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Wix Pricing Breakdown: Evaluating the Best and Least Favorable Plan

Finding the best website builder for your unique requirements isn't easy, especially when seeking a balance between functionality, aesthetics, and affordability.

Among the many options, Wix stands out as the world's #1 ranking website builder , well-known for its ease of use and wide range of features.

But with such a diverse scope of plans and pricing options, how do you determine which Wix plan aligns perfectly with your needs and budget? Let's dissect and compare Wix's pricing plans to find the perfect fit for your website—whether you're a freelancer, small business owner, or part of an expanding enterprise.

» Read our in-depth Wix review for more.

Wix's Pricing Plans at a Glance

Getting to know wix's pricing plans.

Wix has a range of pricing plans tailored to various website needs, all the way from free to premium plans packed with advanced features. Here's a breakdown of each.

Wix's Free Plan

Wix's free version is your cost-free gateway to the world of website building. With a secure SSL certificate included, you can ensure your visitors' data is protected, albeit on a basic level. The provision of some customer support, despite being fundamental, is beneficial if you're just starting out.

However, for more serious or business-oriented websites, I'd recommend more robust options provided by Wix's paid plans to expand and maintain a professional online presence.

• Free entry into web creation
• Basic security and SSL certificate
• Beginner-friendly
• No custom domain
• Very limited features
• Wix ads appear on your site

Wix's Connect Domain Plan

Price: $4.50/month

Wix's Connect Domain plan is the most basic paid tier, offering a step up from the free version for those ready to establish a stronger online presence. In my opinion, this plan is ideal if you want a more professional-looking site without diving into all the bells and whistles.

With this plan, you get access to a custom domain . It also includes 1GB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage, which can accommodate small websites with modest traffic. Basic customer support is accessible, but like with the free plan, priority support is not included.

• Affordable custom domain connection
• 24/7 customer support
• Limited bandwidth and storage
• Lacks advanced features

» Give your website an edge with these free Wix templates .

Wix's Combo Plan

Price: $8.50/month

I use the Combo plan from Wix for my personal projects and find it strikes the right balance between affordability and essential features. With 3GB of storage and 2GB of bandwidth, it's perfect if you need more resources than the most basic plan delivers but don't require the extensive features of higher-tier plans.

This plan is a practical step up if you're looking to enhance your website's functionality and professional appeal—ideal for personal blogs or small businesses aiming to make a bit more noise online.

• Free domain for one year
• Google Ads budget
• 30 minutes of video
• Cannot accommodate high traffic
• Lacks advanced features and customer support of more premium plans

Wix's Unlimited Plan

Price: $12.50/month

Wix's Unlimited plan is my favorite choice for entrepreneurs and freelancers. It offers unlimited bandwidth—a significant plus for growing websites expecting increasing traffic.

The plan also includes 10GB of storage, which should suffice for various multimedia content without too much concern about running out of space. Plus, including the Site Booster app and Visitor Analytics app for one year can be a substantial benefit for SEO and understanding website traffic patterns.

• Unlimited bandwidth
• 10GB of storage
• Valuable add-ons like Site Booster and Visitor Analytics
• More expensive than basic plans
• Content-heavy sites may require even more space

Wix's VIP Plan

Price: $24.50/month

Wix's VIP plan is the best option if you're seeking first-priority support and a full suite of features. It provides substantial storage space at 35GB, catering to content-rich sites. It also includes unlimited bandwidth, which means your website can handle high traffic volumes without any hitches.

I like the added perks, such as the Professional Logo and Social Media Logo files, which bring value for branding, and the Google Ads voucher, which can give marketing efforts a head start.

• Lots of storage
• Priority customer support
• Abandoned cart recovery feature
• Not beginner-friendly

Wix's Business Basic Plan

Price: $17/month

Wix's Business Basic plan is the entry-level option for small businesses, offering a cost-effective solution for eCommerce sites.

The plan offers unlimited bandwidth, which means it can accommodate an increasing number of visitors and growing website activity without the risk of hitting data limits. It provides 20GB of storage, which is plenty for a variety of small business needs, and five hours of video—enough to get started with multimedia content.

• Sufficient storage for small business operations
• Allows online payments and social media sales
• Video hours may not be enough for content-heavy strategies
• Lacks advanced eCommerce features

» Need even more options? Check out our best website builders for small businesses .

Wix's Business Unlimited Plan

Price: $25/month

Tagged as their most popular business plan, Wix's Business Unlimited plan is tailored for growing businesses looking to scale their online operations. It offers unlimited bandwidth, 35GB of storage, and 10 hours of video content, which I think is especially useful for businesses leveraging multimedia for engagement.

The plan also includes applications for boosting site traffic and analyzing visitor behavior—which is crucial for online growth strategies .

• eCommerce features like subscriptions and multiple currencies
• Tools for traffic generation and visitor analytics
• Lacks support of higher-tier business plans
• No access to dropshipping or product reviews

Wix's Business VIP Plan

Price: $35/month

I like Wix's Business VIP plan as a top-tier option for businesses that need a full suite of services. It provides extensive resources with 50GB of storage and unlimited video hours, making it well-suited for content-heavy sites.

Additionally, it includes robust eCommerce features like the ability to offer subscriptions and sell on social media and online marketplaces in multiple currencies.

• Advanced eCommerce features
• Priority customer service
• Access to a loyalty program by Smile.io
• Steep learning curve for beginners

Wix's Enterprise Plan

Price: Custom

Wix's Enterprise plan is a custom, scalable solution designed to meet large-scale businesses' complex and varied needs. It provides features like a dedicated account manager, multi-site dashboards for streamlined management, and tailored solutions to match your specific business requirements.

If your organization is looking for an all-encompassing web platform that can deliver fast content deployment, customization, and integration, all supported by enterprise-grade security, this high-end offering is designed with your needs in mind.

• Comprehensive tools for migration, fulfillment, and scalable billing solutions
• Built to support high-traffic sites with high reliability and uptime
• Personalized services and support
• For large businesses only
• Unclear pricing structure

Navigating Wix's Diverse Plans: Your Perfect Fit Unveiled

In the rapidly expanding world of website builders, which is projected to reach a market size of $3.8 billion by 2030 , Wix's plans offer a diverse range of functionalities. To pick the best fit, you must understand your site's needs and envision its growth.

For the budding blogger or ambitious brand, lower-tier plans like the Combo and Unlimited plans may suffice. But if you're going for content-rich pages or a sleek online store, opt for higher-tier plans like the Business Basic or Business Unlimited plans.

If you're still unsure about which plan is best, try any Wix premium plan for free, and if you decide it's not for you, you can cancel within 14 days and receive a full refund.

» Looking for something a little different? Check out these Wix alternatives .

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Home » Website Builders » Wix Pricing: Which Pricing Plan Is Best (and Worst)?

Wix Pricing: Which Pricing Plan Is Best (and Worst)?

Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more

Website Pricing

Ecommerce pricing, overall rating.

5 out of 5 stars

Our Methodology

We used our research methodology to analyze Wix’s pricing and recent plan changes, allowing us to determine whether Wix is good value for money.

Written and researched by:

Wix is our top-rated website builder in our research, meaning we’ve put it to the test and found it to be the best website builder overall! But how much does it cost? More importantly, is it good value for money?

Wix offers four premium plans, which give users a range of options to choose from depending on their needs, from online selling to enterprise businesses. The prices range from $16 per month (for the Light plan)to $159 per month (for the Business Elite plan)  when billed annually. There is also the custom-priced Enterprise plan . Wix stands out in our research because it offers the best range of features available, like an easy-to-use editor, contact forms, and a professional blogging platform. This makes it ideal for personal websites and projects.

You can get 10% off all Wix’s plans using the code ‘ TAKE10 ’ at the checkout. There’s also a free plan you can use indefinitely – but there are a few limitations.

Wix Pricing Plans

• Free plan: – $0 per month – For those who want to try Wix
• Light plan: – $16 per month – For portfolios and personal sites
• Core plan: – $27/month – For small online stores and growing businesses
• Business: – $32/month – For established businesses
• Business Elite: – $159/month – For large businesses with advanced needs
• Enterprise: – Custom pricing – For global brands and industry titans

How Much Does Wix Cost?

