Wix, Weebly and Squarespace what's the difference?

The Hello Lovely Problem Solver discussed the difference between Squarespace and WordPress on this post over here. In this we summarised that it was down to user preference when it came to making a final choice. 

There are two other contenders for website building and these are Wix and Weebly. Hello Lovely doesn't offer these two as advertised services but we do have experience for anyone who is struggling with either so here's our thoughts on both. We've added in a brief byline on Squarespace because it often appears in searches with Wix and Weebly, unfairly so in our opinion. Wix and Weebly are both template driven which sounds a bit like Squarespace so you might wonder why one costs more than the other. The difference can be found in the customisation. Squarespace allows developers and designers to add in code so each template can be changed. A style editor allows colours, spacing and typography to be altered so whilst a site is based on a template, the design and function can be heavily adjusted making it very unique.

The good bits about Wix and Weebly

Wix actually has 510 templates so the chances for a competitor using the same one as you is less likely than Weebly which has 40. What this means is that both platforms are drag and drop operated to you can click on a feature such as text or image and populate it with your content, no code is required. The said, Weebly does allow some coding so you can play about if you want to.

Wix has an AI system that auto builds websites so you really don't have to do very much to a site at all. It's great if you don't want to learn code or worry about design too much. Weebly is even easier as the choice is limited so you can't really get too lost and it's set up with beginners in mind.

Newer templates are mobile responsive so you don't have to worry about how they appear on an iPad or phone. But do check if you decide to add custom code to Weebly as we've found it can be a bit flimsy!

The bad bits

As a design business first and foremost, we find that Wix and Weebly both limit what can be done to make a site unique to the business. When you have a brand or a growing business, this maybe an issue.

Once you chose a template for Wix, you can't go back and chance it. As the customisation options are limited, you're stuck with it even if your business model changes. Though the template choices are high and there are advanced design tools, we've found that this can slow down websites. If you get too carried away and modify each Wix element, you may put a lot of stress on your website, increasing the time it requires to load your page and this impacts the user experience.

With Weebly you can export your site, with Wix you cannot so if Wix went out of business, you've lost your site which feels very limiting. 

Takeaway

Wix appears to have adopted the “advanced features” approach, giving you all sorts of tools to play with within their website builder, they seem to be trying to emulate Squarespace but without the tech. 

Weebly takes the minimalistic approach, keeping things as streamlined and as simple as possible.  This makes the platform idea for beginners, but although Wix gives you a lot more advanced features, Weebly provides growth (such as swapping templates and editing its CSS / HTML codes, and also exporting your website).

We encourage you to sign up for free accounts with both Wix and Weebly and spend a bit of time playing around with each one of them.  You can also set up a trial with Hello Lovely on Squarespace that lasts 6 months (currently 14 days if you went directly with them). Only through these free trials that you can form your own conclusion as to which website builder is better for your own unique needs.