In June 2025 Wix bought Base44 for about $80 million up front. So the company that has sold drag-and-drop websites for twenty years now also sells "describe an app and get one." Both products have AI front and center, and both promise you'll be live in minutes. People keep asking which one to use as if they're rivals.
They aren't. They solve different jobs, and the quickest way to choose is to ask what you're building, then read the billing page before you read the feature list.
A website is something people read. An app is something people log into. Pick the product that matches the job, then check what happens when you want a refund or want to leave.
The short answer
- A business site, portfolio, restaurant, booking page or small store: Wix. That's the job it was built for, and its editor, app market and checkout are mature.
- A tool with user accounts and data: a client portal, an internal tracker, a calculator people save results in. Base44, or a coding agent if you can use one.
- Neither: if you need to own the code and move it anywhere. More on that below, because it applies to both.
Wix pricing, plainly
Wix shows prices by region, and the page I loaded showed local currency with tax included, so I'm quoting US prices from two independent pricing checks instead (we.inc on September 24, 2026, and Tooltester). These are per month on yearly billing:
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly | Storage | Selling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | $17 | 2 GB | No payments or store |
| Core | $29 | 50 GB | Payments, basic store |
| Business | $39 | 100 GB | Standard store |
| Business Elite | $159 | Unlimited | Advanced store |
Monthly billing costs noticeably more; Tooltester listed $24, $36, $46 and $172 in May. Every plan, including Free, has hosting and the AI site builder, and every paid plan connects a custom domain. Check the price your own checkout shows, since Wix says prices vary by location.
The Wix rules worth reading before you pay
These come straight from Wix's help center:
- The 14-day refund covers first-time purchases only. Renewals aren't refundable. Cancel after day 14 and you simply stop the auto-renewal; the plan runs to its end date.
- Promo discounts apply to the first term. Wix says renewals are charged at the plan's original price.
- The free domain is a first-year voucher on a first yearly plan, and it has to be claimed within 60 days. After that you pay for the domain, which Tooltester puts at about $17 a year.
- Domains are non-refundable and auto-renew 30 days before they expire.
- You can't export the site. Wix's own answer is that a Wix site has to stay on Wix's servers. You can move the domain, not the site.
That list matches the Trustpilot record: 3.4 out of 5 from 29,231 reviews. The recurring complaints are auto-renewal charges people didn't expect, refunds refused after day 14, support that's hard to reach as a human, and editor bugs. To Wix's credit, it replies to most negative reviews.
Base44, briefly
I covered Base44's billing in detail in my Base44 vs Lovable comparison. The short version: Starter is $16 a month on yearly billing with 100 message credits, Builder is $40. Credits don't roll over, yearly plans can't be cancelled or refunded, and exported code still calls Base44's backend for the database and logins. Its Trustpilot score was 2.8 from 914 reviews when I checked on October 16.
The lock-in question, for both
Here's the part both products share. A Wix site can't leave Wix, and a Base44 app can leave as files but still leans on Base44's services to run. That's fine for a lot of projects: a bakery doesn't need a portable codebase. It matters if the site is the business, or if a client might want to move it later.
For client work I use an AI coding agent and ordinary hosting, because the client ends up with code they own. That route asks more of you. If you don't want to touch code at all, Wix is the more honest choice for a website, and it'll take you further than a prompt-to-app tool will.
A note for right-to-left sites
Wix supports right-to-left sites through Wix Multilingual, so Arabic and Hebrew pages work. The dashboard and editor aren't available in Arabic, and Wix keeps an open request page for more right-to-left features, so expect a few rough edges. I couldn't confirm whether the new AI builder writes good Arabic.
The verdict
Choose Wix if you need a website you can edit yourself: a business site, a portfolio or a small store. Start on the Free plan, build the whole site, and only pay when you're ready to publish on your domain. That way your 14 days are spent checking the paid features, not learning the editor.
Choose Base44 if you need an app with logins and saved data and you're comfortable staying inside its backend. Pay monthly first.
Choose neither if the project has to be portable. Use a coding agent and hosting you control.
The one-line version
Wix is for websites and Base44 is for apps; both are hard to leave, Wix refunds only a first purchase within 14 days and never a domain, so build on the free plan first and pay when you're sure.
Sources
Checked on October 18, 2026. I'm an affiliate for both Wix and Base44; nothing above changes based on that:
- Wix — product site (my affiliate link)
- Wix — plans (what each plan includes; prices vary by location; free-domain voucher rules)
- we.inc — Wix pricing (US yearly prices, checked September 24, 2026)
- Tooltester — Wix prices (monthly prices and domain renewal; Tooltester is also a Wix affiliate)
- Wix help — refunds for premium plans (14 days, first-time purchases only)
- Wix help — promotions and renewals (renewals at the original price)
- Wix help — cancelling a domain (non-refundable; auto-renews 30 days early)
- Wix help — exporting your site (sites stay on Wix's servers)
- Wix help — right-to-left content
- Trustpilot — Wix (3.4 from 29,231 reviews)
- Wix press room — Base44 acquisition (about $80M up front, June 2025)
- Base44 — product site (my affiliate link)
One honest gap: Wix's plans page showed me regional prices, so the US figures above come from independent checks. Trust your own checkout screen over my table.