Wix works. For certain projects, in certain situations, it can genuinely be the right call. The problem is that nobody tells you which ones. The comparisons you find online are written either by Wix affiliates or by web studios with a clear interest in pushing you toward a custom build. What you're reading here comes from a studio that does custom work every day. Which means we have every reason to be straight with you, if we want to stay credible.
What Wix actually does well
Let's be clear about it. Getting online is fast, often within a few hours. Subscription plans run between €17 and €35 per month, hosting is included, and the drag-and-drop editor is genuinely accessible without technical skills. For a personal portfolio, an early-stage business still testing its offer, or a short-lived event site, Wix gets the job done. The templates are clean. The editor makes sense without training. These are real advantages, not consolation prizes.
If you're launching an idea and you don't have clients yet, Wix can be enough for the first six months. It's not the right infrastructure long-term, but it's an accessible starting point.
The limits you discover too late
SEO first. Wix has improved on this front in recent years, and it would be dishonest to say the platform is useless for search. But it remains structurally limited. Generated URLs are not always clean. JavaScript rendering can create indexing issues depending on how your pages are built. And Core Web Vitals, the performance metrics Google folds into its algorithm, suffer from the platform's overall code weight. If you want to rank for local queries like "personal trainer Nice" or "interior architect French Riviera", this limitation is real and well-documented. Our SEO in Nice page covers this in more detail.
Migration next. When your business grows and Wix no longer fits, leaving is expensive. You can't export your site as-is. Everything has to be rebuilt. And if you've accumulated SEO history along the way, backlinks, rankings on specific queries, the migration becomes a project in its own right with its own risks and its own budget.
Platform dependency. You don't own your website on Wix. You rent space on their infrastructure. If Wix changes its pricing, removes a feature, updates its terms, or shuts down a service, you start over elsewhere. This is not a theoretical scenario. It's what happens regularly in the no-code space.
Perceived image, finally. Subtle, but real in certain sectors. Wix templates are recognisable to anyone who spends their days online. In hospitality, consulting, B2B services or creative fields on the French Riviera, a site that looks like a Wix sends a signal about how seriously you take your business.
The migration we see most often: a client who spent 18 months on Wix, built up content, earned a few Google rankings, and now has to rebuild everything without losing their SEO. The budget for a custom site 18 months earlier would have cost less in total.
What changes in practice with a custom build
Technical performance first. A well-built Next.js site consistently scores 95 or above on PageSpeed Insights. Not because it's a marketing metric to put on a pitch deck, but because the code is clean, third-party scripts are controlled, and nothing loads unless it needs to. Our website creation in Nice page explains the approach in concrete terms.
Real on-page SEO next. A service page built around a precise local query, with Schema.org structured data, clean tags and content designed around search intent. That level of precision does not exist on Wix. It's not a question of effort or willingness, it's a question of what the platform technically allows. Our SEO in Nice page goes further on this.
Ownership, finally. Your site is a code file you own. You can move it between hosts, modify it, evolve it without depending on a subscription or a third-party platform. It's a fundamental difference that matters little when everything is running smoothly, and matters enormously when it stops.
How to choose based on your situation
You're testing an idea and you don't have clients yet. Wix, or even a well-structured Notion page, can be enough. Don't over-invest before you've confirmed the activity is actually taking off. At this stage the priority is validation, not infrastructure.
You're an established professional and you want to win clients through Google. The technical foundation matters. Wix won't give you the rankings you're targeting on high-intent commercial queries, especially if your local competitors have already invested in sites built for SEO. At this point the tool becomes a performance question, not a starting budget question.
You already have a Wix site and things are plateauing. This is the most common situation we see. The question is no longer really "should I migrate" but "how much longer". Our website redesign in Nice page can help you run a proper diagnosis.
You're building an e-commerce store. Wix Commerce exists and the basic features are there. But for serious volume and competitive product SEO, you will hit the ceiling fast. The technical constraints become real before the catalogue is even half-built.
What it actually costs (an honest comparison)
Wix: between €17 and €35 per month depending on the plan, so €600 to €1,260 over three years. Add to that the domain name if managed outside Wix (around €15 per year), paid extensions you quickly can't do without, and sometimes a premium template. A serious Wix setup over three years easily runs to €1,000 or €1,500. For a result you don't own and whose technical performance is capped by the platform.
Custom site: initial investment between €1,500 and €5,000 depending on project complexity. Hosting around €15 per month on Vercel or equivalent. But you own the code. Performance is superior. And if the SEO works as intended, the return on investment is measurable and real. We break down the price ranges in detail in our article on how much a website costs in Nice.
The real question isn't "Wix or custom?" It's "What is this site actually for?" If the answer is "a link to put on my business card", Wix is fine. If the answer is "generate qualified leads through Google", a custom build is not a luxury.
| Criteria | Wix | Custom website |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over 3 years | €1,000 to €1,500 | €1,500 to €5,000 (one-time investment) |
| Code ownership | No | Yes |
| PageSpeed performance | 60 to 75 / 100 | 90 to 100 / 100 |
| Advanced local SEO | Limited | Full control |
| Migration to another platform | Difficult | Straightforward |
| Platform dependency | Yes | No |
| Design customisation | Template-bound | Fully custom |
Wix is not the enemy. It's a tool, with specific use cases. The problem shows up when it's used for goals it cannot deliver on. A site meant to bring in clients through local search needs a technical foundation Wix cannot provide. That's not an agency opinion. It's what we see when we look at our clients' Google rankings before and after a well-executed migration.
If you want a site that works for you while you sleep, the tool question comes after the strategy question. Start by getting clear on what you actually need from your online presence. The answer about which tool to use tends to follow pretty quickly.