Wix is one of the most popular website builders around, and it's easy to see why. The drag-and-drop editor looks straightforward, the free plan gets you started quickly, and you don't need any technical knowledge.
But for a small business trying to rank on Google and generate real enquiries, Wix has limitations that aren't obvious when you first sign up.
What you get with Wix
The free plan puts Wix branding on your site and gives you a Wix subdomain (yourbusiness.wixsite.com/yoursite). To remove the branding and get your own domain, you need a paid plan — starting around £13/month but rising to £22–£27/month for anything practical.
The editor is flexible but cluttered. There are hundreds of templates, thousands of apps, and a lot of decisions to make. For a business owner who just wants to get online, it's more work than it sounds.
The SEO problem with Wix
Wix has improved its SEO over the years, but it still has real limitations compared to a purpose-built professional site:
- Pages can be slower to load, especially when you add apps and animations
- Site structure is harder to optimise for local search
- You're limited in how you control URLs, metadata, and technical SEO elements
- Wix-hosted sites share infrastructure — you're not on your own hosting environment
For a local business targeting searches like "roofer Cardiff" or "electrician Merthyr Tydfil", that SEO disadvantage compounds over time.
The hidden cost: your time
The real cost of Wix isn't the monthly fee — it's the hours you spend building and maintaining it. Getting something that looks professional, loads fast, and is set up correctly for SEO is genuinely time-consuming if you're not a web designer. Most small business owners end up with something that looks generic after a full weekend of work.
Then there's ongoing maintenance. When something breaks or needs updating, that's all on you.
What a managed website gives you instead
Our Managed Starter Website starts from £50/month and includes a properly built website, your domain, hosting, and full management. You don't build it — we build it for you, using AI-assisted tools for fast turnaround without cutting corners on quality.
Two new pages are added every month, so your site keeps growing while you focus on running your business. Small changes are included — just ask. No technical involvement on your end.
Compared to a Wix premium plan, you're paying a similar amount for something that's been built to rank, not just built to exist.
Which is right for you?
If you enjoy building websites and have the time to invest in learning the platform, Wix can work. But for most small business owners — especially those where local search visibility matters — the time cost and SEO limitations make it a poor long-term choice.
Get a free website plan and we'll show you what a managed site would look like for your business.