Wix and Weebly are two renowned leaders of the contemporary web design niche. Both systems are great when it comes to the development of high end and feature-laden websites. They are also so easy-to-use and convenient both for beginners and web design pros that they have already become the synonyms for DIY website development.
Regardless of their niche popularity, the website builders still differ in terms of complexity, ease of exploration, convenience, integrated functionality, services provided and pricing policy. This is what frequently makes users think about the choice of the right web building tool. To define the platform that works best for your individual web design needs, it makes sense to review and analyse each system in details.
Wix – is a full-featured DIY website builder, which has gained worldwide popularity due to its amazing integrated functionality, advanced design customization options and high end project management solutions. The system works great for all user categories making it possible to launch all types of website for commercial and non-commercial use.
Weebly – is a trusted cloud website builder, which comes with a drag-and-drop editor and an abundance of features to set up and manage quality web projects. No coding skills are required to use the platform, although, it allows for HTML/CSS code editing. The website builder has gained eCommerce focus, which has made it a worthy solution for online store development.
To help you make the unbiased choice of the best website builder, it is important to compare their special features, parameters, design customization options, integrated functionality, customer support alternatives as well as SEO and pricing aspects. Are you ready to figure out the only winner? Then let’s get started!
Wix currently holds the position of the best and the most popular website builder in the world. It works great for the development of all types of websites, but it mainly focuses on the creation of blogs, promo sites, landing pages and business projects. It is also possible to start small and mid-sized web stores with the system, which will also be feature-laden and functional.
Wix offers a variety of customizable templates along with the convenient drag-and-drop editor that allows everyone to give them personalized design without any coding skills required. This is what makes the website builder a worthy pick to beginners as well as for proficient users, willing to create appealing projects with high end performance.
Founded in Israel in 2006, the company has gained immense popularity across the globe. It now has its offices in Germany, Brazil, India, Canada, the US, Ireland, Ukraine and Lithuania. According to recent stats, the number of live websites it currently powers has exceeded 7, 043, 216. The website builder follows the freemium business model, making it possible to upgrade from its free plan to one of the paid subscriptions to get access to advanced web design features.
All in all, Wix is a professional website builder that will be a perfect choice for creatives, musicians, actors, photographers, models and designers. The system will also be interesting to business owners because of its simplicity and convenience of website creation. Price lists, charts, forms, banners, website registration access – all these features make it possible to create an effective business website.
Weebly is also the all-in-one website builder, which lets its subscribers start quality and visually-attractive projects. The platform makes it possible to launch portfolios, blogs and business websites. However, its major niche specialization currently goes down to the development of eCommerce project. The system has gained strong web store design focus in 2018, after its acquisition by the world eCommerce giant – Square.
The website builder comes with a handy drag-and-drop editor, which contributes to the intuitive and simple web design process. The editor is well-organized, while the dashboard of the system is easy-to-browser and logically-structured. From changing your account password to publishing the ready-made project, everything can be done with just a few clicks here. The system allows customizing pre-designed responsive templates to create personalized website design.
Just like Wix, Weebly was founded in 2006 to quickly gain worldwide recognition. Recent estimates tell about 1, 739, 322 websites launched with the platform. The website builder works great for entrepreneurs, creatives and owners of web stores, who wish to popularize their businesses at the international level. The system does not require any coding proficiency yet it’s also possible to edit HTML/CSS code here, if required.
Wix comes with a clear and user-friendly interface as well as an abundance of design customization tools that make it possible to edit both standard and mobile website versions. The dashboard of the system is appealing, convenient and handy as well. What you should also know is that Wix follows the “absolute positioning” model, which implies the availability of specific block positions for each element on a web page. As a result, it becomes impossible to switch between the selected templates after you have started the customization process. This is what makes the choice of the design an important step.
Apart from setting up, adding and modifying web page elements, you can also edit each widget/block after you adjust its position. What you can do here is replacing the available blocks with widgets in any preferred order, changing their styles and backgrounds, sizes, content layout, frames and other required elements. Integration of images, videos and other media files is also allowed here.
If you wish, you can protect your website pages with a password or hide them at all, offering access to the user categories you have initially selected or providing a link to this web page. There is also a simple, but conveniently realized option of adding website co-authors: with just a few clicks, you can add website editors, who will be allowed to make secondary changes, but they won’t be able to spoil anything, even if they wish to.
It’s also very convenient to edit text in Wix. The system editor allows formatting articles in an appealing way, adding any elements to them, including animations, charts, diagrams, videos, photos, lists etc. The second website editing option is Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). This is the integrated system used for automatic website creation (structure, design, content) based on the initial data provided by a user. This is an alternative option for those, who don’t understand anything about website building and consider the choice of a template too complicated. To use the tool successfully, you need to provide your business name, its geographic location, niche and select the required functionality (online store, blog).
Another highlight of the system is Velo by Wix. This is a full-stack web development platform, which empowers users to effectively build, manage and deploy professional web applications. Coding knowledge is not a must to use the feature. The interface allows organizing logical connections leading to the completion of different actions and collecting them in one working application for your website. Users get a perfect chance to use their creativity to turn their ideas into digital products. From a powerful eCommerce site to a social network or API – Velo has got the right tools to let you build any type of project.
Wix comes with an extensive and informative Knowledge Base, ticketing system, email and VIP support features that make it possible to avail the best result. The Help Center abounds in useful posts, guides, tips, video and text tutorials. There is also an opportunity to browse a system forum and ask for expert assistance, if needed.
Weebly can also boast powerful flexibility and lots of options. This is where you can find everything you might need when working at your website development. The dashboard structure is logical and simple. The design is appealing. All the options are grouped into five horizontal menu sections, namely “Create”, “Design”, “Pages”, “Online Store”, “Parameters”.
Weebly’s feature set is exhaustive. There is almost nothing you can add here. Everything is based on the drag-and-drop functionality. In this respect, the system works great as well – it is convenient, powerful and appealing. Unlike Wix with its “absolute positioning” approach, Weebly practices the “Box model”, which is more restrictive yet lets users change the templates on any stage of the website development process.
With Weebly you can add multiple contributors to your website (Account admin, Author, Dashboard only). The latter two types are available for Pro users only.