Across its four premium plans, Wix costs between $16 per month (billed annually) and $159 per month (billed annually). The cheapest plan, the Light plan , is great for those seeking a personal website or a professional portfolio.

If you want Wix ecommerce features, you’ll have to skip the Light plan and move to either the Core, Business, or Business Elite plans . With these plans, you’ll be able to sell up to 50,000 products and you’ll get access to shipping capabilities and advanced analytics.

The Enterprise plan is only for large business franchises and requires a call with the Wix sales team, as the price will be custom to what you want to achieve. However, thanks to our long-standing research in the industry, we can make a conservative estimate of around $5,000-$25,000 per year (billed annually).

What’s the difference between paying monthly and annually?

For example, Wix lists the Light plan as $16 per month when billed annually, meaning you’ll be paying for 12 months of use in advance. At checkout, you’ll have to pay $192.

Paying monthly means the subscription gets paid each month, much like Netflix or Spotify. Wix entices its users to pay annually by offering a reduced monthly fee. By paying annually, users can save $84 per year for the Light and Core plans than if they paid monthly.

Whichever payment option you choose will depend on your financial situation. If you don’t have the money for the annual payment immediately or don’t see yourself having the website live for over a year, then the monthly plan is a better option. However, we recommend the annual prices as we believe they are a better representation of the value for money of the builder.

Is The Free Plan Really Free?

Yes! There is zero cost involved with building and publishing a website on Wix . Simply go to Wix, put in your email address and you can start building and editing your website with Wix’s fantastic features for $0 (without any credit card details)! Better yet, there’s no time limit, meaning that the Wix website is now yours forever — for free.

However, Wix’s free plan only comes with 500MB of storage, which is barely enough if you plan to upload videos or high-quality images directly to your site. Other limitations can only be solved by upgrading, such as:

• You can’t use your own domain name
• You’ll have Wix ads displayed on your site
• You can’t sell online
• You only get limited features – for example, you’ll have no access to Google Analytics which means you won’t be able to track your website’s performance with this tool
• You receive basic customer support – priority support is only available on premium plans so you might be left stranded if you need a helping hand

So, do we recommend Wix’s free plan? Well, sort of – the free plan is really only suitable for playing around with and testing. The Wix domain and banner ads give any site an unprofessional look and feel. If you’re serious about your site, then picking a paid plan is a much smarter choice. It is worth highlighting that you can always build your site on the free plan and then upgrade.

Is There a Free Trial?

As an alternative to Wix’s free plan, you can opt for a 14-day free trial of one of Wix’s premium plans. This is much better suited for those who may want access to Wix’s premium features, like ecommerce tools or increased storage – plus, there are no ads or other limitations (you still won’t be able to accept payments until you are on a paid-for plan).

The free trial will require you to enter payment details to kick things off.

Are There Any Discounts?

Wix is currently offering 10% off all its pricing plans if you use code TAKE10 at checkout. This deal is a great way to get full access to Wix at a cheaper price than usual.

Take a look at the table below and see how much you could save when using the discount.

Additionally, Wix for Students offers 50% off its plans if you go to Wix or the StudentBeans website. This is a fantastic deal to get the best website-building experience for an affordable price. You’ll need to have a recognized student I.D. to apply.

Is Wix Good Value for Money?

It depends . In our overall website builder ranking, Wix scores 3.7 out of 5 for value for money, coming in at a joint 4th place. While its plans can be expensive, there are very few builders that will offer a free plan with no time limit and an amazing depth of creativity and features.

Also, these features get rolled out with such high quality and at such a fast pace that other builders can barely keep up. In just a year, Wix SEO secured integrations with Google Analytics, Semrush, and Microsoft Clarity, becoming an absolute powerhouse.

But as we mentioned, the Wix free plan comes with a lot of limitations that almost force users to upgrade eventually. The Light plan is Wix’s cheapest, starting at $16 per month, but that plan comes with zero ecommerce capabilities, limited access to Wix features (no site analytics, site chat, or calendar app), and only 2GB of storage. For the best value for money, we recommend users start with the Core plan at $27 per month, which gives you access to a fuller range of essential website-building features, like ecommerce, events booking, and analytics.

How Does Wix Compare to Other Competitors?

As you can see from the graph, Wix is an outlier among other website builders due to its cheapest plan not being its best value for money. Comparing Wix vs Squarespace’s cheapest plan, the Personal plan also begins at $16 per month. Feature-wise, it is almost on par with Wix’s Core plan ($27 per month).

The Light plan is just a slightly upgraded version of Wix’s free plan. For $16 per month, that is quite a dent in a budget, especially when considering the starting price of GoDaddy ($10.99 per month) and Hostinger ($2.99 per month).

However, the Core plan is everything you’d want and more from Wix, coming with all the features, integrations, and ecommerce capabilities. If you want to start an online business or professional website, then the Core plan will deliver on its price tag – the price is a little higher than other competitors, but our research shows that the value it brings more than compensates for it.

Light Plan: $16 per Month – For Portfolios and Personal Sites

• Monthly price: $23 per month
• Annual price: $16 per month

✔️ 2GB of storage

✔️ Free domain for 1 year

✔️ Removes ads from the site

❌ Limited amount of features

❌ No ecommerce capabilities (you can’t sell online)

❌ No access to website analytics, making it harder to track your site’s performance and engage with your audience

The Light plan is Wix’s cheapest plan. Besides the removal of ads, we found there’s not much difference between it and the free plan. The plan lacks many of the great features Wix is known for, like:

• No ticket or event management
• No restaurant management
• No hotel management
• No ecommerce

For $16 per month, you get the removal of ads, a free custom domain (for a year), and some basic marketing features. A disappointing amount for any potential new businesses, but ideal for small and informational websites like blogs, portfolios, and resumes.

With no ads and your own domain, your site gains some legitimacy. The Light plan gives you access to automated emails and lead-generation forms, making it good for simple promotion.

This is all on top of the amazing Wix templates and editor you get to build your site in. Wix gains our highest score for templates in our research, with 4.3 out of 5. So even with limited features, your site will still look stunning.

Core Plan: $27 per Month – For Small Online Stores and Growing Businesses

• Monthly price: $34 per month
• Annual price: $27 per month

✔️ 50GB of storage

✔️ Access to a range of features, including ticketing and WixFit

✔️ Unlock ecommerce features, including abandoned cart recovery, discounts, and selling via socials

❌ Limited sales tools – can’t add multiple currencies or product reviews

The Core plan is Wix’s best value-for-money plan and our recommended starting point for anyone choosing Wix as a website builder. It includes ecommerce features – finally letting you sell on the platform – and it also comes with a host of specialist features for certain industries.

We can’t list them ALL here, but a few these are are our choice favorites:

• 5 collaborators
• Basic site analytics to monitor traffic and performance
• Basic ecommerce tools – sell up to 50,000 products, Wix Payments , and sell on marketplaces/social channels
• Wix dropshipping – up to 25 products by Modalyst
• No transaction fees
• Wix Hotel , Restaurant, and Fit platforms for each respective industry
• Wix Bookings and Event management for scheduling and organizing appointments and in-person events
• Stream music and videos and sell your original artwork

On top of this, you will get everything from the Light plan, plus explore even more features in the easy-to-use editor.

With all these features, the Core plan is perfect for those starting an online business or taking an existing business online. There is no app store required or extra fees incurred for specific industry tools and features (unlike Shopify or Squarespace). Plus, Wix has over 900 templates that will make sure you have a handy framework when designing it as they cover more industries than you can imagine !

While the Core plan’s features certainly impress, many of them are still offered in a ‘basic’ form – most evidently, the ecommerce tools. Important features like product reviews, accepting multiple currencies, and advanced shipping options are only available on the Business plan.

The Core plan is a decent choice if your website is in the early stages of growth, but once sales pick up it may be time to upgrade once again.

