Website Building Platforms: WordPress, Wix or Shopify? How to Choose the Right One for Your Business

"Which platform should we build the website on?" is the first decision in every project, and also the hardest one to fix later. A website building platform determines who can edit the site, how much it costs every month, how fast it loads, and what happens when you want to add a store or switch providers. In this article, we give an honest comparison of WordPress, Wix and Shopify, touch on custom code as well, and finish with six questions that decide the choice. There is no "best platform," because no such thing exists. There is the platform that fits your business.

What you are actually deciding when you choose a platform

Six questions hide behind the decision: who manages the website day to day, what the running cost is, how complete your control over SEO is, how fast the site loads, how much flexibility you have when you want something non-standard, and whether you need a store. Let's go through the three main platforms in Israel based on these questions.

WordPress: the open, widely used platform

WordPress is an open-source content management system that powers a large share of the world's websites, and in Israel, too, it is the default choice for most agencies.

• Who manages it: You, after a short training session. Editing pages, articles and images doesn't require a developer.
• Running costs: Hosting and a domain that you pay for separately (how to choose them is explained in our domain and hosting guide), and sometimes a paid theme and plugins. On top of that comes maintenance: security updates, backups and checking that plugins work together.
• SEO: Full control over titles, URLs, Schema and the sitemap. That is why most content websites in Israel are built on it.
• Speed: Depends entirely on how the site was built. A lean WordPress site on good hosting is very fast; WordPress with 40 plugins is slow.
• Flexibility: Very high. Almost any feature exists as a plugin or can be developed.
• Store: WooCommerce turns it into a full online store. The comparison with Shopify is in our Shopify vs. WooCommerce article.

Who it suits: Most businesses that want a brand website with a blog, want to edit content themselves and keep full control over SEO, and are fine with someone maintaining the site (or with doing it themselves using our maintenance guide).

Wix: the easiest to start with, the hardest to leave

Wix is a closed, Israeli drag-and-drop platform. Hosting, security and updates are included in the subscription, and you can set up a basic website on your own within a day.

• Who manages it: You, with no technical knowledge. That is the big advantage.
• Running costs: A monthly subscription based on the plan (on the market, tens of shekels a month for the basic plans, more for a store), with no separate maintenance.
• SEO: Enough for most small businesses. You get titles, descriptions and URLs, but less in-depth control than in WordPress, and a structure that is hard to change as the site grows.
• Speed: Average. It can be improved, but the ceiling is lower.
• Flexibility: Limited to what the platform allows. And importantly: you can't export the site. Moving to WordPress or any other platform means rebuilding it.
• Store: Available, and suitable for small catalogs.

Who it suits: Freelancers and small businesses that want a basic brand website, will update it themselves, and aren't planning a lot of content or large campaigns. If you plan to grow, know in advance that moving out is expensive.

Shopify: the standard for online stores

Shopify is a closed platform built for online stores only: inventory, cart, checkout, shipping and apps are all built in, and hosting and security are included.

• Who manages it: You. Uploading products and managing orders is simple and convenient.
• Running costs: A monthly subscription based on the plan, and in Israel usually a transaction fee as well, because you connect an external Israeli payment provider. Check the current terms on Shopify's pricing page before you price your products.
• SEO: Good for product and category pages, less flexible for content and blogging than WordPress.
• Speed: Good and stable, because the infrastructure is managed by Shopify.
• Flexibility: High within the world of commerce, limited outside it. Deep customizations require a developer.
• Store: That's the whole point. It is especially well suited to a catalog of dozens of products or more.

Who it suits: A business whose store is the core of the website and that wants to start selling fast without technical hassle. For a brand website with no sales, it isn't the right choice.

Custom code: when the project isn't standard

There are cases where no off-the-shelf platform fits: a system with a personal account area, a SaaS platform, or a website that needs performance and features that templates don't offer. That's when you build in code. The advantage: there is no ceiling. The downside: every change requires a developer, and the upfront cost is higher. Most small and medium-sized businesses don't need this, and a brand website or a store on an off-the-shelf platform will do the job.

The comparison in one table

Six questions that decide the choice

1. Who will edit the website? You, with no technical knowledge → Wix, or WordPress with training. An agency that supports you → WordPress.
2. Are content and SEO your growth engine? If so → WordPress. An active blog, articles and service pages benefit from full control.
3. Is there a store? A large catalog, with the store at the core → Shopify. A small store alongside a brand website → WooCommerce.
4. How important is speed? If you run paid ads, every second of loading time costs money. Check each platform with a website speed test before you commit.
5. Where will you be in three years? If you plan to grow, don't choose a platform you can't leave.
6. Who maintains it? WordPress needs someone to update it and back it up. Wix and Shopify do that for you.

The answers to these six questions determine the platform. They don't determine your Google ranking: the SEO guidelines from Google Search Central are the same for every platform, and a good website can be built on any of them.

What Simple Web does about it

We are an AI-first marketing agency from Bnei Brak, certified Meta partners and Google advertising experts, with 200+ clients and 28 five-star Google reviews. We build websites with AI: our systems do the heavy lifting in analysis, content and optimization, and our team decides on strategy and design. We choose the platform based on what the business needs, usually WordPress for brand and content websites and Shopify or WooCommerce for online stores, so you can manage the content yourself. A brand website starts from ₪5,000 (a range of ₪5,000–15,000+ depending on scope) and is ready in about 3 weeks (14 business days), with built-in SEO and CRM and 6 months of SEO articles as a gift (worth ₪4,500). An online store: ₪8,000–30,000 depending on the size of the catalog. What building with AI looks like in practice, and what still requires a human, is explained in our article on AI website building.

There is no "best" platform; there is the platform that fits your business: who manages it, what the running costs are, how much SEO control and flexibility you need, and whether there is a store. Answer the six questions, and if you are still unsure, talk to us and we will help you choose without pushing you toward any particular platform.

Sources

• WordPress.org — the official website of the open-source system
• Wix — the platform and its subscription plans
• Shopify — Pricing — the current subscription plans and transaction fees
• Google Search Central — the SEO guidelines that apply to every platform