Wix vs. Weebly: Which is the Better Website Builder

Wix and Weebly are both popular website builders, especially for people with little or no experience in web design. 

On the surface, both tools offer similar functionality, such as ecommerce features, marketing tools, and a user-friendly site builder. However, both services differ significantly under the hood. 

So, which website builder is better for your business?

We created accounts with both providers and built a website from scratch to determine the best builder for business and personal websites.

Overview of Weebly and Wix

According to BuiltWith, Wix powers 8.5 million websites online, while Weebly powers 750,000. The BuiltWith number for Weebly differs greatly from what Weebly says on its website, which claims it powers 50 million websites. 

While we can't verify the specific statistics between the platforms, we can certainly say that both platforms offer a no-code way for anyone to create a website or set up an online store. You don’t need any HTML, CSS (cascading style sheets), or website design knowledge. Both platforms offer a drag-and-drop editor, SEO features, and an app market to provide additional functionality to your website. 

In 2018, Square—a point-of-sale provider—acquired Weebly and now powers Weebly’s ecommerce functionality. Unfortunately, the integration is now the platform’s greatest weakness, resulting in a confusing user experience for anyone who wants to use the platform's ecommerce features. There’s a way around this, and we show you how below. 

The main differences between Wix and Weebly

Weebly differs from Wix in 4 key areas:

1. Design flexibility: While Wix offers more design options and features overall, Weebly provides greater flexibility for switching between templates and themes after site creation.

2. Ecommerce integration: Weebly's Square integration presents some challenges in user experience and signup flow, though workarounds exist. Wix's native ecommerce solution offers a more streamlined experience.

3. AI integration: Wix has embraced AI technology across its platform, while Weebly's AI features are currently limited to customer support chatbots.

4. Platform scope: Wix provides a broader range of features and customization options, while Weebly focuses on simpler, more straightforward website building tools.

The overall feeling you get when navigating Weebly is that it’s a simple solution with no frills, and it's best for creating a rudimentary website rapidly at an affordable cost. 

Weebly’s ecommerce offering feels somewhat like a forgotten project, which was last touched years ago. Unfortunately, the errors in its ecommerce section will affect the primary design section, unless you know how to avoid this. 

User experience and ease of use

📖 Summary: Weebly has two editors—a Weebly editor and a Square editor. The Weebly editor has a sleek interface for editing your design. Unfortunately, a buggy onboarding process might permanently lock you into the Square editor. 

Choosing the wrong editor is the difference between a dismal experience and a good one. 

Wix’s user experience is passable, although we feel they could invest more in the onboarding process instead of leaving it all to AI. 

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix UX

Wix has invested heavily in AI. Immediately after signing up, its user interface encourages you to use Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) to design your site. 

Wix ADI for designing a site

Unfortunately, the result of a site entirely designed by AI disappointed us. The AI randomly chose colors, fonts, and a layout all on its own. If you’re in a hurry and don’t care much about branding, this option saves time. If you prefer finer control of how your website looks, you should use the non-AI method to design your Wix site. 

The Wix site editor and settings take some getting used to because Wix offers no hovering “tips” when you first start. You must take the time to learn where all the tools are. 

Wix’s site editor feels more old-school than the Weebly editor, which is sleek and easier to navigate. 

Weebly UX

Weebly’s relatively poorer user experience begins when you sign up. They only offer a username and password option instead of the more modern—and secure—option of signing in with a one-time link or another account, such as your Google or Facebook account. 

After signing up, Weebly presents a screen that makes it seem easy to create a site.

Weebly types of sites

Weebly presents two options:

• “I just need a website”

• “I need a website with an online store”

Warning: Do not select “I need a website with an online store,” even if you want that. Whatever you choose in this step will become your permanent website builder for all of your sites moving forward on Weebly. 

If you select “online store,” Weebly locks you into its Square-powered ecommerce designs and you cannot create another site using the original Weebly editor. 

However, if you select “I just need a website,” you can add ecommerce stores or normal websites as you wish, all using the Weebly editor. 

It makes no sense. Well, now you know. 

The following steps will differ depending on whether you choose “online store” or “normal website".

