Shopify Beats Wix in Hands-On E-commerce Test

I built two complete stores from scratch—one on Shopify and one on Wix Stores—using the same 50‑SKU catalog, product variants, a digital download, subscriptions, and a local pickup option. After days of setup, real payments, and live checkout flows, a clear winner emerged for serious selling: Shopify. Wix remains an excellent starter choice, but Shopify’s depth, performance, and commerce-first tooling gave it the decisive edge.

Here’s what tipped the scales, backed by hands-on testing and what industry watchers like BuiltWith, Baymard Institute, and major carrier partners signal about what moves the revenue needle online.

How I Tested Both Platforms for Real-World Selling

I replicated the same store on each platform: identical products, images, tax settings, shipping rules, and discount logic. I connected Apple Pay, PayPal, and card processing, set up one in-person POS test, and ran checkout on desktop and mobile. I measured build time, design flexibility, app reliance, page speed, and the number of clicks to complete checkout.

The goal wasn’t to max out advanced developer features, but to act like a growing merchant: launch quickly, look polished, and be confident the stack won’t buckle as orders scale.

Pricing and Fees Compared for Online Store Plans

Wix Stores is the value play at entry. Its Core and Business tiers undercut comparable Shopify plans and bundle generous storage, social selling, and basic subscriptions. For a solo founder or services-plus-products shop, that price-to-capability ratio is compelling.

Shopify costs more on average, but every tier is commerce-first. Crucially, its shipping discounts can be substantial with carriers like UPS, USPS, and DHL, which matters as volume climbs. Note that Shopify adds extra transaction fees when you use third-party gateways instead of Shopify Payments; Wix’s processing fees vary by region but don’t tack on platform-specific surcharges in the same way.

Store Setup and Design Differences That Matter Most

Wix’s drag-and-drop editor is friendlier on day one. It’s pixel-precise and great for non-designers who want to nudge elements into exact positions. The trade-off is long-term flexibility: once you pick a Wix template, you’re largely committed unless you rebuild.

Shopify themes are built for selling first, with sections and blocks that make merchandising fast. I swapped themes mid-build without breaking the catalog, and Online Store 2.0 features (like metafields and flexible templates) let me tailor PDPs and collections without code-heavy work. If brand consistency and scalable layouts matter, Shopify’s approach scales more cleanly.

Payments, Shipping, and POS: Checkout and Fulfillment

Shopify supports 100+ payment gateways, native Shop Pay, and robust multi-currency settings. In my tests, Shop Pay shaved steps off checkout on mobile, a big lever when Baymard Institute pegs average cart abandonment near 70%. Carriers integrated cleanly, with automatic label printing and negotiated rates that improved as I simulated higher volumes.

Wix supports 80+ gateways and its own Wix Payments. It handled cards, wallets, and tax rules reliably, and POS worked for simple in-person sales. For specialty use cases—complex fulfillment, buy online, pick up in store at multiple locations, or sophisticated returns—Shopify’s retail-grade POS and shipping stack were clearly more mature.

Performance, SEO, and Analytics for Store Growth

Using identical imagery and product data, the Shopify store consistently loaded faster on my mobile tests, especially under throttled connections. It passed Core Web Vitals thresholds without extra tuning. Wix improved with image compression and script deferral but needed more tinkering to hit similar marks.

SEO is strong on both. Wix has made major strides with structured data, redirects, and on-page controls. Shopify’s URL structure is opinionated, but its ecosystem of SEO apps and built-in schema defaults made technical housekeeping quicker. Both include solid analytics; Shopify’s commerce dashboards felt deeper for product-level insights, LTV tracking, and cohort analysis.

Apps, AI, and Scalability for Growing Merchants

Shopify’s App Store offers thousands of integrations covering subscriptions, loyalty, B2B, bundling, ERP connectors, and automation. I set up post-purchase offers and custom flows without touching code. That headroom matters when you move from dozens to hundreds of orders a day.

Wix’s App Market is smaller but curated and perfectly adequate for common needs—email, bookings, reviews, and simple subscriptions. Both platforms now include generative AI for product copy and basic imagery. It’s useful for a first draft, but I still found human-edited content converted better, especially for high-margin SKUs.

Real-World Takeaways for Choosing an E-commerce Platform

For a design-led site with a modest catalog, Wix Stores delivers rapid time-to-launch, attractive templates, and less sticker shock. It’s a great fit if your primary site is already on Wix and you’re adding commerce to a content-forward brand.

For merchants prioritizing conversion, multi-channel growth, and retail integration, Shopify was reliably stronger. Shop Pay’s streamlined flow, deeper shipping and tax tools, and the POS hardware ecosystem made day-to-day operations smoother. Industry trackers routinely show Shopify powering a vast share of live online stores, and in testing it’s easy to see why.

The Verdict: Which Platform Fits Your Store Best

Wix Stores is the best choice for beginners and content-first brands that want to sell quickly with minimal friction. But for scaling commerce—where speed, checkout optimization, shipping economics, and extensibility decide margin—Shopify is the clear champ.

If you expect your store to grow in SKU count, channels, or retail presence, start on Shopify. If you need a beautiful, straightforward shop today and value design freedom over depth, start on Wix Stores and launch with confidence.