Elementor vs Wix – Which Is Better?

If you want to build a new website, you might be caught between choosing Wix or Elementor. 

Elementor is a product of WordPress, which is the most popular web builder in the world, and yet that does not make the choice any easier because Wix has been making some impressive strides recently too. 

In this post, I will take you through their features and the main differences between them to make it easier for you to decide which platform is right for you. 

Let’s jump right in.

What is Elementor?

Elementor is a freemium drag and drop page builder that allows you to craft unique layouts on a WordPress website. 

I first heard about it long after I started using WordPress. I had used several WordPress page builders before and concluded they sucked. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the new page builder everyone was so excited about was a WordPress builder. 

I decided to try it anyway and I was right to have given it a chance. 

Elementor is by far the best WordPress builder I have seen among all the other alternatives. With it, you can design your web page to look exactly as you want your visitors to see it. 

Its drag and drop interface allows you to move elements around your page. So you can position your images, forms, or buttons anywhere on your site without writing any code. 

You can save yourself some time and choose a ready-made template or build your own design from scratch. Either way, once you install Elementor, you will no longer be limited to what your WordPress theme offers. 

It lets you see your page in real-time, so you don’t have to click on a preview button to see your design progress. 

I know what you are thinking…

There are other page builders with these features that I have mentioned. Yes. However, you will not find any page builder on WordPress that has as many awesome editing features with a free plan. So there’s no confusion when I say Elementor is WordPress’s best page builder. 

What is Wix?

Wix is an all-in-one cloud-based platform that allows you to build your website without writing any code. 

Unlike Elementor that requires you to buy web hosting and install WordPress, Wix does not need any of that. It is pretty much an out of the box solution, so everything happens online in a few clicks, and you will have everything you need to hit the ground running. 

This means that you can build and manage your website right from your browser via the Wix website. 

With its simple drag and drop user interface, you can design a variety of websites including blogs, online forums, online stores, appointment booking pages, and more. 

For Wix users, there are two ways to build a website. The first is by using the Wix Editor. This Editor allows you to pick a template, structure it, and add content to it. 

If that’s too much trouble for you, you can use the alternative Wix ADI, which stands for Artificial Design Intelligence. 

This is capable of creating a completely customizable website with visuals and text. All that is required from you are the answers to a few questions about what you are trying to achieve. Wix will then populate your site with information about you or your business that is sourced from the web. 

Whether you use the Wix Editor or the ADI, you do not have to be a developer to build a website. That being said, Wix had other versions that are targeted at developers. 

There is the Wix Corvid mode that gives you access to their APIs to enable you to create database collections and dynamic pages. There’s also the Editor X mode which is targeted at agencies. However, it is not currently permitted by the regular Wix version. 

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Getting Started

Elementor

Getting started with Elementor is easy, but you will first need to install WordPress. 

To install WordPress, you need to set up your hosting account. The host you pitch your tent with will determine if your experience will be more or less difficult. I’ve used a good number of hosts, but my preferred choice is SiteGround. 

Once you’ve picked your host and logged in for the first time, you will be prompted to install WordPress and with the click of a button, you will have a WordPress site ready to go. 

To add Elementor to your website, you’ll go to the Plugins tab and search for Elementor. Add and activate and your Elementor is set. 

Once that is done, adding Elementor is like adding any other plugins to your WordPress site. 

If you want to install Elementor pro, which is the premium version of Elementor to save you from having to use other plugins, you will have to download it from the official Elementor website. 

Once that downloads, you can add it through the same plugins tab on your dashboard. The only difference this time is that you will have to first upload the plugin from your computer before you can click and activate it. 

Wix

You cannot get lost with Wix even if it is your first time building a website. As soon as you land on the home page, you will see a ‘Get Started’ button that will take you to a typical signup form where you will enter your email and password. 

Then Wix will ask you a couple more questions relating to the type of site that you want to build. 

After that, the Wix AI will try to build a website for you based on the information provided on the previous questions you answered. While these questions are simple, they are usually comprehensive to properly define your needs. 

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You will also choose from a dropdown of options depending on your site’s intent. Examples of these options include pricing plans, forums, reservations, music embeds, and many more. 

The last stage is very important. It is where you pick the overall aesthetic of your site. Wix will not give you a blank design. Instead, you will be prompted to choose from a couple of generic subpages such as the about and contact pages. Then Wix will show you your AI generated site. 

It doesn’t end there. After the AI’s job is complete, Wix will give you control of the website’s main features so that you can change how the pages look. 

To adjust an element on the site, all you need to do is click on that element. A sidebar will pop up on the left screen. There you can tweak the element in question or change it altogether. 

