Website kit or Wix: what does each cost over three years?

We took the plan prices from Wix's own plans page and the domain price from Wix's own blog, then set a Classic kit and a web address beside them. Wix's page shows prices for yearly subscriptions, paid in full when you buy, and says they do not include tax.¹ A Light plan is $17 a month, which is $204 a year. Core is $29 a month, Business is $39 and Business Elite is $159.¹

Wix also has a free plan at $0. Its FAQ says a Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding, so the table starts at Light, the cheapest paid plan.¹

The first year's web address is free on a yearly plan, through a voucher for a new domain bought from Wix.¹ Wix Help says the voucher must be redeemed within two months, does not cover privacy protection, cannot pay for a renewal, and that the domain renews the next year at the regular price.⁷ Wix's blog gives $21.35 for a one-year .com renewal.² For the kit side we use two prices for a .com: $10.97 a year, which is Verisign's wholesale fee from November 1, 2026,⁴ and $20 a year, the price Squarespace's help page gives for common endings like .com.⁵ Your registrar's price will differ.

Plenty, and it is worth paying for if you want it. These are the items Wix lists on its plans page.

• Hosting and security. Wix says every plan includes reliable web hosting, with advanced security monitoring and 99.99% uptime.¹ With a kit you choose a host and set it up.

• An editor. Wix lists a drag-and-drop editor, more than 2,000 templates and AI tools that can build a site from a prompt.¹ A kit is files that you change by hand or with an AI helper. For how templates and kits differ, see website templates vs ready-made website kits.

• Support. Wix lists 24/7 customer care on all plans.¹ We answer kit questions by email.³

• Payments, bookings and a store. Core and the plans above it list payments, scheduling and eCommerce tools.¹ Our Classic and Motion kits use tap-to-call links and have no form, so they do not take orders or bookings.⁹

• A longer refund window. Wix lists a 14-day money-back guarantee.¹ A kit is refunded in full until you download it, and not after.³

• Room to grow. Light has 2 GB of storage and two site collaborators. Core has 50 GB and five.¹

• A free start. Wix says you can create a site for free and choose a plan when you are ready.¹

• No subscription. A Classic kit is $39.99 once.³ There is no plan to renew. You still pay for a web address each year.

• Files you can host anywhere. A Wix help page says a Wix site needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers, and that its setup does not support external hosting.⁸ A kit is plain files. Cloudflare says requests for static files are free and unlimited on its free plan, so a host can cost $0.⁶

• Fonts and a license. The kit page says fonts are included with nothing to install, and that the kit comes with a license for one business and one website.³

• A guide. The kit page says the steps for putting the site online are included. Kits with a setup page, called START HERE, ask plain questions and build the site with you.³

Wix's FAQ says creating a site is free, and a Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding.¹ A Wix help page says a Wix site needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers. It describes no way to export the site, and it says the content you build on Wix belongs to you.⁸ You can connect a domain you bought somewhere else, which needs a plan.⁸ So, as we read it, a move later means building the site again on another service.

With a kit, the files are yours to copy to another host if your host changes its rules. The license covers one business and one website.³ You have to keep your own copy of the files and keep your web address renewed.

• You want to take payments, sell online or take bookings, with the tools in one place.¹

• You want to edit with a visual editor and never touch a file or a web address setting.¹

• You want 24/7 customer care and a 14-day money-back guarantee.¹

• You would rather pay a plan fee than spend an afternoon on setup.

• Several people need to work on the site. Core lists five collaborators and Business lists ten.¹

When your customers mostly call, and a few pages with your services, hours and phone number will do. You pay once, keep the cost near the price of a web address, and own files that can move. You follow a guide to put it online, or ask us to help. A few kits to look at: Plumber, Electrician, Hair salon, Cleaning service and Landscaping. The whole list is at website kits. For the plain-files route with no monthly fee, see can I get a website with no monthly fee. For the wider cost picture, see what a small business website costs. For Squarespace's prices and the options with no monthly fee, see Squarespace alternatives with no monthly fee, and to weigh a kit and a builder against a designer, see kit, builder or web designer: which to choose.

We read Wix's plans page, its domain pages and its help pages on October 21, 2026, from New York, read the plans page again on October 22, and worked out each total from the cents. We sell website kits, so we have a stake in this question. Wix is the only website builder we compare here. Wix's prices and offers change, and a different country or a different week can show different ones, so check its page before you buy.