What Wix is good at
Wix and builders like it let you put a site together yourself, with drag-and-drop pages and templates, for a monthly plan. For a brand new business testing an idea, or a hobby that does not depend on its website, that can be the right call.
You can be online in a day, and you never need to hire anyone to change a word.
Where it starts to cost you
The trade-offs show up once the website has to bring in customers:
- You rent the site. The plan is monthly for as long as the site exists, and a Wix site cannot be moved to another host. Leaving means rebuilding.
- Builder sites carry the platform's own code on every page, so they are often slower on phones than a site built only with what it needs.
- Templates are shared by many businesses, so a site can look like its competitors unless real time goes into making it its own.
- Doing it yourself takes your time, and the result depends on your eye for design and your writing.
What a custom website gives you
A custom site is designed for your business and built for it:
- It is yours. The code, the domain and the hosting sit in accounts in your name, and you can move it anywhere.
- It loads fast, because it only carries what your pages use.
- It looks like your business, not a template.
- It can grow into booking, a store or customer logins without starting over on a new platform.
The running costs, honestly
A builder is a monthly plan forever. A custom site is mostly a one-time build, then a domain renewal and hosting, which for a fast static site like the ones we build is small. A Shopify store, custom or not, pays Shopify's own monthly plan.
So the real comparison is a monthly plan plus your own time, against a one-time build you own. At TigerPoint a custom business website starts from $499. The cost guide lists every starting price and what moves it.
How to choose
Pick a builder if you are testing an idea, the budget is very tight, and you enjoy doing it yourself.
Pick a custom site if customers judge you by your website before they call, if speed on phones matters, or if you want something you own outright. If you are not sure, the free written plan compares the two for your business and gives an exact price, within 48 hours.
| Website builder | Custom website | |
|---|---|---|
| Up front | Your own time | A one-time build, from $499 |
| Every month | The builder's plan, for as long as the site exists | Domain renewal and hosting |
| Who owns it | You rent it on the builder's platform | You, in accounts in your name |
| Moving it later | Means rebuilding | Move it anywhere |
| Looks like | A template others can use too | Your business |