Wix has a main visual editor that lets you perform basic content modification such as adding text, new sections, etc. Once you click on the custom box, you can edit away. 

You can place new elements on your pages such as social media buttons, lists, galleries, and more by merely dragging and dropping them where you want them. 

Wix features additional apps including Shopify in its app market. It has its own online store module if you do not want to use Shopify, but this is not usually included in the free plan. 

Once you are satisfied with your creation and are ready to show the world, you can make your website visible by clicking the publish button in the top right corner of your dashboard. 

At this point, Wix will furnish you with a free subdomain which you can convert to a custom domain when you choose any of its paid plans. 

Design Options

Elementor

Elementor has impressive design capabilities, but even if you are terrible at design, you can choose one of its pre-made templates for your site. What is great about Elementor is that you get access to more than 100 templates in the free version. 

Imagine how many templates will be at your disposal if you use Elementor pro. 

Elementor also has another product called Elementor Kits. These kits are a collection of templates that you can adopt on your site. So if you pick one kit, it will consist of a consistent design for all the pages on the site. 

I consider the library one of the best for those new to web design. You can choose from its collection to build your homepage, contact page, etc. for any niche. 

There are two ways to import templates in Elementor: You can use the template widget or the ‘add template’ button. 

The ‘add template’ button is usually in your main workspace. Simply click on it, then the ‘my template’ tab, and select the template you want. 

The second option first requires you to drag and drop the widget on the space then select a template. To bring out a list of templates, type a few letters of the desired template name and choose your template. 

If you are not completely satisfied with the template that you have chosen, you can modify it as you like until you get the exact look that you want. You can save the new look to be a template on its own that you can reuse for another page or share with the public. 

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Wix 

Wix has its own approach towards website design which we have talked about a little earlier. 

You can opt to let the Wix ADI come up with a design for your site based on your answer to some key questions provided or you can choose from its 700+ designs and add your touch. 

If you choose the former, you will still be able to select from a list of styles, although not as many as the full catalog of templates. 

One thing I find disappointing in Wix though is that you cannot change your template after selecting it, so you must be careful with your choice otherwise you will be stuck with a look that you will come to despise. 

That being said, Wix does not disappoint when it comes to quality. Frankly speaking, all their templates are easy on the eyes whether desktop or mobile. They are grouped based on the line of business or website purpose to give an idea of the direction you want to take. 

It gives hundreds of more templates than what Elementor offers and all the templates are free. 

Wix templates are usually visually appealing at the end of the day as long as you can tweak them carefully. Your site does not have to come out of the oven looking like a DIY site. 

Wix also has a huge image library that you can access for free, and as if that isn’t enough, it also gives you access to Shutterstock photos at $2.99 per image. 

You won’t spend a lot of time looking for a template on Wix even though you may not know the actual name of the template as they are organized into intuitive categories and subcategories. So, for example, if you are looking for a template that suits a Disk Jockey, you will have to go under the music category, and then select the DJs subcategory. 

Once you have found the template of your choice, you can sample how it looks before you adopt it for your site. 

Another visual feature you will find easy to use on your Wix site is animations. You can easily add functions like video background and parallax scrolling at least for desktop view. However, you must note that animations are a common cause of website performance problems, so if you can avoid them, then do. 

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Interface 

Elementor 

Elementor interface is one area I will have to give special props to the developers, especially for the Elementor finder feature. 

As an online entrepreneur with a lot of interests in different opportunities and so many things to do, one thing I value most is a platform that finds new ways to save me time. I detest using a page builder where making changes to a page requires a lot of clicks or leaving the entire dashboard. That’s not the case with Elementor Finder. 

You can access the function from the main Elementor menu or by simply pressing the ‘Control’ button + ‘E’. Once you open the finder, type in whatever you are looking for and you will be offered a quicker way to get to it faster, with the exception of widgets. 

You will find most of the Elementor tools on its side panel, which is great because it doesn’t take up a lot of space on the screen and when you are editing and viewing, the changes take place immediately. 

It is possible to contract the panel if you want more space to work with and when you need to access any of the tools on the panel area, you can expand it with a click. 

There’s also a section navigator that lets you jump between different sections of your layout. So you can also edit an element from there by clicking on it. Whenever you update your layout, it automatically updates in the preview screen, so you do not have to always refresh your tab, which is another time-saver in my books. 

I have to admit it took me some time to get used to where to find everything on Elementor, but that is understandable because it has a lot of features. But overall, its interface is clean and very easy to use even if it’s your first time doing so.

Wix

As discussed earlier, Wix offers several options for building websites – the ADI, Wix Editor, and Corvid, which is now known as Velo by Wix, and the process of editing across these three options is easy and pretty much the same. 

