WordPress vs Wix vs Shopify: Which Is Best for Your Business in India? Cost, UPI Payments, GST and Ownership Compared

On this page

1. WordPress vs Wix vs Shopify at a glance
2. Cost in India: what each one really costs
3. Payments: UPI, Indian gateways and cash on delivery
4. GST and Indian business needs
5. Design and ease of use
6. SEO and content
7. Ownership, lock-in and moving later
8. Maintenance and security
9. Finding help in India
10. Which should you choose?
11. Already on Wix or Shopify?
12. Quick check: what your current platform locks in
13. When to get help
14. FAQs

WordPress vs Wix vs Shopify, in short: choose WordPress for a service business, clinic, manufacturer or any site with lots of content, and for online stores that want low running costs and Indian gateways such as Razorpay through WooCommerce. Choose Shopify if you sell products and want a hosted store where hosting and security are handled, and you accept a monthly plan plus app costs. Choose Wix only for a small, simple site you want to build yourself and don't expect to grow much.

I build on WordPress, so read this with that in mind, but Shopify in particular is a good platform and the right choice for some Indian brands. Here's how the three compare on the things that matter to a business in India: cost, UPI payments, GST, SEO, ownership and help. If WordPress fits, see WordPress website development.

This is the three-way overview. For a deeper look at stores only, see WooCommerce vs Shopify for Indian stores, and if you're also considering other builders, WordPress vs Squarespace and WordPress vs Webflow.

Want to see what similar businesses chose? You can check if a website is Shopify or WordPress in under a minute.

WordPress vs Wix vs Shopify at a glance

	WordPress	Wix	Shopify
What it is	Free, open-source software on hosting you choose	Hosted drag-and-drop website builder	Hosted e-commerce platform
Best for	Business sites, blogs, catalogues and stores	Small DIY sites	Online stores selling products
How you pay	Hosting, domain, optional licences, usually yearly	A premium plan, monthly or yearly	A monthly plan plus paid apps
UPI and Indian gateways	Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree, PhonePe and more through WooCommerce	Limited to the providers Wix supports in India	Supported through third-party gateways
GST invoices	Tax classes plus an invoice plugin	Basic tax settings; check invoice options	Tax settings plus invoice apps
Content and blogging	Excellent	Fine for small blogs	Basic
SEO control	Full, with Yoast or Rank Math	Good basics	Good for stores; less flexible URLs
Ownership and moving	Move to any host	Can't export and run the site elsewhere	Data exports; design must be rebuilt elsewhere
Maintenance	Updates and backups are your job or your developer's	Handled by Wix	Handled by Shopify
Developers in India	A very large pool at every budget	Few specialists; mostly DIY	A growing pool, mostly e-commerce focused

Cost in India: what each one really costs

The three charge in different ways, so compare the total over three years rather than the first month's offer.

• WordPress: the software is free. You pay for hosting, roughly ₹2,500 to ₹15,000 a year, a domain at about ₹500 to ₹1,200 a year, and any premium theme or Elementor Pro licence at up to about ₹6,000 a year. A professionally built small business site typically costs ₹15,000 to ₹40,000, and a WooCommerce store ₹30,000 to ₹90,000 or more; see WordPress website cost in India. Maintenance is optional, or you do it yourself.
• Wix: a free plan exists, but it shows Wix branding and uses a Wix address. Connecting your own domain and removing ads needs a premium plan, and accepting payments needs a higher business plan. The subscription continues for as long as the site exists.
• Shopify: a monthly plan for the store, plus paid apps for features such as reviews, filters, WhatsApp or GST invoices, which can add a noticeable amount each month. Premium themes are a one-off cost.

Wix and Shopify prices, plans and currency billing change, so check their pricing pages for current figures in rupees. For a simple brochure site the totals can be close; with a store, a lot of content or several years, WordPress usually costs less to run.

Payments: UPI, Indian gateways and cash on delivery

This is often the deciding factor for Indian businesses.

• WordPress with WooCommerce works with Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree, PhonePe and other gateways that accept UPI, cards, net banking and wallets, plus cash on delivery with rules by order value or pin code. You pay only the gateway's fee. See Indian payment gateways compared.
• Shopify supports Indian gateways such as Razorpay, PayU and Cashfree, and cash on delivery. Shopify's own payment service isn't offered in India at the time of writing, and Shopify has charged an extra transaction fee on orders paid through third-party gateways, varying by plan. Check its current pricing for India.
• Wix connects to a limited set of payment providers, and the list depends on your country. Check exactly which providers your Wix account can use in India, and whether they support UPI, before you build a store on it.

GST and Indian business needs

All three let you set tax rates. The difference is invoices and flexibility. WooCommerce can split tax into CGST and SGST or charge IGST based on the shipping state, and an invoice plugin adds your GSTIN, HSN codes and invoice numbering. Shopify handles GST settings and relies on invoice apps for GST-format invoices. On Wix, check whether its invoices meet your CA's requirements before you start selling. Whichever you choose, ask your CA to confirm rates and the invoice format.