Business Plan: $32 per Month – For Established Businesses

• Monthly price: $38 per month
• Annual price: $32 per month

✔️ 100GB of storage

✔️ Unlock advanced shipping and product reviews for your store

✔️ Add multiple currencies and calculate sales tax automatically

❌ No access to premium customer service

❌ Stuck with the same basic analytics as the cheaper Wix plans

Once your store is getting steady sales, advanced tools are needed to keep up with demand. Enter the Business plan, the first of three ecommerce-dedicated plans by Wix.

You get all the aforementioned features that come with the Core plan, plus some brand new features designed primarily for selling online, such as:

• Automated sales tax on 100 transactions per month
• 1,000 product reviews provided by KudoBuzz
• Unlimited ‘Back in Stock’ notifications
• Advanced shipping plus 250 products available for dropshipping by Modalyst
• Multiple currencies

These features are surely welcome for any online business wanting to scale up. In our research, Wix came joint second for sales features with 4.2 out of 5 . We found that the Business plan is considerably cheaper when compared with the nearest competition. It costs only $32 per month for Wix’s plan vs Shopify’s $79 per month for a similar plan .

A lot of the features introduced on the Core plan have been upgraded too, giving you 10 collaborators and the ability to assign roles, plus access to external databases. This makes it easier than ever to manage employees. However, not every feature has received this treatment, and even on the Business plan, you’ll still receive the same basic analytics and Wix customer service as those on the Light plan .

Business Elite Plan: $159 per Month – For Large Businesses with Advanced Needs

• Monthly price: $172 per month
• Annual price: $159 per month

✔️ Unlimited storage space for larger businesses

✔️ Advanced marketing and ecommerce tools like a loyalty program

✔️ Priority customer support

❌ Very expensive plan

❌ Not a beginner-friendly option

Just from the price alone, you can probably guess that the Business Elite plan is a different beast altogether. If you’re looking for the tippy-top of what Wix can offer your average online business owner, the Business Elite plan takes all the previously mentioned features and turns them to 11 , including:

• Unlimited storage space
• 15 collaborators, which is helpful for large businesses to delegate work
• Advanced features, including marketing tools, analytics, and ecommerce
• Priority VIP phone support so you can skip the queue
• Retain customers with loyalty programs to share discounts, coupons, and rewards
• Collect up to 3,000 product reviews to help improve customer trust
• Sell unlimited products with Modalyst dropshipping

The biggest mark against this plan is price. We’d only recommend the Business Elite to thriving online businesses that need the support and can easily foot the bill – or established brick-and-mortar stores wanting to make a transition online . Either way, we don’t think this plan is good for beginners, and reiterate that the Core plan is the best value for your money .

That being said, for a high-end ecommerce plan, the Business Elite plan is cheaper than its competitors, with Advanced Shopify costing $299 per month (billed annually). If you are looking to make a switch from Shopify, the Business Elite certainly makes a good alternative, but we’d recommend all potential users try it out first with the 14-day free trial, as it’s a big commitment to make.

Enterprise Plan: Custom Pricing – For Global Brands and Industry Titans

✔️ Face no limitations when scaling your business

✔️ Dedicated account manager to help you succeed

❌ Custom plan means you’ll only know what your total is once you are given a quote that covers all your needs

❌ Only suitable for industry-leading businesses

This plan is not meant for your average Joe. Used by the likes of Kroger, Clarins, and Hello Fresh,  Wix Enterprise is intended to be used by big brands and industry leaders.

You get everything on the Business Elite plan, plus the unique feature of having a dedicated account manager to help you run your business. This includes a custom, super-charged Wix editor with developer-built component blocks and a global infrastructure of networks to support you –  all managed from a multi-site dashboard.

We know the majority of our readers are small-to-medium-sized businesses, but your business could one day get successful enough to need an enterprise plan, so it’s good to know. Since the pricing is custom, we can’t comment on the exact pricing Wix offers, but our research estimates it at around $5,000 – $25,000 per year, depending on size.

Does Wix Have Additional Fees?

Wix has some additional fees  – but all of them can be avoided. A caveat to this is if you are selling online, paying for the processing fees is impossible to avoid with Wix.

Wix Auto-Renewal

If you don’t want your plan to auto-renew, you can simply turn it off in your settings. Here’s how:

• Go to “Billing and Payments” in your Wix account
• Click “Plan Actions”
• Click “Cancel Now”

Don’t worry – clicking “Cancel Now” doesn’t actually cancel your plan then and there. Instead, it means your plan won’t automatically renew the next time your subscription expires.

Wix Domain Name

Wix domains are free for the first year. After this, it will cost between $14.95 – $24.85 per year , depending on how specialized they are.

If you don’t pay for your domain, then someone else can register that domain name and use it for themselves. Your domain name’s renewal happens automatically so that you don’t lose your domain – but you can cancel the auto-renewal at any time in your settings.

Custom Email Address

Wix offers a Google Suite email address through its dashboard for $6 per month (billed annually) and $6.50 if you choose monthly billing.

Most of Wix’s features are built-in, but it does offer an app store for extra functionalities. Wix has +500 apps – of which 24 are free to use.

The rest will cost a monthly fee between $3-$20 per month . This will be heavily dependent on your website’s needs, so do some research on what you may want before building.

Wix Payments Processing Fee

Wix charges a standard 2.9% + $0.30 on each transaction for users using Credit/Debit Cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

If you are using a physical Wix Payments POS, then you will be charged 2.6% for cards and 2.6% + $0.20 for Tap to Pay on mobile .

Each of these fees differs depending on the region you’re in. We’ve shown the US rates, but if you are in a different region, we suggest you check out Wix’s service fees breakdown .

Processing fees are not included on returns either.

How We Test

We put Wix through hours of testing to determine whether it’s good value for money. Our research process looks at a variety of categories, including website features and ease of use, but when it comes to price, we analyze a few key areas.

Every website builder has recently increased its pricing, so our algorithm has been adjusted to reflect this change. Beyond reviewing Wix’s restructuring of its plans, we specifically look at whether Wix has a free trial or free plan (it has both), the average pricing plan, and the minimum standard of features you get for the lowest price you pay.

Summary of Wix Pricing Plans

Wix is our best-rated website builder in our research and offers four premium plans – plus a free plan and an enterprise plan. Let’s recap their prices:

• Free plan: $0 per month – For those who want to try Wix
• Light plan: $16 per month – For portfolios and personal sites
• Core plan: $27 per month – For small online stores and growing businesses
• Business plan: $32 per month – For established businesses
• Business Elite plan: $159 per month – For large businesses with advanced needs
• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing – For global brands and industry titans

Of these plans, the best value for money is the Core plan for $27 per month (billed annually). While it is a little more expensive than Squarespace or GoDaddy, those builders can’t compete with the amount of features and support you get with the Core plan.

If you have a small online store or a growing business, the value of the Core plan is worth its higher price tag. Wix provides all the tools you need to succeed off the bat. All that is left is the key ingredient: you!

Wix Pricing: FAQs

Is it easy to upgrade or downgrade my plan, do i need to pay for hosting with wix, do wix discounts stay for the entire subscription, found this guide helpful.

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES

How to start an eCommerce business in 10 steps

• Amanda Bellucco Chatham
• 18 min read

Get started by: Create an online store →  | Getting a domain →

Learning how to start an eCommerce business can be a complex endeavor. To put your business on the path to success, you need more than an idea; you need a plan. This post provides a step-by-step guide to the process of starting a business , from initial inspiration to the first online sale and beyond. 

You have a business idea and you’d like to build it online. After all, eCommerce is big and the market is growing; with a tap or two on your phone, you can place orders for everything from dog treats to jeans to meal planning kits. And with the variety of ecommerce tools  available, building an eCommerce website and an eCommrce business is easier and more accessible than ever.

Ready to start selling? Build your eCommerce website  with Wix.

What is an eCommerce business?

An eCommerce business is a company that sells products or services online. With an online store, you can serve customers around the world, and buyers can browse and make purchases at any time of the day. 

