GoDaddy vs Wix: Choosing the Best Website Builder in 2024

For the past few years, business owners faced excessive competition to stand apart. Nowadays, having a professional website is of utmost importance. This is why building a professional website is not optional but mandatory. 

Remember that a well-designed website will serve as your business’s storefront, helping you showcase your products and services to customers. 

Wix and GoDaddy are both prevalent website building platforms. Not only do they provide user-friendly tools, but also help you create functional websites easily. 

In this article, I will discuss everything you need to know about GoDaddy vs Wix comparison. I will focus on different aspects, which will help you determine which is their strongest point and where they need improvement. 

GoDaddy vs Wix: Quick comparison

Before I discuss the GoDaddy vs Wix comparison thoroughly, let's take a look at the basic differences between two. Here's a table that can help you understand more.

I got your attention, right? Now, let's see what GoDaddy and Wix website builder has to offer. Also, let's see where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

GoDaddy vs Wix website builder: Overview

I bet you’ve heard of GoDaddy before. It’s one of the best platforms for purchasing domains. They manage more than 77 million domains worldwide.

But did you know they also have a website builder? GoDaddy is more suitable for small and individual businesses planning to create a simple website without too much hassle. However, don’t assume that GoDaddy cannot create more complicated websites. 

But these are not GoDaddy's best features. Its key strength is its seamless integration with other GoDaddy services, which makes the GoDaddy website builder an appealing choice for existing GoDaddy account holders. 

However, I saw that GoDaddy’s customization options are limited compared to Wix. Moreover, some users also complained about its lack of advanced features. 

Thanks to its straightforward user interface and templates, getting started is easy. This will prove particularly beneficial for GoDaddy’s hosting services and domain registration users. 

On the other hand, Wix is one of the most popular platforms for creating stunning websites. I have used the Wix website builder before, so that I can vouch for its reliability and effectiveness. 

Have I mentioned that Wix comes with a super easy website building feature? Yes, its drag-and-drop editor will help you build your website without any coding intervention. 

Wix is suitable for various audiences, from entrepreneurs to small businesses. Wix can help you establish your business’s online presence depending on your unique requirements. 

I like Wix’s extensive template collections. As the template library is vast, you will always find something suitable to your needs. Moreover, Wix’s features, including robust SEO wizard tools and Ecommerce capabilities, can help you sell online seamlessly. 

However, the interface might seem a little bit complicated, especially when you’re using Wix Studio. There’s also a significant difference between the cheapest and most expensive plans.

In my opinion, both GoDaddy and Wix are extremely capable website builders with excellent features and functionalities. 

Wix is the best choice if you need extensive customization options, robust features, and professional templates. Wix also comes with advanced functionality and design flexibility. 

Meanwhile, GoDaddy suits users looking for integrated, simple solutions that align with their hosting and domain needs. 

Make sure you understand your target audiences and market positions to know the strengths and weaknesses of these two website builders. This way, you can determine which will prove more relevant based on your needs. So, let’s get started with a thorough comparison. 

1. User interface

An intuitive website always keeps a website builder one step ahead of the competition. It often significantly improves the site experience, helping you eliminate overcomplicated features. 

I’m not looking for a highly professional dashboard, but a natural website design with proper navigation goes a long way. Therefore, you need to balance feature-richness and simplicity. This brings us to the user interface of GoDaddy vs Wix. 

While GoDaddy provides one of the simplest user interfaces, this actually distracts from the restrictive nature of the services. Depending on your unique needs, this can prove either to be a pro or a con. 

For example, if you’re looking for a website builder that requires the least effort, you’ll like GoDaddy. However, I cannot say the same for people who want to customize different aspects of their website. 

When you start with GoDaddy, they will ask you to fill out two fields: your business nature and business name. When you choose the nature of the business, GoDaddy will automatically suggest a few themes to work on. 

You can change this later with any template you want. This will serve as the introduction to your website. However, there isn’t much to do after this point. 

You can edit the theme, settings, or the page, but the editing options will remain primarily basic. You can also change a few color options here and there, update texts, or change the metadata. However, customization options are quite few. 

While the Wix interface may seem slightly complicated compared to GoDaddy, trust me, it’s pretty easy. It will also give you a higher amount of control. 

They have developed ADI, which is a highly eye-catching feature. This AI can create websites based on user input. After you select the relevant options, Wix can build a full-fledged website within a few minutes. 

Once the automation is done, you can go to the primary Wix dashboard. The basic website editor allows you to drag and drop elements, change them, or modify them according to your requirements. The design library is also attractive and has different appearances. 

2. Design

Do you recall I mentioned that building a website has become super easy? Design features are the most important aspect that made me choose a website builder over traditional custom CSS and HTML. With various templates, a website builder can help you customize elements like colors, text, and images.

But remember that each website builder functions differently. Each comes with a unique set of options. 

GoDaddy's website builder has an extensive theme library, with 16 general categories covering different business industries. Moreover, the top-level categories will have subgroups. For instance, you will find the automotive section helpful if you have a car business. 

But why does GoDaddy provide so many templates? It’s because the customization options later on are quite limited. You won’t get basic HTML and CSS editors to change the styling elements. 

Moreover, you won’t get any drag-and-drop functionality to upload new objects on your webpage. While the template options are extensive, you will get only what you see. 

