rule of thumb: If you need 3+ paid apps for core features, run a 36‑month cost comparison against WordPress.org (with managed hosting) or Webflow. Include app fees, staff time, and the cost of workarounds.
4) Vendor lock‑in and data portability
You can export some content (like blog posts via RSS), but not your full site structure, theme, or custom components. Store data exports are partial, and dynamic content or apps rarely migrate cleanly. There’s no code export that lets you take the front‑end and host it elsewhere. If you go all‑in on Wix, migrating later is a rebuild. Wix’s Help Center is upfront about these limitations, and that honesty is good-just plan for it now, not later.
5) Design system and workflow constraints
Wix Studio added better design tokens and team features, but developers still miss Git, code reviews, staging parity, and CI/CD. You’re also tied to Wix’s rendering pipeline and component model. If your team expects to wire in ESLint, testing, and automated deploys, you’ll be fighting the platform.
6) E‑commerce edge cases
For small catalogs, Wix Stores is fine. But when you need complex product options, custom checkout fields, multi‑warehouse inventory, deep tax logic, or channel integrations, Shopify (and headless options) run laps around it. Most “advanced” features on Wix depend on third‑party apps, which add cost and sometimes hurt performance.
7) Scaling content and features
Wix’s Content Manager is handy for simple collections, but large content models, API quotas, and app limits can get in the way. If you’re planning hundreds of landing pages, multiple locales, or complex relationships between content types, a CMS like WordPress (with ACF/Blocks), Webflow CMS, Craft, or a headless CMS will scale cleaner.
Credible sources I lean on: Google Search Central’s performance and rendering docs (for why speed and clean markup matter), HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac (for real‑world code weight trends), and platform docs from Wix, Shopify, and WordPress for export/feature limitations. Add my own audits: when we trimmed a photographer’s Wix homepage from three sliders, a chat widget, and autoplay video down to a single hero and deferred scripts, mobile LCP improved a lot-but we were still fighting app payloads we didn’t control.
Blanket advice is lazy. Here’s where Wix shines-and where I steer people away.
Use Wix if:
Avoid Wix if:
Real‑world note: My wife, Imogen, needed a small gallery site for a pop‑up art show. We used Wix because it shipped in a weekend, no dev time. It worked. Later, when she added events, a small shop, and a blog with categories and email capture, we hit performance bumps and plugin costs. We rebuilt on WordPress with a lean theme-faster pages, lower monthly cost, full control. Different phases, different tools.
There’s no perfect platform. Pick by job-to-be-done, not hype. Here’s a quick comparison to frame the decision.
| Platform | Best for | Performance control | SEO depth | E‑commerce strength | Data export & ownership | Learning curve | Typical 36‑mo costs* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | Quick brochure sites, small portfolios | Limited (platform-controlled) | Basic to intermediate | Simple catalogs | Partial export, no code export | Low | Medium (plan + apps) |
| WordPress.org | Content-heavy, custom sites | High (theme, hosting, caching) | Advanced (plugins + code) | Strong with WooCommerce or plugins | Full ownership, portable | Medium (setup needed) | Medium (hosting + selective plugins) |
| Squarespace | Polished sites, simple stores | Moderate | Intermediate | Good for small shops | Limited export | Low | Medium |
| Webflow | Design control, cleaner front‑end | High (cleaner output) | Advanced (CMS + custom) | Basic to moderate | CMS content export; code export (static) | Medium to High | Medium to High |
| Shopify | Serious e‑commerce | Moderate (apps + theme) | Advanced for commerce SEO | Excellent (checkout, inventory, apps) | Good data portability; no full code export | Medium | High (plan + apps + fees) |
*Costs vary by plan, traffic, storage, and paid apps. Always model your exact stack.
Why these trade‑offs line up: The Web Almanac shows that sites with tighter control over code and hosting usually ship less JS and render faster. Google’s documentation encourages minimizing render‑blocking resources and avoiding heavy client‑side rendering for core content. Platforms that let you tune server caching, image formats, and critical CSS make it easier to meet those guidelines. That’s why developers keep nudging growing sites off heavier builders.
Before you bounce, here’s the practical stuff you can use today.
FAQ
Decision checklist (10‑minute self‑audit)
If you answered “yes” to 3 or more, Wix will likely slow you later. Consider WordPress.org, Webflow, or Shopify.
If you’re staying on Wix (optimization playbook)
If you plan to migrate (no‑drama path)
Scenario guidance
Heuristic I use with clients: If your site’s main value is content and conversions, choose the platform that minimizes future blockers-even if setup takes longer. Speed and control pay compounding dividends you can measure in revenue and lead quality.
One last note. Wix is not “bad.” It’s just not built for every job. If your roadmap includes growth, custom features, and deep SEO, go with a platform that grows with you. If you just need a clean site by Friday, Wix will do the job-and that’s okay.