Ecommerce sales have increased faster than other retail businesses in recent years. In the third quarter of 2023, for example, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that retail eCommerce sales grew 7.6% year over year  to $1.8 billion, compared with 2.3% growth in the overall retail sector. In the past 10 years, eCom merce has grown from 6% to more than 15% of all retail sales, according to the Department of Commerce.

Given this growth, it’s no wonder that merchants of all types now view eCommerce as an essential part of their business. The number of eCommerce websites worldwide nearly tripled  between 2019 and 2023 to 26.5 million.

It’s worth noting that while some eCommerce sellers operate exclusively online, others use their websites to enhance and complement offerings at physical store locations, manufacturing plants or offices. Business-to-consumer (B2C)  eCommerce serves individual retail shoppers, while business-to-business (B2B)  sellers offer products or services to other companies. 

Learn more: What is an eCommerce website?

Types of eCommerce

How to start an eCommerce business

As with any entrepreneurial venture, careful planning and preparation are essential to your success. Here are the steps to follow to get started with your own eCommerce business: 

Identify your online business niche

Do market research

Select the right product mix

Secure product sources

Write a strong business plan

Set your business name and legal structure

Choose an eCommerce platform

Create your online store

Manage your eCommerce business finances

Market your eCommerce business

01. Identify your online business niche

While it may seem counterintuitive, your chances of making it big in eCommerce are better when you start by thinking small—that is, when you start by defining a niche for your business.

While it’s helpful to study the general trends, broad categories can be crowded with competitors. As one example, health and personal care is slated for growth to over 13% of the eCommerce market  through 2027 but trying to compete with major drug chains or beauty retailers can prove difficult (if not impossible) for new players.  

Instead of targeting a large, general market, target a niche market. For instance, you could start an eCommerce business that focuses on organic skin care for teens, with a selection of cleansers, moisturizers and sunscreen for acne-prone skin.

It helps to have expertise in your chosen niche. You’ll spend a lot of time researching the right products or services to provide. You’ll dive into every detail of the business. And, at least at first, you’ll likely manage day-to-day operations, so you should be passionate about what your ecommerce business idea . 

Related reading: $300K in 7 days: building a million-dollar beauty subscription business  

02. Do market research

Once you’ve pinpointed an ecommerce business niche or idea, it’s time to research and evaluate your potential market. Not only will you learn more about your audience but you’ll also gather the quantifiable data you need to make revenue projections and calculate costs. To understand the market, consider these strategies:

Identify your audience type :   Are you catering to corporate professionals or individual consumers? The audience you have in mind will help determine th e type of business  you intend to operate. While many eCommerce businesses serve exclusively B2B or B2C customers, some sellers serve both. For example, a gourmet food seller that typically sells to individual consumers may offer corporate gifting services for the holidays. Or, an apparel retailer may provide customization options for bulk orders, enabling companies to print custom uniforms that include their logos. Get familiar with the main ecommerce KPIs before getting started.

Size your market : Build a profile of your ideal customer based on their demographics, geographic location, interests, spending habits and any other salient details. Then use that profile to guide your research into census and market data to arrive at realistic numbers. Your goal is to understand your potential customers better as you gauge the ultimate potential for growth for your eCommerce business. These benchmarks will also help you forecast revenue and demand as accurately as possible until you begin generating sales and have an earnings history to use as a guide.

Immerse yourself in the trade : Follow trade media and individual thought leaders in your chosen category and read up on overall eCommerce trends via publications. The Wix eCommerce Blog  is a great place to get started.

Study the competition : Dive deep into competitor websites, sign up for their email updates and track news coverage on your competitors. Pay attention to how they market themselves, both online and offline. If you can dig up financial reports or earnings, that information can guide your own forecasts and projections.

Ask your audience directly : Use surveys and polls to gather information from your potential customers. Hang out in relevant social media groups and forums and attend in-person events where potential customers congregate. 

03. Select the right product mix

Your niche and your target market will guide decisions about which products to sell or services to offer. Consider, for example, whether your audience would be receptive to curated kits or gift sets, and whether seasonality is a factor.

Price and profit margin are essential to consider, as they determine the potential for your business to scale. A break-even analysis will help you figure out how much of each product you need to sell to recoup your initial costs and begin making a profit. 

When selecting products to sell, you’ll want to consider factors like: 

Product life : Know your expected  product life cycle . This will help you create a multi-year plan for your eCommerce business. Some big-ticket items are built to last decades; buyers who ordered a sofa may not return to your site immediately, unless you offer complementary items. On the other end of the spectrum, replenishable goods like pet food or beauty supplies may inherently attract repeat purchases. For these, you may want to offer bulk discounts or start a subscription box business  to further encourage repeat business. 

Price expectations :   While offering a variety of price points can broaden your appeal with buyers, if your audience is used to purchasing luxury goods, then you may want to limit your selection to top-of-the-line offerings. If you’re a B2B seller, consider whether your corporate clients expect you to offer items in bulk at wholesale  prices. 

Cost of goods sold (COGS) :   As you select products, consider overhead costs and logistics , such as whether items require fancy packaging or “white-glove” delivery and installation. Digital products, by contrast, have no shipping or physical  procurement  requirements. You can calculate COGS with the following formula: beginning inventory + purchased inventory − ending inventory.

Once you have guidelines in place, dive into the specifics. If you need inspiration and want to see what’s trending, turn to competitor websites or search best-selling items on marketplaces like Amazon. Ecommerce tools like Google Trends and Algopix can also help identify hot products. Or, use your favorite SEO or keyword research tool, like Semrush, to find frequently searched products, validate a product concept and/or discover which brands are most frequently searched in your market.

04. Secure product sources and suppliers

Once you have specific items in mind, you’ll need to determine the right product sourcing method. Perhaps you create all of your products by hand and want to keep it that way. Or, maybe you’re interested in dropshipping with a platform like Modalyst , Wix’s native dropshipping solution.

Depending on your budget, resources and preferences, you have a few options to choose from:

Make goods by hand yourself : Quality is fully within your control, but it can be tricky to scale your business or keep up with high order volumes. 

Hire a manufacturer :   You source products from a third-party manufacturer but sell them under your brand name. Items are made to your specifications, and you retain control over production, pricing and branding. You can make goods efficiently in large quantities, but good communication with your production partner is essential to ensure quality is up to snuff.

Partner with name-brand manufacturers : If you seek products from specific manufacturers or designers, you can contract as an official reseller or dealer and offer those products through your eCommerce site. While your brand will get a boost from the affiliation, you’ll need to price items low enough to compete with other sellers, and some brands may have policies around a product’s minimum advertised price (MAP). Both can cut into margins. Retailers can also create their own branded merchandise via private label  lines in partnership with manufacturers, straddling the manufacturer/retailer divide. Costco’s Kirkland line or Amazon’s AmazonBasics are just two examples of this strategy.

Source from wholesalers : Wholesale suppliers offer catalogs of goods, often from multiple manufacturers. You can find inexpensive products to buy wholesale, which gives you leeway in pricing. On the flip side, products sourced overseas may bring additional delivery costs and tariffs as well as the expense of inventory and warehousing.

Work with dropship suppliers :   Dropshipping  shifts traditional retailer responsibilities to suppliers, enabling you to launch an eCommerce business with minimal upfront investment. You handle the marketing and choose your products, but incoming orders are routed directly to your suppliers, who are responsible for shipping items directly to your customers. You never have to buy and hold inventory, run a warehouse or ship items yourself. On the flip side, you have less control over product quality and delivery, putting your brand in a vulnerable position if suppliers slip up.  Ghost commerce  takes it a step further, where the supplier ships items, yet you maintain your brand’s image and handle customer relations.

It’s important to weigh your options when choosing a product sourcing method, and truly evaluate all of them carefully. Before you make a definitive decision, ask yourself the following questions:

Do you want to customize or brand your products? Because wholesale suppliers produce in bulk, it may be hard to tweak selections to match your criteria. As an intermediate option, some suppliers offer white labeling, which allows you to sell ready-made products with your logo and branding. And if you want to personalize products further, explore print on demand . This is a subset of dropshipping that allows you to offer custom designs on a selection of products created to your specifications as orders come in. 

