Wix Editor vs Wix ADI: Which Should You Use to Build Your Website?
Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more
Written and researched by:
Comments: 9
Wix is currently used by over 110 million people around the world to create stunning and functional websites. It comes packed with the latest website building features like the best ecommerce tools, a phenomenal app market, social media integration, SEO prompts… But wait! Which of their products should you use for design: Wix Editor or Wix ADI, and what’s the difference?
Put simply, Wix Editor is a fully immersive platform that offers you total control over every aspect of creating your website. You start by choosing one of over 800 designer templates that you feel best suits the website you want.
Wix ADI on the other hand, is a far more stripped-back, quicker product that offers a users a simpler process.
Imagine you’re a kid again and you have a younger sibling who’s smarter than you. Sure it’s annoying, but you’re still stronger and more powerful than them. Wix Editor is like the stronger, older sibling and Wix ADI, the younger, smarter one.
Throughout this guide we’ll look at seven different areas and explain the similarities and differences between Wix Editor and Wix ADI. After that, the final verdict, will be up to you to decide which one is right for you.
From our research, Wix comes out on top as the best all-around website builder on the market today. We asked everyday people to try Wix for the first time and interviewed them after. Unsurprisingly, their opinions matched our results: 88% of people said they’d strongly recommend Wix to a friend who’s looking to get online.
But what are the pros and cons of each Wix product?
Pros and Cons of Wix Editor
Pros
✔️ Offers total control over the design of your website
✔️ Gives full access to Wix’s app market
✔️ Loads of helpful information in the help center should you get stuck
Cons
❌ Can be relatively time consuming in comparison to using Wix ADI
❌ Is being used less in general as Wix ADI continues to improve
❌ Because everything can be edited, it’s easy to go against website design best practices by mistake
Pros and Cons of Wix ADI
Pros
✔️ The fastest way to get a Wix website live
✔️ Great for pulling existing online information into a central hub
✔️ Ideal for those who don’t want creative control over the design
Cons
❌ Doesn’t offer comprehensive editing tools
❌ Can’t fully access Wix’s app market
❌ Less information available than on Wix Editor in the help center
How Do Wix Editor and Wix ADI Work?
Wix Editor uses a drag-and-drop functionality – similar to PowerPoint – giving you total control over the placement of all your site’s content and features. You start off by selecting a template you love from Wix’s library:
With Wix ADI, you begin by answering a few questions about the type of website you want, the features you need, and what kind of style you’d like the site to have.
After that, Wix ADI will generate your website for you. Amazing, right!
You’ll still be able to edit your site’s aesthetic but instead of drag-and-drop, Wix ADI works in sections which can be chopped and changed. Think of these website sections as lego blocks, you can change their appearance and stack them in any order you want until you’re happy.
Further Information
- Wix Review – Our overall view of Wix as a website builder
- Wix Templates Review – Sure having hundreds of templates is impressive, but how good are they?
Ease of Use
The Winner
Wix ADI is slightly easier to use
Wix has the joint best ease of use score of 4.4 out of 5, alongside Squarespace. In testing, we found customizing the templates incredibly easy as the Wix Editor uses drag-and drop functionality. Users in testing said:
“So many elements are available to add. Everything is there premade and you only have to customize it for your site.”
You have complete freedom to rearrange anything on the page and Wix Editor will help you realign anything you move.
From our own user testing, we found people really enjoyed the simplicity of Wix Editor’s interface and felt it was a nice, gentle slope into the world of website creation. The only downsides we found in testing were that Wix can give some too much choice in customizing a website. At times, your site could become cluttered or overwhelming from adding a lot to it.
Wix ADI makes it even easier to build your website. You start by answering a few simple questions, such as the type of website you want, the name of the site, and what design style you would like, then Wix ADI will use machine learning to build a website for you.
Wix ADI also has the ability to pull existing information online into your new website, so whether you have something online already, or just want to pull through your social media pages, Wix ADI does the work for you.
From there, you can edit elements of the site, add in or remove certain features, and adjust the layout. As one of the people we got to test Wix ADI put it:
“It’s a lot easier to get a site together [than on Wix Editor] because it gives you everything and it’s very easy to pull your social media through. If you’re not comfortable or don’t have a creative mindset then it [Wix ADI] is a lot easier to do.”
Both products are really user-friendly but for the easiest option, and both being Wix products you know you’ll have the easiest builder on the market. But purely for ease and speed the winner here has to be Wix ADI.
Design Functionality
The Winner
Wix Editor wins for design functionality
Wix scores 4.6 out of 5 for the design category of our research. The score saw a 4.5% increase since last year’s tests, because Wix has expanded its template offering, adding more to the navigation of websites and life long visual appeal of a website.
The Wix Editor gives you total creative control over everything. You can select from hundreds of industry-specific templates, split into 16 main categories.
You’ll also have access to Wix’s extensive app market where you can use both its in-house apps, or third-party ones to boost your sites capabilities. In a nutshell, Wix Editor lets you edit everything and anything about your website.
