Drag-and-drop website builder for non-technical users. Free plan is ad-supported with Wix branding. Paid plans from $17-$36/mo per site, but app market costs and performance issues on heavy sites add up.
Advertised Price
$0
/month
Estimated True Cost
$74
/month (typical usage)
Surprise Factor
N/A×
more than expected
Confidence
78%
Data source: manual
What the pricing page doesn't tell you
Free plan displays 'Wix.com' ads and uses a wix.com subdomain. Removing branding requires Light plan at $17/mo minimum — the single most common reason to upgrade.
Trigger: branding == 'free'
+$17
/monthly
Most functional sites need 3-8 Wix Apps (booking $0-10/mo, events $0-10/mo, chat $0-30/mo, SEO tools $5-15/mo). Average app spend: $20-60/mo on top of base plan.
Trigger: apps > 2
+$35
/monthly
Sites with 50+ pages, many apps, or large media galleries experience significant load time increases. Wix's proprietary renderer struggles with complex sites — no server-side optimization available.
Trigger: pages > 50
+$0
/monthly
Each Wix plan covers ONE site only. Running 3 business sites = 3× the subscription cost. No multi-site discount until Enterprise.
Trigger: sites > 1
+$22
/monthly
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Key Limits | Overage Rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | $0 | $0 |
| No overages |
Light | $17 | $17 |
| No overages |
CorePOPULAR | $23 | $23 |
| No overages |
Business | $36 | $36 |
| No overages |
Wix Free gives you a website with Wix ads and a Wix subdomain. Light at $17/mo removes branding and connects a custom domain. Core at $22.50/mo adds analytics, marketing tools, and more storage. Business at $36/mo adds e-commerce, subscriptions, and automated tax. But Wix App Market add-ons ($5-30/mo each), heavy site performance degradation, and per-site pricing (not per-account) create hidden costs.
Wixoffers a free plan, but with significant restrictions. Here's exactly what you get — and what forces you to upgrade.
⚠️ When you'll need to upgrade:
Most teams outgrow the free plan within 1-3 months. The first paid tier (Light) costs $17/mo.
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