Bluehost vs Wix (2023 In Depth Comparison)

The best website builders you will come across get challenging to choose, especially when comparing Bluehost vs Wix. Irrespective of your business's stature, you will get the desired results with an entire website. In such a situation, choosing the right website builder comes in. While many features are similar, you will encounter subtle differences when comparing Bluehost vs Wix. Choosing between them comes down to your requirements. Before you decide which is the best, taking a closer look at their features is essential. According to various surveys and statistics, 27% of website builders worldwide use Wix. On the other hand, 2,264,363 currently live websites worldwide are made using Bluehost.

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What is Bluehost?

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BlueHost is one of the most common web hosting providers. Before knowing about Bluehost, it is crucial to get a clear idea about web hosting and why it is essential. Starting a business in the real world requires a physical space; the same applies to the virtual world when creating a website. While setting up your online business, finding a spot where your website will live and be visible to everyone is essential a web host provider with a space in the web server to store all your data. BlueHost is a web hosting platform that provides a wide range of options when it comes to hosting services. 

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It is an excellent option for beginners planning on opening their businesses for the first time. This web host is so popular because of the experience and upgradation of services over time. Being around for a long-time, Bluehost has picked up some tricks which give them an edge against other web hosting platforms. Although it's a known name and used by around 2 million people worldwide, Bluehost has only one data centre. This data centre is the source of power for the 2 million websites, and this figure is increasing by thousands each day.

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Being such an influence in the market, they quickly grabbed the attention of Endurance International Group, which acquired Bluehost after its independent journey of seven years. Also, such big companies' support helped Bluehost increase their small family and provide better customer service. Also, another point that will impress you is BlueHost is one of the three web hosts recommended by WordPress. As 30 per cent of the websites are powered by WordPress, getting recognised by WordPress is a big deal.

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What is Wix

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Wix is a known name when you think of a simple yet effective website creator. It is leading for its varied web design features, tools, and website customisation. Standing strong since 2006, the website builder has held a consistent and growing market till now. Wix started its journey towards making goodwill and a reputation through the targeted audience. Having a growing community of customers and the number increasing every month, Wix is the first choice as a web developer. The most significant advantage of using Wix is its straightforward use. Putting in any complicated code is not required, as it is an automated process and will require just a few clicks to get your job done. 

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Designed for first-time users who don't know how to code, Wix is their one-stop solution. Also, if you want your website to stand out from the crowd, there are options for customisation available in Wix. The Wix edit will provide some detailed customising tools, and the prime advantage of using this Platform is the whole procedure is integrated into a single place. Choosing Wix will eliminate the requirement to look for separate hosting. To further simplify the process, Wix offers a varied range of templates so that you can build your dream website with just a few clicks. Select the templates of your choice and modify or customise them with the available in-build options.

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Bluehost vs Wix: What's the Difference?

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Though they offer similar features and functions, the platforms have several fundamental differences. These differences can be based on their performance, design, or customer service. Either way, the choice becomes more straightforward when you clearly understand which would suit you best. As a result, taking a close look at their pros and cons pitted against each other is mandatory. Here is a comparative study of the features and advantages associated with Bluehost and Wix:

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Bluehost vs Wix: Pros and Cons. 

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Both Bluehost and Wix have many advantages. They have a few drawbacks too. It is crucial to weigh these factors before choosing either of the platforms. Since there is a fundamental difference in the type of platforms, they can be rather challenging to choose. Here we have provided the pros and cons of individual outlets to help you determine the best for your business.

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Bluehost: Pros and Cons

The followings are some advantages and drawbacks of choosing Bluehost for your website.

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Wix: Pros and Cons

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Pricing and Value for Money

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The budget is integral to your business. Choosing the right website design platform will help you stay within a budget and get the best website. As a result, finding the perfect value-for-money Platform is essential. It is widely accepted that Bluehost services are better value for money. But what you get from Bluehost and Wix is much different. Thus, it eventually comes down to your need, and you choose accordingly. Both platforms have come up with various paid plans which include many services. The higher the cost, the larger the scope of service. But as the primary purpose of the platforms is different, what you get for a specific price is also varied.