The website builder partners with IFTTT to help you automate many actions related to your website. You can choose a ready ‘recipe’ or create your own to automate a custom action. To give your website outstanding and completely personalized design, Weebly lets you use its advanced features. These include HTML5-based Image Editor, integrated Form Builder, App Center, Video Hosting, high end Weebly for Education solutions and many more.
To guide you through the entire process of website development, Weebly provides several types of support options. Along with the self-explanatory control panel that contains helpful pop-ups and prompts, users can get access to the live charm phone and email support assistance as well as ticketing feature. Should you encounter any problems, first visit the Weebly Help Center. It contains answers to the most frequently asked questions and many helpful tuts. Weebly is also quite active on social media. In urgent cases, you can contact them via Twitter or Facebook.
Wix and Weebly offer impressive feature sets by default. It is quite difficult to compare the systems as they both offer more than enough to build a full-featured website. Each service, however, grants access to multiple features and tools that make it a worthy solution for a certain target audience. To define the system that has more to offer to its subscribers, it makes sense to analyze and compare their integrated functionality to draw up an unbiased conclusion. Have a look at the features listed below.
The website builder also allows you to receive notifications, when your clients place orders regarding their intention to pick up their products in the local storefront. You will also be notified, when your products run out of stock to be able to offer them for sale again. This can now be done directly from your POS device. What’s more, Wix lets you calculate the cost of goods you plan to offer to your customers. The same is about product variations. These parameters won’t be visible to users.
The system has recently introduced new eCommerce features – Apply/Remove Coupon functions, which make it possible to add coupons to the cart or remove the ones that have been previously applied to an order. It has also become possible to add products to the store cart by quantity, product ID, its special options etc. Finally, you can adjust multiple payment options and add Amazon as a sales channel to your Wix Store to further manage customer orders and inventory tools directly from the Wix dashboard.
Weebly has gained a powerful eCommerce focus after its merge with Square platform. This happened in 2017. For around 4 years, the website builder has become one of the most popular systems to start all types of online stores that differ in integrated functionality, size, complexity and other parameters. There is a separate eCommerce plan for users willing to run full-featured digital stores.
The website builder has a collection of eCommerce designs that fit various niches and come with the pre-installed shopping cart feature and connected payment options. SSL certificates are automatically enabled, when you create a project. To customize it, you can upload/edit products, add descriptions, videos and images, use inventory management tools, connect tax/shipping calculation services etc. To boost your customers’ loyalty, there is an opportunity to implement coupon codes and special offers. CSV file import/export is available here as well.
Being a part of Square, Weebly now allows taking advantage of the Square Online Checkout feature. This is a new product, which allows integrating a Buy Button into your website to sell products or accept payments online. The system has also introduced a high end curbside pickup feature to enable local customers, who place orders online, to apply for the curbside pickup whenever it is convenient for them.
Weebly has also made it possible to place announcement banners on your website to draw customers’ attention and help you reach business goals. The availability of the Square Photo Studio, in its turn, allows making professional products photos at low cost to increase its presentation features.
By the way, if you already own a web store, there is an opportunity to move it to Weebly website builder from a managed marketplace like Etsy or Amazon, for example. Finally, it has recently become possible to accept cryptocurrency payments with BitPay, when managing your wix-based web store. The feature, however, is accessible in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and Brazil. More locations are going to be added soon.
Wix comes with a powerful built-in blogging platform, which lets everyone connect a blog to a website to further manage it, using the toolset available in stock. No coding proficiency is required to create a blog – just pick a suitable theme and customize it as you indeed. What you can do here is assigning the major blog parameters, adding/editing new publications, updating the existing articles, scheduling new posts, integrating media files etc. The website builder makes it possible for blog members to reply to other comments not only with text messages, but also with GIF files and emojis. This helps diversify user experience. Finally, it has become possible to customize your blog URLs and SEO meta tags as well as to adjust advanced SEO settings for blog posts to drive more traffic and to take full control over the posts displayed on social media.
Weebly stands out from the crowd as a blogging platform as it was created with a blog creation focus in mind. It abounds in blog-related features and tools, including article publication/editing, commenting feature, social media starting options, future publishing feature, tag adjustment etc. No matter what coding background you possess, setting up a blog with Weebly won;y be a problem for you. There is access to multiple free responsive blog templates as well as customization tools you can use to set up a quality project. Stories Overview feature additionally makes it possible to launch dynamic blog pages that come with links and posts published on other pages. This is a handy feature that helps save users’ browsing time and effort.
The website builder has recently introduced its Meet Dine by Wix widget – a special customers’ restaurant app, which notably enhances your restaurant management process. Much attention is given here to the order placement/reservations procedure as well as user interaction. It has become possible to hide special requests for certain dishes, add a contactless dine-in feature to your restaurant to let clients be served at their tables by scanning a QR code to view the menu and place an order online. Clients can also make use of the curbside pickup feature to place orders and get them to their cars.
Wix Events widget has been updated as well. An opportunity to host an online event with Wix Live feature has become available here. Users have an opportunity to host 3 online events. To be able to host more events, an upgrade to the premium plan is required.
Weebly makes it possible to browse its App Center to pick applications that work best for your project. This is an extensive marketplace with lots of free and paid apps sorted out by categories to simplify users’ choice. You can select a broad range of dynamic galleries, slideshows, web forms, social sharing buttons and other extensions to boost your project performance. All of them are integrated with a few clicks.
With Weebly, you can build custom online forms to accept and manage the info users submit. This is easily realized by means of Weebly Form Builder App integration. This is fast and simple as well. Additionally, Weebly allows embedding video files from YouTube or uploading them to the system servers and then to the selected project.
To effectively manage your website, the software has introduced an updated Wix Owner app. It makes it possible to track website analytics, interact with website visitors and manage your business on the go.
Another highlight of the software is its Logo Maker tool, which allows designing professional brand logos in almost no time. Due to the intuitive web development approach, the website builder makes it possible to customize your company logo design by adjusting typography options, brand colours, style and other parameters.
Along with the logo design feature, Wix also makes it possible to create branded apps for iOS and Android with no coding required. The app allows delivering a stunning mobile experience for your customers. When using it, they will be able to get website-related notifications and updates, join groups and conversations, place orders, shop online, connect with you via the integrated chat feature, interact with other users etc. The app will be 100% personalized with your branding and logo. It’s only up to you to customize the layout and design the app icon with regard to your individual requirements and business specialization.
