Whether you own a small business or are starting an eCommerce store, website builders are handy tools for any company. They simplify web design and cut costs by letting you create custom websites without using code or hiring an expert.
But with the myriad of website builders available, choosing the right one can be hard. To help you out, we’ve compared two popular website builders — Wix and GoDaddy — in this guide.
We’ve weighed both options based on their features, support and pricing to help you decide whether you want to use GoDaddy or Wix (or an entirely different option).
Wix vs. GoDaddy: The basics
Both Wix and GoDaddy are well-known website builders. They offer a drag-and-drop interface to build websites easily, along with features like themes and search engine optimization (SEO) to create high-quality web designs.
Started in 2006, Wix is a website-making tool designed for all formats, including personal blogs, online stores and landing pages.
The platform has a quick website builder with predesigned templates and also supports HTML5 and JavaScript for further customization. Currently, over 8.5 million live websites use Wix.
In comparison, GoDaddy’s website builder powers more than 1.8 million live websites, and the company got its start in 1997.
GoDaddy also offers other website-related services, like domain registration and web hosting. While Wix has these services, its main focus is website building.
Both platforms have features to simplify website creation and improve the user experience. But one of them may be more suitable for your website, depending on your requirements.
For instance, GoDaddy offers fewer customization options but is easier to use. On the other hand, Wix is great for creating a unique website but can be harder to use.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Features comparison
A good website builder should be intuitive and user-friendly and offer multiple customization options. We’ll compare GoDaddy and Wix based on features like ease of use, design and performance to determine the best one for your website.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Ease of use
GoDaddy’s website builder is extremely easy to use due to its limited features. The intuitive website-building flow asks a few questions and creates a basic website according to your answers.
Here’s what an eCommerce website created through GoDaddy looks like:
The editor gives you a few options to customize sections, like headers, descriptions and background images. However, you can’t modify the website layout too much.
Even if the features are limited, websites created through GoDaddy are simple and attractive. It’s a great option for beginners who want a simple website and hate technicalities.
On the other hand, Wix offers two methods to design a website: a smart Wix ADI (artificial design intelligence) program that creates your website based on a simple AI-generated questionnaire and a blank canvas to build custom websites or edit existing templates.
Using the Wix ADI is easier. But the editor has a complex learning curve if you want to modify the end product. You’ll have to use the same editor if you choose to create a custom website through a blank template.
Both GoDaddy and Wix are beginner friendly, as they require no coding. However, due to the numerous editing features and options, Wix can be slightly difficult compared to GoDaddy if you’re just starting out.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Design
Wix offers greater design flexibility. The platform has over 800 customizable templates for various businesses, including sports, real estate, technology and healthcare. If you want more options, you can also use third-party templates.
Wix’s editor allows you to modify these templates by adding new sections, changing header sizes, modifying menus, adding images and more. If you want something more personalized, you can always use the blank template or even add HTML or JavaScript code.
However, GoDaddy is known for its simple format, which also means limited design freedom. It has just over 250 templates in categories like art and design, fashion and music.
Though GoDaddy also allows template customization through its drag-and-drop editor, there’s little you can change.
For example, you can change the header font but can’t move the text boxes to another section. Likewise, you can add, delete or align certain elements but can’t move them from their designated section. This can be frustrating if you want more customization.
In comparison to GoDaddy, Wix is much better in terms of theme choices.
But with over 200 million active websites on the internet, it can be hard to differentiate between different brands with the limited templates available on both website builders.
So, if you want to stand out among the millions of websites, you should check out Bluehost’s WonderSuite instead.
This WordPress website builder has a host of tools, like WonderStart, WonderBlocks and WonderAssist, that let you easily design a unique website — even without technical knowledge.
Combined with Bluehost’s WordPress hosting plans, WonderSuite offers powerful integrations and design personalization capabilities suitable for both beginners and experienced users.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Performance
To measure the performance of both website builders, we’ve tested websites made with Wix and GoDaddy using website performance testing tools GTmetrix and Pingdom.
For Wix, we tested the website of Fat Shark, a digital headset company. Here’s how it fares on GTmetrix:
It has a 90% performance rating and takes 16.1 seconds to fully load.
