Wix vs Shopify: Which Platform Is Best for Your Online Store?

Wix and Shopify both let you build an online shop without code, but they start from different places. Wix is a website builder that adds selling from its Core plan upwards, alongside tools for portfolios, bookings, blogs and service businesses. Shopify is built for selling first, with everything from inventory to checkout designed around commerce. The right choice depends on whether selling products is the main job of your website or one job among many.

We are a Shopify agency, so we are open about our preference. Wix is still the better choice for some businesses, and we say below exactly when. Plan details, fees and limits come from each platform's own pages, checked in September 2026.

Quick Answer

Choose Shopify if selling products is the main purpose of your site and you plan to grow. It offers more variants per product, ecommerce focused apps, point of sale and B2B on every plan, and you can change your design without starting again. Choose Wix if your site is mainly a portfolio, service or content site that sells a few products, and you value its free form editor. To sell on Wix you need the Core plan or above, because the Light plan cannot take payments.

Key Takeaways

• Wix's Light plan cannot take payments; Core, Business and Business Elite are the plans for selling, listed in the UK at £16, £25 and £119 a month billed yearly.
• Wix Payments charges UK merchants 2.1% plus 20p per card payment on every plan, while Shopify Payments charges 2%, 1.7% or 1.5% plus 25p depending on plan.
• Shopify allows 2,048 variants across up to three options; Wix allows 1,000 variants across up to six options.
• Wix does not let you swap the template on an existing site, so a redesign means building a new site; Shopify lets you publish a different theme at any time.
• The merchants who come to us from Wix usually do so because their store has outgrown Wix's limits and requires a dedicated commerce engine.
• Wix suits service businesses, portfolios and small shops; Shopify suits product businesses that expect to grow.

Table of Contents

• Wix vs Shopify at a Glance
• Plans and Pricing
• Payment Fees
• Products and Variants
• Design and Editing
• Apps and Integrations
• Selling Channels, Point of Sale and B2B
• SEO
• When Wix Is the Better Choice
• When Shopify Is the Better Choice
• Moving from Wix to Shopify
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• Related Articles

Wix vs Shopify at a Glance

Plans and Pricing

Wix has four standard paid plans: Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, plus custom Enterprise pricing. Its Help Center is clear about where selling starts: if you buy Light, you cannot accept payments through your site, and Core or Business are the plans to consider for ecommerce and payment processing. Business Elite is aimed at high traffic businesses and supports multiple sites in different languages and currencies.

Wix's UK plans page lists Light at £9 a month, Core at £16, Business at £25 and Business Elite at £119, with prices shown for yearly subscriptions paid in full upfront. When we checked on 16 September 2026, Core, Business and Business Elite were discounted by 50%, to £8, £12.50 and £59.50 a month, which made Core, the cheapest plan that can take payments, cheaper than Light at the time. Every paid plan includes a custom domain, hosting, AI creation tools and round the clock customer care, with a 14 day money back guarantee, and Wix notes that prices vary by location.

Shopify's UK plans all include selling, with hosting, security and platform updates built in:

Paying yearly saves roughly a quarter, and Shopify Plus starts from £1,800 a month. On headline price, Wix Core at £16 undercuts Shopify Basic at £19, and more so while Wix's discount lasts, so the better comparison is what each plan lets you do and what you pay per order.

Payment Fees

According to Wix's service fees page, Wix Payments charges UK merchants 2.1% plus 20p for card payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, and 3.1% plus 20p for American Express. The rate is the same on every plan, and Wix also lists cross border fees and a chargeback fee.

Shopify Payments charges no transaction fee of its own, and its UK online card rate falls as you move up a plan: 2% plus 25p on Basic, 1.7% plus 25p on Grow and 1.5% plus 25p on Advanced. If you use a third party gateway instead, Shopify adds 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% depending on plan.

Because Shopify's fixed fee is 5p higher and its percentage is lower, which platform costs less per card payment depends on the order value:

Wix Payments costs less than Shopify Basic below a £50 order value and more above it, and Shopify Grow costs less than Wix Payments on any order above £12.50. The differences are pennies per order, so choose on features first; but for a store with a high average order value, Shopify's lower percentage adds up.

