This is the most common question we get from small business owners: "Should I just use Wix?"
Honest answer: it depends on what you need. Let's break it down.
Where Wix Wins
- Price: Free tier available, paid plans from $17/month
- Ease of use: Drag-and-drop, no coding needed
- Speed to launch: You can have something live in a day
- Templates: Hundreds of pre-made designs
Where Wix Falls Short
- Page speed: Average Wix site loads in 4-8 seconds (Google penalizes anything over 3)
- SEO limitations: Limited schema markup, no custom server-side rendering, bloated code
- Generic look: Your site looks like thousands of others using the same template
- Ownership: You're locked into Wix's platform — can't take your site elsewhere
- Scaling: As your needs grow, Wix gets limiting fast
Where Custom Wins
- Speed: Under 1.5 seconds with modern frameworks
- SEO: Full control over schema, meta tags, page structure, and performance
- Unique design: Built specifically for YOUR brand, not a template
- Ownership: You own the code, the design, everything
- Local SEO: City-specific pages, service area targeting, Google Business integration
- Flexibility: Add any feature — online ordering, booking, galleries, anything
The Real Comparison
| Factor | Wix | Custom |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $17-45 | $0-20 (hosting only) |
| Upfront cost | $0 | $399-799 |
| Page speed | 4-8 sec | Under 2 sec |
| Google ranking potential | Limited | Full |
| Design uniqueness | Template | 100% custom |
| Ownership | Wix owns it | You own it |
Our Recommendation
Use Wix if: You need something live TODAY, you're testing a business idea, or you truly don't care about Google search traffic.
Go custom if: You want to be found on Google, you care about how your business looks online, and you're serious about growth. At Wildcore Studio, custom sites start at $399 — not much more than a year of Wix premium.