And here’s how the GoDaddy-made website for Crescent Flight Operations, a drone services company, performs:
It has a maximum performance score and fully loads in just 1.3 seconds. That’s more than 10 times faster than Wix’s website.
We can see similar results on Pingdom.
The Pingdom test for Fat Shark shows:
And Crescent Flight Operations gets these results:
We can see that the website created through GoDaddy’s editor clearly performs better and loads faster than the website made using Wix. That’s partly because GoDaddy’s websites are lightweight due to the platform’s limited customizability.
However, the apps, plugins and media used on a website may also affect its load time. Ideally, a website should load within one to four seconds to maintain high conversion rates.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Security
Wix is a trusted site builder that ensures all its websites are secure. The platform offers multiple security features, such as:
- Multiple rounds of design and code testing to identify and remove vulnerabilities.
- Secure payments with antifraud and data protection.
- Security certificates, including PCI DSS Level 1, ISOs, LGPD and GDPR.
- Automatic SSL and HTTPS for websites, enabling data encryption.
- Verification of third-party apps used in websites.
In addition, Wix monitors its servers 24/7 to make sure websites are safe. It also encourages web developers to look for and report vulnerabilities through its open-source Bug Bounty program.
GoDaddy offers similar security features. All GoDaddy plans include an SSL certificate that helps encrypt data. The platform also offers various types of SSL certifications and has a managed SSL service plan in case you don’t want to handle it yourself.
If you want more, GoDaddy has independent security plans that include features like daily malware scans, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection and website cleanups.
However, in 2023, GoDaddy revealed a multi-year data breach that compromised the security of multiple customer websites.
Here’s a quick comparison of GoDaddy’s and Wix’s security features to simplify your choice:
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Support
Both Wix and GoDaddy offer extensive customer support in the form of direct communication and self-serve resources.
Wix has a dedicated knowledge base with a large collection of articles that help customers create a website, connect a domain and promote their website.
The section also addresses common customer queries and the latest news and updates related to Wix. The entire support section can also be viewed in different languages, like Dutch and Japanese.
For quick solutions, Wix has a 24/7 phone support line for calls in English. It also offers support in several other languages, including French, German and Italian. However, some of these lines operate with limited hours, so support may not be available round the clock.
In addition, it offers email support in Russian and Korean and live chat support in seven languages.
GoDaddy also has a huge library of articles and tutorials to help customers get started with the platform. However, compared to Wix, the resource center is limited.
There’s several ways to contact GoDaddy’s support team, including calls, emails and WhatsApp. The call lines are available in more countries and languages than Wix.
The platform also has a chatbot that’s available 24/7. You can use it to connect to a relevant resource person and resolve your queries.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: SEO
If you’re creating a business or eCommerce website, then SEO plays a major role in marketing your brand. Wix and GoDaddy have various SEO tools that you can use when editing your website.
From website crawling to URL customization, Wix helps you with many aspects of SEO. You can customize meta descriptions, optimize images and create XML sitemaps to help search engines find your content easily.
Wix also offers an optimization assistant called SEO Wiz, which provides step-by-step plans, tips and tutorials to improve your SEO. You can also add and edit keywords through Wiz.
If you need more SEO features, you can integrate popular plugins, like Semrush.
Many of Wix’s basic SEO features are available with its free plan. However, advanced features like the SEO Wiz are only available with paid plans.
GoDaddy’s premium plans have a similar assistant. The SEO wizard assesses your requirements, gives suggestions and helps optimize your website for search engines. It also suggests keywords, meta descriptions and alt text that help with keyword usage.
Here’s how Wix’s SEO Wiz and GoDaddy’s SEO wizard compare:
Wix vs. GoDaddy: ECommerce features
If you’re considering GoDaddy vs. Wix for your online business, Wix is a better option simply due to the variety of features it offers.
With Wix, you can customize individual eCommerce pages, including the storefront, cart and checkout pages. It has dedicated mobile-optimized eCommerce templates to ensure responsiveness across all devices.
You can download application programming interfaces (APIs) from Wix’s app store to expand the eCommerce functionality of your storefront.
