Last Updated on
Ante Rados
Website builders are tools that let anyone build a website without any technical knowledge. They aren’t capable of creating complex websites, but sometimes all you need is a way to create a simple website quickly. That is when website builders get handy.
In this review, I will compare Wix and GoDaddy. Wix is one of the most popular website builders, while GoDaddy is one of the biggest domain registrars. Both of them offer domain registration and website builders, but which one does the job better?
GoDaddy is better if you want to create a website faster, but Wix has a better website builder overall. Wix has better features, more customization options, and opens up more ways to approach building your website.
Wix vs GoDaddy comparison
I already told you that Wix is better overall, but there are still some things that GoDaddy is good for. Let’s compare GoDaddy and Wix side-by-side and see what each of them is good for (use the switch to toggle between the two)
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GoDaddy vs Wix ease of use
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Both GoDaddy and Wix are fairly easy to use. GoDaddy has an easier initial website building experience. You just have to answer some questions, and GoDaddy’s builder will build the website for you.
Once the website is created, you can edit some elements of the website. That is where Wix gets easier to use. GoDaddy isn’t complicated either; it is just that Wix’s editor is more intuitive.
To conclude the ease of use, both GoDaddy and Wix are easy to use and not even a complete beginner should have problems with either one. It is easier to create a website with GoDaddy, and it is easier to edit it with Wix. It is up to you to decide which of these options you value more.
Wix has an editor that is more beginner-friendly than the one GodDady uses. A simple drag and drop website builder, they have couldn’t be any easier to use.
It is very intuitive; you just need to click on any feature you want to add to your website and drag it where you want it.
Wix is aiming to provide the simplest website building experience. And based on how their editor works, they provide exactly that. It might take more effort to initially create a website than with GoDaddy’s builder, but making any subsequent edits and changes to your website couldn’t be any simpler.
GoDaddy website builder vs Wix
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
GoDaddy uses an ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) website builder. This means you get a set of questions to answer, and the builder creates a website based on your answers. It bugs me out that it is called ADI and not AID, which would sound better and make more sense, but whatever the name, it still gets the job done.
The websites created with ADI look surprisingly good when you consider the fact that they were created by automated software. That being said, they will still be quite generic. So, if you are ok with your website looking like many other websites out there, GoDaddy is not a bad option here.
One thing worth mentioning is how fast you can create a website with GoDaddy. The process takes less than an hour. If speed is important to you, it is good to know that there is no faster option for building a website than GoDaddy.
There are three approaches to creating a website with Wix; building one from scratch, editing an existing template or using ADI.
With Wix’s drag and drop builder, you can just start with an empty canvas and add all the elements you want on your website by yourself.
If you want a simpler process than starting from an empty canvas, you can choose a template and personalize it with the editor. Adding, removing, resizing, and moving elements around can’t be any simpler. You just add an element and drop it wherever you want it.
The third option is using ADI that works in the same way as Godaddy’s website builder.
If you run into any problems while creating a website, there is in-editor help that has answers to the most common problems.
Wix has a better website builder than GoDaddy. Wix has both a drag and drop editor and an option to use more or less the same type of builder GoDaddy uses.
GoDaddy’s versus Wix’s templates, themes and customizability
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
GoDaddy has an enormous number of themes to choose from. Despite the huge number of themes, lots of them are very similar, so there isn’t that much variety to choose from.
The customizability of the themes is limited. You can only change some basic settings like text, images and buttons. There are even constraints to changing the basic settings. Pictures can only go in places designed to accommodate images, and you can only choose fonts and colors that are prepackaged in the theme.
A huge number of themes doesn’t mean much with so little customization. Without enough customization, you can’t add a personal touch to your website. This Wix vs GoDaddy duel goes in favor of Wix.
Wix has around 600 free themes with industry-specific features. The number of themes is lower than GoDaddy’s, but Wix themes have a better design.
In addition to better design, you will also get better customization options with Wix’s editor. With a drag and drop editor, you can place anything exactly where you want it. You can choose colors, fonts and animation types for your site. The height and layout of sections are also customizable from the editor. Another big bonus is that Wix editor lets eCommerce owners customize important elements of a digital store.
With the knowledge of coding, there are limitless options for customization. You will have access to the code of the website, so by using CSS and HTML, you can customize more or less everything on your website.
One drawback of Wix is that your choice of template is final. If you decide to switch the template you are using, you will have to create a new website from scratch.
Compare Wix or GoDaddy eCommerce features
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 3.5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Neither GoDaddy nor Wix is specialized in eCommerce, but you can still build an online store with both of them. Note that not all GoDaddy plans support online stores; only the most expensive plan does.
Wix and GoDaddy have several things in common. They both let you list the unlimited number of products without transaction fees. Those products can be either physical or digital, and you can offer discounts and sales codes for the products. There is also a feature that lets you set up flexible shipping options with both Wix and GoDaddy.