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Bluehost

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You get powerful server resources with Bluehost that simultaneously accommodate many website visitors. Their storage capacity is also noteworthy. Thus, you can quickly build a media-intensive website. All these come for₹169/mo, which is the minimum. The cheapest plan includes a free domain for a year and 50Gb storage.

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There is unmetered bandwidth along with the primary website builder. The price range of Bluehost is from ₹169/mo to ₹279/mo. You must note, though- Bluehost does not include design tools in the plans. You will have to integrate with CMS like WordPress to build advanced websites. The primary website builder needs to be better for a professional website. 

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But with integrated WordPress, you can access all their free and premium themes to build the website. The premium ones require a one-time payment and range from $89.98/mo to $139.99/mo. The pieces are highly customisable but require an advanced understanding of website design. The cost of the website theme is added to the plan you choose.

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Wix

You do not need technical or coding experience to build a website with the most basic plan from Wix. The cost is ₹225/mo. You get a free domain for a year. There is 3GB storage and 2GB bandwidth. You also get a drag-and-drop website builder along with tips and tutorials. Though the price is much higher than Bluehost, one must also note Wix is an all-inclusive website builder.

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Moreover, Wix also has a free plan to try out their services. You do not get a custom domain name in this plan and must put ads on the website. Apart from that, you get 500MB storage and 500 MB bandwidth. Tips and guidance to use the website editor are also included. Regarding paid plans- Wix prices range from ₹80/mo to ₹325/mo.

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Features. 

Bluehost and Wix have various useful features for creating a very interactive website. The features are a crucial part of making your website operative. While Bluehost has some of the best features among web hosting platforms, Wix is an all-around web-building experience for the user.

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In terms of features, Wix is the winner. 

Though Bluehost offers better hosting, its features are limited to hosting alone. On the other hand, Wix has a well-equipped website developer and editor, templates, an app store, and even hosting. Bluehost offers more storage space than Wix, though. But Wix has various wholesome features and is suitable for creating websites quickly.

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Here is a comparison between the key features of Bluehost and Wix basic plans:

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The choice comes down to your requirements. Both have advantageous features, provided you need them. When website performance is your priority, Bluehost is the better choice. But website aesthetics is better maintained by Wix.

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Bluehost provides top performance.

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Since it is a web hosting platform, Bluehost has better performance metrics. You get superb resources directly from the host server of your website. This means the website will load faster and run smoothly compared to third-party hosting. The server's resources are directly involved in the performance of your website. However, to improve the look and design of the website, you will require third-party help. The Bluehost website designer can only create fundamental websites. A third-party CMS like WordPress is an excellent choice to make it more appealing and aesthetic.

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Wix gives better aesthetics.

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Wix is a website builder. So, it is packed with features aimed at building a website properly. Wix also hosts the website for you. This means you do not need technical knowledge to manage a website on Wix. They have high-quality templates and a drag-and-drop website designer to create them without professional help. It is straightforward to use these features, even for beginners. Moreover, Wix also has in-built tutorials which will pop up and guide you through the process. Mastering the variety of features and add-on apps is more straightforward because of the interactive interface of Wix.

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Ease of Use

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The interface and simplicity are essential to determining whether a website builder serves your purpose well. It should have a simple enough interface that a novice can use even. Whether you know about designing a website should not become a barrier if the website development platform is simple. In this aspect, Wix has the edge over Bluehost. 

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Almost all users have accepted that the Wix interface is much more straightforward to understand than the Bluehost platform. The Wix website is much simpler to build because of the built-in website editor with a drag-and-drop feature. The website will look amazing. With the Bluehost WordPress website, you need comparatively advanced knowledge of website design. But it also gives you much more flexibility in building a website.

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Wix- Drag and Drop Editor.

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The drag-and-drop editor of Wix is a huge help. Once you choose the type of website you are designing, you can easily filter the templates and start planning. Whether it is an online store or a CV or portfolio, there is a template for all of them. You can use the Wix editor to choose a template and customise it according to your choice. 

