Artol vs Wix for a small business website
Wix is a builder you operate. Artol is a site we write, design, and host. The prices below are dated.
Wix is a do-it-yourself builder. You pick a template or start from a prompt, you drag sections around, and you write the pages. That is a real product, and it is the right one for some owners. It is a different job from handing the site to a studio.
Artol is the other job. You pay $0 down and $249/mo hosting. The site is fully custom and fully turnkey: we write, design, build, launch, and host it, live in less than a week. This page compares those two jobs using Wix's own plan page, checked on 31 October 2026.
What Wix listed on 31 October 2026
On that date, Wix's plans page showed a free plan and four paid plans: Light, Core, Business, and Business Elite. Wix says the prices on the page are for a yearly subscription paid in full, that they vary by location, and that the final amount, before you pay, is on the purchase page. Taxes depend on the billing address. The leading dollar figures shown that day were $17 for Light, $29 for Core, $39 for Business, and $159 for Business Elite. The page also displays a cents portion beside those figures, so the checkout total is the number that matters.
The same page says the free plan needs no credit card and includes a drag-and-drop editor and templates. Paid plans add a custom domain, hosting, and AI creation tools. Wix describes a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first upgrade to a paid plan. A one-year domain voucher on most paid plans applies to a new domain bought from Wix, not to a renewal of a domain you already own.
What those plans include, from the same page
Light, as listed that day, includes 2 GB of storage, a light marketing suite, and 2 site collaborators. Core includes 50 GB, accepting payments, basic eCommerce, scheduling, and 5 collaborators. Business includes 100 GB, standard eCommerce, and 10 collaborators. Business Elite includes unlimited storage and an advanced developer platform, with 100 collaborators. Wix also describes an AI path that starts from a prompt and then returns you to the editor.
None of that writes your services in your voice or checks the shops down the road. You do, or you hire someone inside Wix's own marketplace. We are not quoting that marketplace, because it is not a single published price.
The work, not just the plan
| Compare | Artol | Wix |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | We write, design, build, and launch it | You do, in the editor |
| Upfront | $0 down | No build fee on the plan itself |
| Ongoing | $249/mo hosting | A Wix plan, yearly or another term |
| Design | Fully custom | Templates plus drag and drop |
| Research | Competitive market research is included | Not part of the plan |
| Leaving | 12 months, then month to month | Your Wix billing term |
When Wix is the better tool
Stay with Wix if you want to design the site, you have the evenings, and a template is close enough. The Core plan is the first one on that page that lists scheduling and payments, which matters if you intend to take bookings inside Wix rather than link out to a tool you already use. Light is the cheaper paid step if you only need a domain and a simple page.
Come to us if you want the writing and the design done, with a deep business audit before the layout starts. You pay $0 down and $249/mo hosting. 12-month ownership terms: 12 months of hosting at $249/mo, then month to month. Leave earlier and the remaining hosting or a buyout of the build is due. The team is 100% US-based, made in the USA, in Yardley, PA.
What neither number includes
A Wix plan does not include our Google Business Profile setup, and our hosting fee does not include Wix's app market. Online stores and custom apps are outside the $0 down offer. See packages for those. How the no-upfront model works, step by step, is in this guide.
We will not claim a Wix site cannot rank, and we will not claim ours will. Rankings are not a feature you buy on either side. The practical difference is who does the work and how the bill is structured.
Questions we get asked
Is Wix cheaper than $249/mo hosting?
The plan figures Wix showed on 31 October 2026 were lower than $249. You also spend your own time building and writing the site. Compare the checkout total, not a screenshot from a guide.
Did you invent the Wix prices on this page?
No. They are the leading figures on Wix's plans page on 31 October 2026, for a yearly subscription paid in full. Wix says the final price is confirmed at checkout and can vary by location.
Can you build the site and I keep editing it in Wix?
No. Our sites are not Wix projects. We host them, with two small content updates a month and a reply within one business day.
What are Artol's terms?
You pay $0 down and $249/mo hosting. 12-month ownership terms: 12 months of hosting at $249/mo, then month to month. Leave earlier and the remaining hosting or a buyout of the build is due.