Then comes Wix. Their template library also has 16 different categories to choose from, similar to that of GoDaddy. The Wix templates don’t have any sub-sections, but they have over 500 unique designs. 

While most templates are free or included in the paid plan, remember that some will require a monthly subscription. For example, the Ecommerce templates come with a certain package. 

But Wix does something GoDaddy cannot. The templates are highly customizable. You can change every aspect of the templates and website elements to ensure they reflect your brand. 

Their Website Builder roughly splits the difference between control and convenience, favoring the former 60/40. It's comprehensive enough that you won't feel like something is missing, but it's also simple enough not to overwhelm the ordinary user. 

You may install apps to provide new functionality, alter the header menus, and drag and drop dozens of pre-made objects from the left-side navigation. A toolbox with helpful functions to carry out operations like rotating, aligning, and arranging objects is located on the right.

3. Customer service and support

While using a website builder, you may face some problems. You can search on YouTube, but such lengthy videos take significant time. That’s why you should choose a website builder with solid assistance. 

GoDaddy offers 24/7 support across different departments. Whether you face problems with your site builder, hosting, or domain, their customer support will always help you. 

You can also contact them through chat support. The live agent will assist you with your queries or questions. However, make sure you contact the correct department. 

The only reliable way to contact GoDaddy is through phone assistance, which is still better than Wix's restricted hours. That's a serious disadvantage considering how well Siteground and WP-Engine are doing regarding customer service. 

One of the main issues with GoDaddy is that their ticket service has been stopped, live chat is sometimes unavailable, and there is no email address for correspondence. The only option left is to use the community forum.

Although Wix maintains two call centres in San Francisco, California, and Miami, Florida, they are only open Monday through Thursday from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific (PST). 

If you call the number after business hours, you will receive a notice to visit https://wix.com/contact, a self-service site where you can file a support ticket.

However, they aren't exactly forthcoming with their contact information. I had to use Google to locate the 800 number, and the contact page I previously linked to is not on the website. 

Clicking on the Support option directs users to an FAQ page without any obvious business contact details.

4. Technical features

Technical features simply ensure your website complies with the most recent standards by using best practices for website hosting. This covers things like metadata, clear URLs, schema markup, and other SEO-friendly techniques to guarantee that your sites rank properly. 

Let's start with the most important topic: both GoDaddy and Wix offer responsive templates. This indicates that the themes work on mobile devices, including phones and tablets, which Google values when determining a website's ranking.

​​Additionally, they create the sitemap.xml and robots.txt files you need, which are updated automatically when new content is published on the website. For search engines, these serve as a kind of road map that guides them as to which pages to visit in your domain. 

Sadly, GoDaddy's technical features and SEO tools stop abruptly there, offering only the bare minimum. When using services like GoDaddy and WordPress websites, you have little control over anything beyond the website title, meta description, and keywords. 

Wix, on the other hand, obviously invests a lot of work into their technical features. They offer a variety of tools to improve page ranks and extensive materials to teach their clients about SEO. 

They acknowledge the significance of using appropriate SEO strategies and approach them from multiple perspectives, even though there are some areas in which they could still improve.

Technically speaking, the app store is what really propels Wix ahead of the competition, as it offers an extensive array of additional features and tools. Like WordPress's plugin systems, these can be installed straight from their market to your website with a single click. 

When you consider third-party options like Site Booster, SEO Analytics, and Rabbit SEO, the enhancements are implemented immediately on your website.

5. Pricing

Next is pricing, which is another important factor to consider when choosing a website builder. Whether you have a small business or a large enterprise, you need to find ways to save money. 

You don’t want something that can put heavy financial pressure on your business. Thus, having a cost-effective and reliable option is a must. 

First, let’s discuss GoDaddy plans. I must say it’s super affordable, even if you’re an individual planning to create a professional website. GoDaddy provides three pricing options.

Regardless of your chosen pricing plan, GoDaddy will let you connect to a custom domain. The process will become more streamlined if you buy a free domain from GoDaddy itself. 

The Basic and Premium pricing options are perfect for small businesses and individuals. Moreover, the Commerce plan will suit you more if you plan to build a website to sell products and services online. 

However, remember there aren’t any plans to suit large businesses and enterprises. Nevertheless, even their top-tier package is still highly affordable compared to other website builders. GoDaddy also has a more effective SEO structure. 

Wix, on the other hand, has a more expensive pricing structure. While Wix undoubtedly provides more customization options and templates, its pricing is more expensive than GoDaddy's. 

For example, the Light plan, which is the most basic one, starts at $17/month. This is undoubtedly higher for individual and small business owners. 

Additionally, the most expensive plan, Business Elite, costs $159/month. While the features are super eye-catching, Wix should introduce more affordable plans. 

GoDaddy vs Wix: Summary

Whether you choose Wix or GoDaddy, both platforms will provide you with eye-catching benefits and features to create a solid online presence for your business. 

Wix stands apart from the crowd due to its extensive features, impressive design options, and app market. If you need various customization options, Wix is the clear winner. 

On the other hand, GoDaddy takes a more user-friendly and simpler approach. It provides a clean interface, hassle-free setup prices, and business features. GoDaddy is perfect for users planning to create a website without complicated customization. 

Make sure you take your time and experiment with both platforms. GoDaddy and Wix offer free plans, so you can test the features before purchasing a premium plan. 

Frequently Asked Questions