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The drag-and-drop feature is elementary to use. You can select the segment you want to move and drag it to the suitable position. You can customise the website template and make it look entirely new. Another way to edit and build a Wix website is the Wix ADI. It is easier to use than the Wix editor. You need not design the website at all. There is a questionnaire that you need to fill up. 

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Wix will create a website for you based on your preferences. You just need to specify the features and type of website you want. While there are some limitations to this type of website, it requires minimal effort on your part. You can use Wix ADI to create a complete website with just a few clicks. Alternatively, with Wix editor, you can choose from over 800 customizable templates to create a website that perfectly suits your needs.

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All these templates are categorised by industry, so filtering the best is easier. The Wix dashboard is also simple enough to design and manage the website easily. The dashboard has in-built tutorials which will walk you through every setting. It will also help you connect with the free domain and implement the best SEO practices. Wix also has the option to host your website. Although Wix offers ease of design, it has limited server resources, and its bandwidth and storage capabilities are significantly lower than other options. Nonetheless, Wix remains an all-in-one package for website creation.

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Bluehost- More advanced and complex features.

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Unlike Wix, the learning curve is stiff with Bluehost. It has a few in-built tutorials to walk you through every step of building the website on the Platform. The website builder on Bluehost is fundamental. However, a Bluehost-hosted website with WordPress has plenty of options and absolute design flexibility. WordPress is a CMS and not a website builder. Thus, it has more customisation options compared to Wix. But on the other hand, WordPress could be more beginner-friendly. In Wix, you can see the changes you make in life. But with WordPress, you create the pages in the editor and then can see the "preview”.

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It will become more time-consuming to design the website on this Platform. You will need basic coding knowledge to master CMS editor. Bluehost dashboard or cPanel is also comparatively more advanced than Wix. Also, cPanel is more sleek and modern than Wix. But once you understand it, the dashboard offers better flexibility and possibilities to modify the website.

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Website Design

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Regarding website design, both Wix and Bluehost are equally competent. While Wix is much easier to use, Bluehost offers more flexibility. Both have different features which are similarly helpful. Hence choosing between the two depends on your priorities. Here we have decoded the design features of both Wix and Bluehost to help you determine which would suit your requirement better:

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Wix- accessible design features

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The Wix templates make designing a website a breeze. The templates have a lot of variety and are modern and stylish. Creating an entirely new template from scratch is time-consuming but gives a better and unique result. You can do it with Bluehost and WordPress. But Wix templates are modified to a large extent too. You can change the font style, size, colour, background, and layout.

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You can easily drag and drop the images and text boxes and put them where it fits best. The movement is generally flexible. You can also add more features for better functionality in a Wix website. Over 250 paid and free tools to try out and add to your website. You can install them with a few clicks and determine where to place them with the editor. Though the list of apps is less extensive than WordPress or other popular CMS, it is still easier to handle and install for a newbie.

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Bluehost: Better Customisation

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WordPress has thousands of templates and gives better results when integrated with Bluehost. But Bluehost's website is more complicated to design and requires some knowledge of website design. The templates from WordPress can be free and paid. However, the WordPress templates are more sleek and modern than Wix's. With Bluehost, you need basic coding knowledge to achieve the beauty of Wix templates. Bluehost hosting with WordPress CMS yields highly customisable websites. You can create unique pages that are inspired by the theme you choose. In short, Bluehost allows total creative freedom to the users.

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In terms of applications and plugins- WordPress has over 60000 options. They are a variety of free and paid tools compared to what Wix offers. In WordPress, you get tools for almost everything you can think of. The only drawback of the wide variety of WordPress tools is that they are not official WordPress software. WordPress is an open and independent CMS which have many third-party applications. It is recommended to check the plugin's reviews before installing it. Some of these applications can be outdated or even have malicious codes that would damage the website's reputation.