Wix ADI doesn’t offer templates, it generates a design for you based on what you tell it. You can make changes to the website it creates after, but you will be limited in the amount of apps and features you can embed.
How the design usually works is it asks you what style of website you’d like along with asking about your business. Then it will create the design based on your choices.
If you want to use more than the recommended apps you are provided, you’ll have to use the Wix Editor. There’s no doubt that Wix ADI is quicker, but if you plan on selling via your website, we’d recommend the Wix Editor as you will eventually need external apps to grow your site. A tip from the author:
“It’s important to note, that although you can switch to Wix Editor at any point while using Wix ADI, any changes you make will not be saved should you return to the ADI version.”
When it comes to design, Wix Editor wins hands down. It’s flexible and gives you everything you need to make your website look exactly the way you want.
App Market
The Winner
Wix Editor has more apps
Wix has a stunning app marketplace, packed full with loads of impressive and useful apps. If you think of your website like your house, apps are the furniture, pictures, and accessories that make that house a home.
Wix Editor opens the door to the whole market. You can browse from the hundreds of in-house and third-party apps they offer, and embed any of them straight into your site. From site analytics to appointment bookings to live chats, Wix Editor puts everything at your fingertips.
Wix ADI restricts your access to the market. It will provide you with a selection of apps, tailored to you based on the information you submitted. Beyond that, you’ll have to enter Wix’s Editor mode to see the full extent of what’s on offer. The only accessible apps via Wix ADI are:
- Wix Restaurants
- Wix Stores
- Wix Bookings
- Get Subscribers
- Wix Events
- Wix Music
- Wix New Blog
- Wix Pro Gallery
- Bands in Town
- Wix Video
- Wix Chat
- Member’s Area
- Forum
- Pricing Plans
Again, Wix Editor is the clear winner here, offering you the chance to browse and use apps. For example, you’ll be able to use apps like Zonify for Amazon affiliates, Smile to offer customer rewards to boost sales. You will also be able to use analytics apps to understand potential customers, and even chat bots for seamless customer service.
Ecommerce Features
The Winner
It’s a tie! Given both Wix Editor and Wix ADI use the same ecommerce features, there’s nothing to split them. Unlike the previous areas discussed, Wix’s ecommerce features function in the exact same way regardless of whether you opt for Wix Editor or Wix ADI.
Wix has incredibly good sales features, gaining a 4.5 out of 5 score for them. It allows you to sell on Facebook and Instagram, along with market places like Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy.
Some of Wix’s key ecommerce features include: the ability to sell over 100 products, creating discounts, and managing your shipping.
If you’re looking to sell online and want a more extensive review of Wix’s ecommerce capabilities, why not check out our review of Wix eCommerce.
Wix is the perfect website builder if you have a few products to sell but if you sell products in bulk and want to scale, it may be worth looking at our list of the best online store builders where we talk about more powerful platforms, such as Shopify and BigCommerce.
Further Information
- Wix eCommerce Review – Find out how good Wix is for building an online store.
- Wix vs Shopify – How does Wix stack up against powerful ecommerce platforms like Shopify?
- Best Ecommerce Platforms – Compare the best of the best for selling online.
Pricing and Value for Money
The Winner
It's a Tie!
Because Wix Editor and Wix ADI were built under the same Wix roof, both have the same pricing structure. But if you consider you can pay for extra apps with the Wix Editor, it might in the long run cost more – for extra functionality.
Wix’s value for money score has seen a decrease of 11.8% in this year’s testing, achieving a score of 3 out of 5. The decrease was because Wix’s Light plan increased by 14% from $14 to $16, but it’s worth noting that almost every website builder has increased its plans in the last year.
Wix’s price plans are as follows:
- Free plan: – $0
- Light plan: – $16/month
- Core plan (Basic ecommerce): – $27/month
- Business plan (Standard ecommerce): – $32/month
- Business Elite plan (Advanced ecommerce): – $159/month
- Enterprise: – Custom pricing
As you’d imagine, each plan gives you access to different levels of features. Wix also has a free plan for both Wix Editor and Wix ADI. But on the free plan, you’ll have Wix advertising on your site and you won’t be able to connect a domain.
If you’re a small business then we would always advise using a paid plan because your website is an extension of your brand. Having Wix ads plastered over it doesn’t give your business a great first impression. Still, the free plan is a great way to “try before you buy,” along with an opportunity to build your site before you spend on a plan.
To read up on exactly what you get for your money on each plan, see our Wix pricing review.
If you’re wondering which is better value for money out of the Wix Editor and Wix ADI, it’s another tie, folks. You won’t see any difference to the functionality of Wix Editor or Wix ADI based on the plan, the only main difference in value is you can do more with the Wix Editor, but Wix ADI will work out cheaper without spending on apps.
SEO
The Winner
Wix Editor has better SEO tools
This is something Wix has done a lot of work on. Wix has maintained a 5 out of 5 score for SEO, whether you’re using the Wix Editor or Wix ADI you will get some of the best SEO tools on the market.
You have the ability to change your URLs, add alt text to images, and amend meta titles/descriptions. With Wix you’ll also get mobile friendly designs to keep the increasing number of mobile shoppers happy. Wix also comes with a recent integration with Semrush, to help you find the right keywords for your website.