Products and Variants

Wix describes products in more ways, while Shopify sells more combinations. Wix Stores allows up to six product options per product, each with up to 100 choices, plus up to ten modifiers for things like engraving that do not need separate stock. Its store limits cap each product at 1,000 variants.

Shopify raised its limit to 2,048 variants per product for all merchants in October 2025, across up to three options. If your products combine size, colour and material in many ways, Shopify now has the higher ceiling. If you need four or more separate option types on one product, Wix is more flexible, while on Shopify that usually means an app or a different product structure.

Beyond variants, Shopify's catalogue tools are built for growth, with inventory across multiple locations, bulk editing, and product data that flows to every sales channel from one admin. Wix's store tools are straightforward and well suited to smaller catalogues.

Design and Editing

Wix's greatest strength is its drag and drop editor, which lets you place elements freely on the page, and its AI tools can generate a starting design from a few prompts. For portfolios and brand sites where visual storytelling matters most, that freedom is hard to beat. The trade off is structure: free form layouts make it easier to break the patterns that help shoppers find products and check out.

The bigger practical difference is what happens when you want a new look. Wix's Help Center confirms it is not possible to switch an existing site to a different template. Instead you create a new site with the new template, rebuild or move the content, then reassign your plan and domain, and Wix warns that changing template can affect your SEO.

On Shopify you can install a new theme, preview it and publish it whenever you like. Your products, collections, pages and orders live in the admin rather than the theme, although theme settings and page sections need setting up again in the new theme. The Shopify Theme Store has around two dozen free themes; most premium themes cost $250 to $500 as a one off purchase, about £185 to £370, and you only pay when you publish one. Our guide to choosing the right Shopify theme explains what to look for, and our Shopify designers build custom themes when a ready made one will not do.

Apps and Integrations

Both platforms have an app marketplace. Wix's apps cover a wide range of website needs, from forms and bookings to social feeds, reflecting its role as a general website builder. Shopify describes its App Store as the largest commerce ecosystem, and its apps are built around selling: reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, fulfilment and lifecycle marketing.

The integration that matters most for most of our clients is email. Across 198 client stores, email is a median 30% of revenue, so the depth of your Klaviyo integration makes a real difference. For subscriptions, Shopify offers its own free Shopify Subscriptions app, and we also work with Recharge for brands that need more. Our guide to optimising your Shopify email marketing covers the flows that earn that share.

Selling Channels, Point of Sale and B2B

Shopify builds point of sale into the platform, with POS Pro at £69 a month per location for fuller retail features, and manages social and marketplace channels from the same admin. For selling abroad, Shopify Markets handles currencies, languages and local pricing from one store.

Wix also offers its own point of sale and social selling tools, so check what is available for your country and plan. For wholesale, Shopify B2B now runs on every Shopify plan, with company accounts, catalogues, net payment terms and quantity rules.

SEO

Both platforms cover the SEO essentials: editable titles and meta descriptions, custom URLs, image alt text, XML sitemaps and 301 redirects. Wix's content tools make it a comfortable home for blogs and service pages. Shopify fixes some URL paths, such as /products/ and /collections/, which you cannot change.

Neither platform guarantees rankings. Speed depends mostly on your design, apps and images, and content and site structure matter more than the platform itself. On Wix, remember that a redesign means a new site, which carries more SEO risk than switching themes on Shopify. Our Shopify SEO guide covers what to fix first.

When Wix Is the Better Choice

Wix is genuinely the stronger option if:

• Your site is mainly a portfolio, service or content site, and selling products is a secondary job.
• You sell a small, simple range and do not need subscriptions, wholesale or many sales channels.
• You want complete creative freedom over page layout without touching code.
• You need bookings, events or service tools alongside a few products.
• Your products need more than three separate option types, such as size, colour, material and finish.

