By Paul Martinez
/ September 18, 2022 October 27, 2022
Table of Contents
More and more websites are being used as the world continues its march toward the digital age. People tend to stay home, check products on websites, read books and news, and e-commerce platforms are the busiest.
For a website, hosting and a website builder are a must; however, if you choose one, things get complicated. Bluehost is an excellent web host, and Wix is a fantastic website builder, and this article will cover Bluehost vs Wix, so you can choose the right option.
Bluehost and Wix are entirely different tools, but at specific points, they collide with each other. They both are necessary if you want a website up and running.
Bluehost provides the server on which your website is being hosted. It is where your website’s database is, which is necessary to keep it alive and running. Essentially, hosting connects you to the entire world.
Wix is not a web hosting service but a website builder that helps you create your theme, structure, and overall website look. It also keeps your website’s database, but its hosting is nowhere near Bluehost.
Our Pick
Our pick for this comparison is Bluehost, not only because it is one of the best hosting providers, but it also has a website builder. However, that builder is still simple and won’t offer as many features as Wix.
Bluehost offers better performance and security, and you get the freedom to design your websites using WordPress. In comparison, Wix is good for those who want an easy-to-use platform for website designing.
About Bluehost
Bluehost was founded in 2003 and aimed to become the best hosting provider. It is currently one of the best shared and dedicated hosting services. One reason for its success is that it makes the website hosting and building process easy. You won’t find Bluehost challenging to use, even if you are new to this field. Especially if you are building your WordPress site, there is no better hosting and service than Bluehost.
Free Domain: Bluehost offers a free domain, which means no charges for a domain for the first 12 months.
Free CDN: You also get a free CDN, an easy-to-use website builder, and a free SSL certificate. However, that free SSL certificate is only for one domain. For the rest, you’ll need to purchase more and renew them every year.
Multiple Plans: Bluehost has multiple plans that cover the needs of each small website or online store.
Free WordPress Installation: On the other hand, you get to install WordPress on every website for free, and if you want, you’ll get the website ready with everything installed. Moreover, free plugins like Jetpack will already be available on the website.
Pros
Bluehost is surprisingly easy to use
Fantastic security features
Customer support responds very fast
Freebies that matter
Cons
Only one free domain
About Wix
Wix is a drag-and-drop tool for website building and editing. The Wix editor is the most popular website builder regarding features, setup time, and ease of use. Even if you haven’t used a website builder before, this intuitive tool will help you quickly build your dream website. Since no coding is involved, you don’t have to start a learning curve to understand this tool.
Features
Lots of Free Templates: With dozens of Wix templates available for free, you barely have to work to design a website. Since these templates are customizable, you can easily edit out the parts you don’t want. Moreover, you can also download supported templates and add them to the Wix library.
Support for eCommerce Websites: For eCommerce websites, Wix offers extensive support while building a website. You can reach out to a professional through customer support to help set up your website’s eCommerce functionality.
Premium SEO Wizard: Besides being a website-building tool, Wix helps improve your online website presence. The Wix SEO Wizard offers a step-by-step guide to help improve your website so others can find you online. However, it only provides the necessary information and guidance; the rest is up to you. The Weebly site builder is an excellent alternative to Wix if you want more space and features.
Pros
Market your site easily
Massive template collection
It enhances the site’s speed
It helps increase your site’s reach
Cons
Your site isn’t transferrable
Similarities Between Bluehost and Wix
Since both Wix and Bluehost offer hosting and website building, they have many similarities.
Great Security
Since a hosting website has your data, its security has to be perfect. Otherwise, every hacker will access your database and steal sensitive information. Bluehost WordPress websites are more prone to attacks, which is why this hosting service has multiple security steps before anyone can access your account. Wix checks before adding the template or uploading the design to your website for possible vulnerabilities.
They both offer complex steps to recover anything. Even if you lose the password, you’ll have to go through many steps to recover it. Moreover, you can pay a little and add more security features to your website.
Fast Customer Support
Bluehost has the fastest and most cooperative customer support of all time. Not only do they quickly connect you to a representative, but they also stay with you and guide you until your problems are solved. If you can wait, within less than five minutes, they’ll connect you to a live representative. There you can engage in live conversation with a professional about your queries.
Wix has good customer support but is more into technical stuff than helping with designs. The professionals there will help you quickly if you have any technical problems. They can also refer you to other websites where you can find valuable tutorials.
Solid SEO Tools
Both Wix and Bluehost have built-in search engine optimization tools to help you make your appearance on the web. Wix helps create a website that is SEO optimized in terms of speed and performance. Bluehost keeps your server running with 99% uptime and clears the website cache to keep it fast and responsive.
Customization
Despite being the winners in their fields, both these tools offer customizations. Even if you use Wix for hosting, you’ll get enough personalization to keep your website active.
Bluehost primarily focuses on hosting, but it has a good website-building tool and professionals that can provide you with a readymade website. You’ll get the best results if you use them together. They offer app integration where you can use one’s features without leaving the other one’s interface.
Differences Between Bluehost and Wix
While they have some similarities, they are very different when you dig deeper and want professional features.
Dedicated and Shared Hosting
Bluehost offers dedicated hosting, where you have an entire server for your websites. Having a dedicated server won’t slow things down; you have utmost control, and it is less prone to attacks. On the other hand, you can make changes to it without the company’s consent, whereas in shared hosting, you can’t do everything. For some changes, you have to get help from the support.
Wix has shared hosting plans, and while they are cheap, you will face issues if your website suddenly gets lots of traffic. They don’t offer bandwidth in an emergency, so if there is an excessive load on your website, it will go offline.
Number of Websites
Bluehost only allows one free website, whether you want to host or build it. However, you can purchase websites and add them to Bluehost without any issues. On the other hand, Wix has no such restriction; you can use as many websites on Wix for editing or building. You can even build multiple sites simultaneously.
Control Panel
Bluehost has a cPanel where you can control your website’s backend. It is an online dashboard with multiple options, but the interface is a bit old. You might have to search for stuff to find even the smallest option.
Wix doesn’t have a control panel or a dashboard. Instead, it offers custom account settings to make changes to anything. As such, the control panel offered by Bluehost is much better.
Storage Space
Despite offering to host, Wix has a small storage space compared to Bluehost. The cheapest Bluehost plan offers 50 GB of storage, which is impossible to run out of unless you run an eCommerce store. Wix only offers 3 GB of storage on its cheapest plan, and you’ll end up upgrading it sooner than you think.
Final Words – Wix vs Bluehost
Bluehost and Wix are different in terms of functionality, but they have similar features. If you have a budget for one of them, we recommend getting Bluehost. One reason is that its website builder is good enough to give your website a good look and design. While it won’t be as good as Wix ADI, you can make SEO-optimized, lightweight, and responsive websites.
Paul Martinez is the founder of EcomSidekick.com. He is an expert in the areas of finance, real estate, eCommerce, traffic and conversion.
Join him on EcomSidekick.com to learn how to improve your financial life and excel in these areas. Before starting this media site, Paul built from scratch and managed two multi-million dollar companies. One in the real estate sector and one in the eCommerce sector.