Weebly allows for effective website management, if you intend to work on your project creation with a number of co-thinkers. It is up to you to pick and add as many users as you wish depending upon your project requirements. You are free to choose people to grant them with website access rights. It is even possible to divide users into several groups to simplify website control and its further management.
The website builder has also distinguished itself due to its Weebly for Education platform, which now comes with education-focused add-ons and makes it possible for teachers to independently launch educational websites. However, the system has recently announced the upcoming discontinuation of the Weebly for Education platform. It won’t be accessible after August 1, 2022. All teacher accounts will automatically convert to standard free accounts, but the published projects will remain accessible on the web. Free account users will be able to keep working with the website builder, publishing projects in the same easy-to-use system editor.
Another feature Weebly is known for is its advanced Promote tool. This is a standalone email marketing service provided on a paid basis. The monthly cost will depend on the selected subscription you should choose with regard to business goals and your campaign size. This is a nice addition to your email marketing strategy that helps you grow your customer base and mailing list as well as generate reports.
The only drawback we have already mentioned is the fact that the system doesn’t let you change the templates during the process of project customization. So, take your time to make a smart choice. Fortunately, the system has a preview option to let you see what theme exactly you are going to choose.
Apart from standard design editing options, Wix allows working on the mobile version of your project. Mind, however, that all the edits you make in the mobile version will not be displayed in the desktop mode. However, the edits you make in the desktop website version will be reflected in the mobile mode. This is very handy and convenient for first-timers and professionals.
Weebly templates also have a professional look, although, their number is less than that offered by Wix. All the designs are responsive and 100% customizable. They are grouped based on their styles and colors. You can choose the color scheme to meet a certain template. There are 5-10 variants available here and their choice is displayed in the preview right from the start so that you could make the right choice.
Templates are really versatile and cause respect to web designers, who work on their development. You won’t meet such quality too often. Their structures and designs differ, all miniatures are filled with quality demo content. The work of the system web developers is really impressive. As opposed to Wix, the initial template choice is not final here. You can change it any time during the web design process. In this respect, Weebly ranks high. Likewise, it is possible to edit the website HTML/CSS code of your website to give it a completely personalized touch, if you possess programming skills.
Wix pricing policy is affordable to all users as the system has versatile plans to come up to any needs and budget. There is a completely free plan here that never ends and lets you experiment with your website development tasks for as long as you need that. Using a free plan is a great way to boost your web design and coding skills. As soon as you decide to start and publish a feature-laden website, you’ll be offered to choose one of the paid subscriptions. Have a look at the packages the system offers and the plans they encompass.
Standard Wix Plans
Wix is a SEO-friendly website builder that allows optimizing a ready-made website for the search engines in the best way possible. It uses an advanced SEO Wiz tool that lets you set up SEO parameters directly in the Management section. For this very purpose, the system offers step-by-step guidelines and instructions, which help control all the nuances of the process.
Additionally, the website builder grants access to the App Market with multiple widgets and add-ons that make it possible to track website statistics and effectively promote the project on the web. These include pop-up windows, social networks and marketing tools, email distribution widgets, online consultant and callback order buttons etc. Users can also manually adjust special SEO parameters, including page meta tags (titles, descriptions etc.), heading tags, Alt tags, anchor links, redirecting tools, website verification and Google Analytics etc. To boost your web store product pages, Wix lets you add brand names to product attributes. This helps Google better recognize your products and improve your project positions in the search engine results.
The system also allows testing, analyzing and optimizing your website’s speed to enhance its performance and user experience. To make the required settings, access your Wix site speed Dashboard, where you can view its current performance, compare it with your competitors and further make necessary improvements.
Weebly is also good, when it comes to SEO. The website builder offers a set of standard tools for effective search engine optimization of projects launched with it. It is possible to assign a unique URL to each website page, set up titles, keywords and descriptions. This helps boost the positions of websites in the search engines for better indexing. Additionally, the system lets you set up and edit permalinks, embed header and footer codes into the required pages, hide the pages from the search engines, set up redirects etc. All these and other actions can be completed in the corresponding SEO section of the website.
Wix is a great pick for entrepreneurs willing to start, manage and promote business websites, irrespective of their area of specialization. This especially concerns projects that require creative approach. The system mostly works great for the representatives of creative professions, who wish to go live with their projects and start making money selling their works (handmade items, audios and photos, videos, pictures etc.).
It also grants multiple web design opportunities to the owners of restaurants, cafes, hotels, tourist agencies and other suchlike businesses (see real Wix website examples). For these business categories, the website builder offers a rich choice of widgets and extensions that provide the required functionality level (order and booking of tickets, rooms tables, food along with convenient booking options etc.). Wix also stands out from the crowd due to its powerful integrated Ascend platform – the all-in-one business service that offers 20 tools for professional business management and promotion.
Weebly is also good for business websites, but its major area of specialization goes down to the development of blogging and eCommerce projects. However, it’s possible to start small business websites with the system, making use of its powerful integrated feature set (see the proofs). The platform allows using its Weebly Promote tool that contributes to the advanced email marketing options. The tool automatically generates messages and lets you send newsletters to registered website members to keep them aware of your business updates and news.
Alongside, Weebly makes it possible to integrate online forms into your business website, videos and images, track project statistics, integrate with IFTTT platform to create automated events and tasks etc. Finally, the website builder lets you pick and use some of the handy apps available in its App Center (PinPoll, LiveChat, Call-Out-Box) etc.
Wix unveils multiple opportunities for web store development. It comes with the integrated eCommerce engine realized via Wix Store widget connection. It provides numerous options and tools for effective product show window presentation, compilation of product cards and galleries as well as setting up special web store parameters.
The website builder also offers stock widgets available in its rich App Market that contribute to better optimization of online sales. These include integrations with popular marketplaces, social networks etc. The system allows creating discount/gift certificates, bonuses and special offers to boost the loyalty of your customers. Apart from selling physical products, Wix also makes it possible to sell digital goods, such as photo, video and audio files and what not.
There is a powerful integrated CRM system, advanced analytic tools and services, customer interaction tools, email networking features and other means for effective web store management and promotion. Other Wix eCommerce highlights are as follows: CSV product import/export, multiple payment options, tax/shipping alternatives, professional web store management tools, mobile optimization, eCommerce templates optimized for mobile viewing and many more. These features make Wix a nice choice for the launch of small and medium web stores, but they are still not enough for large hypermarkets with advanced functionality.