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Performance and Security

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Performance and security are the basis of having a functional website. Irrespective of how well you design the website, it would only work correctly if the performance and security features were at par. In terms of performance and security, Bluehost is a better choice. They have a dedicated team to ensure the reliability and resources of the actual web server. Though the website designer is basic, they have put in much more effort to enhance the performance of websites with Bluehost hosting. Here is a comparison of Bluehost and Wix security tools:

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Meaning of the different security terms

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To implement the security features, it is essential to understand the purpose and meanings of the terms. Here we have listed them:

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SSL Certificate

Secure Socket Locker or SSL certificates encrypt the user’s connection with your website. This ensures their privacy is maintained and no sensitive information about the user gets leaked through your website. There is a padlock icon on the SSL Secure website. This encourages more traffic as people feel safer visiting such websites.

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Uptime

It is when your website is live and available to the users. Good uptime is approximately 99.95-99.99%. There should be at most 5 hours of downtime in a year.

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Website backup

The backups are a copy of all the data on your website. It is crucial to have backups to ensure there is no data loss. You can easily restore the last backed-up version if anything goes wrong.

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Software updates

Every update will impact your website on the platforms like Bluehost or WordPress. But with Wix, upgrades are automatically synced with the websites it hosts. With Bluehost and WordPress, you get notified of the available update and need to implement them manually. Based on the comparisons, the features and security appear almost identical for both Platforms. However, the significant difference is in the Uptime score.

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It will greatly affect how well the website performs throughout the year. Bluehost has enough resources to ensure your website remains to live most of the time. Thus, the chances of losing traffic are less. On the other hand, Wix has good performance but guarantees less uptime, which can be a problem for some users. Moreover, Wix needs to give you access to the technical settings of your website. Irrespective of your chosen plan, you are stuck with the settings they offer. But with Bluehost, you can change and tweak the settings to improve the performance.

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You can upgrade the plan for better storage and memory if you need help with the website loading time or other factors. "Uptime" is one of the most crucial factors in determining the website's performance. When you compare Bluehost and Wix; the other factors are almost the same except the uptime. Bluehost has more resources to manage the uptime problems. On the other hand, Wix has limited resources in this segment, and you get locked in that service. With Bluehost, you can upgrade to a better plan to improve your performance.

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Bluehost vs. Wix: Which One Is the Best for SEO?

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SEO is another essential part of ranking a website on any search engine. However, it depends mainly on the hosting and the guidance they provide. Bluehost has an in-house team of professional SEO specialists. They can provide customised SEO strategies for your website based on your business goals. Moreover, if you choose the  WP-optimized hosting version, they have many added features and plugins to optimize the project effectively. Wix has various baseline tools that help to create an SEO-optimized website. Users can easily edit meta tags, titles, descriptions, URLs, etc. They can also opt for the SEO wizard with the help of ready SEO optimisation tactics. 

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The tools also come with step-by-step guidance and tutorials to help with the effective optimisation of the website. The website owner can control the entire optimisation strategy and handle it independently. However, this task is tricky for someone entirely new to website designing and SEO, as they can only sometimes understand the suggestions. 

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Also, they cannot access more flexible SEO strategies and need more freedom with the methods. Wix is still considered a better choice for SEO for beginners because of its integrated SEO wiz tool. It gives more freedom to make SEO-based changes to the website that are comparatively understandable to beginners. On the other hand, Bluehost is entirely managed by SEO professionals who will do the task on your behalf.

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Its optimisation is done well, but you need to be given access to the backend to make changes regarding SEO. Hence, you must rely on your professional's judgment and decision regarding your website. Ultimately, it all comes down to your strategies like social media marketing, off-page marketing, etc. The SEO tactics need not be limited to your website.

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You will get the best results when you implement the strategy holistically in every aspect of your website. However, the SEO of the website is influenced by the basic structure of the website-building Platform. Do they have a steady reputation and brand following? What strategies do they implement to improve the overall performance of the Platform? These are crucial questions one must ask before choosing.

