Shopify vs Wix for Online Stores (2026): Pricing, Fees and Features Compared

Shopify and Wix can both run an online store, but they start from different places. Shopify is a commerce platform first: every plan is built around products, checkout, inventory and payments. Wix is a website builder first, with ecommerce added through its Core, Business and Business Elite plans alongside bookings, events and other business tools.

As of October 2026, the short answer is this. If selling products is the main job of the site and you expect to grow catalog size, sales channels or staff, Shopify is usually the stronger base. If the store is one part of a broader site (a studio, a service business, a portfolio with a shop) and design freedom matters more than commerce depth, Wix is a reasonable and often cheaper choice.

This guide compares the two on price, payment fees, product limits, apps, editors, selling channels and growth room, using each company's own pricing and help pages. For everything else on the platform, start at our Shopify hub.

How the two platforms are built

Shopify's admin is organized around orders, products, customers, inventory and checkout. The storefront is a theme (Liquid code edited through the theme editor), and the checkout is hosted and maintained by Shopify. Most extra functionality comes from apps in the Shopify App Store, which its homepage described as "over 16,000 apps" on 1 Oct 2026 (Shopify's 10-K gives a figure of more than 21,000 as of 31 Dec 2025).

Wix is a general website platform. Its Wix Harmony editor is described by Wix as a "hybrid website editor" that combines AI generation with drag-and-drop control, and it includes an AI agent called Aria. Wix Studio is aimed at designers, developers and agencies, and Wix also offers a Wix Headless option for connecting your own frontend. Stores, bookings, events and courses are features you "drop in" to the same site.

That difference shows up everywhere: Wix gives you more layout freedom out of the box, and Shopify gives you more commerce structure out of the box.

Pricing compared

Wix's plans page notes that "Prices and currency vary by location" and that "Displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions, paid in full at the time of purchase." Wix's own pricing article (updated 10 Sep 2026) lists Light at $17, Core at $29, Business at $39 and Business Elite at $159 a month on annual billing. Wix also has a free plan and a 14-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. We didn't find month-to-month Wix prices on a Wix page we could verify, so they're left out here.

Shopify's US prices come from shopify.com/pricing. Shopify starts with a 3-day free trial, then $1 a month for 3 months.

On sticker price, Wix is cheaper at every level. The gap is smallest at entry level ($29 versus $29 on annual billing) and widest in the middle (Business at $39 versus Grow at $79). Whether that holds after fees depends on your payment setup, covered next.

Payment processing and transaction fees

Both platforms run their own payment service and also let you connect other providers. The table uses US online rates for the lowest plan that can sell.

Sources: Wix's Wix Payments service fees page and Shopify's pricing page. Two points matter more than the headline rate:

• Shopify's third-party fee. If you process cards through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Wix's help page for connecting Stripe lists only Stripe's own rate (2.9% + 30¢) and doesn't mention an added Wix percentage. If you must use your own processor, factor this in. Our Shopify transaction fees guide lists the exemptions.
• Rates as you grow. Wix Payments shows one US card rate. Shopify's standard online rate falls to 2.7% on Grow and 2.5% on Advanced, which partly offsets the higher subscription at larger volumes.

Products, variants and catalog management

Catalog limits are where the two diverge for stores with lots of options.

• Shopify: up to 2,048 variants per product since 15 Oct 2025, with a maximum of 3 options (for example size, color and material). Metafields and metaobjects let you add structured product data. Combined Listings, which group separate products as one listing, are a Plus feature.
• Wix: Wix's help center says each product "can have up to 6 product options," each option "can have 100 option choices," and you "can manage a total of 1000 variants." Digital products can't have options.

So Wix is more flexible on the number of option types, and Shopify allows twice as many variant combinations. A store selling configurable furniture with many option types might prefer Wix's structure; a fashion brand with many sizes and colors per style is unlikely to hit either limit. Both import products by CSV, and both support digital products, subscriptions (Shopify through apps such as Shopify Subscriptions) and print on demand.