When it tackles Weebly, the website builder proves to have a powerful eCommerce focus. Thus, it works great for the development of all types of web stores, ranging from small projects and up to large feature-laden international hypermarkets. Weebly used to have long-lasting partnership with Square, which finally resulted in the merge of two companies in 2018. Weebly & Square have one common goal: to help the world’s known entrepreneurs succeed in their endeavours via building professional websites and supporting powerful offline ventures.
The website builder now stands out from the crowd due to its powerful eCommerce engine, which is chock-full of multiple business-specific and eCommerce features/tools. These include integrated shopping cart, safe payment/shipping options, opportunity to upload, sell and manage thousands of products, convenient search filter options, social network integration, mobile optimization etc.
Wix blogging potential is quite extensive due to the integrated and full-featured blogging platform the system comes with (see examples). The website builder encompasses a niche CMS that allows for convenient and simple article posting. Apart from that, it is possible to create the unlimited number of sections, enable Facebook comments, create a custom feed, assign blog categories, sort out and schedule publications, select from multiple blog templates, add a Featured posts section, import blogs from WordPress to further effectively customize them. Another undeniable highlight of the system is the opportunity to connect the AMP technology that allows for better optimization of Wix blog page loading on mobile devices. Whether you need a personal or a business blog, Wix will cope with its development and management on a high level.
Weebly is one of the best website builders to start a blog. This is because the platform was initially created for blogging purposes and, thus, it comes with a powerful set of eCommerce features/tools (take a look at blogs powered by Weebly). Setting up and configuring a blog with Weebly is easy, convenient and code-free. Generally, the process takes several minutes only as all the features are provided in stock. What you can do to set up a feature-laden blog here is writing, scheduling, editing and managing blog posts, selecting social media sharing options, picking from lots of free blog templates, assigning meta tags for separate posts, choosing various commenting systems, adding headers and footers etc.
Wix vs Weebly: General Overview
Wix currently holds the position of the best and the most popular website builder in the world. It works great for the development of all types of websites, but it mainly focuses on the creation of blogs, promo sites, landing pages and business projects. It is also possible to start small and mid-sized web stores with the system, which will also be feature-laden and functional.
Wix offers a variety of customizable templates along with the convenient drag-and-drop editor that allows everyone to give them personalized design without any coding skills required. This is what makes the website builder a worthy pick to beginners as well as for proficient users, willing to create appealing projects with high end performance.
Founded in Israel in 2006, the company has gained immense popularity across the globe. It now has its offices in Germany, Brazil, India, Canada, the US, Ireland, Ukraine and Lithuania. According to recent stats, the number of live websites it currently powers has exceeded 7, 043, 216. The website builder follows the freemium business model, making it possible to upgrade from its free plan to one of the paid subscriptions to get access to advanced web design features.
All in all, Wix is a professional website builder that will be a perfect choice for creatives, musicians, actors, photographers, models and designers. The system will also be interesting to business owners because of its simplicity and convenience of website creation. Price lists, charts, forms, banners, website registration access – all these features make it possible to create an effective business website.
Weebly is also the all-in-one website builder, which lets its subscribers start quality and visually-attractive projects. The platform makes it possible to launch portfolios, blogs and business websites. However, its major niche specialization currently goes down to the development of eCommerce project. The system has gained strong web store design focus in 2018, after its acquisition by the world eCommerce giant – Square.
The website builder comes with a handy drag-and-drop editor, which contributes to the intuitive and simple web design process. The editor is well-organized, while the dashboard of the system is easy-to-browser and logically-structured. From changing your account password to publishing the ready-made project, everything can be done with just a few clicks here. The system allows customizing pre-designed responsive templates to create personalized website design.
Just like Wix, Weebly was founded in 2006 to quickly gain worldwide recognition. Recent estimates tell about 1, 739, 322 websites launched with the platform. The website builder works great for entrepreneurs, creatives and owners of web stores, who wish to popularize their businesses at the international level. The system does not require any coding proficiency yet it’s also possible to edit HTML/CSS code here, if required.
Wix and Weebly are quality web design platforms that meet the needs of first-timers and web design experts. Both systems have drag-and-drop editors and well-structured/intuitive control panels, which makes it easy to effectively manage multiple websites from one account. Wix, however, is the best all-in-one solution for all user categories and types of projects that provides ease-of-use, which does not compromise with functionality.
Wix vs Weebly: Which One Is Easier to Use?
Wix comes with a clear and user-friendly interface as well as an abundance of design customization tools that make it possible to edit both standard and mobile website versions. The dashboard of the system is appealing, convenient and handy as well. What you should also know is that Wix follows the “absolute positioning” model, which implies the availability of specific block positions for each element on a web page. As a result, it becomes impossible to switch between the selected templates after you have started the customization process. This is what makes the choice of the design an important step.
Apart from setting up, adding and modifying web page elements, you can also edit each widget/block after you adjust its position. What you can do here is replacing the available blocks with widgets in any preferred order, changing their styles and backgrounds, sizes, content layout, frames and other required elements. Integration of images, videos and other media files is also allowed here.
If you wish, you can protect your website pages with a password or hide them at all, offering access to the user categories you have initially selected or providing a link to this web page. There is also a simple, but conveniently realized option of adding website co-authors: with just a few clicks, you can add website editors, who will be allowed to make secondary changes, but they won’t be able to spoil anything, even if they wish to.
It’s also very convenient to edit text in Wix. The system editor allows formatting articles in an appealing way, adding any elements to them, including animations, charts, diagrams, videos, photos, lists etc. The second website editing option is Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence). This is the integrated system used for automatic website creation (structure, design, content) based on the initial data provided by a user. This is an alternative option for those, who don’t understand anything about website building and consider the choice of a template too complicated. To use the tool successfully, you need to provide your business name, its geographic location, niche and select the required functionality (online store, blog).
Another highlight of the system is Velo by Wix. This is a full-stack web development platform, which empowers users to effectively build, manage and deploy professional web applications. Coding knowledge is not a must to use the feature. The interface allows organizing logical connections leading to the completion of different actions and collecting them in one working application for your website. Users get a perfect chance to use their creativity to turn their ideas into digital products. From a powerful eCommerce site to a social network or API – Velo has got the right tools to let you build any type of project.
