Shopify and Wix both advertise entry plans around $29/month, which makes them look like a close call on paper. They aren't built for the same business. Wix is a general-purpose website builder with strong ecommerce features bolted on; Shopify is an ecommerce platform first, with everything else built around that. Here's what that difference actually means for cost and fit.
The pricing gap that shows up after month one
Shopify Basic and Wix Core both start around $29/month on annual billing — genuinely comparable at face value. The real cost diverges from there: once you factor in transaction fees, the essential apps most real Shopify stores need, and feature gaps that require paid add-ons, Shopify's actual monthly cost for running a real business typically lands at $100–$300+. Wix, by contrast, holds its pricing closer to sticker: its most expensive plan runs roughly $159/month — about half of Shopify's top self-serve tier — and Wix's business plans carry 0% platform transaction fees.
The gap that matters more: the app ecosystem
Shopify integrates with well over 10,000 apps, covering everything from niche shipping calculators to advanced subscription logic to multi-channel selling across marketplaces. Wix's app ecosystem sits closer to 800. For a store that needs a specific, non-standard feature, this gap is often the real decision point — Shopify almost certainly has an app for it; Wix increasingly does not.
What each platform is actually built for
- Choose Shopify if ecommerce is the primary business, you expect to scale, and you'll need integrations, multi-channel selling, or advanced sales tooling as you grow. Shopify's checkout, app depth, and scalability are built for exactly this.
- Choose Wix if you're running a content-first or service-first business that sells on the side, you value design freedom and ease of use over deep ecommerce tooling, or your business has a strong booking/appointment component alongside product sales — Wix handles that natively in a way Shopify doesn't.
The honest read on SEO and design
Wix has closed much of its historical SEO gap and offers a genuinely wide range of templates with strong design flexibility for general-purpose sites. That said, for a business where ecommerce SEO — collection page structure, product schema, Core Web Vitals at scale — is a serious growth channel, Shopify's ecosystem of dedicated tooling and its far larger base of ecommerce-specific SEO expertise (see our complete Shopify SEO guide) gives it a practical edge once search is a real acquisition channel, not just a nice-to-have.
What actually transfers in a Wix-to-Shopify migration
Product data (names, descriptions, images, variants, pricing) exports and imports cleanly via CSV in most cases — this part is genuinely straightforward. What doesn't transfer automatically: Wix's design is built on its own proprietary editor with no Shopify-compatible export, so the storefront itself gets rebuilt in a Shopify theme rather than migrated as-is, and any booking/appointment functionality Wix handled natively needs a Shopify app equivalent, since that's not a native Shopify capability. Budget the migration as a real rebuild of the frontend and a straightforward transfer of the backend data, not a lift-and-shift of the whole site.
URL structure is the other real risk: if the Wix store has any organic search traffic worth keeping, a 301 redirect map from old Wix URLs to new Shopify URLs is not optional — skipping this is the single most common way a platform migration quietly costs a brand its existing search rankings.
FAQs
Is Wix cheaper than Shopify for ecommerce? At the entry tier they're comparable, but Wix tends to hold its price more consistently since it has 0% platform transaction fees on business plans, while Shopify's real cost climbs with transaction fees and essential apps.
Does Wix have enough apps for a serious ecommerce store? It depends on your needs — Wix's roughly 800 apps cover common cases, but Shopify's 10,000+ app ecosystem is far more likely to have a specific niche integration you need as you scale.
Is Wix good for a business that isn't purely ecommerce? Yes — Wix is generally the stronger choice for content-first or service/booking-based businesses that sell products as a secondary feature.
Should I switch from Wix to Shopify as I grow? Often yes, once ecommerce becomes your primary revenue driver and you start hitting the limits of Wix's app ecosystem or sales tooling — this is a common, well-supported migration path.
Which platform is better for SEO? Both have improved significantly, but Shopify's ecommerce-specific SEO tooling and far larger base of specialist expertise give it a practical edge once organic search is a serious growth channel.
Does product data transfer cleanly from Wix to Shopify? Yes, generally via CSV — the storefront design itself doesn't transfer and gets rebuilt, and any Wix booking functionality needs a Shopify app equivalent.
Our take
If you're choosing a platform for a business where selling products is the whole point, Shopify is very likely the right long-term home even if Wix looks cheaper on day one. If ecommerce is genuinely secondary to a content, service, or booking business, Wix's simplicity and design freedom are a legitimate reason to stay. If you've outgrown Wix and are ready to make the move, talk to us about a migration — we'll scope exactly what transfers and what needs to be rebuilt, including the redirect map that protects your existing search rankings.
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