Wix vs hiring a web designer: what a small business really pays over two years

Wix is cheaper in cash than hiring a web designer. That part isn’t close. The real question is what you pay in time, and what the site does for your business once it’s live. This guide compares both honestly, including the cases where Wix is the right call.

The short answer

• Choose Wix if you enjoy building things yourself, have a free weekend or two, need a simple site, and are comfortable keeping it updated.
• Hire a designer if your time is worth more spent on clients, you want the site to bring in enquiries from Google, or you’ve already tried a DIY site and it stalled half-finished.

What Wix costs in 2026

Wix’s four main plans on annual billing are Light at $17 a month, Core at $29, Business at $39 and Business Elite at $159 (Style Factory, Costbench). These are US list prices, and monthly billing can cost noticeably more. Local prices in the UK and EU differ, so check your own.

Most small businesses that want bookings, a contact form that works well and room to grow end up on Core or Business. Over two years that’s roughly:

Cost item	Wix Core	Wix Business
Plan, 24 months (annual billing)	~$696	~$936
Domain after the free first year	~$15–25 (approx.)	~$15–25 (approx.)
Paid apps (booking extras, reviews, pop-ups…)	$0–300+	$0–300+
Premium template or stock images	$0–100	$0–100
Cash total, approx.	~$700–1,100	~$950–1,350

That’s the money. Now the part most comparisons leave out.

The cost nobody counts: your time

A decent five-page business site on Wix takes most owners somewhere between 15 and 40 hours: choosing a template, writing every page, finding photos, setting up forms, fixing the mobile layout, connecting the domain, and learning enough SEO to set titles and descriptions. That’s an estimate. Some people are faster, many are slower, and a lot never finish.

Then there’s the ongoing time: changing prices, adding a service, fixing what an update moved, answering “why isn’t my site on Google?”. Call it an hour or two a month.

If your time is worth €40 an hour to your business, 30 hours of setup plus 1.5 hours a month for two years is about €2,600 of your time. That isn’t money you pay Wix. It’s work you didn’t do for clients.

What hiring a web designer costs

Designer pricing varies widely. UK and US guides put a professional small-business site in the low thousands upfront, plus hosting and maintenance (see our small business website cost guide for sourced ranges).

There’s also a middle option most people don’t know exists: a done-for-you site on a monthly plan. At B63 the build is €0 upfront, then €150 a month (excl. VAT) for 24 months, which includes hosting, domain, updates, daily backups, edits on request and support. After 24 months the site can be yours. That’s how website leasing works, and it’s spelled out on our pay monthly websites page. If you’d rather pay once, a one-time build starts from €550 including VAT.

Side by side

	Wix (DIY)	Web designer (one-off)	B63 pay monthly
Upfront cost	Low	High	€0
Two-year cash cost	~$700–1,350 (Core/Business)	Low thousands + upkeep	€3,600 excl. VAT, all included
Your time to build	15–40 h (estimate)	A few hours of input	A few hours of input
Who writes and structures pages	You	Designer	Us, with your input
Ongoing edits	You	Usually billed per change	Included
Can you move the site elsewhere?	Not really: Wix sites stay on Wix	Depends on platform	Yes, standard WordPress, yours after 24 months
Live in	When you finish	Weeks	Most sites 7–10 days after content

When Wix is genuinely the better choice

We’d tell you to use Wix if:

• you’re testing an idea and don’t know yet if the business will last;
• the site is a simple online business card and won’t need to rank on Google;
• you like design and have the time, and the time isn’t costing you clients;
• your budget for the next year is close to zero.

A Wix site you finish is better than a perfect site you never start.

When a designer (or done-for-you plan) wins

• You need enquiries, not just a presence. Ranking for “plumber in Leeds” or “dentist in Austin” takes structure, speed and content that DIY sites often skip.
• You’ve already started a DIY site and it stalled. This is the most common story we hear.
• You don’t want to be the IT department. Updates, backups, security and “the form stopped working” are someone else’s job.
• You want to own it eventually. Wix sites can’t be exported and moved to another host. A WordPress site can.
• You’re in a trade where trust matters: accountants, construction, beauty salons. A generic template can make you look like everyone else.

Common Wix mistakes we see

• Leaving the template’s demo text or placeholder images in place.
• Pages without a proper title and description for Google.
• A mobile layout that was never checked, with text overlapping buttons.
• No clear call to action: no phone button, no form above the fold.
• Contact form messages going to an inbox nobody reads.

None of these are Wix’s fault. They’re what happens when building a website is one job too many.

Still deciding? Run through our DIY vs professional checklist, or see how Squarespace compares with WordPress for a small business.

FAQ

Do professional web designers use Wix? Some do, especially for small, simple sites. Many prefer WordPress or custom builds because the client can own and move the site, and there are more options for speed and SEO.

Is Wix good for SEO? Wix covers the basics, and a well-built Wix site can rank. Results depend far more on content, structure and links than on the platform.

Can I move my Wix site to WordPress later? Not directly. Wix doesn’t export a site you can install elsewhere, so moving means rebuilding.

What if I just want someone to handle everything? That’s exactly what our Website as a Service plan is for. See pricing or ask for a free proposal.