Wix comes with an extensive and informative Knowledge Base, ticketing system, email and VIP support features that make it possible to avail the best result. The Help Center abounds in useful posts, guides, tips, video and text tutorials. There is also an opportunity to browse a system forum and ask for expert assistance, if needed.
Weebly can also boast powerful flexibility and lots of options. This is where you can find everything you might need when working at your website development. The dashboard structure is logical and simple. The design is appealing. All the options are grouped into five horizontal menu sections, namely “Create”, “Design”, “Pages”, “Online Store”, “Parameters”.
Weebly’s feature set is exhaustive. There is almost nothing you can add here. Everything is based on the drag-and-drop functionality. In this respect, the system works great as well – it is convenient, powerful and appealing. Unlike Wix with its “absolute positioning” approach, Weebly practices the “Box model”, which is more restrictive yet lets users change the templates on any stage of the website development process.
With Weebly you can add multiple contributors to your website (Account admin, Author, Dashboard only). The latter two types are available for Pro users only.
The website builder partners with IFTTT to help you automate many actions related to your website. You can choose a ready ‘recipe’ or create your own to automate a custom action. To give your website outstanding and completely personalized design, Weebly lets you use its advanced features. These include HTML5-based Image Editor, integrated Form Builder, App Center, Video Hosting, high end Weebly for Education solutions and many more.
To guide you through the entire process of website development, Weebly provides several types of support options. Along with the self-explanatory control panel that contains helpful pop-ups and prompts, users can get access to the live charm phone and email support assistance as well as ticketing feature. Should you encounter any problems, first visit the Weebly Help Center. It contains answers to the most frequently asked questions and many helpful tuts. Weebly is also quite active on social media. In urgent cases, you can contact them via Twitter or Facebook.
To sum it up, Wix and Weebly are both quite easy to use for beginners and they also have much to offer to web design experts. Wix, however, stands out from the crowd due to its initial focus on the needs and skills of users. The website builder is easier-to-use, while its functionality is far above the average. This concerns the choice of website editing features, rich selection of integrated apps/widgets, website management and promotion tools. The same is about customer support of the platform, which is realized in different ways here.
Wix vs Weebly: Design and Flexibility
Wix and Weebly offer impressive feature sets by default. It is quite difficult to compare the systems as they both offer more than enough to build a full-featured website. Each service, however, grants access to multiple features and tools that make it a worthy solution for a certain target audience. To define the system that has more to offer to its subscribers, it makes sense to analyze and compare their integrated functionality to draw up an unbiased conclusion. Have a look at the features listed below.
eCommerce
Wix has a built-in eCommerce engine, which allows starting a digital store by means of integrating and customizing an advanced Wix Stores widget. The platform makes it possible to set up and manage small and medium online stores, adjusting their parameters with regard to your business requirements and eCommerce needs. What you can do to run a web store with the system is creating/updating product galleries, adding items and their descriptions, assigning SEO settings, tracking web store statistics etc. Additionally, you can implement discounts, bonuses and special offers to enhance the loyalty of your customers. By the way, Wix has a separate section of themes for web store creation. They are divided into niches according to the topics they belong to.
The website builder also allows you to receive notifications, when your clients place orders regarding their intention to pick up their products in the local storefront. You will also be notified, when your products run out of stock to be able to offer them for sale again. This can now be done directly from your POS device. What’s more, Wix lets you calculate the cost of goods you plan to offer to your customers. The same is about product variations. These parameters won’t be visible to users.
The system has recently introduced new eCommerce features – Apply/Remove Coupon functions, which make it possible to add coupons to the cart or remove the ones that have been previously applied to an order. It has also become possible to add products to the store cart by quantity, product ID, its special options etc. Finally, you can adjust multiple payment options and add Amazon as a sales channel to your Wix Store to further manage customer orders and inventory tools directly from the Wix dashboard.
Weebly has gained a powerful eCommerce focus after its merge with Square platform. This happened in 2017. For around 4 years, the website builder has become one of the most popular systems to start all types of online stores that differ in integrated functionality, size, complexity and other parameters. There is a separate eCommerce plan for users willing to run full-featured digital stores.
The website builder has a collection of eCommerce designs that fit various niches and come with the pre-installed shopping cart feature and connected payment options. SSL certificates are automatically enabled, when you create a project. To customize it, you can upload/edit products, add descriptions, videos and images, use inventory management tools, connect tax/shipping calculation services etc. To boost your customers’ loyalty, there is an opportunity to implement coupon codes and special offers. CSV file import/export is available here as well.
Being a part of Square, Weebly now allows taking advantage of the Square Online Checkout feature. This is a new product, which allows integrating a Buy Button into your website to sell products or accept payments online. The system has also introduced a high end curbside pickup feature to enable local customers, who place orders online, to apply for the curbside pickup whenever it is convenient for them.
Weebly has also made it possible to place announcement banners on your website to draw customers’ attention and help you reach business goals. The availability of the Square Photo Studio, in its turn, allows making professional products photos at low cost to increase its presentation features.
By the way, if you already own a web store, there is an opportunity to move it to Weebly website builder from a managed marketplace like Etsy or Amazon, for example. Finally, it has recently become possible to accept cryptocurrency payments with BitPay, when managing your wix-based web store. The feature, however, is accessible in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and Brazil. More locations are going to be added soon.
As to the eCommerce feature, both website builders come with powerful engines. As an eCommerce-focused software, Weebly unveils more opportunities for professional digital store set up ad management. Wix, however, does not lag behind its competitor, especially when it comes to starting small and medium online shops.
Blogging
Wix comes with a powerful built-in blogging platform, which lets everyone connect a blog to a website to further manage it, using the toolset available in stock. No coding proficiency is required to create a blog – just pick a suitable theme and customize it as you indeed. What you can do here is assigning the major blog parameters, adding/editing new publications, updating the existing articles, scheduling new posts, integrating media files etc. The website builder makes it possible for blog members to reply to other comments not only with text messages, but also with GIF files and emojis. This helps diversify user experience. Finally, it has become possible to customize your blog URLs and SEO meta tags as well as to adjust advanced SEO settings for blog posts to drive more traffic and to take full control over the posts displayed on social media.