“Normal Website”

If you choose “I just need a website,” Weebly shows you several professional-looking templates. 

Weebly templates

Unfortunately, clicking on many of the templates leads to the following error screen:

Error screen when selecting a template

Despite the error screen, you can still select “Start editing,” and the template will appear in the drag-and-drop editor. 

Another bug. 

If you manage to navigate the above confusion, you will finally land on the sleek drag-and-drop editor below, which will help you design your Weebly site. 

Weebly drag-and-drop editor

The editor is a pleasure to use and easy to navigate. The challenge is getting to this point. 

ecommerce option

If you choose the ecommerce option, Weebly completely omits the theme selection phase. Instead, it asks you a few questions about your store and then takes you to the following page. 

Weebly ecommerce start page

To edit your Weebly ecommerce site, click on “Edit Site” in the top right corner. 

The ecommerce editor, provided by Square, is completely different from the Wix editor. It’s rudimentary, outdated, and lacks any support for themes. You can select “styles” and font-color combinations that look and feel like something from the last century. 

Weebly’s ecommerce theme editor

If you’ve already got a store on Weebly but want a professional design for it, we recommend looking through Fiverr’s professional website builder design services to help you. 

If you’re just starting your Weebly website and mistakenly selected “online store” and are now stuck with the Square website builder, we strongly recommend creating a new account and then selecting “I just need a website.” 

When you do this, you’ll then be able to use the Weebly editor even for ecommerce sites. You can then create a second ecommerce site and use the Weebly editor to do it. 

Features

📖 Summary: Weebly offers almost no additional unique features. Wix provides a “Dev Mode” that lets you add advanced functionality to your Wix site. 

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix Features

Wix’s Dev Mode allows you to add JavaScript to connect to databases, add animations, or add advanced features to your site through Wix’s extensive API library, Velo. 

Wix Dev mode

Some of the advanced features Wix lets you add with its APIs include:

• Creating a customized booking experience

• Interacting with backend billing

• Customizing payment experiences

• Managing member subscriptions on your website

If you understand JavaScript code, you can read through the Wix Velo tutorials to get started. You can also find professional web development services on Fiverr who can help you. 

Weebly Features

Weebly lacks any advanced features we could find that set it apart from Wix or other website builders. It has a ready-to-go abandoned cart email sequence for ecommerce stores. However, setting the same up in Wix only requires learning about its automation features. 

SEO capabilities

📖 Summary: Wix offers advanced SEO settings for each page, although it’s harder to find than Weebly. Wix also provides a general SEO settings section for the entire site. Weebly’s Square editor lacks any SEO settings, which is a surprising omission. 

🏅 Winner: Tie

Wix SEO

Wix offers all the basics you need for SEO. Each page has its own individual SEO settings, and Wix also provides general settings for the entire site. 

Key features include:

• Custom meta titles and descriptions

• URL structure optimization

• Mobile responsiveness settings

• Built-in analytics dashboard

• 301 redirect management

The platform offers an SEO Wiz that guides users through initial setup, making it accessible for beginners. While more advanced users might find some limitations, Wix's integration with Google Search Console and Analytics provides valuable performance tracking capabilities. 

Weebly SEO

The following applies only if you’re using the Weebly editor, not the Square editor. Weebly’s SEO settings are easy to find on each page.

Weebly SEO settings per page

In the Weebly editor, you can also access site-wide search engine optimization settings in the SEO section, as shown below. This section also lets you implement key SEO tools such as:

• Footer analytics code

• Header analytics code

• URL redirects

SEO settings in Weebly

The Square editor lacks any SEO settings that we could find. A Google search on where to find these takes us to help pages on the Square website that don’t match what we see on the Weebly interface. 

If you’re stuck with a Weebly site created in the Square editor, we recommend migrating to another platform or to a new Weebly account. You can find professional website development services from Fiverr freelancers to help you. 

Mobile responsiveness

📖 Summary: Wix allows granular control over mobile-specific elements and layouts, while Weebly relies more on automatic responsiveness. Wix users can create distinct mobile experiences, whereas Weebly focuses on adapting desktop designs

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix Mobile responsiveness

Wix provides a comprehensive mobile editing experience that gives users significant control over how their site appears on mobile devices. 

