Yes: there are projects we'd recommend Wix for.
Even though we build custom websites.
The question isn't which one is "better". It's how far you need to go beyond the standard, and how much control you want over the website as the project grows.
When Wix can be more than enough
If you're just starting out and need a simple website, it doesn't always make sense to invest in something built specifically for you from day one.
Especially if what you need is to:
- explain what you do;
- show your services;
- publish content;
- receive form submissions;
- take bookings;
- sell in a fairly standard way;
- or test an idea before investing more.
Wix can do a lot more than drop blocks onto a template. It has SEO tools, multilingual support, ecommerce, bookings, a CMS, and room for customisation through code and integrations.
For many businesses, that covers everything they need.
And it has one obvious advantage: most of the management happens inside a single platform.
If you want to log in, change some text, add a page or manage content without thinking much about the technical side, it can be a good decision.
So when does a custom website start to make sense?
Not when Wix is "bad".
When you start bending your project too much around how the tool works.
You need a very specific experience
Maybe the user journey, the interactions or the way content is presented are an important part of the brand.
If every decision ends up depending on whether the platform allows exactly that, the order starts to flip:
you're no longer choosing the tool for the project;
you're changing the project to fit the tool.
The website has its own logic
A normal contact form isn't a problem.
But maybe you need:
- multi-step processes;
- related data;
- private areas;
- business logic;
- automations;
- connections to internal systems;
- a configurator;
- or behaviour that isn't standard.
Wix does let you build custom functionality, so there's no magic line beyond which it "can't".
The question is a different one:
is the platform still the simplest place to build and maintain what you need?
The site architecture is going to grow a lot
A website with five or ten pages is one thing.
A project that keeps adding services, locations, languages, content, page types and the relationships between them is another.
Wix has fairly complete SEO tools and can handle large structures.
But the more it matters to control how all that content is organised and generated, the more it's worth thinking about the architecture from the start, rather than deciding purely on how easy it is to edit.
You want control over more of the system
With a platform like Wix, you accept working inside its ecosystem.
That has advantages: hosting, the editor, lots of features and infrastructure maintenance come largely taken care of.
It also means some decisions depend on that platform.
A custom-built website can give you more freedom over the code, the hosting, the data, the integrations and how the project evolves.
In return, someone has to own those decisions.
More control also means more responsibility.
Price doesn't decide it on its own either
Wix usually keeps the upfront investment much lower if you can build and manage the site yourself.
A custom website means paying for design, strategy and custom development from the start.
But comparing only "monthly fee vs upfront cost" falls short.
These count too:
- your time;
- how much you need to customise;
- how much you expect it to grow;
- who's going to maintain it;
- and what it costs to change approach later on.
A cheap tool that covers everything you need is a good buy.
A cheap tool that forces you to keep working around its limits may stop being one.
And a custom website you didn't need isn't a good investment either.
If you want to understand what drives the price of a custom project, we explain it in how much a custom website costs.
A quick way to decide
I'd look at four things:
- Is what you need fairly standard?
- Do you want to manage it mostly yourself?
- Do you expect the site to change a lot in structure or functionality?
- Is there something important you already know you'll need to adapt to the way you work?
If the first two weigh heavily and the other two don't, Wix makes a lot of sense.
If it's the other way round, it's worth considering a more custom solution.
And there's plenty of ground between those two extremes.
There's no need to turn choosing a technology into a matter of principle.
Pick the tool that adds the least complication to the project you actually have.
If that project needs more control over design, structure or how it works, you can see how we approach a Brand Website.
We write about decisions that come up in real projects: how to structure a website, how to capture demand and when technology can simplify a business.