Weebly stands out from the crowd as a blogging platform as it was created with a blog creation focus in mind. It abounds in blog-related features and tools, including article publication/editing, commenting feature, social media starting options, future publishing feature, tag adjustment etc. No matter what coding background you possess, setting up a blog with Weebly won;y be a problem for you. There is access to multiple free responsive blog templates as well as customization tools you can use to set up a quality project. Stories Overview feature additionally makes it possible to launch dynamic blog pages that come with links and posts published on other pages. This is a handy feature that helps save users’ browsing time and effort.
Speaking about blogging, Wix and Weebly let their subscribers run this type of project with no deep programming knowledge required. The platforms have all the tools and features required to set up a professional personal or business blog. In this respect, bpth systems rank quite high.
Third-Party Extensions and Integrations
Wix is known for its high end App Market, which includes dozens of free and paid extensions and widgets that can enhance your project design and functionality. The apps available there belong to various niches and project types. These include business websites, restaurant and cafe projects, portfolios, photography websites, online stores etc. Due to the convenient search filter option, the process of searching and picking a suitable app becomes convenient and easy for every user. It takes around a few seconds to find a widget you need.
The website builder has recently introduced its Meet Dine by Wix widget – a special customers’ restaurant app, which notably enhances your restaurant management process. Much attention is given here to the order placement/reservations procedure as well as user interaction. It has become possible to hide special requests for certain dishes, add a contactless dine-in feature to your restaurant to let clients be served at their tables by scanning a QR code to view the menu and place an order online. Clients can also make use of the curbside pickup feature to place orders and get them to their cars.
Wix Events widget has been updated as well. An opportunity to host an online event with Wix Live feature has become available here. Users have an opportunity to host 3 online events. To be able to host more events, an upgrade to the premium plan is required.
Weebly makes it possible to browse its App Center to pick applications that work best for your project. This is an extensive marketplace with lots of free and paid apps sorted out by categories to simplify users’ choice. You can select a broad range of dynamic galleries, slideshows, web forms, social sharing buttons and other extensions to boost your project performance. All of them are integrated with a few clicks.
With Weebly, you can build custom online forms to accept and manage the info users submit. This is easily realized by means of Weebly Form Builder App integration. This is fast and simple as well. Additionally, Weebly allows embedding video files from YouTube or uploading them to the system servers and then to the selected project.
In terms of integrations, Wix and Weebly have much to offer. Both systems have extensive app markets available by default as well as extra add-ons that can add to your project performance. Wix prevails over Weebly, however when it comes to the amount of quality of extensions available in stock.
Special Features
Wix grants access to the high end Ascend platform and Wix Marketplace. Wix Ascend is a powerful business tool, which works great for entrepreneurs. It contributes to more effective business management, letting users apply over 20 tools (Forms, Live Chat, Tasks & Reminders, Inbox, Invoices and Automations etc.) used for successful project marketing and website promotion. Wix Marketplace, in its turn, is a worthy destination for users, who have an idea to get connected with professional web developers to launch feature-laden projects. To drive local traffic, you can also create and manage a Google My Business profile directly from the Wix dashboard. The feature allows connecting with customers from Google Search and Maps, replying to user reviews and completing other related tasks.
To effectively manage your website, the software has introduced an updated Wix Owner app. It makes it possible to track website analytics, interact with website visitors and manage your business on the go.
Another highlight of the software is its Logo Maker tool, which allows designing professional brand logos in almost no time. Due to the intuitive web development approach, the website builder makes it possible to customize your company logo design by adjusting typography options, brand colours, style and other parameters.
Along with the logo design feature, Wix also makes it possible to create branded apps for iOS and Android with no coding required. The app allows delivering a stunning mobile experience for your customers. When using it, they will be able to get website-related notifications and updates, join groups and conversations, place orders, shop online, connect with you via the integrated chat feature, interact with other users etc. The app will be 100% personalized with your branding and logo. It’s only up to you to customize the layout and design the app icon with regard to your individual requirements and business specialization.
Weebly allows for effective website management, if you intend to work on your project creation with a number of co-thinkers. It is up to you to pick and add as many users as you wish depending upon your project requirements. You are free to choose people to grant them with website access rights. It is even possible to divide users into several groups to simplify website control and its further management.
The website builder has also distinguished itself due to its Weebly for Education platform, which now comes with education-focused add-ons and makes it possible for teachers to independently launch educational websites. However, the system has recently announced the upcoming discontinuation of the Weebly for Education platform. It won’t be accessible after August 1, 2022. All teacher accounts will automatically convert to standard free accounts, but the published projects will remain accessible on the web. Free account users will be able to keep working with the website builder, publishing projects in the same easy-to-use system editor.
Another feature Weebly is known for is its advanced Promote tool. This is a standalone email marketing service provided on a paid basis. The monthly cost will depend on the selected subscription you should choose with regard to business goals and your campaign size. This is a nice addition to your email marketing strategy that helps you grow your customer base and mailing list as well as generate reports.
To sum it up, Wix and Weebly offer multiple features that contribute to your website development and its further management and promotion. Wix, however, grants access to more solutions and tools that allow setting up feature-rich projects for personal and commercial use.
Template Editing
Wix definitely deserves user attention due to its amazing template collection. To some extent, the website builder doesn’t seem to have any competitors at all here. Wix designs impress everyone not only by their amount (their number has already exceeded 550 themes), but also by their quality and versatility. All of them are mobile-ready and absolutely customizable. To ensure maximum ease of use, the system developers have divided them into categories based on the niches they refer to. Additionally, it’s possible to choose from popular and new templates, which are also singled out into separate categories. For those system subscribers, who cannot find a suitable design from those offered by the platform, there is an opportunity to choose a blank template and design a completely personalized website from scratch.
The only drawback we have already mentioned is the fact that the system doesn’t let you change the templates during the process of project customization. So, take your time to make a smart choice. Fortunately, the system has a preview option to let you see what theme exactly you are going to choose.
Apart from standard design editing options, Wix allows working on the mobile version of your project. Mind, however, that all the edits you make in the mobile version will not be displayed in the desktop mode. However, the edits you make in the desktop website version will be reflected in the mobile mode. This is very handy and convenient for first-timers and professionals.
Weebly templates also have a professional look, although, their number is less than that offered by Wix. All the designs are responsive and 100% customizable. They are grouped based on their styles and colors. You can choose the color scheme to meet a certain template. There are 5-10 variants available here and their choice is displayed in the preview right from the start so that you could make the right choice.
