Wix, CMS, unique development – which is better?

Over the thirty years of Internet development, methods of creating websites have come a long way. Now you can order a website for any needs or even make one yourself. What are the main systems now, what are their advantages, why can the cost of creating such websites differ significantly and how to choose what is right for you? Let’s figure it out, starting with simple options.

Option one: constructor

The first constructors appeared in the early 2000s. The legendary people.ru gave beginners who knew nothing about web development the opportunity to create a kind of website. The wretchedness of the design and functionality has since made the name of this service household.

New services have appeared relatively recently. There are many of them, many hosting providers offer their solutions, but Wix and Tilda have become the most popular.

These services are designed so that a person who has a lot of free time, but does not have the opportunity to pay developers, can make a relatively simple website for himself. Relatively — because these builders offer options for online stores, but with very limited functionality. When we are asked to add some useful function to such a site, we are powerless to help.

Advantages of builders:

1. Low price. You can make a website for yourself for free by agreeing to place someone else’s advertising on it and a domain name mentioning the builder.
2. Simplicity. These services are designed for people who are very far from web development, but are ready to spend a little time assembling their site from ready-made blocks.
3. Technical support. If you do not understand something, they will help you.

Disadvantages of builders:

• Limited functionality. You can make a simple online store for yourself, but you will not be able to accept payments in a way convenient for you. If any bank or payment service cares about its clients, it develops add-ons for all popular CMS, but it will not be able to do this for designers because of the second point.
• Proprietary property. Designers create a team of programmers. They expand the possibilities. Therefore, if many clients ask them to make a payment module, for example, for PayPal, they will do it. But if you have an account in a separate, even a large, bank, no one will develop payment acceptance for your convenience.
• Follows from the second point. If the development team decides to close the project, you will not be able to do anything.
• The site is strictly tied to the designer’s team. You cannot change it, transfer it, or save it for the future.

So, if you are a budding businessman, blogger or photographer, if you still have free time, but no free money – feel free to choose a designer! For the first time, this solution is enough for you. However, subsequently, you will have to develop a normal site from scratch.

Option two: free CMS

CMS is a content management system (CMS). They can be paid or free. Let’s start with the free ones.

There are many such systems. The most popular is WordPress, but there is also Joomla and specialized solutions.

You don’t need to study programming to work with them. You can figure it out yourself, but it will take more time and effort than with a constructor.

These management systems are created and maintained by a large community of independent programmers. This means that solutions already exist for most popular tasks, and these solutions exist in different versions – paid and free.

By and large, working with a site on a CMS comes down to the following actions: you choose a hosting, install a CMS on it, choose and set a design theme (there are three built-in ones, but this is not a very nice option), install the necessary extensions (a store is its own add-on, a doctor’s schedule in a clinic is its own), fill it with texts and pictures. All this can be done independently, but if you are developing a website for business, it is better to contact professional webmasters. They will do everything faster and better, and you will be able to focus on organizational tasks.

Pros of a free CMS:

1. Scalability. You can always add functionality to the site without creating it from scratch. Start with a business card site, then add a portfolio of services, then an online store without card payments, then add payment and delivery. All this can be done gradually, accordingly, stretching out the costs. Only we advise you to tell the developer what you are going to turn into the initial version.
2. Reliability and security. The system does not depend on one person or even an entire team. If someone is disappointed, leaves, gets sick, the system will continue to work, supported by thousands of other programmers. In addition, the holes found are safely fixed by enthusiasts.
3. Relative cheapness. Working with such sites does not require a high level of programming. Some solutions are distributed for free, the average price of a paid extension is from 30 to 50 dollars.
4. Suitable for most sites – from a simple blog to a fairly complex store or booking system.

Disadvantages of free CMS:

1. Not suitable for completely complex and unique projects. “Very complex” are Google or Aviasales. We would not recommend using some free CMS for stores with more than 15,000 products. There are special systems, also free, but we have not worked with them and do not know the limitations.
2. Complex work with some branded services. WordPress can be connected to 1C-accounting, but we have not yet seen a single simple and normally working solution. However, we did not manage to see everything, perhaps there is progress.

In general, almost any site can be made on a free CMS using paid extensions. And it is no coincidence that up to 80% of modern websites are developed on the same WordPress (estimates vary, but these are the figures).

Option three: paid CMS

In our opinion, this is the strangest solution. All the disadvantages of the previous sections are collected here, and all this for the sake of a limited number of advantages. This is a standard CMS, but developed by one company and dependent on it. The code is closed, so the same company is responsible for performance and security. In the event of its bankruptcy, the sites will, at best, stop updating, and at worst, lose functionality. Working with these systems requires programming skills, which specialists are in no hurry to share with colleagues and beginners.

However, if your accountant categorically requires 1C, you should think about choosing a suitable solution.

Disadvantages of paid CMS:

1. As I already said, in our opinion, all the disadvantages are collected here. Closed, tied to the developer, limited functionality…

Advantages of paid CMS:

• Such systems work well in conjunction with other services, in addition to the site. We have already given an example with 1C.
• A large store is better off working on a paid CMS, specially developed for large stores.

Unique development

Everything is clear here. If you need to make something like Auto.ru or Avito, it is better to order development from scratch. Yes, such things can be done on CMS, but the latter are still not designed to create huge and complex projects with millions of clients, a bunch of services and connections to various external databases.

Such sites are really expensive, are made by teams of highly qualified developers and are designed for long-term work with a huge audience. There are no universal signs here: the pros are that you can do everything, the cons are that it is very expensive.