Wix is a SAAS (Software As A Service) platform and the second-biggest competitor to PrestaShop (Shopify is the first one).
Wix is excellent, but you need to be aware of some main weaknesses related to this platform.
In this article, I will present Wix’s strengths and weaknesses compared to PrestaShop.
I will also explore the following:
- Biggest Wix Strengths When Compared To PrestaShop
- PrestaShop Is Cheaper Than Wix
- Plugins In Wix vs. PrestaShop
- Dashboard And CRM In Wix vs. PrestaShop
- UI In Wix vs. PrestaShop
- Translations Wix vs. PrestaShop
- Chat In PrestaShop vs. Wix
- API In PrestaShop vs. Wix
- Customizations In PrestaShop vs. Wix
- Conclusion
Biggest Wix Strengths When Compared To PrestaShop
- Wix is not a self-hosted platform but an e-commerce service.
This means that by choosing Wix, you need not host your store anywhere. So you don’t need to pay for hosting.
- Upgrades are probably one of the biggest strengths of Wix. Unfortunately, for PrestaShop, upgrading is a bit of a headache. Users are constantly complaining about updates breaking their stores.
There are also complaints about incompatibilities between minor PrestaShop versions. (PrestaShop v1.7.8 is a good example where the company has released minor changes which broke many add-ons).
- Wix is an online service, so your store will be online and constantly updated with the recent platform version. You don’t have to do any upgrades yourself.
- Wix has Android and iPhone apps. Most likely, PrestaShop won’t offer you any of these in the future. But of course, both platforms are responsive, so you can still manage things from your mobile just by using the browser.
PrestaShop Is Cheaper Than Wix
Wix is a paid platform, starting from 4.50 USD/mo.
But with a minor account, you will have ads displayed on your store. Awful, right?
Also 500 MB disk size limit might be a challenge for some as it is easy to reach this amount of disk space.
So the minimal plan you should be using costs 8.50 USD/mo.
PrestaShop is free, but you are still forced to pay for hosting. Hosting can be as low as 3 USD, but that won’t be a significant saving.
Plugins In Wix vs. PrestaShop
Wix calls their plugins “Apps.” And they are costly compared to PrestaShop.
Wix apps market hold 250+ Apps (plugins) while PrestaShop has over 4k.
With PrestaShop, you immediately know how much add-ons cost and the fee is only one-time.
With Wix, prices for addons (apps) are hidden under a free trial, and after that, you will pay a monthly fee. So when you use 5-10 addons – Wix will be costly.
Dashboard And CRM In Wix vs. PrestaShop
PrestaShop has a friendly Dashboard where you, as a store owner, can conveniently check regularly how your store is going. The same thing works for CRM (Customer Relationships Management), where you can communicate with your customers straight from the back office to resolve queries.
Wix does not offer you Dashboard or CRM capabilities. However, not all stores need CRM.
UI In Wix vs. PrestaShop
Most online polls done about the UI (User Interface) of the back-office suggest Wix be a clear winner. The admin interface is clean, simple, and easy to use.
PrestaShop has so many menu items, buttons, and controls that it might be tricky to find this or that. But trust me, after using it for two months, everything will feel “native” in PrestaShop.
Translations Wix vs. PrestaShop
It might be surprising that Wix is translated to over 100 languages, while Prestashop is only to 75.
But PrestaShop is a few times bigger, so it is harder to translate. I think that is reasonable.
If you have a local store you might want to have it translated into your local language. So be sure to check Wix/PrestaShop languages list before launching.
Chat In PrestaShop vs. Wix
Wix has a native chat feature which is fantastic. The chat feature is very helpful for customer service agents online to readily respond to any questions the visitors might have.
I saw in my career that having a chat can bring conversions up a bit. That’s because users are usually afraid to call the shop to ask questions, but they are not afraid to ask questions by writing.
Unfortunately, the mail is very slow to have a productive conversation with a potential buyer. With a simple chat solution, you can answer questions quickly, leading to customers being more likely to buy from your store because they haven’t visited any competitors yet.
API In PrestaShop vs. Wix
Wix has an API (Application Programming Interface). With API, your developers can map any external service (for example, an accounting platform) and map both data sources. You can use API to control Wix store content (products, texts, settings).
API is a great way to automate things in your Wix store.
PrestaShop does not offer an API you can use (they have it – it is too limited for actual use), but you can get one by installing a custom plugin that costs about 50-100 USD (one-time payment).
Customizations In PrestaShop vs. Wix
Suppose marketing plays a vital role in your business. In that case, you can’t stay at Wix because it does not allow you to customize your store to inject codes from popular marketing sources (Google Ads, mouse flow tracking, etc.).
However, with PrestaShop, it is easy to add custom JavaScript/HTML code and track everything on your store.
Conclusion
We have reached the conclusion section where by now you should know that:
- Wix is a friendly and easy-to-use platform that is great for starters but can be very expensive when using plugins.
- PrestaShop is a great e-commerce platform for any online business, is cheaper, and allows you to customize every detail you see there.
If you are still “open” to a question about which platform to use for your next business idea, maybe read more about other platforms comparison to PrestaShop in our blog.