Templates are really versatile and cause respect to web designers, who work on their development. You won’t meet such quality too often. Their structures and designs differ, all miniatures are filled with quality demo content. The work of the system web developers is really impressive. As opposed to Wix, the initial template choice is not final here. You can change it any time during the web design process. In this respect, Weebly ranks high. Likewise, it is possible to edit the website HTML/CSS code of your website to give it a completely personalized touch, if you possess programming skills.
When it tackles the design aspect, Wix and Weebly both offer quality, free and customizable templates suitable for mobile and desktop browsing. Wix, however, definitely stands out from the crowd. It has a better choice of themes along with the Artificial Design Intelligence tool that allows for easy and quick template customization.
Wix vs Weebly: General Pricing Comparison
Wix pricing policy is affordable to all users as the system has versatile plans to come up to any needs and budget. There is a completely free plan here that never ends and lets you experiment with your website development tasks for as long as you need that. Using a free plan is a great way to boost your web design and coding skills. As soon as you decide to start and publish a feature-laden website, you’ll be offered to choose one of the paid subscriptions. Have a look at the packages the system offers and the plans they encompass.
Standard Wix Plans
- Combo ($13/mo) – free domain name connection, free hosting, absence of system ad banners;
- Unlimited ($17/mo) – unlimited bandwidth, 10GB storage space;
- Pro ($22/mo) – 2 hours of video storage space, integrated Google Analytics and statistics collection tools;
- VIP ($39/mo) – first priority support, professional logo etc.
- Business Basic ($23/mo) – acception of online payments;
- Business Unlimited ($27/mo) – integrated eCommerce platform, special apps for entrepreneurs, business development tools;
- Business VIP ($49/mo) – unlimited video storage space, unlimited bandwidth, complete Wix Suite;
- Enterprise ($500/mo) – end-to-end business solution that provides the highest functionality and maximum amount of tools.
- Personal ($6/mo) – unlimited disk space, absence of system ads, opportunity to connect your own domain, integrated drag-and-drop editor, SSL security and advanced website statistics;
- Professional ($12/mo) – unlimited number of members, absence of transaction fees, registration feature, unlimited number of products, opportunity to accept payments on individual domains, possibility to sell digital products;
- Performance ($26/mo) – meant for eCommerce projects, abandoned shopping cart notifications, gift certificates, real-time shipping prices etc.
Wix and Weebly pricing options are extensive, versatile and affordable. Both systems offer an opportunity to test their functionality with free plans. They also grant access to several groups of paid subscriptions meant for standard and eCommerce projects. They differ in terms, tools and services included. Wix plans, however, are still less expensive as compared to those offered by Weebly, while their functionality is above the average.
Wix vs Weebly: Which One Is the Best for SEO?
Wix is a SEO-friendly website builder that allows optimizing a ready-made website for the search engines in the best way possible. It uses an advanced SEO Wiz tool that lets you set up SEO parameters directly in the Management section. For this very purpose, the system offers step-by-step guidelines and instructions, which help control all the nuances of the process.
Additionally, the website builder grants access to the App Market with multiple widgets and add-ons that make it possible to track website statistics and effectively promote the project on the web. These include pop-up windows, social networks and marketing tools, email distribution widgets, online consultant and callback order buttons etc. Users can also manually adjust special SEO parameters, including page meta tags (titles, descriptions etc.), heading tags, Alt tags, anchor links, redirecting tools, website verification and Google Analytics etc. To boost your web store product pages, Wix lets you add brand names to product attributes. This helps Google better recognize your products and improve your project positions in the search engine results.
The system also allows testing, analyzing and optimizing your website’s speed to enhance its performance and user experience. To make the required settings, access your Wix site speed Dashboard, where you can view its current performance, compare it with your competitors and further make necessary improvements.
Weebly is also good, when it comes to SEO. The website builder offers a set of standard tools for effective search engine optimization of projects launched with it. It is possible to assign a unique URL to each website page, set up titles, keywords and descriptions. This helps boost the positions of websites in the search engines for better indexing. Additionally, the system lets you set up and edit permalinks, embed header and footer codes into the required pages, hide the pages from the search engines, set up redirects etc. All these and other actions can be completed in the corresponding SEO section of the website.
Both Wix and Weebly rank high, when it comes to SEO optimization of websites created with them. The system makes it possible to set up the major SEO parameters, make the edits, when required and control website statistics in general. Wix, however, grants access to its advanced SEO Wiz tool that simplifies the process of setting up search engine optimization parameters even to those users, who have little or no knowledge about it.
Wix vs Weebly: Which One Is Better for Small Business Website
Wix is a great pick for entrepreneurs willing to start, manage and promote business websites, irrespective of their area of specialization. This especially concerns projects that require creative approach. The system mostly works great for the representatives of creative professions, who wish to go live with their projects and start making money selling their works (handmade items, audios and photos, videos, pictures etc.).
It also grants multiple web design opportunities to the owners of restaurants, cafes, hotels, tourist agencies and other suchlike businesses (see real Wix website examples). For these business categories, the website builder offers a rich choice of widgets and extensions that provide the required functionality level (order and booking of tickets, rooms tables, food along with convenient booking options etc.). Wix also stands out from the crowd due to its powerful integrated Ascend platform – the all-in-one business service that offers 20 tools for professional business management and promotion.
Weebly is also good for business websites, but its major area of specialization goes down to the development of blogging and eCommerce projects. However, it’s possible to start small business websites with the system, making use of its powerful integrated feature set (see the proofs). The platform allows using its Weebly Promote tool that contributes to the advanced email marketing options. The tool automatically generates messages and lets you send newsletters to registered website members to keep them aware of your business updates and news.
Alongside, Weebly makes it possible to integrate online forms into your business website, videos and images, track project statistics, integrate with IFTTT platform to create automated events and tasks etc. Finally, the website builder lets you pick and use some of the handy apps available in its App Center (PinPoll, LiveChat, Call-Out-Box) etc.
When choosing between Wix and Weebly for your business website creation, you may use any of these systems to complete the tasks. However, Wix has some prevalence over its competitor as it provides a better assortment of business tools, widgets and add-ons that can be used for the creation of this website type. It’s also known for its high end Ascend platform that helps manage and promote your project with ease and convenience, even if you are not a web design pro.