Already use tools like Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica? Velo, Wix’s development platform, lets you easily integrate third-party eCommerce tools and APIs with your online store.
Wix also helps you sell on social media channels and marketplaces to boost your business’s online presence. If you already have a Facebook business page or are selling products on your Amazon storefront, you can connect them with your Wix dashboard and share a unified checkout.
Similarly, GoDaddy offers hundreds of design templates, has a versatile store setup and includes secure payment options.
GoDaddy also has its own marketing tools that help you boost SEO, sell on Facebook or optimize your email marketing plans.
The only drawback is that GoDaddy allows you to work only with its own tools, which limits its eCommerce capabilities. But Wix lets you work with both third-party add-ons and its own APIs.
However, neither website builder offers custom eCommerce features.
If you want to design a custom eCommerce store, a Bluehost WooCommerce plan is the best option. With the Online Store plan, you can sell products online, analyze store performance and customize your store according to your requirements.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: Cost
One of the major deciding factors when choosing a website builder is the pricing. As you can’t change builders once you publish the website and the price recurs every month, it’s important to choose a platform that fits your budget.
Wix has an unlimited free plan that includes basic features and lets you publish your website with the Wix branding at the top.
In comparison, GoDaddy offers both a free plan and a seven-day free trial of its premium features. After the trial ends, you can upgrade to a paid plan or stick with the more basic free plan.
Both Wix and GoDaddy offer multiple premium plan tiers. GoDaddy is definitely cheaper when you compare their basic plans. But Wix’s pricing is higher in part due to its additional features.
For example, Wix offers free domain hosting for the first year. But you might have to pay for the same with GoDaddy.
Here’s a detailed comparison of Wix and GoDaddy’s pricing:
If you’re an enterprise and have large-scale requirements, you can contact both companies for customized pricing.
Is Wix better than GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is a straightforward website builder that gives you a simple and polished website with a few editing options. On the other hand, Wix is a feature-packed platform that lets you create a website from scratch or choose from existing templates.
If you want a high level of design freedom and don’t mind paying a little extra, Wix is a better option. But if you have a limited budget and want a simple website, you can go with GoDaddy.
If you aren’t satisfied with either of these website builders, you have other options.
Wix or GoDaddy: Alternatives
For a highly personalized website that caters to your unique needs, choose Bluehost’s WonderSuite. The tool lets you create high-quality WordPress websites with endless design options and eCommerce features that help you sell.
WonderSuite is also much cheaper than both Wix and GoDaddy while offering great features.
Here’s how much it costs to choose WonderSuite to create your business website:
Final thoughts: Wix vs. GoDaddy: Which website builder is the best for you?
Wix offers a lot of features that can be helpful but also complex. GoDaddy is a simple website builder that’s great for beginners. But its limited functionality doesn’t give space for design freedom.
Both website builders can also be expensive, especially if you have a small business or are just starting out.
If you want a budget-friendly website builder designed for eCommerce stores, Bluehost’s WonderSuite is the way to go. Our website-building tool allows you to customize templates and automate updates, and we’re recommended by WordPress itself.
Ready to design your custom website? Check out Bluehost’s WonderSuite plans.
Wix vs. GoDaddy: FAQs
First, evaluate your requirements, budget and business goals. Then, check prospective website builders for the necessary features, pricing plans and performance.
A good website builder will be easy to use, have multiple security features and provide timely customer support.
GoDaddy’s website creation is faster, as it has a few simple layouts and you won’t have to spend much time editing. But while Wix’s custom website designer is more complex, the ADI helps you build a website according to your requirements in minutes.
Yes. Wix lets you customize existing themes or even create your own using blank templates. You can change the color, font, layout and images to suit your brand’s style.
GoDaddy has cheaper plans when compared to Wix. However, Wix offers more features in all its premium plans. Wix also has greater functionality that you may not be able to access with GoDaddy.
Wix’s AI website builder is easy to use. You can access it through your dashboard by clicking on the “Create New Site” button.
Once you start the process, the AI assistant asks you a few questions, such as your store name, the type of business and the required tools. Then, it generates a few website options based on your answers.