The same pattern applies to other Indian needs: pin code delivery checks, shipping through Shiprocket or Delhivery, WhatsApp order updates and Hindi or regional language pages. WordPress usually has a plugin for each, Shopify has apps, and Wix has fewer options.

Design and ease of use

Wix is the easiest to start with: pick a template and drag things around. Shopify is easy for setting up products and orders, with themes that look good out of the box. WordPress has a steeper start, but with Elementor or the block editor, staff can edit text, images and pages easily once the site is built, and design freedom is the highest of the three.

SEO and content

All three can rank. Wix and Shopify cover the basics: titles, descriptions, sitemaps and redirects. Shopify's URL structure is fixed, with /products/ and /collections/ in every address, and its blog is basic. WordPress with Yoast or Rank Math gives full control over URLs, schema, internal linking and large amounts of content, which matters for service businesses that win customers through helpful pages and blog posts. In practice, content, structure and speed matter more than the platform.

Ownership, lock-in and moving later

This is the difference people regret most. A WordPress site is yours: files and database can move to any host, and any WordPress developer can take over. A Wix site can't be exported and run elsewhere, so leaving means rebuilding. Shopify lets you export products, customers and orders as CSV files, but the theme and apps stay behind, so leaving also means rebuilding the design.

Maintenance and security

Wix and Shopify handle hosting, updates and security for you, which is a real advantage if nobody in the business is technical. WordPress needs regular updates, backups and security checks, done by you or a developer. In return you choose the host and the setup, and a well-maintained WordPress site is both fast and secure.

Finding help in India

WordPress developers are easy to find in every Indian city and at every budget, so you're never dependent on one person or agency. Shopify developers are fewer but growing, mainly around D2C brands. Wix specialists are rare, because most Wix sites are built by their owners.

If Wix is already ruled out, our Shopify vs WordPress guide compares just those two for stores and non-store sites.

Which should you choose?

• Service business, clinic, consultant, school or manufacturer: WordPress, for content, local SEO, enquiry forms and no platform fees.
• B2B catalogue with enquiries rather than checkout: WordPress, which handles large catalogues and quote forms well.
• Product brand that wants low running costs and Indian gateways: WordPress with WooCommerce; see WooCommerce store development.
• Product brand that wants a fully hosted store and no technical upkeep: Shopify, if you accept the monthly plan and app costs.
• Content-heavy site or blog: WordPress.
• Very small site you'll build and run yourself: Wix is fine to start with, as long as you accept that moving later means a rebuild.

If Shopify looks like the right fit and you want the theme, products, payments and shipping set up for you, see Shopify store setup and customisation.

Already on Wix or Shopify?

You can move to WordPress. Pages and content are rebuilt, products and customers are imported, and every old URL is redirected to protect your rankings. See moving from Wix to WordPress or moving from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Quick check: what your current platform locks in

1. Check who owns the domain: look up your domain on ICANN Lookup and confirm the registrar account is in your business name, not a developer's.
2. Try exporting your content. In WordPress, go to Tools, Export; in Wix and Shopify, look for the product or blog export options in the dashboard and note what cannot be exported.
3. List the monthly app or plugin charges on your billing page, so you compare real running costs, not just the plan price.

If you are also considering a site built from scratch, see WordPress vs a custom-coded website.

When to get help

Get help when you are choosing a platform for a new site, or planning to move off Wix or Shopify and need URLs, content and redirects carried over without losing search traffic. See website redesign and WordPress migration, or send your website address for a review.

FAQs

Which is better: Wix, WordPress or Shopify?

It depends on what you're building. WordPress is the most flexible and usually the cheapest to run, Shopify is the simplest way to run a hosted online store, and Wix is the easiest for a small DIY site. For most Indian service businesses, WordPress is the better long-term choice.

Is Shopify or WordPress better for an online store in India?

WordPress with WooCommerce suits stores that want low running costs, full control and Indian gateways with only the gateway's fee. Shopify suits stores that want hosting and security fully handled and accept the plan, app costs and any third-party transaction fee.

Can I accept UPI payments on Wix?

Only through the payment providers Wix supports for India, and that list is limited and changes. Check it in your Wix dashboard first. On WordPress, WooCommerce works directly with Indian gateways that support UPI.

Is Wix good for SEO?

Wix covers the basics well enough for a small local site. For larger sites, lots of content or detailed control over URLs, schema and speed, WordPress gives you more room.

Which is cheapest: WordPress, Wix or Shopify?

Over several years, WordPress is usually the cheapest to run, because you pay only for hosting, a domain and optional licences. Wix and Shopify subscriptions continue for as long as the site exists, and Shopify apps add monthly costs.

Can I move my site from Wix or Shopify to WordPress later?

Yes, but it's a rebuild rather than an export. Content and products are carried over, the design is recreated, and old URLs are redirected so you keep your Google visibility.