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How to Create a Small Business Website See how to make a website for your small business project with maximum efficiency and minimum effort. |
Which One is The Best for eCommerce – Wix or Weebly?
Wix unveils multiple opportunities for web store development. It comes with the integrated eCommerce engine realized via Wix Store widget connection. It provides numerous options and tools for effective product show window presentation, compilation of product cards and galleries as well as setting up special web store parameters.
The website builder also offers stock widgets available in its rich App Market that contribute to better optimization of online sales. These include integrations with popular marketplaces, social networks etc. The system allows creating discount/gift certificates, bonuses and special offers to boost the loyalty of your customers. Apart from selling physical products, Wix also makes it possible to sell digital goods, such as photo, video and audio files and what not.
There is a powerful integrated CRM system, advanced analytic tools and services, customer interaction tools, email networking features and other means for effective web store management and promotion. Other Wix eCommerce highlights are as follows: CSV product import/export, multiple payment options, tax/shipping alternatives, professional web store management tools, mobile optimization, eCommerce templates optimized for mobile viewing and many more. These features make Wix a nice choice for the launch of small and medium web stores, but they are still not enough for large hypermarkets with advanced functionality.
When it tackles Weebly, the website builder proves to have a powerful eCommerce focus. Thus, it works great for the development of all types of web stores, ranging from small projects and up to large feature-laden international hypermarkets. Weebly used to have long-lasting partnership with Square, which finally resulted in the merge of two companies in 2018. Weebly & Square have one common goal: to help the world’s known entrepreneurs succeed in their endeavours via building professional websites and supporting powerful offline ventures.
The website builder now stands out from the crowd due to its powerful eCommerce engine, which is chock-full of multiple business-specific and eCommerce features/tools. These include integrated shopping cart, safe payment/shipping options, opportunity to upload, sell and manage thousands of products, convenient search filter options, social network integration, mobile optimization etc.
Speaking about eCommerce functionality, Wix and Weebly have much to offer. Both website builders grant access to multiple web store building tools and features and both of them have separate pricing options for eCommerce websites. Wix functionality, however, allows creating small and medium online stores, while Weebly also works great for the development of large eCommerce projects. Thus, the final choice should be based upon your eCommerce web design needs, requirements and budget.
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How to Create an Online Store Read on the detailded instruction how to make an online store for free. |
Which One to Choose for Blogging – Weebly or Wix?
Wix blogging potential is quite extensive due to the integrated and full-featured blogging platform the system comes with (see examples). The website builder encompasses a niche CMS that allows for convenient and simple article posting. Apart from that, it is possible to create the unlimited number of sections, enable Facebook comments, create a custom feed, assign blog categories, sort out and schedule publications, select from multiple blog templates, add a Featured posts section, import blogs from WordPress to further effectively customize them. Another undeniable highlight of the system is the opportunity to connect the AMP technology that allows for better optimization of Wix blog page loading on mobile devices. Whether you need a personal or a business blog, Wix will cope with its development and management on a high level.
Weebly is one of the best website builders to start a blog. This is because the platform was initially created for blogging purposes and, thus, it comes with a powerful set of eCommerce features/tools (take a look at blogs powered by Weebly). Setting up and configuring a blog with Weebly is easy, convenient and code-free. Generally, the process takes several minutes only as all the features are provided in stock. What you can do to set up a feature-laden blog here is writing, scheduling, editing and managing blog posts, selecting social media sharing options, picking from lots of free blog templates, assigning meta tags for separate posts, choosing various commenting systems, adding headers and footers etc.
Both Wix and Weebly prove to be a nice choice for blogging purposes. Although, Weebly has more advanced blogging options, Wix also does not lag behind it, when it comes to creating and managing blogs. The platforms make it possible to use multiple features, tools and parameters to start quality blogs for personal and business needs.
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Best Website Builders to Create a Blog Wondering how to start your own blog? Take a look at the most featured blogging platforms. |
Key Differences Between Wix and Weebly
| Wix | Weebly | |
| Ease of Use: | Wix is easy to use for beginners and web design pros, although, it may take time to master its editor. Newbies will appreciate the opportunity to use Wix ADI tool, while proficient users will be satisfied with the Standard Editor of the service. Wix works great for promo websites, blogs, landing pages, portfolios, forums and business projects. | Weebly comes with an intuitive and convenient editor suitable for first-timers and web design pros. It follows the “box model” that lets you create a website layout out of content blocks. The website builder is a nice pick for blogs, web stores and landing pages. |
| Functionality: | The website builder offers advanced functionality. Along with extensive design editing options, it comes with a rich App Market, professional Wix Ascend platform, Wix Corvid for app development etc. | Weebly also excels at functionality. With its high ed Promote tool, multiple video and image editing options, email marketing, powerful eCommerce and website management tools, the system ranks high in the list of modern web design platforms. |
| Design: | The system boasts over 550 free niche-specific templates, which are customizable and mobile-ready by default. | Weebly template collection is not that rich, but its designs are responsive, customizable and industry-specific as well. |
| eCommerce: | Wix Store makes it possible to start small and medium eCommerce websites, providing multiple features and tools to simplify the web store development/management process. | Weebly boasts a professional and feature-laden eCommerce engine that grants access to flexible and versatile web store management tools and features. |
| Blogging: | Wix blogging platform makes it possible to start and manage personal/business blogs, using the advanced feature set of the system. | Weebly was initially created with blogging purposes in mind. The platform delivers an extensive integrated feature set used to create and edit professional blogs. |
| Small Business: | The system lets you launch small business websites, using its multiple business-specific widgets, templates, Ascend tool etc. | The platform provides a set of business features, integratable widgets and add-ons, Weebly Promote tool, integrated form builder etc. |
| Pricing: | Wix has a free plan and two groups of subscriptions for Standard and Business/eCommerce websites. Their cost starts with $13/mo. | Weebly has a free plan and several paid subscriptions for Standard and eCommerce projects. Their cost starts with $4/mo. |
| SEO: | The platform offers an advanced SEO Wiz tool that simplifies the process of Wix SEO optimization. | The system is SEO-friendly, making it possible to configure the major SEO parameters of its projects. |
| Customer Support: | Powerful Knowledge Base, ticketing system, VIP support | Email ticket support, community forum, informative knowledge base. |