How much capital do you have to invest in inventory ?   If you’re working with limited startup funds, dropshipping can be a more economical route for launching your brand. 

How complex are your warehousing and fulfillment needs?  If you offer recurring subscription shipments, corporate gifting services or bulk order capabilities, you may need to manage logistics yourself to ensure deliveries are accurate and on time. 

How do your competitors source their products?  While you don’t want to outright copy your competitors, research as much as you can about their processes to identify any potential differentiating advantages they have. Do they have exclusive dealer rights to brand-name merchandise you want to stock? Do they offer products sourced exclusively from sustainable suppliers? 

What is your backup plan if one of your suppliers has issues? Nearly four in 10 shoppers  have abandoned online purchases due to items being out of stock, so take proactive steps to avoid disappointing buyers. Find backup sources of widely available wholesale products, and cover contingencies in your contracts with suppliers. 

How will you scale  your business?  Manufacturing or making your own products gives you the greatest amount of control, but they also make it difficult to meet rising demand. You may need to contract with a new factory altogether, hire staff or find other expensive solutions. For a more flexible option, you may want to consider dropshipping or wholesaling. 

What are your audience’s expectations?  Buyers are prioritizing sustainability more and more. In fact, U.S. consumers are reportedly willing to pay an 11% premium  for products with reduced environmental impact. If your customers expect ethically sourced products, include those factors in your sourcing criteria.

05. Write a strong business plan

Document all the research and planning you’ve done up to this point with a formal eCommerce business plan . Not only does a business plan capture your work in a comprehensive and detailed format, but it also provides a touchstone for keeping your day-to-day operations focused on your mission. The strongest business plans keep teams aligned during launch and lay the foundation for attracting the right business partners and investors. 

While the individual components of a business plan can be tailored to your unique priorities, you should include the following elements to be sure the document is relevant and useful: 

Mission, description and unique selling proposition (USP) : Your business plan should outline the reason your company exists, summarize at a high level what it does and identify what sets your brand apart from others. This information helps you stake your claim in the marketplace and guides future decisions about priorities. In particular, it’s critical to flesh out your  unique selling proposition . Your USP guides your product positioning , helps you to stand out from the competition and identifies partners and consumers who share your values. For example, “plastic-negative” water company and Wix merchant  Mananalu  differentiates its products by supporting a larger cause. Mananalu water is packaged in refillable aluminum bottles, which are easier to recycle than plastic. In addition, each time a consumer buys a Mananalu water, the company pledges to remove a plastic bottle from the ocean waste stream. Shoppers can even buy further “plastic offsets” to support the company’s cause. Climate Neutral certification and “1% for the Planet” membership provide third-party credentials attesting to the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Market and SWOT analysis : Summarize your market research and describe your company’s position relative to the competition. Provide an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to pinpoint your areas of greatest potential growth. A realistic analysis will help maintain focus not only as you launch, but as you scale and add new offerings. 

Your offering :   Use your previous research and planning to create a detailed description of your products and/or services, product sourcing and pricing strategy. Describe how this offering aligns with your audience’s needs. In addition, describe your plans for customer service and order fulfillment as crucial components of the brand experience.

Marketing  plans : Describe how you plan to introduce your eCommerce business to your target audience, including which digital channels you’ll prioritize and which technologies you’ll rely on to execute marketing tactics.

Financial forecasts : Using your previous research, build a model forecasting expenses, revenues and growth. To ground your projections in reality, use real-life results from competitors or other businesses in your field. Consult trade publications and category experts for growth benchmarks and formulas to incorporate.

Funding sources : Describe how you’ll secure the startup resources you need, whether through your own savings, private equity, crowdfunding or investors. If you’re presenting your plan to potential funding sources, customize the information to explain the rationale behind your request and describe the benefits of funding your business.

06. Set your business name and legal structure

After you put your business plan together, you’ll need to set up the actual legal framework to support your business.

Start by picking a business name that reflects your brand identity and USP. If you need some inspiration, try researching popular search keywords, brainstorming names related to your niche or playing with different spelling variations. Wix’s free business name generator  can provide more ideas. As you narrow the list, check that the names are:

Easy to read, say, spell and remember

Search-friendly

Available as a website domain 

Not being used by another business (in the U.S., individual states maintain registries of businesses you can check)

Once you have your business name figured out, you’ll need a logo. You can create one yourself, work with a graphic designer or try out the Wix logo maker  for free.

Next, you’ll want to choose the right legal structure for your eCommerce company—a key step in starting a business  of any type. Your overarching business structure will define your liabilities, tax status and more.

Consult with legal professionals and accountants to determine whether a sole proprietorship ,  partnership ,  limited liability company (LLC)  or corporation  is right for you. In the U.S., you’ll also need to register your business and apply for a federal employer identification number (EIN) in order to pay taxes, open a business bank account or obtain financing. You can do this through the IRS’s website for free.

07. Choose an eCommerce platform

At this point, you’re ready to bring your brand to life through your own website. 

The first step is to choose the best eCommerce platform  for your needs. There are dozens of website builders on the market, so evaluate your options carefully. To ensure your eCommerce website development  goes smoothly, look for a platform that provides:

Professional aesthetics : Wix offers hundreds of specialized online store templates  you can customize to reflect your brand.

A domain name : You’ll need a domain name  of your own to match your business name.

Enterprise-grade security : Wix offers a secure infrastructure  with 24/7 security monitoring to protect against data breaches.

Top performance : It’s critical to have web hosting  with the capacity to support a speedy, high-performance site  on both mobile and desktop devices, even during peak sales periods.

Built-in analytics : Wix’s analytics dashboard helps you track key metrics, such as website traffic  and generate historical performance reports.

Customizable shopping cart pages : A customizable shopping cart page  will ensure your branding and messaging are consistent throughout the purchase process.

Variety of checkout options : Flexible eCommerce checkout  options should support whichever payment method your customers prefer. Wix Payments  is an integrated payment gateway system that can connect to in-store point-of-sale (POS) registers, too.

A content management system : A content management system  (CMS) should ideally support robust product information and brand-building features such as blogs, how-to articles and buying guides.

Back-office functionality : Look for integrated tools that help automate back-office functions, like bookkeeping and order fulfillment. Wix offers tools for tasks like inventory management , invoice creation  and more.

A reasonable pricing model : Your platform’s pricing model should make sense financially for your business, both now and in the future. As you research, pay close attention to recurring fees and special surcharges so you understand the total cost. With Wix, you can build a website with eCommerce functionality for as little as $27 per month.

Get ready for launch. Sign up  for Wix today.

08. Create your online store

Regardless of which eCommerce platform you choose, it’s important to research the best practices for designing an online store. Knowing how to make a website  includes the following best practices:

Be clear about what you sell : Make it easy for customers to understand your business and products by using consistent design elements and language throughout the site. Avoid jargon-heavy or overly cutesy names for product categories and individual items; use accurate language that matches the search terms your audience enters. Once shoppers are ready to buy, don’t beat around the bush; use clear calls-to-action like “Shop Now” or “Buy Now.” 

Invest in high-quality imagery : A picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s especially true in eCommerce. Buyers can’t physically touch and try products, so photos and videos help convince them to have faith and click “Buy.” High-quality photos that clearly show details and features are essential, while videos demonstrate products in action and can be repurposed for social platforms like TikTok. 

Showcase user-generated content (UGC) : Buyers trust others like them to communicate authentically about products and services, so find ways to spotlight customer reviews, user-submitted photos and social media comments. The same holds true in the B2B world; 86% of businesses  consider verified reviews a critical factor in purchase decisions when deciding vendors.

Embrace mobile : Transactions on mobile devices already account for four in 10 online sales , and an even higher share of product research occurs on smartphones thanks to their “anywhere, anytime” availability. Your eCommerce site shouldn’t just be mobile-compatible. You should assume the majority of interactions with your brand will occur on the go. Make sure that pages load quickly even when wi-fi isn’t available, and that images render clearly on small screens.

