Is Wix legit? Yes. Wix is a real, publicly traded website builder that has been around since 2006, with more than 300 million registered users and about $2 billion in yearly revenue. It also has a billing record you should know about, and once you build on it, your site can’t leave. This guide covers who owns Wix, whether it’s safe, what its reviews really say, what it costs after the first year, why people get surprise renewal charges, and when we’d tell a business to use it.
We set up domains, DNS and hosting for small businesses every week. Every number below links to Wix’s own pages and SEC filings, the BBB, Trustpilot or W3Techs, and was checked on November 2, 2026.
Is Wix legit?
Yes. Wix is a Nasdaq-listed company founded in 2006. It reported 304.2 million registered users and $1.99 billion in revenue for 2025, and the BBB rates it A+.
You don’t have to take Wix’s word for its size. As a public company, it files reports with the SEC. Its 2025 annual report (Form 20-F) lists 304.2 million registered users at the end of 2025, up from 282.4 million a year earlier, and about 6.1 million premium subscriptions, which are the paid plans. Revenue for 2025 was $1.99 billion. Its second-quarter 2026 results show $563.1 million in revenue for the quarter, up 15% from a year earlier.
The Better Business Bureau rates Wix A+ and lists it as accredited since July 2025, with a business start date of May 2006. That grade measures how a company handles complaints, not how happy its customers are, and the BBB profile adds a telling note: because of the volume of complaints it receives about Wix, it publishes only 1 out of every 5 complaints it handles.
So Wix isn’t a scam. The better questions are whether it’s the right home for your business website, what it costs once the first year ends, and what happens if you ever want to leave. Those answers are more mixed.
Who owns Wix?
Wix is owned by its shareholders. It has traded on Nasdaq as WIX since November 2013, and co-founder Avishai Abrahami has been CEO since the company started in 2006.
The 20-F says Wix was founded in late 2006 and first sold shares to the public in November 2013, at $16.50 a share. Avishai Abrahami is its co-founder, CEO and honorary chairman, and the same filing names his brother, Nadav Abrahami, as a co-founder of Wix. No single owner controls it: as of January 31, 2026, its four largest shareholders together held about 28.2% of the shares.
Is Wix based in Israel?
Yes. Wix.com Ltd. is incorporated under Israeli law and its main offices are in Tel Aviv. Its US headquarters, listed with the BBB, is in New York.
The 20-F lists the company’s principal executive offices in Tel Aviv and spends several pages on how conditions in Israel could affect the business. For US customers the BBB profile lists Wix’s headquarters at 100 Gansevoort St in New York. Where the company is based doesn’t change how your site runs: Wix’s plans page lists multi-cloud hosting on every paid plan.
Is Wix safe?
For the platform itself, yes. Wix runs the servers, turns on HTTPS for new sites, and says it is PCI Level 1, SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certified. Your login is the weak spot.
Wix’s security overview says it “is a PCI Level 1 Merchant & Service Provider, is SOC2 Type 2 compliant, and is ISO 27001 certified.” It also says all new sites get HTTPS automatically, data is encrypted in transit, and its security team monitors the platform around the clock. PCI Level 1 is the top tier for companies that handle card payments, which matters if you sell through Wix.
Because Wix is a closed, hosted platform, you don’t update server software or core code yourself. For owners who never want to think about updates, that’s a real advantage.
Can a Wix website be hacked? Wix secures the servers, so the part you control is your account. If someone gets your Wix login, they get your whole site, your domain settings and any store data. Use a long, unique password on the email address tied to your Wix account and on Wix itself, and don’t share one login with everyone who edits the site.
What do Wix reviews say?
They’re split. Trustpilot shows 3.4 out of 5 from 29,356 reviews, with 71% five-star and 22% one-star. The complaints cluster around billing and renewals.
On Trustpilot, Wix has 3.4 stars from 29,356 reviews. Most ratings sit at the extremes: 71% are five stars and 22% are one star, with very little in between. Trustpilot’s own summary says reviewers find Wix easy to use and like the templates, and that the strongest dissatisfaction is about unexpected payment charges. Wix has replied to 85% of its negative reviews.
The BBB reviews point the same way. Among the latest ones on the profile are a customer who says a renewal was charged after cancelling, and another who has paid for years of premium service and says glitches went unfixed for nearly a year.
Our read: people who build a simple site and stay on Wix tend to be happy. People who run into a renewal they didn’t expect, or try to leave, are the ones writing one-star reviews.
How much does Wix cost?
Wix has a free plan. Paid plans run from $17 to $159 a month, but those prices are for yearly plans paid in full up front, so the real bill is $204 to $1,908 a year.
Here’s what Wix’s plans page showed on November 2, 2026, in US dollars, before taxes. Wix says the displayed prices “are for yearly subscriptions, paid in full at the time of purchase.”
| Wix plan | Shown price | Paid up front for a year |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 (Wix branding, no custom domain) |
| Light | $17 a month | $204 |
| Core | $29 a month | $348 |
| Business | $39 a month | $468 |
| Business Elite | $159 a month | $1,908 |
Two details catch people out. The free domain that comes with most plans is a voucher for one year, valid only for a new domain bought from Wix, so the domain renews at Wix’s price in year two. And the free plan keeps Wix branding on your site and doesn’t let you use your own domain, so almost every business ends up on a paid plan.
