Both can give a trade a good website. Wix is often simpler to start with and everything is in one monthly plan. WordPress takes more setting up, but you can move it to any host and change anything later. John Mueller, who works on Google Search, has said the platform isn’t what makes the SEO difference. What’s on the pages is.
We build trade websites on WordPress, so bear that in mind. Here’s what each one says about itself, from their own pages, read in October 2026.
The short version
| Wix | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A website builder. You pay Wix monthly and it hosts the site | Free software. You need hosting and a domain. WordPress.com is a separate service that hosts it for you |
| Cost to start | A monthly plan. Wix shows US dollars to UK visitors. See our guide to how much a website costs for UK prices | The software is free. You pay for hosting, a domain and any paid add-ons. WordPress.com sells plans paid yearly. Check its pricing page for UK prices |
| Can you move the site to another host? | No. Wix says your site must run on its servers | Yes. You can change host whenever you like |
| Your content | Wix says what you build belongs to you. Blog posts can’t be exported | Yours. WordPress.com says you can export your content to another site |
| SEO controls | Titles, descriptions, web addresses, structured data, redirects and a sitemap, per Wix’s SEO page | Similar settings, mostly added through plugins |
| Who keeps it updated | Wix | On WordPress.org, you or whoever looks after your site. WordPress.com runs it for you |
Wix
Wix is a website builder. You pick a template, drag things into place and pay a monthly plan that includes hosting. To use your own domain name and remove Wix’s branding, you need a paid plan.
Wix’s own pricing page shows prices in US dollars to UK visitors and says prices vary by location. UK review site Startups.co.uk listed Light at about £9 a month, Core at about £16 and Business at about £25, paid yearly, in July 2025. Wix says you can cancel within 14 days of your first upgrade for a full refund.
The thing to know before you start: Wix says “your site must run on Wix’s servers”. Its help page explains that the way it’s built “does not support external hosting”. Your words and photos are yours, but the site itself can only live on Wix. Wix also says “it is not possible to export blog posts to other platforms.” If you leave, you rebuild.
Wix isn’t weak on SEO. Its SEO page says you can change “meta tags, URL structure, canonical tags, structured data markup, robots.txt file and more”, set up redirects and connect Google Search Console and Google Business Profile.
WordPress
There are two WordPress options, and people mix them up:
- WordPress.org is the free software. You put it on hosting you pay for, with your own domain. It needs a host that meets WordPress’s requirements, such as a recent version of PHP and HTTPS.
- WordPress.com is a service that runs WordPress for you. It has four paid plans, from Personal up to Commerce, billed yearly before tax. Its pricing page showed US dollars when we checked, so check the price in pounds before you buy, and what it renews at. Its free plan shows WordPress.com adverts on your site.
WordPress is released under the GPL licence. In WordPress’s words, that includes “the freedom to run the program, for any purpose” and the freedom to “change it”. In practice that means you can move host, change who looks after it and add almost anything through plugins.
The trade-off is upkeep. WordPress, its theme and its plugins need updating, and someone has to keep it secure. On WordPress.org that’s you or whoever you pay to look after it.
Is Wix or WordPress better for Google?
Neither, going by what John Mueller of Google Search has said. We couldn’t find a Google help page that names either platform. Google’s SEO starter guide says most content management systems turn the titles you write into the page title automatically, and some build your sitemap for you. It doesn’t tell you which platform to pick.
Mueller said on Reddit that “there’s no fundamental SEO difference between mainstream CMSs”. He was talking about the average content site. That’s an informal comment, not Google policy, but it matches what we see. In our view the platform isn’t the lever. A page for each job and each town, a complete Google Business Profile and genuine reviews are. Here are some trade website examples that get those right.
Which one suits a trade?
This is our view:
- Wix suits you if you want to build and change the site yourself, you’re happy paying monthly for as long as you have it, and you’re not worried about moving it later.
- WordPress suits you if you want to own the whole setup, move host or developer when you like, or grow the site to a page for every job and town without being tied to one company.
Whichever you pick, make sure the domain name is registered to your business, not to whoever builds the site.
Questions about Wix and WordPress
Is Wix good for a small business?
It can be. It covers the main SEO settings and everything is in one plan. The catch is that the site can’t leave Wix.
Can I move my Wix site to WordPress?
Not as it is. Wix says your site can’t be hosted elsewhere. WordPress.com has a Wix importer that brings over pages, images and menus, but it says compatibility is limited and blog posts don’t come across in the import. Your latest posts can be brought in with an RSS plugin. Expect a rebuild.
Is WordPress free?
The software is. You still pay for hosting, a domain name and any paid themes or plugins, plus someone’s time to keep it updated.
What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
WordPress.org is the free software you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a service run by a company called Automattic that hosts WordPress for you.
What website builder do you use?
We build on WordPress. The platform matters less than the pages on it, because a page for each job and town is what gives people a reason to ring you. See websites for trades for how we build them.