GoDaddy offers several payment options you can use in your store. You can check the full list here.
The biggest bonus of GoDaddy is an integrated abandoned cart recovery option. With Wix, you have to use a third-party app to add that functionality.
Aside from integrated abandoned cart recovery and integrated email marketing tools, GoDaddy has fewer eCommerce features than Wix.
I already mentioned some of the eCommerce features you get with both companies we are comparing. Now let’s take a look at more features that come with WIx.
When selling physical products, you can set up variants and options for products. Wix store supports 6 product options. Each of those options can have up to 30 choices. The total number of variants you can manage is 300.
Based on your preferences and location, you will be automatically connected to the most suitable of 24 different payment gateways you can use with Wix. You can still switch to different providers manually if you want to.
You can create a multilingual store with Wix. To do this, you will have to add additional languages to your editor and manually translate your page and product descriptions.
There is currently a beta version of automated tax software you can use. There are some location limits on who can use the software while it is in beta, but if you are living outside of Brazil and India, you should be fine.
You can get additional eCommerce functionality with Wix Ascend, but you will have an additional subscription to pay. Here is the list of Ascend plans they are offering:
Ascend Basic: $10/month
- 50 lead capture forms
- 10 Customizable forms
- Payment forms
- 5 email marketing campaigns/month (the disappointing part is that this plan doesn’t allow linking the email campaign’s URL to your domain)
- 9500 emails/month
- 5 automaton rules
- 5 social post campaigns/month
Ascend Professional: $24/month
- 5 contributors
- 150 lead capture forms
- 20 Customizable forms
- Payment forms
- 20 email marketing campaigns/month (the disappointing part is that this plan doesn’t allow linking the email campaign’s URL to your domain)
- 50,000 emails/month
- 20 automaton rules
- Chat automatons
- 20 social post campaigns/month
Ascend Unlimited: $49/month
- Unlimited contributors
- Unlimited lead capture forms
- Customizable forms
- Payment forms
- Unlimited email marketing campaigns/month (the disappointing part is that this plan doesn’t allow linking the email campaign’s URL to your domain)
- 1,000,000 emails/month
- Unlimited automaton rules
- Chat automatons
- Unlimited social post campaigns/month
- VIP support
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- Free 1 Year Domain Registration on Select Plans
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- Drag-and-drop Website Builder
- E-commerce Ready
- 1-Click WordPress Installation
GoDaddy vs Wix SEO
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 2.5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 3.5/5
GoDaddy comes with built-in keyword suggestions and SEO tracking. You can also edit the basics (meta titles, URL slugs, etc.) and submit your sitemap to search engines, but that is the bare minimum you should expect from any website builder out there.
When it comes to the integration of social networks, you can’t embed live social feeds. All you can do is add follow buttons for various networks on your website.
GoDaddy has no app store, so you can’t further expand on SEO features. What you see here is all you get. At least you will get built-in email marketing tools with each of GoDaddy’s plans.
Wix gives you keyword assistance and SEO tracking through their SEO Wiz. You also get the basic options of editing meta titles, URL slugs, and similar parts of your website.
The integration of social networks comes with more functionality. In addition to adding follow buttons, you can display live feed and image galleries to your website.
Wix Ascend is a separate subscription I mentioned in the previous section. You can create and manage all your marketing campaigns in one place with Ascend.
Wix isn’t SEO feature-rich, but neither is GoDaddy. At least with Wix, you can add additional SEO options through apps, so Wix is a better choice between the two.
Wix or GoDaddy for features?
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
The purpose of GoDaddy is to create simple websites quickly. The speed of creating those websites comes at the price of a small number of features GoDaddy has.
With GoDaddy, you will get the features we discussed in previous sections, unlimited bandwidth and storage and online appointment features.
Bloggers out there won’t be happy to find out you can’t even add comments and search.
GoDaddy doesn’t have many features, so if you are looking for anything more than the simplest website possible, you should choose the Wix website builder over GoDaddy’s.
Wix plans come with several useful blogging features. In addition to search and comments, there are options for post categorization, social bookmarking, and performance tracking.
You can also upload videos directly to your website. There is a limit to the number of video hours you can upload based on the plan you are subscribed to. This can be circumvented by embedding videos on your website. Embedding isn’t limited only to videos; you can embed any HTML code.
I told you about most of the Wix’s features in previous sections, but one thing I didn’t mention is that you get to choose between using Google Analytics and Visitor Analytics instead.
There are bandwidth and storage limitations that depend on the plan you choose, but even with those, Wix is the option with better features in this comparison.
