Wix costs compared to WordPress: what you’re actually paying

If you’re weighing up whether to build your site with Wix or Wordpress, you’re probably asking one simple question:

Which one is cheaper once it’s live, not just on day one?

Because both can look inexpensive at the start… until you add up hosting, plugins, apps, maintenance, and the inevitable “can you just fix this one thing?” moments.

So let’s break it down properly.

First: which WordPress are we talking about?

This is where most comparisons go off the rails, so we'll explain the differences.

WordPress.com (hosted)

This is WordPress as a service (like Wix). You pay a monthly or annual plan and they host it. Pricing and features depend on the plan.

WordPress.org (self-hosted)

This is the open-source WordPress software (free), but you pay for:

• hosting

• a domain

• (often) a theme and plugins

• maintenance, updates and security (either your time or someone else’s)

When people say “WordPress is free”, they mean the software is free, not the website.

Wix pricing: what you’re paying for

Wix is pretty straightforward: your plan generally includes hosting, security basics, the editor, and the built-in business bits. Plans vary by country and whether you pay monthly or annually, but in the UK you’ll typically see paid plans ranging from roughly £9 up to £119 per month depending on what you need and whether it’s an ecommerce plan.

Also worth knowing:

• Wix runs discounts fairly often, especially on annual plans.

• Wix Studio exists more for agencies and multi-site work and has its own pricing structure.

The key thing with Wix cost: you’re paying for an all-in-one stack. Less piecing things together.

WordPress costs: what you’re really paying for

With WordPress self-hosting, your costs split into 4:

1) Domain

Usually £10 to £50 a year depending on extension and registrar.

2) Hosting

This varies wildly:

• cheap shared hosting can be low

• good managed hosting costs more

• intro offers often jump up at renewal

3) Theme and plugins

You can go free, but many business sites end up paying for:

• premium theme and framework

• forms, SEO tools, backups, security, performance, cookie compliance, etc.

4) Maintenance (the hidden one)

WordPress needs ongoing updates (core, theme and plugins). Many UK agencies quote ongoing maintenance as a monthly retainer or a percentage of build cost.

This is the bit people don’t budget for until something breaks after an update.

Wix and Wordpress cost comparison in real-life scenarios

Below are the typical patterns we see. Not perfect for every business, but accurate enough to budget.

Scenario A: Basic brochure site (5–8 pages)

Wix

• Plan cost is predictable

• You might add a couple of apps (forms, reviews, etc.) but many basics are built-in

• Lower chance you’ll need a developer for site upkeep

WordPress (self-hosted)

• Hosting, domain and possibly a paid theme

• If you want it done professionally, UK freelancer builds for small sites are commonly £1,000 to £2,500+ (before ongoing).

Who’s usually cheaper?

• DIY: could be either, depending on what you buy

• Professionally built: Wix is often cheaper upfront, and usually cheaper ongoing for simple sites because of the fewer moving parts

Scenario B: Service business site that needs leads (SEO matters)

This is where costs stop being “platform” costs and start being “doing it properly” costs.

Wix

• You’ll pay for a plan, and you’ve got SEO tools built in

• Technical SEO is generally handled well enough without extra plugins

• You pay mainly for good design, content and SEO work, not for keeping the site alive

WordPress

• You might add SEO plugins, caching, image compression, security, backups

• More flexibility, but more to manage

• More risk of plugin conflicts / performance issues if the stack gets messy

Who’s usually cheaper?: If you’re not a WordPress power user, Wix often wins on total cost because you’re not paying someone monthly just to keep the engine running.

Scenario C: Ecommerce

Wix

• Ecommerce is tied to business and ecommerce plans

• Payments, product management, shipping rules, etc. are baked in

WordPress and WooCommerce

• WooCommerce itself can be free to install, but stores often add paid extensions and spend more on hosting, performance and security.

Build cost reality check:A professionally built ecommerce site in the UK can run £5,000 or more depending on complexity.

Who’s usually cheaper?

• Small land medium stores: Wix, because it’s predictable and simpler to run

• Complex stores (custom checkout rules, unusual integrations, heavy customisation): WordPress and WooCommerce do make sense, but you’ll pay for that flexibility

The biggest cost difference: predictable vs modular

Here’s the honest summary:

Wix tends to be cheaper when…

• you want a professional site without a dev on standby

• you value predictable monthly or annual costs

• you don’t want to maintain hosting, security and plugins

• you just need the site to work and generate leads

WordPress tends to be cheaper when…

• you’re genuinely happy managing hosting and updating your site yourself

• you can keep plugins lean (this is harder than people think)

• you need something very specific that Wix can’t do cleanly

• you already have a strong WordPress setup and know what you’re doing

The sneaky extras people forget to budget for

Whichever platform you choose, these are the costs that pop up later:

• Domain renewals (year 2 onwards)

• Email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 etc.)

• Cookie compliance (often needs a tool)

• SEO help (most businesses need at least a setup and ongoing content)

• Fixes and improvements (new sections, new pages, conversions, speed tweaks)

On WordPress specifically, the common extras are:

• security and backups

• performance work

• plugin renewals

• someone to fix things when updates break stuff

Wix vs WordPress: quick verdict

If we’re judging Wix and Wordpress purely on cost:

• Wix is usually cheaper overall for small businesses because it’s all-in-one and doesn’t demand ongoing technical management.

• WordPress can be cheaper in DIY mode, but the moment you want it done properly and kept healthy, it often catches up or even overtakes once you include maintenance and plugin stack costs.

What we recommend as a Wix-only agency

For most UK small businesses, we lean toward Wix because:

• the ongoing costs are clearer

• fewer things break

• you spend money on design, SEO and conversions instead of tech admin

We’ll say it straight: if your project needs deep custom functionality that’s more “web app” than “website”, WordPress (or even something else) might be the better tool (as long as you budget for proper hosting and maintenance).

If you want, we can fix your numbers

If you tell us:

• what the site needs to do , such as brochure, bookings, ecommerce etc.

• roughly how many pages

• whether you want to manage it yourself

With this info, we can give you a realistic cost comparison and tell you which platform is likely to be cheapest for your situation.

Soft options:

• Wix website build (starts from £750)

• Wix SEO support (so it actually ranks)

• Wix Fix (hourly) if your current site just needs sorting