WordPress vs Wix: who ends up looking after your website?

Here’s the answer most comparisons bury: Wix if you’ll be looking after the site yourself, WordPress if you need real power and someone will genuinely maintain it. Not “someone should”. Someone will, by name, every month, indefinitely.

That’s the question DIYers never ask before choosing, and it’s the one that decides how this story ends. Feature lists don’t kill small business websites. Neglect does.

What each one actually is

Wix is a hosted website builder. You pay a subscription, drag things around in a browser, and Wix handles the hosting, the software and the security behind the scenes. You can’t break much, and you can’t change much beyond what the platform allows.

WordPress is open-source software you run yourself. It powers around 40% of the web by W3Techs’ running count, and with the right themes and plugins it can do practically anything. But nothing is handled for you. You arrange the hosting, install the software, choose the plugins, and keep the whole stack updated and secure. It’s not a product; it’s a responsibility.

(One clarification that catches people out: this post is about self-hosted WordPress from wordpress.org, the version agencies and freelancers usually build on. WordPress.com is a separate hosted service with its own plans and limits.)

The maintenance question nobody asks

Buy a Wix site and the ongoing job is small: renew the subscription, update your content, occasionally wrestle an app. Tedious, but rarely dangerous.

Buy a WordPress site and you’ve taken on a small ongoing operation:

• Core, theme and plugin updates, which arrive constantly and occasionally break each other.
• Security, because outdated WordPress sites are the ones that get hacked. Plugins patch holes all the time; unpatched sites are the low-hanging fruit.
• Backups, tested ones, for the day an update goes wrong.
• Hosting, which you chose, and which is your problem when it’s slow or down.

None of that is a reason to avoid WordPress. It’s the price of the power, and for plenty of businesses the power is worth it. But if your web designer builds you a WordPress site, hands over the keys and disappears, you now own a system you may not understand. We meet those sites regularly: last updated two years ago, plugins flashing red, contact form quietly broken since spring.

Where each one wins

Choose Wix when: you’re a service business needing a handful of pages, you’ll maintain it yourself, and you’d rather trade some control for a quiet life. If you’re weighing Wix against the other big DIY name instead, our Wix vs Squarespace verdict covers that pairing.

Choose WordPress when: you need functionality builders can’t offer, content is central to your growth plan, or you want full ownership, and there’s a named human responsible for keeping it healthy. If polish-versus-power is your real dilemma, see Squarespace vs WordPress.

The third path: a website with the caretaker included

There’s an assumption baked into this whole debate: that you’ll be the one doing the work, whichever platform wins. You don’t have to be.

MarketingDone4U builds and manages websites for UK small businesses from £99 a month. That includes the copy written for you, a contact form, basic SEO, hosting, SSL and professional email, and monthly edit time, with the site live in 7 working days once we have your completed form, content and access details. The maintenance question answers itself, because maintaining it is literally what the monthly fee buys.

Stated plainly, as always: it’s a managed monthly service on a minimum 12-month term, MarketingDone4U owns the website unless you buy it out (buyout available), extra work is £50 an hour, and support runs by email or ticket. Have a look at our web design packages to see what’s in each plan, or run the honest hours-versus-money sums in DIY website vs hiring it done. And if you want the full field rather than this head-to-head, the best website builders round-up compares all five options in one place.

Frequently asked questions

Is WordPress or Wix better for a small business?

Wix for most owner-run businesses, because someone has to maintain the site and with Wix that job barely exists. WordPress is better when you need custom functionality, complex content or full ownership of the code, and you have someone (in-house or paid) to keep it updated and secure.

Is WordPress free?

The software is free and open source. Running it isn’t: you’ll pay for hosting, a domain, usually a theme, often premium plugins, and either your time or someone else’s for updates and security. Free is the sticker price, not the cost of ownership. Budget for the running, not the download.

What happens if I don’t update WordPress?

Outdated WordPress sites are the ones that get hacked. Plugins and themes patch security holes constantly; skip the updates and you’re leaving the door open. At best you’ll get warnings and breakages, at worst a hacked site, a blacklisted domain and a rebuild. If nobody owns that job, it doesn’t happen.

Can I move from Wix to WordPress later?

Yes, but it’s a rebuild rather than a transfer. Wix doesn’t export a site WordPress can import, so pages get recreated and content moved by hand. Your domain comes with you. If you suspect you’ll outgrow Wix within a year or two, it’s worth weighing WordPress or a managed site now.

Who maintains a website built by MarketingDone4U?

We do. Every plan is a managed monthly service with hosting, SSL and professional email included, plus monthly edit time (30 to 60 minutes depending on plan). There’s a minimum 12-month term and MarketingDone4U owns the site unless you buy it out; buyout is available. Support is by email or ticket.