Wix or Shopify for a 5-product store?
It depends less on how many products you sell, and more on how you sell them.
Grace Choong | 29 Oct 2026 | 4 min read
Short answer
Choose Wix if your brand story or services come first and your products sit alongside them. Choose Shopify if selling products is the business and you want to grow sales with promotions, automated emails and add-ons.
I build on both. Neither is perfect. Here's how I help founders choose.
The simple way to think about it
Wix is for storytelling. It suits founders, entrepreneurs and small businesses who want a beautiful, functional website that shows off who they are and what they offer. Selling is part of it, not all of it. Wix has its own built-in tools for an online store, bookings and email marketing, so you can run services and products from one place.
Shopify is for selling. It suits start-ups and brands whose business is transactional. Payments, checkout, automated emails and promotions are all in one platform, and it's easy to navigate and build. If you need something extra, there's probably an app for it. The Shopify App Store lists about 17,900 active apps (AppJubilee, May 2026), compared with 500+ in the Wix App Market.
Wix vs Shopify at a glance
| Wix | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Brands led by story or services, with some products | Product-led brands focused on sales |
| Entry price to sell online | Core plan, USD 29 a month | Basic plan, USD 29 a month |
| Next plan up | Business, USD 39 a month | Grow, USD 79 a month |
| Design freedom | High: easy to make it look unique | Good, within its themes |
| Built-in extras | Store, bookings, email marketing | Checkout, discounts, automated emails |
| Apps | 500+ | About 17,900 |
| Watch out for | Not every app or integration is available | Costs add up with paid apps and fees |
Prices are in USD, billed annually, as listed by Website Builder Expert for Shopify (May 2026) and Wix (September 2026). Local prices can differ.
What I like, and what frustrates me
Wix strengths
- Beautiful, flexible design without hiring a developer.
- Services, bookings, store and email in one place.
- Great for pages that tell a story: about, process, case studies, blog.
Wix weaknesses
- A smaller app market, so some tools you want may not exist.
- Fewer advanced selling features than Shopify as you grow.
Shopify strengths
- Built to sell: checkout, discounts and automated emails work well out of the box.
- Easy to navigate, and quick to build with themes.
- Plug and play: a huge range of apps for almost any need.
Shopify weaknesses
- Monthly app fees add up quickly.
- Less suited to storytelling and service pages.
- A hidden cost for many Asian brands: Shopify's own payment system, Shopify Payments, isn't available in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines (Shopify Help Center). Using another payment provider adds a Shopify transaction fee, 2% of each sale on the Basic plan.
So which should you choose?
Ask yourself one question: is my website mainly a shop, or mainly a home for my brand?
- Mainly a shop: choose Shopify. You'll grow into its selling tools.
- Mainly a home for my brand, with a few products or services: choose Wix. You'll get a better looking site for less effort.
- Not sure yet: start with what you'll actually sell in the next 12 months, not what you might sell one day.
Grace ChoongFractional Digital Marketing Officer and co-founder, Good Ground Digital