How Much Does It Cost for a Wix Website? Full Breakdown
A Wix website in the UK costs £0 on the free plan, then typically £10 to £40 a month once you want a custom domain and no Wix adverts. That subscription is not the full bill. Apps, email, a domain after year one, your time, and any designer you hire usually put a small business between about £150 and £600 a year DIY, or £800 to £3,000 in year one with paid help.
What Wix charges each month
Wix is a hosted website builder. You design in their editor, they host the site, and you pay a subscription if you want your own domain and no Wix adverts. Prices change, and paying monthly costs more than paying annually. In the UK, annual billing usually lands in these bands:
| Plan | Typical annual cost | What you are paying for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | £0 | wixsite.com address, adverts, Wix branding |
| Light | £120-180 | Custom domain, no adverts, modest storage |
| Core | £170-250 | The usual small business brochure plan |
| Business | £250-350 | More storage, extra features, many shop needs |
| Business Elite | £450-600 | Higher limits, more staff, heavier traffic |
Month-to-month billing often adds 40 to 60 per cent. A Core plan promoted at about £15 a month billed annually can be £22 to £25 if you pay monthly. Trust the checkout, not the comparison grid. Wix also renames plans, so match on price and features, not on an old blog post.
Why the free plan is not a business website
The free plan works as a sandbox. Your address stays on wixsite.com, Wix branding stays on the site, and Wix can show adverts. I would not send paying customers there. Use it to learn the editor, then pick a paid plan before you share the URL.
Costs on top of the Wix plan
The subscription is the floor. Budget for these as well.
- Domain. Some paid plans include a domain for year one. After that, £10 to £20 a year for a normal .co.uk or .com, whether you keep it at Wix or a registrar.
- Email. Do not treat Wix inboxes as full business email. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is typically £5 to £10 per mailbox per month. Extra mailboxes add up fast: each one is £60 to £120 a year.
- Apps. Bookings, memberships, paid events and some forms are often extra at £5 to £15 a month each. Two apps can cost more than a Light plan.
- Design extras. A freelancer logo is often £50 to £300. A basic photoshoot for a shop or trade is often £150 to £500.
- Shop fees. Wix Stores usually needs a Business or Business Elite plan. UK card fees are often around 1.4 per cent plus 20p, more on some plans or foreign cards.
A three-year DIY budget that is actually honest
Example: a local service business with home, about, services, contact, a bookings calendar, a custom domain and one mailbox.
- Year 1: Core plan £170-250, domain £0-12, bookings app £60-120, email £60-120. Total about £290-500, plus your hours.
- Years 2 and 3: plan, domain, app and email. About £310-500 each year.
Three years sits around £900 to £1,500 before time. Monthly billing, a second app or a second mailbox can push that past £1,800.
Count your hours
In my experience a first brochure site, with photos and words already ready, often takes 15 to 40 hours: template, colours, mobile layout, forms, and the SEO fields Wix gives you (titles, descriptions, alt text). At £25 an hour, 30 hours is £750 that never appears on the Wix invoice. If you have never built a site, plan for the top of that range or more. Shops, memberships and extra languages take longer.
Hiring someone to build it on Wix
UK freelancers and small studios often charge £400 to £1,500 for a small Wix brochure site, and £1,500 to £4,000 with bookings, a shop or more pages. You usually keep paying Wix yourself after launch.
Year one, designer plus plan plus extras, commonly lands between £800 and £3,000. Then the Wix bill continues, and someone still has to update the content.
What you do not own
This is the cost I see people skip. You license a site that lives on Wix. You can copy text and images. You cannot export the layout, the apps and the site as a portable project to WordPress, Shopify or your own host. Leaving means a rebuild. In the UK that rebuild is commonly £1,000 to £5,000 for a small business site. Include that if you might outgrow Wix.
Your content sits on their servers. Wix can change plans and terms. That is fine for many local sites. It is a poor fit if you want the files, a database you control, and the right to change host or developer without starting again.
When Wix is enough, and when it is not
Wix is a fair tool when you need to be live quickly, you are happy in their editor, traffic is modest, and you do not plan to migrate. Trades, consultants and simple brochure sites often do well. SEO on Wix is usable: titles, descriptions, redirects and a sitemap are there. Speed is acceptable on a paid plan if you compress images.
Skip Wix if you need complex stock, custom features apps cannot cover, clean data export, or a codebase other developers will maintain. Four paid apps means you have already left cheap builder territory.
One-off and pay-monthly sites compared with Wix
Wix looks cheap because the headline is a monthly fee.
A one-off website build: you pay for design and build up front, then hosting, often £8 to £30 a month in the UK for a normal small business host, plus optional maintenance. You usually own the files (commonly WordPress), so you can change host or developer. The sting is the first invoice, often £1,500 to £5,000 for a proper small business site, more for a shop.
A pay-monthly website plan: a setup fee, then a monthly price that includes hosting, updates and ongoing management. That suits small businesses with no large upfront budget. Over three to five years the total can match or exceed a one-off build, but the monthly amount is easier on cash flow. I offer both one-off builds and pay-monthly plans; current figures are on arlowebstudio.com.
You are trading editor convenience against ownership and who does the work. If you want the lowest spend this month and you will do the work, Wix DIY wins. If you want the site looked after and to leave with it, a one-off or pay-monthly build is cleaner.
Work out your real Wix number before you start
- Write the pages you need. Home, about, services, contact is four. A shop, blog or booking page each adds time and often app fees.
- Choose DIY or a designer, based on hours you actually have this month.
- Pick the cheapest Wix plan that removes adverts and allows your domain. Ignore Elite unless you need the extra limits.
- Check the App Market for every feature you assume is included. Note each monthly price.
- Add email as a separate line. A personal Gmail address is not a business contact detail.
- Multiply the monthly total by 36. Add designer fees. Add a rebuild pot if lock-in bothers you.
If that three-year figure is comfortable and you like the editor, Wix is a reasonable buy. If it only looks cheap because you ignored apps, email and your time, choose another route before you sink hours into a platform you will later leave.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use the Wix free plan for a business site?
You can publish on it, but it is a poor public face. You get a wixsite.com address, Wix branding and adverts. Connect a proper domain and remove adverts on a paid plan before you send anyone there.
How much does a Wix website cost per year after year one?
For a typical small brochure site on Core, with a domain, one app and one mailbox, budget about £310 to £500 a year. Monthly billing and extra apps push that up. The Wix plan alone is often £170 to £250 if you pay annually.
How much do UK designers charge to build a Wix site?
Commonly £400 to £1,500 for a small brochure, and £1,500 to £4,000 with bookings or a modest shop. You still pay Wix after launch unless the fee includes a period of their subscription.
Do you own a Wix website if you cancel?
No. You can take your text and images. You cannot take the template, structure and apps as a working site on another host. Leaving Wix means rebuilding elsewhere.
Does a Wix plan include email and bookings?
Not in any form you should rely on. Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email, at about £5 to £10 per mailbox per month. Bookings often needs a paid Wix App on top of the site plan.
When is Wix not the cheaper option?
When you add several paid apps, pay monthly instead of annually, hire a designer, then later pay to rebuild because you cannot export the site. Over three to five years a one-off or pay-monthly site you actually own can cost less than a locked-in Wix stack you have outgrown.