09. Manage your eCommerce business finances

Once you’ve launched your eCommerce business, you need the tools to track sales, profit and growth. These eCommerce money management tips  offer best practices to ensure you have adequate cash flow from month to month and can keep your business humming along. 

Three things in particular are worth monitoring closely:

Plan for seasonality : Holidays, annual weather patterns and other cyclical influences can cause your income to spike and dive. For example, in the U.S., the final quarter of the year can account for more than 30%  of annual sales for some categories of retailers. Other cycles might be particular to your industry: if you offer bookkeeping or accounting services online, for example, your peak season might end on April 15, the filing deadline for personal income taxes. Accurate forecasting can help predict when sales will pour in so you can manage cash flow to cover leaner months.

Get a handle on fulfillment costs :   If your eCommerce business involves delivering physical goods, be prepared to spend 15% to 20% of net sales on fulfillment costs . Of course, if you provide a virtual service or a downloadable app or software product, you can avoid these costs altogether. If you use dropshippers to fulfill orders instead, you won’t carry those overhead costs yourself, but the suppliers will likely pass them on to you as part of your fees.

Guard against costly chargebacks and returns :   It’s estimated that 17.6% of all online sales are returned . Add in the cost of reverse logistics—where goods are returned to stock for resale or simply discarded—and you’ll want to prevent returns in the first place. Try to create detailed product pages that include fit and sizing guides, compatibility information and materials. In addition, bolster your customer service content to address common questions before purchase; communicate shipping timeframes so consumers don’t cancel orders in transit if they don’t arrive in time. Finally, set a return policy  you can actually afford.

Read more:   SMB online commerce  for acquiring banks and merchant acquirers.

10. Market your eCommerce business

Launching your online store is an achievement, but by no means can you “set it and forget it.” With so many eCommerce websites available, you need to promote your brand to attract new buyers and create incentives that keep customers coming back.

As you allocate your marketing budget to sell more products online , focus on the digital channels you know your audience uses. Follow these strategies: 

Personalize the shopping experience : Seven in 10 consumers  now expect personalized interactions with companies, and businesses meeting that expectation can boost their marketing return on investment (ROI) anywhere from 10-30%. Seek out tools that enable you to automate eCommerce personalization  in email campaigns, product recommendations and post-purchase promotions. For example, with Wix, you can add a “Best Sellers” or “Related Products” gallery  to your product pages.

Boost word-of-mouth buzz : Encouraging customers to create and share reviews is just the start when it comes to building word-of-mouth advocacy for your brand. Create promotions that reward customers for referring friends and family, and post share-worthy takes and exclusive offers on the social media networks that your customers use most. To further boost visibility on social media, consider working with micro-influencers. These personalities may not have millions of followers, but they have devoted audiences whose interests can align closely with your brand offering.  

Prioritize SEO : More than half of consumers  rely on search engines as their top tool for shopping research, so stay up-to-date on best practices for search engine optimization to give your brand the best possible chance at visibility. Develop rich content, optimize for mobile devices, maximize site speed and earn inbound links to improve your rankings. 

Build loyalty :   While it’s natural to devote attention to finding new customers during launch, you also need a plan for keeping the customers you already have. It’s less expensive to build a loyal following than to continually churn through one-time purchasers, and repeat customers tend to outspend new buyers . Consider creating a loyalty program that rewards buyers with perks and exclusive offers based on how much they spend.

Drive more sales with Wix eCommerce marketing .

How much does it cost to start an eCommerce business?

The cost of starting an eCommerce business depends on many factors, from the type of products you sell to the features you need to power your online store. But when all is said and done, you could spend anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 .

That range may seem high—in fact, you may wonder if you could drop a zero from the lower end of the scale. Dropshipping can eliminate upfront inventory and fulfillment costs, and platforms such as Wix offer inexpensive eCommerce site hosting plans and design services. But even with this minimalist approach, you still may need to factor in costs for things like marketing, technology and software, legal and administrative fees, and more.

No matter how much startup capital you have at your disposal, it's important to do your research and plan carefully before starting an eCommerce business. This will help you avoid costly mistakes and increase your chances of success. The potential costs to consider include: 

Business formation and licensure : Setting up your business structure and governance, securing any required licenses and filing registration and tax paperwork can add up to several billable hours from legal and accounting professionals. 

Ecommerce platform : The technology behind your eCommerce website is all-important and should support integrated shipping, payments and marketing from one unified dashboard. Depending on the platform, each module may be priced separately, or you may be charged a single annual fee for all-in-one service.

Products : The upfront cost of your products will vary depending on what you're selling online  and which sourcing method you choose. If you hold inventory, add the overhead expense of storage or warehousing space.

Design, eCommerce photography and copywriting : As you set up your online store, you may wish to enlist professional help with the website design, product photos and written content. If you’re launching in more than one country, you may need to find translation services to ensure product copy is localized accurately.

Customer service : Responsive service is a must for building your brand’s reputation. Make a plan to personally handle incoming questions and requests or hire staff to ensure adequate coverage.

Logistics : If you want to handle order management yourself versus outsourcing to a dropshipper, you need to invest in packaging, staff to pick and pack orders, and contracts with freight carriers or third-party logistics providers to handle deliveries.

Marketing : Even if you don’t allocate budget to paid advertising, you’ll still need to invest hours into setting up social media accounts and optimizing your website for search engines.

Why start an eCommerce business in 2024?

U.S. eCommerce sales are expected to grow 10.5% year over year in 2024 , so there’s no time like the present to get started. Here are just a few reasons to start an eCommerce business this year:

The barriers to entry are (relatively) low :   While launching an eCommerce business successfully does take some initial investment, it’s far less expensive to build a brand online. In the past, shopping technology was prohibitively expensive and required a professional IT staff to manage.

You can earn a profit (relatively) quickly : While you won’t generate millions overnight, the relatively low startup costs and efficiencies of scale you can access via dropshipping means that you may be operating in the black within a year to 18 months. While the size of your profits depend in large part on your category and your wholesale product costs, relevant, high-quality products and superior service can help justify the higher prices that lead to bigger margins.

You can access rapidly-growing global markets : As much as the U.S. represents a huge eCommerce market, other parts of the world are seeing even more exponential growth—and you can sell to these nascent markets without needing a physical presence or local staff. While China is dominant in terms of eCommerce market size and penetration, countries that are potentially more accessible, such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K., are all top global targets to consider .

You can run your business your way :   As the world discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital businesses can be managed remotely. You can route orders to dropshippers and respond to customer service queries on your own time, anywhere—a stark contrast with traditional retail, which tethers you to a store location and requires staff to serve customers during set hours. 

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Do I Need a Business Plan on Wix?

Last updated on October 1, 2022 @ 1:22 am

When it comes to starting a new business, there are a lot of important factors to consider. One of the most important is whether or not you need a business plan.

Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Every business is different, and each has its own unique needs. However, in general, a business plan can be a helpful tool in getting your business off the ground.

Exciting update! We've collaborated with Wix to offer WBI users with a free plan for all website creation needs - Explore the details here .

There are a few key reasons why you might need a business plan. First, if you’re seeking funding from investors or lenders, they’re going to want to see a well-thought-out business plan.

This is because they need to know that you have a clear idea of what your business is, what it does, and how it’s going to make money. Without a well-crafted business plan, it’s going to be difficult to convince them to invest in your company.

Another reason you might need a business plan is if you’re not sure where to start with your business. A good business plan can help you map out all of the different elements of your business, from your Target market to your marketing strategy.

It can also help you figure out what kinds of things you need to do in order to get your business off the ground. If you’re feeling lost or confused about starting your own business, a business plan can give you some much-needed direction.

Finally, even if you’re not looking for funding or direction, a business plan can still be a helpful tool. It can help you keep track of your progress and ensure that you’re on track to achieve your goals. A well-written business plan can also be helpful in attracting employees and partners who share your vision for the company.

9 Related Question Answers Found

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The best website builders make it possible to create professional and attractive sites for your business. They offer design tools that enable you to put these pages together without any prior coding experience. Webflow is one of these builders that you may be considering.