The platform features a dedicated mobile editor that allows you to customize your site specifically for smartphone and tablet users. What sets Wix apart is its ability to create mobile-specific elements and layouts that don't affect your desktop design.

The mobile editor includes sophisticated features like custom breakpoints, allowing you to fine-tune how your site responds to different screen sizes.

You can hide desktop elements that might not work well on mobile, adjust spacing and typography specifically for smaller screens, and even create mobile-only call-to-action buttons.

Mobile design on Wix

Weebly Mobile responsiveness

Weebly also offers a mobile and desktop view. Unlike Wix, you can’t add mobile-only elements and can only test how the site responds when viewed from a mobile device. 

While Weebly's mobile customization options are more limited compared to Wix, its strength lies in its simplicity and reliability. The platform automatically handles many mobile optimization tasks, such as resizing images, adjusting text formatting, and reorganizing layout elements to ensure they display properly on smaller screens. 

Mobile design on Weebly

Weebly's templates are designed with mobile-first principles in mind, ensuring that all site elements will function properly across all devices, even if you can't customize them individually for mobile.

Templates and themes

📖 Summary: Weebly offers 50 themes to choose from while Wix offers over 900. Wix doesn’t let you change the theme after you select it. Both offer extensive customization, but with different approaches.

🏅 Winner: Tie.

Wix Templates 

Wix templates

Wix's extensive and diverse template library offers over 900 professionally designed templates across numerous categories and industries. 

These templates feature modern design principles and often include industry-specific features and layouts. The platform's vast selection means you're more likely to find a template that closely matches your vision right from the start.

However, Wix has a significant limitation: once you select a template, you cannot switch to a different one without rebuilding your site from scratch. 

Wix templates feature:

• Mobile-optimized structures

• Built-in section layouts

• Professional typography combinations

• Customizable color schemes

• Pre-configured content blocks

• Integrated media placeholders

• Interactive elements

If you want a variety of industry-specific templates and plan to stick with your initial design choice, Wix is a good choice. 

Weebly Templates

If you didn't choose the ecommerce option when signing up, you will be locked into the Square editor. You can access Weebly's 50 templates and edit them in an intuitive editor. 

To get access to the themes in an ecommerce site, you must first create a non-ecommerce site when signing up, then create a second site which is an ecommerce site. If you prefer simpler, more versatile templates, Weebly is a good option for you.

Changing a theme in Weebly

Customer support

📖 Summary: Wix offers support in multiple languages and a 24/7 callback option in English. Weebly offers phone support for higher tier packages. 

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix Customer support

Wix offers 24/7 callback support in English and calls during specified hours in other languages. It also has a comprehensive help section and a support forum where the community can help, which Weebly doesn’t.

From a support perspective, Wix is ideal for:

• International users who need support in multiple languages

• Users who prefer phone support and want 24/7 availability in English

• Night owls or users working outside standard business hours

• Those who value community support and want access to user forums

Wix support page

Weebly Customer support

Weebly offers different degrees of support depending on your plan. The Professional and Performance plans offer phone support during business hours. Weebly’s support options are ideal for:

• Customers who primarily need support during standard business hours

• Budget-conscious users who are comfortable with basic email support

• Users who are comfortable with self-service help resources

• Folks who don't mind waiting for support responses

Weebly pricing plans

Ecommerce capability 

📖 Summary: While both platforms offer ecommerce functionality, they serve distinctly different needs in the online selling space. Wix provides a comprehensive ecommerce solution with advanced features and multiple payment options, while Weebly offers a more streamlined, beginner-friendly approach through Square integration. 

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix Ecommerce

Wix offers a sophisticated ecommerce solution for up to 50,000 products. You can accept multiple payment methods, including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Beyond basic selling features, Wix provides advanced ecommerce functionality:

• Sophisticated inventory management

• Advanced product variants

• Automated abandoned cart recovery

• Customer segmentation

• Multi-channel selling

• Customizable checkout process

• Product reviews and ratings

• Advanced shipping rules

• Dropshipping integration

Weebly Ecommerce

Weebly provides a simple approach to ecommerce. If you don't know anything about ecommerce, Weebly's setup process makes it simple. However, scaling with Weebly will be challenging. 