Wix also raises prices. Its 20-F mentions “the price increase implemented in early 2024” as one reason revenue per subscription grew. For comparison with what a website costs elsewhere, our guide to how much a website costs breaks down build and hosting prices across platforms.
Why did Wix charge me for a renewal?
Yearly Wix plans renew automatically, and Wix’s 14-day money-back guarantee only covers new plans, not renewals. A surprise charge of a few hundred dollars is usually a yearly plan renewing.
Wix’s refund policy offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on new premium plans, and it says the policy does not apply to a plan renewal or an upgrade. Domain purchases have no 14-day guarantee at all. If you cancel after the first 14 days, auto-renewal stops and the plan stays active until it expires, then your site drops back to the free version.
At today’s prices, a Core plan renews at $348 and a Business plan at $468, charged in one payment. That’s why searches like “why did Wix charge me $300” are common. To avoid it, turn off auto-renew in your Wix billing settings as soon as you decide you won’t keep the plan, and put the renewal date in your calendar.
Renewal pricing is also the subject of a lawsuit. Top Class Actions reports that a California customer filed a proposed class action, Mahallati v. Wix.com Ltd., in federal court in Northern California. He says he paid $291.60 for his first year, was emailed that renewal would cost $324, and was charged $384 after his refund window had closed. Those are allegations, and the report doesn’t mention a ruling.
Can you move a Wix site to WordPress?
Not directly. Wix says your site has to be hosted on Wix’s servers, so leaving means rebuilding the site on the new platform. Your domain can move with you.
Wix’s help article on exporting your site is blunt: “In order for your site to work properly, it needs to be hosted and operated on Wix’s servers.” It explains that the “SaaS architecture does not support external hosting since it uses Wix’s proprietary technology.” There’s no export button that turns a Wix site into a WordPress site.
What you can take with you is your domain, your text, your images and your knowledge of what works. In practice, moving off Wix means a rebuild: new pages, new forms and redirects from the old addresses so you keep your Google rankings. That rebuild is the biggest cost of choosing Wix, and you pay it when you leave.
Is Wix a good website builder?
For a small, simple site you’ll edit yourself, yes. It’s quick to learn and Wix handles hosting and security. It’s a weaker fit if you’ll outgrow it, need custom features or want to own your setup.
Wix is one of the most used site builders. W3Techs counts it on 4.2% of all websites, or 6.1% of sites that use a content management system, as of November 2, 2026. WordPress runs 39.5% of all websites by the same count, and WordPress is what we build on.
Where Wix shines: a one-person business that needs a clean site this week, wants templates and a drag-and-drop editor, and never wants to touch hosting. Where it struggles: businesses that will add features over time, want a developer to customize things freely, or care about being able to move hosts. Wix includes its own SEO tools and Wix sites can rank, but any SEO work you put in stays on Wix.
If you’re weighing builders against each other, our WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace comparison covers the upkeep trade-off, our WordPress vs Shopify comparison covers the same ownership and cost questions for online stores, and our review of whether GoDaddy is legit looks at GoDaddy’s builder and hosting.
Should your business use Wix?
Use Wix if you want to build and run a simple site yourself and the yearly plan price fits. Choose WordPress if you want a site you can move, extend and hand to any developer.
- Wix makes sense for a new business that needs a few pages quickly, will manage the site itself and doesn’t expect to need custom features.
- Think twice if your site is central to how you get customers, if you’ll want booking, membership or store features that grow over time, or if you want the option to switch hosts later.
- If you’re already on Wix, check your renewal date and plan price in your billing settings now, and make sure the email on your account is one you’ll always have access to.
For context on the other route: our basic hosting for a WordPress site is $15 a month and includes security updates and weekly backups, and our maintenance plan is $100 a month. A WordPress site needs to be built first, which is a bigger upfront cost than a Wix template, but the site is yours to move. If you need one built, start at need a website. Our small business web design guide covers how to choose a designer.
Frequently asked questions
Is Wix a scam?
No. Wix is a Nasdaq-listed company founded in 2006 with more than 300 million registered users, and the BBB rates it A+. Most complaints are about renewals, refunds and support, not fraud.
Is Wix safe to use for payments?
Wix says it is a PCI Level 1 merchant and service provider, which is the strictest card security tier, and that all new sites get HTTPS automatically. Protect your account with a strong, unique password.
Can I get a refund from Wix?
Within 14 days of buying a new premium plan, yes. Wix’s refund policy doesn’t cover renewals, upgrades or domain purchases, and refunds can take up to 45 business days.
Can a Wix website be hacked?
Wix runs and secures the servers, so the part you control is your login. Use a unique password for both Wix and the email address tied to it, and limit who has access.
Can I move my Wix site to another host?
No. Wix says sites must run on its servers, so moving means rebuilding the site elsewhere. You can transfer or point your domain to the new site.
Who is the CEO of Wix?
Avishai Abrahami, who co-founded Wix in 2006. The company has been public on Nasdaq as WIX since November 2013.
The short version
Wix is legit. It’s a public company that has been building websites since 2006, it reports to the SEC, and it secures the platform for you. Its weak spots are real: yearly plans that renew automatically with no refund, prices that have gone up, and no way to take your site with you if you leave. Use it for a simple site you’ll run yourself, read your renewal date, and if your website is how customers find you, build on something you own.
Thinking about leaving Wix, or not sure your current plan is worth it? Talk to us and we’ll look at your site and tell you honestly whether moving is worth it.