Before deciding whether it is the right fit for your needs, it is important to learn more about Webflow’s design tools, the various plans that are available, relevant e-commerce functionalities and the key pros and cons of the platform.

Webflow overview

Webflow is a website builder designed to let individuals and companies create sites without the use of any coding. It allows users to customize the content and structure of each page to match their specific design visions. 

Once you’re happy with the layout and design of the site, you can publish it live on the web. Alternatively, you can export the site to add code — or have a developer add code for you — before pushing it live.

Webflow offers both general and e-commerce plans, including the free Starter plan. Paid general plans range from $18 to $49 per month, depending on the number of pages, CMS items, visitors and bandwidth you require. 

There are also custom Enterprise plan options available for larger organizations. E-commerce plans range from $42 to $235 per month. The upper-tier plans include more CMS items, allow you to sell more items and have no transaction fees.

Webflow pros and cons

Weighing the pros and cons of Webflow and how they relate to the specific needs of your business can help you determine whether this website builder offers the right fit.

For businesses with basic needs or those looking to test out the features to determine whether Webflow is the right fit for their needs, there is a forever free plan. The Starter plan, designed for entry-level sites, allows you to add up to two pages to your sites, provides up to 50 CMS items and enables up to 50 form submissions (over the lifetime of your site). 

Another benefit of Webflow is its site-building tools. You don’t need any prior design or coding experience to personalize the layout and design of a webpage. However, if you want to customize some of the elements further, you do have the option to add custom code. 

Max Veggeberg, the CEO of Tetra , has experience using Webflow for his company’s primary content management system. He shared, “It’s quite powerful and pretty flexible — you can write custom code in it, you can make components that make it easy to update things in a lot of places.”

If you’re looking to create an online store for your company, Webflow also offers e-commerce plans. Each plan allows you to design a custom store that will highlight your brand and feature the products you want to sell to your customers. The three available plans vary in the number of products you can sell, CMS items and transaction fees.

While there are several benefits to choosing Webflow, the downsides must not be overlooked. One of these drawbacks is that you’ll have to opt for a more expensive plan if you want to utilize multiple CMS items (such as blog posts, documents or items on a menu for a restaurant). 

The free Starter plan only includes 50 CMS items, while none are included with the Basic plan (which costs $18 per month). Once you upgrade to the CMS Plan (for $29 per month), you get 2,000 CMS items.

Those looking to set up an online store with one of the e-commerce plans should also be aware that they will have to pay transaction fees if they choose the cheapest plan. The Standard plan (which costs $29 per month) includes 2% transaction fees. In order to get rid of these fees, you’ll have to upgrade to the Plus plan, which costs an additional $45 per month.

Webflow only offers email support for all non-enterprise plan levels. This means that you won’t have access to live chat or phone support, which could result in delayed responses to questions you have. Similarly, while enterprise plan subscribers receive guided onboarding training to help them get started with the tools, all other subscribers must rely on Webflow University.

Webflow pricing and value

General plans, e-commerce plans.

For the general site plans, Webflow has five tier options: Starter, Basic, CMS, Business and Enterprise. The Starter plan is free and the price of the other plans steps up incrementally, with the Business plan costing $49 per month (or $39 per month with annual billing). A custom-priced Enterprise plan is also available for larger organizations. 

While the free plan only allows you to create a website with up to two pages, 50 CMS items and 50 lifetime form submissions, and only provides 1 GB of bandwidth and a maximum of 1,000 visitors, these attributes continue to build as the tiers increase. 

With the Business plan, for example, your website can support up to 150 pages, 10,000 CMS items and 2,500 monthly form submissions. You’ll also receive 400 GB of bandwidth and can welcome up to 300,000 monthly visitors.

There are three e-commerce site plans that range from $42 to $235 per month (or $29 to $212 per month with annual billing). These plans vary in the number of allowed e-commerce and CMS items as well as transaction fees (the lower tier plan requires subscribers to pay 2% transaction fees, while no transaction fees are charged for the two upper tier plans).

Webflow also offers three workspace plans for in-house teams. These plans allow for varying numbers of users and commenters, offer different numbers of staging sites and offer different publishing permissions.

Freelancers and agencies can choose from three similar workspace plans. Like the in-house team plans, some of the key differences in these plans lie in the maximum number of users and commenters and the number of staging sites. Other differences revolve around roles and permissions and guest access.

Webflow’s editor aims to make it possible to create professional pages, whether for a general website or an e-commerce one, without the need for any coding experience. Users have the flexibility to choose from pre-built elements, drag in unstyled HTML components or make modifications to different structure options. Customize the layout, font, colors and other page elements with ease.

As you’re designing, you can preview each page as it will appear on different devices and make changes as necessary to enhance readability and functionality for your customers and site visitors.

While it is possible to design a page without using any coding, Webflow also enables you to add custom code to personalize the look of each page further. While Veggeberg appreciates the overall flexibility that this provides, he noted, “The custom code feature has a max character limit.”

Veggeberg explained, “This is probably not an issue for a good developer, but their platform is meant to be used by non-developers, so it can be annoying at times for those of us who aren’t engineers.”

E-commerce functionality

There are three e-commerce plans available through Webflow for businesses that are looking to set up an online store. While these plans vary in the number of e-commerce and CMS items and transaction fees, they all enable users to customize the look of their online store, and promote and sell their products to customers. 

The customizable product fields allow you to choose which product features you want to share with your customers, whether you’re selling digital downloads or classes, physical products, or services.

With Webflow, you can also coordinate the design of the customer’s cart with that of the rest of your website for a more cohesive shopping experience. The transactional emails that are sent to customers with their receipt and purchase information are also fully customized, allowing you to stay consistent with the theme of your site and your overall brand.

Webflow recommends the CMS plan for blogs. Choosing this plan enables you to create 150 pages on your site with 2,000 CMS items. You’ll also be able to welcome 250,000 visitors to your site, which should be sufficient for most bloggers.

One benefit of choosing Webflow if you’re looking to start a blog is the on-page editing feature. Being able to edit your site directly on the page makes it easier to see exactly what your readers will be viewing. You can also easily customize the content on your site and take advantage of SEO tools to help increase site traffic. 

Webflow offers several CMS templates for those who are looking for a more user-friendly and less design-focused experience. With these templates, you can create a website for your blog that matches its content and your specific vision.

Marketing and SEO

Webflow offers several marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) tools to help increase traffic. For example, you can use data from CMS Collections to more easily craft meta titles and meta descriptions to help your page rank. 

Users can also add schema markup to help search engines more easily understand their content. Some other key SEO features include alt tag editing, the ability to publish 301 redirects with ease and simple sitemap and indexing updates.

Performance and security

Webflow offers a range of security features to protect sensitive information. It is Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) compliant, meaning it passed a third-party audit testing security protocol.

All plans include SSL encryption to keep users with unauthorized access from viewing personal information (either about you or your customers). Webflow also relies on Amazon Web Services hosting to minimize the potential for cyber-attacks and other threats. Unlike other website builders, it doesn’t need third-party plugins, eliminating the potential risk of relying on other developers to stay up-to-date with security and updates.

Phoneflow is Weblow’s mobile app, which is available for download through both the Apple App Store and Google Play. With the app, users are able to post, edit, draft, archive and publish content. E-commerce users can also manage their online store, keep track of inventory and stay informed about new orders that are submitted. 

Webflow vs. top competitors

See how Webflow compares to two of its top competitors, WordPress and Shopify, before making a final decision about which website builder is best for your business.

Webflow vs WordPress

While Webflow and WordPress share some similarities, one of their key differences lies in the use of plugins. Many WordPress plans allow users to add plugins to their sites. These plugins can improve functionality and enable other features that would otherwise not be possible, such as the ability to set up an online store. 

Webflow, on the other hand, does not rely on plugins. Similar features are built directly into its site builders, eliminating the hassle of searching for and downloading plugins and the potential security risks that they may present.

However, Webflow does place some limits on its base plans, where there are none on similar WordPress plans. For example, the Free and Basic plans for Webflow only allow for 1 GB and 50 GB of bandwidth and two pages and 150 pages, respectively. All WordPress plans, even the free option, offer unlimited bandwidth and allow businesses or individuals to build an unlimited number of pages.