When Shopify Is the Better Choice

Shopify is the stronger choice for most product businesses, and especially if:

• Selling products is the main purpose of your website.
• You plan to grow your range, traffic and revenue, and want to change your design without rebuilding the site.
• You sell products with many combinations and need more than 1,000 variants.
• You want point of sale, B2B selling or several sales channels managed from one admin.
• You rely on email, subscription and loyalty tools built for ecommerce.
• Your average order value is above £50, where Shopify's card rates cost less per order than Wix Payments.

Moving from Wix to Shopify

Moving from Wix means rebuilding the design, because templates do not carry across platforms. A good migration moves products, variants, images, customers and order history; maps every Wix URL to its new Shopify address with 301 redirects, since URL patterns change between the platforms; rebuilds the design on a Shopify theme; and tests checkout, tax and shipping before launch. Check early what each Wix export includes, so nothing is missed.

Our Shopify migration checklist walks through each stage, and our guide to Shopify migration costs explains what drives the price. Our Shopify packages are priced openly on our website, and every development project comes with a three month guarantee.

Why Matters Perspective

Wix is an excellent tool for what it was designed to do: give small businesses, freelancers and service providers a good looking website quickly. We would not move a portfolio or service business with a handful of products to Shopify just for the sake of it.

The merchants who come to us from Wix usually do so because their store has outgrown Wix's limits and requires a dedicated commerce engine. The template limit adds to the cost: a Wix store that needs a new look has to be rebuilt anyway, which is often the moment it makes sense to rebuild on a platform designed for selling.

We are a Shopify Select partner with Verified Skills across development and marketing, and a Klaviyo and Recharge partner. If Wix genuinely suits your business better, we will tell you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wix cheaper than Shopify?

On headline price, yes. Wix's UK plans page lists Core, its cheapest plan that can take payments, at £16 a month billed yearly, against £19 for Shopify Basic, and Wix was offering 50% off when we checked. Per card payment, Wix Payments costs less than Shopify Basic below a £50 order value and more above it, and Shopify Grow costs less than Wix Payments above £12.50.

Why do businesses move from Wix to Shopify?

The merchants who come to us from Wix usually do so because their store has outgrown Wix's limits and requires a dedicated commerce engine. Because a Wix template cannot be swapped, a store that needs a redesign often has to be rebuilt anyway, which makes it a natural moment to move.

Which Wix plan do I need to sell online?

Core or above. Wix says the Light plan cannot accept payments, and it points businesses that need ecommerce and payment processing to the Core or Business plans. Business Elite adds support for multiple sites in different languages and currencies.

How much does Wix Payments charge in the UK?

Wix Payments charges UK merchants 2.1% plus 20p for card payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, and 3.1% plus 20p for American Express, on every plan. Shopify Payments charges 2%, 1.7% or 1.5% plus 25p depending on the Shopify plan.

Can I change my Wix template later?

Not on an existing site. Wix says it is not possible to switch a site to a different template, so a new design means creating a new site, moving your content and reassigning your plan and domain. Shopify lets you publish a different theme at any time.

Which platform allows more product variants?

Shopify allows up to 2,048 variants per product across up to three options. Wix allows up to 1,000 variants across up to six options, so Wix handles more option types while Shopify handles more combinations.

Is Shopify better than Wix for SEO?

Both cover the essentials, including editable titles and descriptions, sitemaps and 301 redirects. Content and site structure matter more than the platform, but Wix's template limit means a redesign carries more SEO risk than switching themes on Shopify.

Can I move from Wix to Shopify?

Yes. Products, customers and orders can be moved, the design is rebuilt on a Shopify theme, and every Wix URL should be redirected to its new Shopify address with a 301 redirect to protect your rankings.

Final Thoughts

Wix is a website that can sell; Shopify is a shop with a website. If your site is mainly a portfolio or service business with a few products, Wix's editor and all in one tools make it a strong choice. If selling is the point, Shopify's variants, apps, point of sale, B2B and freedom to redesign without rebuilding make it the better long term home.

If you are weighing up a move from Wix, email us at info@whymatters.co.uk and we will talk through whether Shopify fits your business, or see our Shopify packages.

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