Apps, integrations and customization

Shopify's advantage is the size and depth of its ecosystem. Most third-party commerce tools (reviews, subscriptions, loyalty, ERPs, 3PLs, email and SMS) build for Shopify first. Developers can extend checkout with Checkout Extensibility, customize discounts and delivery logic with Shopify Functions, and automate operations with Shopify Flow, which is free on every paid plan.

Wix has its own App Market and a developer platform (Business Elite includes the "Advanced developer platform"). Wix Studio adds team features such as role-based permissions and on-canvas commenting. For design work, Wix's editors give more pixel-level freedom than Shopify's section-and-block theme editor.

A practical rule: if the features you need are design features, Wix's built-in editor may cover them without apps. If they're commerce features (complex discounts, wholesale pricing, multi-location inventory, ERP sync), Shopify is more likely to have a native option or a mature app.

Selling channels, international and in-person

Both platforms go beyond a single website:

• Marketplaces and social: Wix says you can "Reach shoppers on Google, eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Wish" from the Wix dashboard. Shopify connects to Amazon, Walmart, Target Plus and eBay through its Marketplace Connect app (free up to 50 synced marketplace orders a month, then 1% up to $99 a month), plus free channel apps for Google & YouTube, Facebook & Instagram and TikTok.
• AI channels: Shopify's Agentic Storefronts make eligible products discoverable in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta, with no channel fee beyond payment processing. See our guide to Shopify agentic commerce.
• International: Wix offers Wix Multilingual, a currency converter and "80+ trusted payment providers." Shopify Markets manages currencies, languages, domains and pricing per market on every plan, and Managed Markets can act as merchant of record for eligible US, Canadian and UK stores.
• In person: Wix has Wix Retail POS and Wix Mobile POS. Shopify includes casual in-person selling on every plan and sells POS Pro at $89 a month per location (billed yearly).
• Wholesale: Shopify B2B is available on Basic, Grow and Advanced with up to 3 catalogs since 2 Apr 2026, and without that cap on Plus. We didn't verify a comparable native B2B module on Wix's pages.

SEO and site performance

Both platforms handle the technical basics: SSL, sitemaps, editable titles and meta descriptions, redirects and mobile-friendly templates. Wix markets technical SEO as "handled for you" on its Harmony page. Shopify's fixed URL structure (/products/, /collections/) and duplicate collection paths need some care, which we cover in SEO best practices for Shopify. For Wix specifics, see our Wix ecommerce SEO guide.

Neither platform wins on SEO by default. Content quality, product data, internal linking and page speed matter more than the platform, and both can rank well when set up properly.

Shopify vs Wix at a glance

Which should you choose?

Choose Wix if

• The shop is secondary to a service, portfolio, restaurant or events site.
• You want maximum layout control without hiring a developer.
• Your catalog is small to medium and doesn't need wholesale pricing or complex inventory.
• You want bookings, events and a store under one subscription.

Choose Shopify if

• Product sales are the main revenue line and you plan to scale.
• You need wholesale, multi-location inventory, POS Pro or several international markets.
• You rely on specialist apps (subscriptions, loyalty, ERP, 3PL) that build for Shopify first.
• You want the option to go headless or move to Plus later without changing platforms.

Switching later is possible but not free. Products and customers move easily; designs, URLs and app data don't. Our Wix to Shopify migration guide explains how to keep rankings through a move.

Conclusion

Wix is the better value when the store is one feature of a broader website and design flexibility is the priority. Shopify costs more in the middle tiers but gives you deeper commerce tools, more growth room and a larger ecosystem, which usually matters more once selling is the core of the business. Compare your expected monthly sales, payment mix and must-have features against both pricing pages before you commit. If you choose Shopify and want help with the build or SEO, eSEOspace offers Shopify development services.

Frequently asked questions