In fact, if you can edit a simple Microsoft document, then you will find it easy to edit on Wix. And like in Elementor, Wix editing is on its frontend interface, so you can see the changes on your screen as you make them. 

For Wix ADI, editing is by drag and drop. When you move an element from the widget to your workspace, Wix automatically lays out the page for you, and this is especially useful for absolute beginners. 

The Wix editor gives you more complexities since it offers more control over the design and features of your website. This is the option that resembles using Microsoft Word the most. 

Velo by Wix is the most complex among the three. This is where you can create and use database collections like spreadsheets and use the data to automatically populate your page. 

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Unless you are a web developer and know your way around Javascript and APIs, you may never use this part of Wix. 

One thing I find unsatisfying with Wix is its mobile version. While it claims to be mobile-friendly, it uses absolute positioning, which makes it difficult for Wix websites to adapt to different screen sizes. 

Since Elementor uses responsive design, its pages look smoother on mobile than Wix pages since they automatically adjust to display optimally on the device they are being viewed on. 

For me, that’s a deal-breaker because Google gives preference to responsive designs and I’m particularly attentive to anything that can hurt my site’s chances in terms of SEO. 

Ease of use 

Elementor

Elementor has more processes than Wix because you have to start your journey from hosting, installing WordPress, before installing and using Elementor itself. 

For newbies, this can be a bit confusing, especially since there is no significant onboarding, so you are left to figure it out on your own. And while the options are in straight English, it is a far cry from what you’d get with Wix, where you’re basically handheld through everything. 

On the bright side, once you manage to set up your site with Elementor, managing it becomes very easy. All the widgets are easy to find and modifying your pages is faster and arguably easier than on Wix. 

That being said, learning to use Elementor to its full potential may require that you take on some experiments, and better yet, consult resources online to get the hang of it. 

Wix

Wix is way easier to get started with than Elementor. It makes building a web page look like a stroll in the park even if it is your first time doing so. 

The Wix ADI takes ease of use to another level as it helps you build your site by virtually doing not one heavy lifting, which Elementor or any other web-building tool I know does not offer. 

Customizing your site afterward is just as easy since it uses the same visual drag and drop system that Elementor uses, but the problem is in what you can and cannot modify. 

Elementor vs Wix: Similarities and Differences

As different as they are, both platforms share some traits. For one, they both enable users to create a website without coding, and they also support visual drag and drop functionality which makes building a website very easy.

That being said, Wix and Elementor have more differences than similarities. For example, Where Wix is an all in one website builder, Elementor is a page building plugin within WordPress.

Wix has a completely free plan to get you started, whereas, you must first pay for WordPress hosting before you can install the free Elementor plugin. Wix also has a massive template library of 800+ templates, whereas Elementor’s free plan has just a few hundred, while Elementor Pro has about 300+.

There’s no limit to how much you can customize your website with Elementor, and while Wix does offer some flexibility, it comes nowhere close to WordPress.

Pros & cons

Elementor

Pros

1. The interface is clean and easy to navigate. It has intuitively laid out blocks that make it easy to learn. 
2. Building a nice website is fast with Elementor. 
3. Its mobile capabilities are just as good as on a desktop, thereby maintaining a consistent design across devices. 
4. It works well with any themes even though there are special themes built specifically for Elementor. 

Cons

1. Support time could use some work. 
2. Occasionally, some parts of Elementor freezes when in use. It does not happen frequently, but it happens nonetheless. 

Wix

Pros

1. Wix is an all in one solution, so everything about your site happens within Wix. 
2. You worry less about the technical stuff. 
3. Support is quick to respond 
4. You can set up a professional-looking website in a few minutes

Cons

1. You are stuck with the first design you choose. 
2. You do not have complete control of your site. You can lose your site if you break any of Wix’s rules. 
3. It is considerably more expensive than Elementor in almost all instances. 

Pricing

Elementor

Elementor is free, but the Pro version comes in three packages that offer the same features but differ in the number of sites you can use it for. 

You will find the updated price list on the Elementor official website. 

Wix

Wix has a free plan that allows you to see how your site will look on the platform, but it does not allow you to add a custom domain name or facilitate eCommerce. 

To get a more professional site you must move on to a paid plan and your options depend on where you are based. 

The plans are usually classified according to how many features they allow and billing is monthly. You can check out the latest plans on the Wix pricing page. 

Elementor vs Wix – The verdict

Wix is a good place to begin, but once your website gets off the ground, you will want a more flexible option that WordPress provides. 

If it comes down to Wix vs Elementor, I’ll choose Elementor over Wix because it gives me the freedom that a WordPress site provides along with the ability to design via visual drag and drop, plus a ton of other amazing features.