Choosing the Best Website Builder: Google Sites vs. Wix

Choosing the best website builder for your brand or business can be overwhelming, given the sheer number available today. While each builder has its selling points, Google Sites and Wix are among the top choices for creating a website.

Whether you are a newbie in the digital world or a seasoned professional seeking a new start, both platforms offer unique features that can satisfy your website requirements. But how do you decide which works best for you? Let’s find out.

Google Sites vs. Wix: An Overview

Google Sites (which is a Google Workspace application) capitalizes on simplicity in website building. Since its redesign in 2016, it has provided secure and reliable hosting for over 800,000 wikis, blogs, portfolios, and business sites.

Being a no-code website builder, Google Sites offers many templates to get you started. And, it seamlessly integrates with other Google Workspace apps, allowing you to easily embed documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations into your website.

Similarly, Wix is a no-code website builder with hundreds of templates and customizable layouts designed to help you tailor your website to your interests and goals. That’s why it’s unsurprising that over 200 million registered users use it to build online stores, professional portfolios, blogs, and consultant websites.

This platform provides cloud-hosting services for its websites, guaranteeing reliability, increased loading speed, and fewer domain concerns.

Aside from the above, what else do Google Sites and Wix have to offer? Let’s find out.

1. Plans and Pricing

Like other Google Workspace apps, Google Sites is free for anyone with a Google account. The standard version provides all the features you need for a personal project with moderate requirements.

However, if you plan to integrate your business or organization into your website, you should consider paying for a Google Workspace pricing plan. Starting at $6/month, these plans offer a larger cloud storage capacity, enhanced security controls, and a custom business email.

If you want a custom solution for your endeavors, you can contact Google’s sales team for a quote on the Enterprise plan.

Similarly, Wix offers a free plan, which allows you to create a website with unlimited pages and customize it as you see fit. You also get up to 500MB of bandwidth and space. However, Wix displays ads on every page of your website, and you’ll be unable to create a custom domain name.

The premium plans unlock more features, increase your storage capacity, and eliminate ads. These plans, which are Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite, cost $6, $9, $22, and $46 per month, respectively.

Its Enterprise plan, on the other hand, requires you to reach out to a Wix sales representative for custom pricing.

2. Interface and Use Cases

Google Sites is popular for its simplicity and almost non-existent learning curve. That’s because it uses a drag-and-drop user interface to construct your web pages out of text boxes, images, and videos.

Being a Google Workspace app, this platform allows you to collaborate with friends and colleagues when designing a website. It automatically resolves all changes and conflicts, allowing you to see updates in real time. Moreover, you can leave comments and suggestions for other collaborators.

Furthermore, websites built using this platform are automatically responsive across different screen sizes—desktop, tablet, or mobile.

On the other side of the spectrum, Wix is a bit more versatile when you consider its use cases.

For example, if you want to make money from your website, Wix offers intuitive tools to help you create an online store. You can list different products, manage orders, and navigate payment gateways all from your web pages.

These e-commerce features also allow you to customize the tax and shipping charges based on your location and the delivery location. You can even offer coupons and discounts to incentivize purchases.

To help you market your products, Wix provides an integrated email marketing tool, Wix ShoutOut, which allows you to send promotional materials to your customers.

3. Add-ons and App Integration

Another feature that makes Google Sites stand out among other website builders is its integration with other Google applications. This allows you to effortlessly embed content from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and even Maps to your website.

For example, if you’ve already set up a Blogger blog, Google Sites lets you link your posts to your site. This way, your blog posts are readily accessible to your website visitors.

Moreover, incorporating Google Forms into your website lets you create interactive sessions with your visitors through feedback forms and event registrations.

But how does Wix stack up in this regard? Well, the platform has hundreds of add-ons and app integrations it offers to enhance its functionalities.

These apps are grouped into different categories like payment, marketing, and analytics, allowing you to find apps for specific tasks easily. Moreover, you only need to drag and drop the app or click a single button to integrate it with your website.

The choice here pretty much lies in whether you’re an existing user of Google’s services. If so, Google Sites might be up your alley. If not, you’ll want to consider the hundreds of third-party integrations that Wix has to offer.

4. Customization and Design

Customization and design are two vital aspects of website building that help you align your website to your vision. That’s why Google Sites provides several templates for events, school projects, bands, or pet websites.

Compared to other platforms—like Wix—these templates are few and lack variety. However, they are fully customizable, and their contents can be easily edited to match your vision

In addition, Google Sites provides several color schemes and fonts that you can use to create a unique brand identity. It also allows you to include interactive elements like clickable buttons, collapsible texts, and carousels.

However, despite the above, Wix has the edge. How? With over 900 templates to choose from—all neatly categorized for convenience—compared to Google Sites’ 12, Wix leaves you spoiled for choice.

Plus, when you consider that Google Sites doesn’t support custom HTML and CSS—and Wix does—it’s clear that the latter is the better choice for more complex projects requiring in-depth customization.

Simplicity vs. Versatility: Google Sites or Wix?

Google Sites is widely used for its simplicity—positioning itself as the ideal platform for those new to website development. Its user-friendliness and real-time collaboration features make this app a great choice for most beginners.

In addition, Google Sites’ seamless integration with various Google services like Google Drive, Docs, and Calendar makes it more appealing to those who already use these services.

On the other hand, Wix offers a more versatile approach catering to diverse needs—personal, business, blogging, or e-commerce. Its template library and app market are more extensive, providing several options for amateurs and professionals.

One edge Google Sites has over Wix is that it offers a free domain name—which is ideal if you’re on a tight budget. However, the advanced features and flexibility Wix offers are worth the investment if you want to give your website an edge over others.

Website Building Is Made Easy With Web Builders

Of the many no-code website builders that deliver quality results with little effort, Google Sites stands out as the least complicated platform. Meanwhile, Wix offers more customization options, allowing you to explore various website styles without worrying about coding.

However, if neither Wix nor Google Sites suits your interests, you can check out some great alternatives like WordPress, Squarespace, and Weebly.