You can’t manage specific URL pages on Wix ADI though, making it slightly less appealing if you really need your site to rank highly.
Where they differ is Wix Editor’s ability to make full use of the app market. By using integrated Google features such as analytics and search console, you can help make your site more SEO friendly and rank higher on search engines.
During testing we noticed Wix is best if you’ve done some SEO research beforehand as you’ll need some background SEO know-how. For example, Wix doesn’t tell you about alt text or prompt you to add it either, instead you’ll need to search for it when you upload your image.
For those that don’t know, alt text is an important SEO factor that helps those who are visually impaired to know what image is being displayed through a short descriptive sentence. Alt tags are an important part of image optimization for SEO.
Also, in the template we chose in the Wix Editor, Wix automatically formats the first heading as an H2, which suprised us; usually the title is an H1! This meant we had to change it for an H1 ourselves. These small things could add up in the end, leading to your SEO suffering in the long run – so it’s not ideal if you have little to no SEO knowledge.
We’d recommend beginners to delve into SEO learning with Wix’s guides. In terms of helpful guides, you can use Wix’s knowledge base for both products with guides on how you can improve your site’s SEO. Further information can be found in our Wix SEO review.
Both Wix Editor and Wix ADI are useful for SEO but the Wix Editor just edges it based on its access to SEO apps from the market.
Help and Support
The Winner
Wix Editor wins for help and support
Since last year’s testing, Wix saw a huge 10.5% increase in help and support score, which now sits at 4.8 out of 5, the best help and support on the market. The great news is, with both Wix Editor and Wix ADI, you get access to all of Wix’s help features.
The help and support features you’ll get with either the Wix Editor or Wix ADI is:
- 24/7 phone line
- 24/7 live chat support
- Social media support
- Video tutorials
- A community forum
- A knowledge base
- Advanced specialist support
From the research we’ve done, Wix came out as the best website builder for help and support. Its knowledge base is clean, clear, and returns accurate search results – what we loved about the Wix support was that you can get help directly in the editor as you’re editing your site. You simply hit the question mark and you’re able to get answers quickly.
Both versions offer the same help but we think the Wix Editor just edges it here, simply because there’s more information in the knowledge base and you can directly get help within the editor itself. Sorry ADI, we’re sure you’ll catch up.
Further Information
- How To Design a Website – Follow our 7 essential steps when creating your own site.
- Why You Should Not Hire a Web Designer – Learn why building your own website could be the best decision you ever make.
Summary: Wix Editor vs Wix ADI
As you can see, much like siblings, Wix Editor and Wix ADI have both similarities and differences. It’s the Wix Editor, though, that wins out overall.
The main point to take away is that both can be great depending on what you’re looking for in a website builder.
Wix Editor gives you complete control over the look and feel of your site. There are over 300 apps to choose from and therefore best for online stores and brands that want control over customization.
Wix ADI is the easier, faster way to get online. It takes most of the design work away from you by generating a unique site, based on the information you provide.
The website you are given will be a combination of designs you’ve specified you like, features you have said the website requires, and any information already online that’s relevant, be that a pre-existing website or social media pages.
For a time-efficient, simple solution, Wix ADI is the clear winner. You can also start on Wix ADI and cross over to the Wix Editor, if you’re really not getting along with it.
To read more about Wix as an overall product, read our comprehensive Wix review. So there you have it – one great website builder, two brilliant products. Time to see which you prefer!
Further Information
- Best Website Builders: If you want to compare Wix to other website builders, check out our interactive guide that pits the best website builders against each other.
FAQs
“Wix ADI isn’t just a new website builder – it sets a new market standard for web design.” (Nitzan Achsaf, Head of Wix ADI)
As you can imagine, Wix ADI’s popularity is rising. It takes a fraction of the time to build a website using ADI rather than Wix Editor and this change to an AI approach can be seen throughout society.
In fact, business leaders said they believe AI is going to be fundamental in the future, with 72% of them terming it a “business advantage.”
Wix has over 800 templates you can choose from, which vary between business-specific designs, like real estate, finance, law, and marketing. To more personal ones like photography, blogging, and online resumes.
The same goes for Wix’s features and plans. Wix offer a mix for either business use, personal use or some that can be for both.
Wix code is available via Wix Editor and has everything you need to create stunning designs, robust websites, and adhere to SEO best practices.
To learn more about Wix code, check out our useful guide on Wix Code Overview for everything you need to know.
Please note the insight contained within this article is for general information purposes only. We’re glad to answer any questions you may have about this article and its supporting research. Read more here and for further information, please contact Website Builder Expert directly via email at info@websitebuilderexpert.com.
Found This Guide Helpful?
Question – Did this guide benefit you? Leave a comment below.
Do you know anyone who can benefit from this guide? Send them this page or click on the share buttons on the left.
You’ll be helping us out by spreading the word about our website, and you’ll be helping them out!
Written by:
Researched by:
Found this article helpful?
Share this article or comment below!
9 comments