Weebly lacks built-in automation, although you can implement some automation with third-party tools. Email automation is one of the essential ecommerce tools for success. Automation also allows store owners to create effective email marketing campaigns. The lack of automation functionality is a red flag if you're running an ecommerce store. 

Weebly ecommerce setup

If you’re serious about ecommerce, we recommend either Shopify or WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin. You can find Shopify development and WordPress development on Fiverr to help you.

AI-powered tools

📖 Summary: Wix has aggressively integrated AI throughout its platform, offering automated design, content generation, and assistance tools, though sometimes at the expense of user control. Weebly, on the other hand, has yet to implement any AI features.

🏅 Winner: Wix

Wix AI

Wix has gone all-in with AI, offering what it calls Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI). The company has designed its onboarding process to use strong visual cues that encourage users to use its AI tools to develop a Wix website. Unfortunately, using prompts to design your website removes almost all control from the site’s design aspects, such as choosing a theme. 

Once you’ve been through the Wix ADI prompts, Wix’s AI generates a site, randomly picking a color scheme and layout. You can then modify the color scheme and fonts. However, we do wonder how much time you’re saving by skipping the steps to choose a professionally designed theme in the first place. 

Wix then continues aggressively prompting you to use AI to write website copy. 

Wix AI text generator

For website copy that stands out, we encourage you to hire professional writers to help you because unedited AI copy tends to be bland and lifeless. If you need help, you can find professional website content writing services on Fiverr.

One feature we like is Wix’s AI-powered theme assistant. You can ask it questions, and it’ll generate answers and open the necessary editor sections to help you implement the advice. 

Wix AI assistant

Weebly AI

Weebly offers zero AI functionality, another thing that makes the platform feel like a neglected project. 

Pricing

📖 Summary: Both platforms require upgrading to one of the paid plans to connect a custom domain name, which is essential for any business website. If you’re on the free plan, you’ll receive a subdomain where you can access your site. Overall, Weebly is cheaper than Wix. 

🏅 Winner: Wix, because you get more value, despite the slightly higher price tag. 

Wix Prices

Wix recently increased its prices, and now its pricing plans start at $17/month. No annual Wix plan exists. Wix’s ecommerce plans start in its Core package, which currently costs $29/month. 

The Business Plan offers automatic sales tax calculation for up to 100 transactions per month. All paid plans come with a free domain for one year. Storage is capped for all plans below Business Elite, which costs $159/month. 

All plans have a cap of 50,000 ecommerce products. 

Wix’s pricing

Weebly Prices

Businesses will at least need Weebly’s professional plan to remove Square ads on your site. The Professional plan is the mid-tier plan, costing $12 per month when billed annually, and $16 per month when billed monthly. 

All plans let you upload unlimited products, and the Professional and Performance plans provide unlimited storage. 

Weebly’s pricing

And the winner is… Wix

Wix is by far the superior system overall. It’s hard to shake the feeling that Weebly hasn’t received an update in years, and that it’s a neglected system. 

If the 50,000 product limit on Wix is a problem for you, consider using Shopify as your ecommerce store. WordPress is another great option if you want more control over the site. 

Regardless of which platform you choose, Fiverr has web development experts on call to help you with any of them. 

To get started on Fiverr, open a free Fiverr account here. 

Wix vs Weebly FAQ

What is the difference between Wix and Weebly?

Wix is a more robust website builder than Weebly. Wix offers advanced features such as Dev Mode and automations, and also has over 900 ready-made templates available. 

What is better than Weebly?

Weebly is a beginner-friendly website builder. For a more robust system, you can use Wix, Webflow, or WordPress. 

What is the difference between Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace?

Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are all online website builders. Weebly is the most rudimentary, Squarespace is the most sophisticated, and Wix is in the middle. 

What are the cons of a Weebly website?

Weebly provides few options for advanced customizations and no feature for direct coding. It’s acceptable for small personal websites, but businesses might want to try another website builder, such as Wix or Webflow.