Webflow vs Shopify

If you’re looking to set up an online store, you might be comparing the Webflow e-commerce plans with those offered by Shopify. Webflow’s custom coding and design features may make it an appealing choice for those looking to create a website that matches their vision for their brand.

However, as far as e-commerce features go, you might decide that Shopify is a better choice. While Webflow places a limit on the number of e-commerce items you can sell through your site – 500, 5,000 and 15,000, respectively, for each of the three plans – all of Shopify’s plans enable you to sell an unlimited number of products. Shopify also offers 24/7 chat support for all plans, while Webflow only offers email support for all tiers below the Enterprise level.

Methodology

Our team researches the key competitors within an industry to find the best products and services for your business. We identify what matters most, including pricing, features and customer support options, to ensure that our recommendations offer products that will meet the needs of various businesses.

We evaluate website builders based on the inclusion of pre-built templates, mobile responsive templates and sites, drag-and-drop editors, e-commerce functionality and built-in security features. Our data-driven approach encapsulates each company’s entire offerings and promotes a non-biased evaluation of the products and services.

Read our full guide to learn more about how we determine the best website builders of 2024 .

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Yes, Webflow offers a free plan. Called the Starter plan, it allows individuals or businesses to create a very basic, entry-level website with a maximum of two pages, 50 CMS items and 50 form submissions (over the lifetime of the site). The free plan also only allows for limited traffic, with 1 GB bandwidth and a maximum of 1,000 unique monthly site visits.

Webflow users can integrate various analytics tools with their websites, including Google Analytics, Nocodelytics and Hotja.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Deirdre Mundorf is an educator turned freelance writer whose work has been published by U.S. News and World Report, Bob Vila, Discover Magazine, and House Digest, among others. She specializes in writing about home and family-related topics.

Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.

How to start a small business: A step-by-step guide

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Wix Studio users can now boost profits by selling templates on Wix Marketplace

Wix Studio is expanding to offer new revenue streams for agencies and freelancers.

Popular website builder platform Wix has announced an upgrade to its Studio platform offering, opening up potential new revenue streams to users. 

Wix says Partners creating in Wix Studio can now sell their Studio templates directly within the Wix Marketplace. 

In other words, besides offering their services, Wix Studio Partners can now also market and sell the templates they’ve created. 

Empowering Partners

For the uninitiated, Wix Marketplace is a centralized hub where users can find professional help from agencies and freelancers for any stage of their business. 

Wix Studio, on the other hand, is a web development platform designed specifically for agencies and freelancers who create websites for their clients. It offers a set of tools to streamline creativity, workflow, and collaboration, including an advanced responsive editor with functionalities like responsive AI and design libraries for consistent branding across projects.

“Expanding the Wix Marketplace to include template sales not only empowers our Partners to unlock additional revenue streams and strengthen their presence within the Wix community but also fosters a thriving ecosystem of creativity and innovation,” commented Michal Bignitz, VP of Partners at Wix. “It’s an exciting opportunity for Partners to collaborate with and benefit from other experts, as we've seen with beautifully crafted templates combining design and dev skills.” 

This move, Bignitz concluded, brings the company closer to its goal of turning Wix Studio into a go-to place for experts in web design, development, user experience, marketing, SEO , and more. A move that will further secure Wix as one of the best website builder for agencies . 

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More information on how to sell templates on the Wix Marketplace is expected to be revealed soon. We don’t know if Wix will be taking any commission, or how much. 

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

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How an unrelated Supreme Court decision could jeopardize Biden's new student-loan forgiveness plan before it even goes into effect

• Biden released new details for his second attempt at student-loan forgiveness.
• While it likely won't go into effect until the fall, an earlier Supreme Court decision could put the relief at risk.
• The ruling would address whether agencies have the authority to interpret a law's scope, like debt relief.

New details for President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan are out — and it's already shaping up to be a rocky road to implementation.

The same day the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first attempt at broad debt relief at the end of June 2023, the Education Department announced its plan B: relief for borrowers using an authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

In contrast to the HEROES Act — the law Biden used for his first attempt at relief — the HEA requires the administration to undergo a process known as negotiated rulemaking . The process requires a series of negotiations with stakeholders before drafting the regulatory text for the rule, which then enters a period of public comment before the relief can be implemented.

The Education Department completed negotiations on the relief in February. It released new details of the rule on April 8 — but senior administration officials previously said the actual draft text would be published in the coming months, with the implementation of the relief set to begin in the fall, at the earliest.

Not only does this timeline coincide with the presidential election, which could imperil any relief should Biden lose — it also puts the relief under the shadow of Supreme Court rulings set to arrive by June.

How a Supreme Court ruling on fisheries could affect student-debt relief

Cary Coglianese, an administrative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Business Insider that "there's a larger context within which this plan would be evaluated if it eventually goes to court, which I would expect it will."

And that larger context, Coglianese said, is "possibly the rolling back of deference to agencies altogether in their interpretation of statutes."

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Coglianese is referring to a rule known as the Chevron doctrine , the fate of which is currently awaiting a Supreme Court ruling. In a case known as Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a group of fisheries challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service's interpretation of a law requiring some fisheries to pay or subsidize the salaries of some federal agents who come on fishing expeditions to collect data.

The fisheries argued against that interpretation, calling into question the Chevron doctrine, which allows federal agencies to interpret a law how they see fit as long as it doesn't interfere with Congress' language.

So, if the Supreme Court strikes down Chevron, federal agencies would no longer have the authority to decide on laws related to their responsibilities — meaning the Education Department would not be able to interpret its student-debt relief authority under the Higher Education Act.

"That would, it seems to me, just provide another sort of quiver in the arsenal, if you will, to send the Biden debt-relief plan packing again," Coglianese said.

"In other words, we have a Supreme Court in which, in general, they're skeptical of agency action, at least of a certain kind of agency action, and with one student-debt relief case they've already sent a signal that they thought that was going out farther than Congress specifically authorized," Coglianese said. "And if they eliminate Chevron deference, it suggests that they're very serious about not giving agencies much leeway."

Lawsuits to likely target the law's broadness

While the regulatory text for Biden's new student-debt relief plan has not yet been published, its newly released details targeted different categories of borrowers the Education Department plans to make eligible for relief. It includes up to $20,000 in relief for borrowers with unpaid interest , along with loan forgiveness for those who have been in repayment for at least 20 years.

The Education Department has maintained it has the authority to enact this relief under the HEA's compromise and settlement authority , which states that the department can "enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand" related to federal student debt."

However, Luke Herrine — an assistant law professor at the University of Alabama — told BI that any legal challenge will likely take issue with the department's interpretation of the HEA's authority for debt relief and argue that Biden's plan is too broad.

"The fight is primarily going to be, I assume, over whether a clause that on its face looks very broad is actually as broad as it looks, which is partly a matter of, who gets to resolve the ambiguity with that clause? Do you defer to an agency to make that determination for the agency? And increasingly, it's the case that the conservative judiciary does not believe in any sort of deference to administrative agencies," Herrine said.

Herrine said he expects the same groups who brought the cases against Biden's first debt relief plan to challenge this second one. Some of them have already filed lawsuits challenging Biden's new SAVE income-driven repayment plan — including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who wrote on X that he would see Biden in court after the release of new details for the debt relief.

Ultimately, it comes down to how courts interpret the Education Department's authority, and should legal challenges arise, Coglianese said it's likely the arguments will be very similar to the cases that ended up striking down the first student-loan forgiveness plan.

"The administration is certainly still facing a very skeptical Supreme Court," Coglianese said. "Even though it's a different statute, it's still a skeptical Supreme Court. It's still a pretty big program even though it's a smaller one."

"So it's a risk that the court will, in the end, not allow the administration to go forward with this for the same reasons it didn't allow it to go forward the first go around," he continued. "Clearly, though, it's a risk the administration wants to take on behalf of the American public and the large segment of the American public that's been burdened with a lot of student loans."

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

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