Wix is the cheaper platform at every tier and the easier one to build with, while Shopify sells harder and scales further. That is the whole comparison in a sentence, and the reason is structural: Wix is a website builder that added a capable store, and Shopify is a commerce platform that happens to include a website. Which one wins depends on whether your bottleneck is getting online or growing a catalog.
Plans and pricing checked July 2026, and every price below is read live from our pricing database rather than typed into this page.
Pricing and plans compared
Wix is cheaper, and it is not close once you leave the entry tier. Wix's entry e-commerce plan, Core, costs $29/mo (Core) against Shopify's Basic at $39/mo (Basic). That is a modest gap. The middle of the ladder is where the two separate: Wix's Business plan is $39/mo (Business) while Shopify's Grow plan is $105/mo (Grow), and at the top Wix's Business Elite is $159/mo (Business Elite) against Shopify Advanced at $399/mo (Advanced).
The subscription is only part of the bill. Wix charges 0% as a platform fee on your sales, so what you pay on each order is the card processing rate and nothing more. Shopify also charges nothing extra when you use Shopify Payments, but if you bring a third-party gateway it adds a platform fee on top of your processor's rate, starting at 2% (Basic) and falling as you move up its tiers. For a store committed to an existing processor, that is a recurring cost that can outweigh the subscription difference entirely.
App costs pull the same direction. Wix stores typically add $0 to $40/mo in apps, where Shopify stores typically run $40 to $150/mo, because more of what a Shopify store needs is bought from its app store rather than bundled into the plan. The calculator on this page costs both platforms at your own revenue and product count, which is a far better guide than either headline price.
Who each one is for
Wix is for the owner whose first problem is getting a good-looking store online without help. Sole proprietors, side businesses, service businesses adding a small shop, and any small brand that values design control and a low monthly bill. It is also the better pick for a team, which surprises people: Wix includes Unlimited staff accounts, where Shopify's Basic plan allows 2 (Basic), so adding people to a Shopify store means moving up a tier.
Shopify is for the business whose first problem is selling more. If you carry real inventory, sell across several channels, ship at volume, or expect the catalog to grow quickly, Shopify's commerce-first design is built for exactly that and Wix is not. It is also the pick if you sell internationally, because Shopify supports Yes multi-currency where Wix's support is Limited.
Ease of use and design freedom
This is Wix's strongest suit. The drag-and-drop editor places any element anywhere on the page, which makes building intuitive for someone who has never made a website. On templates the gap is stark: Wix offers 900+ free themes against Shopify's ~13 free, so a Shopify store that wants a distinctive look usually ends up buying a paid theme. If you want a store that does not look like a template without paying for one, Wix gets you there faster and cheaper.
Shopify is approachable but opinionated. Its admin leads with products, orders and inventory rather than page layout, which feels like more structure than a simple shop needs and exactly the right structure once orders arrive daily. Neither platform requires technical skill to launch. The difference is what each one makes easy: Wix makes the page easy, Shopify makes the operation easy.
Selling tools, apps and channels
Shopify wins this section outright, and it is the reason to pay more. Its app ecosystem runs to 10,000+ apps against Wix's 500+ apps, so almost any operational problem has an off-the-shelf answer. It reaches more places too: Shopify sells across Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, Pinterest, while Wix covers Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon (via apps). Shopify also carries a native point of sale for selling in person, where Wix routes through its own newer POS.
Wix is not thin, and it is worth being precise about where it stops. It handles unlimited products on its paid plans, abandoned cart recovery, digital products and a built-in blog, which covers most small stores completely. What it lacks is depth at scale: fewer integrations, narrower channels, limited multi-currency and a lighter developer platform. If your store is a few hundred products sold from one storefront, you will likely never reach those limits.
AI features
Both have moved quickly here, in different directions that mirror the wider split. Wix's AI is aimed at building: it can generate a whole site from a prompt, write copy and make design decisions, which suits its get-online-fast positioning. Shopify's is aimed at operating, with Sidekick assisting on store setup, product and marketing copy, and questions about your own store data. Both now expose native MCP integrations, so AI agents can interact with a store directly as agentic commerce develops. For a beginner, Wix's AI removes more work up front. For a running store, Shopify's assists with the work that repeats.
US considerations
Sales tax is the practical US difference, and it is the one place where Wix's cheaper entry plan carries a real catch. Wix's automated sales tax is not included on the Core plan at all: it begins on the Business plan and is metered by transaction count, with a larger allowance on Business Elite. So a US store on Wix's entry plan that crosses economic nexus in states it does not operate in will need to move up a tier or add a third-party tax tool, which erodes the price advantage exactly when the store is growing. Shopify provides built-in US sales tax calculation across jurisdictions on its standard plans, and that is one of the clearer arguments for its higher price once you sell into multiple states.
Beyond tax, both bill in dollars, both support the card brands and wallets US shoppers expect, and both connect to the major US carriers for shipping. Neither locks you to a single processor, though Shopify's third-party gateway fee makes leaving Shopify Payments a priced decision rather than a free one.
Pros and cons for this matchup
Wix wins on price at every tier, on genuine beginner-friendliness, on design freedom and free template choice, on unlimited staff accounts, and on charging no platform fee on your sales. It loses on app ecosystem size, on the breadth of sales channels, on multi-currency, on automated sales tax being absent from its entry plan, and on depth once a catalog gets large.
Shopify wins on commerce depth, the largest app store in the category, the widest multichannel and marketplace reach, true multi-currency, native point of sale and built-in US sales tax handling. It loses on price at every single tier, on capping staff accounts on the entry plan, and on charging a platform fee if you use any processor other than its own.
The verdict
If your constraint is getting online, choose Wix. For most US small businesses opening a first store it is the better value and the faster route to live: cheaper at every tier, nothing charged on your sales, unlimited staff accounts, and an editor that is the more forgiving of the two by a distance. A store selling a manageable catalog from a single storefront will not run into its ceiling.
If your constraint is growing, choose Shopify. When selling is the main event rather than a feature of your website, the extra cost buys tools Wix does not have: real inventory depth, the widest channel reach, multi-currency for international customers, and sales tax handling that holds up as you cross state lines. The one number to check before you decide is the third-party gateway fee, because if you intend to keep your existing processor it can quietly cost more than the plan itself.
Run your own revenue and product count through the calculator above, then see every platform we track in our US e-commerce platform comparison, or compare the two most common alternatives in Shopify vs Squarespace and Shopify vs BigCommerce.