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Help and Support

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Both Bluehost and Wix are noted for their customer support features. However, Wix has a slight edge over Bluehost in this department. This is because you can easily reach Wix via phone and email. Customer care is an intricate part of any service. It would be best if you considered this while choosing the service to ensure you get the necessary help when you want. First, let us summarise the help and support features both Bluehost and Wix offer to customers:

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Bluehost is known for its excellent customer satisfaction and offers round-the-clock availability to answer any user questions. However, some users have found the support feature on Bluehost to be unclear. On the other hand, Wix has often considered a better option because of its user-friendly help and support section, allowing users to access the assistance they need easily.

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Bluehost is a hosting platform that offers guidance and tutorials to help users make the most of their services. However, as it is not a dedicated website builder, these tutorials are not specifically tailored for on-the-job guidance while editing website design.

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Alternatives to Wix and Bluehost 

Apart from Wix and Bluehost, several other website builders are top-rated because of their various features, plugins, and other advantages. If you want something more from your website builder or are looking for alternatives for other reasons, here is a list of top website builders to consider:

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Fynd Platform

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The Fynd Platform is one of the upcoming but popular website-building platforms that has already gained prominence because of its features and affordability. It has been rated as the best with 9.9/10 or 4.9/5- the highest among all such platforms. They have earned a high rank primarily because of their quality features comparable to many seasoned platforms.

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The Fynd Platform is particularly suitable for an E-commerce website. The Platform has already become a gateway to success for many small-scale business from even the most remote corners of the country. The best part is the simple setup. They have a drag-and-drop editor who can help to build a website in minutes. All you have to do is select the subscription plan you want. Then start designing the website after setting a suitable domain name. From in-built tutorials to detailed assistance with website SEO- they have it all. The cost of building a website with Fynd Platform is significantly lower than any other website builder you choose, especially Wix or Bluehost.

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Hostinger

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Hostinger is particularly noted because of its highly affordable plans. The Platform features suit beginners and those with a significant budget constraint. The interface is straightforward and clean. The overall performance is good, but you will want a more advanced website design. One of the best perks of the Platform is shared hosting, which starts from ₹69.00/mo to ₹269.00/mo.

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HostGator.

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HostGator is a sister company of Bluehost. They also provide a variety of hosting solutions. HostGator is suited for both beginners and seasoned website designers. The versatility is one of the prime attractions of HostGator. HostGator also has a custom website builder that helps you design your website independently. Unlike Bluehost, it has a drag-and-drop editor that is simpler to use. Hence, you get the best of Bluehost and Wix when you choose HostGator.

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Despite the variety of features, the price of HostGator plans is surprisingly competitive. It starts from $5.95/month to $9.95/month. It also has shared hosting solutions too. The price for the website builder with a shared hosting solution starts from $2.75/month. Setting up a website using this Platform takes a few hours, which is another reason behind its popularity.

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Shopify

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Shopify is a suitable website builder for an E-commerce website. It has a variety of features specifically designed to boost E-commerce websites. They also have flexible payment gateway options that have become necessary in commercial websites. The editor and designing solutions are also varied and innovative. However, Shopify is comparatively costly, and only seasoned businesses prefer it to stay within their budget.

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Comparison summary

Bluehost and Wix are very popular choices, but choosing the best takes time. We have shared a comparative study of both platforms by tallying their features here. This will help you determine the best option for your business. Bluehost and Wix are both noted for their straightforward approach to website design. If you are a budding entrepreneur, both platforms are equally suitable. It all comes down to the basic requirements your business has. The following table compares Bluehost and Wix based on all their features and perks. You get a summarised idea about both platforms that will help with the decision-making.

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Conclusion

Both Bluehost and Wix are popular platforms for building a website. Both platforms have plenty of features to create any such website, from a business website to a blog. However, it all comes down to your specific requirements. Bluehost is more suitable for those who need more design flexibility and have enough skill and knowledge to create a website from scratch.

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Wix is more suitable for users new to website building and comfortable with an in-built editor. Apart from Wix and Bluehost, you can consider platforms like the  Fynd Platform. Though a relatively new option, it is the ideal choice to create an e-commerce website. Fynd Platform is affordable and rated among today's most affordable platforms. Let your website building be done perfectly when you make an informed decision regarding the best Platform to create a website.