Wix or GoDaddy domain costs
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Here is how much domain renewal will cost you with GoDaddy:
- .com: $17.99/year
- .net: $19.95/year
- .org: $20.99/year
- .info: $23.99/year
- .me: $19.99/year
- .wiki: $39.99/year
- .tv: $44.99/year
Just keep in mind that you can register more different domain extensions with GoDaddy than with Wix. It would be pointless to list them all here because the list is huge. This is just a warning so you can check if you can register the domain you want with Wix before you make your website builder choice.
Here is how much domain renewal will cost you with Wix:
- .com: $14.95/year
- .net: $14.95/year
- .org: $14.95/year
- .info: $14.95/year
- .me: $17.95/year
- .wiki: $30.95/year
- .tv: $32.95/year
Wix is somewhat cheaper for domain registration, but you can’t register all the extensions that you can with GoDaddy.
Wix against GoDaddy customer support
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
GoDaddy has 24/7 phone and live chat support. The impressive thing about their support is that they have support teams for 53 different countries with phone numbers located in the country. This means you don’t have to spend lots of money on international calls and you may get support in your language.
Wix has only phone and forum support. Phone support is limited to business hours, but the good thing is that in Wix editor, you already have answers to most common problems.
GoDaddy vs Wix speed, uptime and reliability
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Speed and uptime are among the most important factors for a website. Here is how GoDaddy performed on those two factors recently:
Uptime: 99.91%
Response time: 315 ms
Wix and GoDaddy have similar speed and uptime, and they are both doing a great job in that aspect. Check out how Wix has been performing recently:
Uptime: 99.93%
Response time: 347 ms
Wix vs GoDaddy pricing
GoDaddy
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
Wix
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
There are four plans you can choose from, and only the most expensive one comes with an eCommerce option. Let’s check them out.
Basic: $10/month
- 1 social media listing platform
- 5 social posts and responses/month
- 100 email marketing sends/month
Standard: $15/month
- 3 social media listing platforms
- 20 social posts and responses/month
- 500 email marketing sends/month
Premium: $20/month
- Unlimited social media listing platforms
- Unlimited social posts and responses/month
- 25,000 email marketing sends/month
Ecommerce: $25/month
- Unlimited social media listing platform
- Unlimited social posts and responses/month
- 25,000 email marketing sends/month
- eCommerce features
With all GoDaddy plans, you get unlimited bandwidth and storage, but the tradeoff is that you get limited social media listing platforms, social posts, and social responses.
You also get a business email address as well as a business phone number for free for one year.
SEO features are included in all plans besides the cheapest plan, so you might want to skip that one. Although GoDaddy’s plans are somewhat cheaper than Wix’s premium plans, GoDaddy’s plans aren’t as feature-rich. There is also no app store you can use for additional functionality, so in my opinion, Wix has better value for money.
Wix has five plans for website hosting, here is what is included in each of the plans:
Free: $0/month
- 500 MB bandwidth
- 500 MB disk space
- Assigned URL: username.wixsite.com/siteadress
- Wix ads on every page
- Wix favicon in URL
Combo: $13/month
- 2 GB bandwidth
- 3 GB disk space
- 30 video minutes
Unlimited: $17/month
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10 GB disk space
- 1 video hour
- $300 Ad Vouchers
- Site Booster App
- Video Analytics App
Pro: $22/month
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20 GB disk space
- 2 video hours
- $300 Ad Vouchers
- Site Booster App
- Video Analytics App
- Events Calendar
- Professional Logo
- Social Media Logo files
VIP: $39/month
The VIP plan has the same features as the Pro plan, but you also get priority response and VIP support.
You can’t create an online store with any of the previous plans. For eCommerce, you will have to pick one of their business plans:
Business Basic: $23/month
- 20 GB disk space
- 5 video hours
Business Unlimited: $27/month
- 35 GB disk space
- 10 video hours
- Professional logo
- Social media logo files
Business VIP: $49/month
- 50 GB disk space
- Unlimited video hours
- Professional logo
- Social media logo files
- Priority response
- VIP support
There is also a $500 Enterprise plan. With that plan, you get consulting from industry experts and help from the Wix team in setting up your business and tackling any challenges along the way.
The main differences between Wix’s plans are the amount of disk space you have at your disposal, the amount of video playback you can upload and whether you can create an online store or not.
A nice bonus you get with all of the plans is the free domain for 1 year. This makes the pricing between Wix and GoDaddy a bit more even and adds to the fact that you get more value for your money with Wix.
GoDaddy vs Wix conclusion
The winner is Wix!
Wix is the more powerful website builder. You get to do more stuff with Wix, and you get to do all that with more freedom. GoDaddy lets you build websites faster, but Wix lets you build websites in greater detail.
Wix versus GoDaddy final score
GoDaddy vs Wix FAQs
Can I use a Wix website on GoDaddy?
What is the difference between GoDaddy and Wix?
Is Wix cheaper than GoDaddy?
Is GoDaddy better than Wix?
Is Wix easier to use than GoDaddy?
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