You can choose a website building tool by first deciding who will update the site after launch, how often, and what they will change. As a basic rule: Wix if you will make frequent updates yourself, STUDIO if you want full freedom in crafting the design, and WordPress if you place weight on attracting visitors from search and on future expansion. Do not choose based on how many features a tool has.
Decide how you will run the site after launch, and choosing a tool becomes simple
When choosing a website building tool, you will reach a decision faster by picturing how you will run the site after launch than by starting with a feature comparison table. That is because most tools differ little in basic functionality. The differences show up in how easy the site is to use six months or a year after it is built.
Start by answering these three questions.
- Will you handle updates yourself after launch, or ask a production company to do it?
- What role do you expect the website to play? A company profile, attracting visitors from search, or bookings and sales?
- Is there a chance the number of pages or features will double or triple within three years?
Once these three are settled, you can largely narrow down whether WordPress, Wix or STUDIO suits you. In the sections below, we look at what each one is good at in concrete terms.
WordPress, Wix and STUDIO each have clearly different strengths
The three tools all let you build a website, but their design philosophies differ.
WordPress is the most widely used website system in the world. You rent a server and install it on your own domain. By combining plugins and themes, you can extend it from a company profile site to a booking site or an e-commerce site. Because the system is open, there are many production companies, and you can hand the site over to a different company later.
Wix is a service that lets you drag and drop parts on screen and publish right away. No server contract or configuration is needed; once you pay, you can go straight through to publishing. Booking and online shop features are also available as parts provided by Wix.
STUDIO is a Japanese service known for its high degree of design freedom. It feels close to the design tools that designers use, letting you craft the look of a page down to fine details. An editing screen is also provided, so you can swap out text and images from the admin panel.
Here is a table summarizing the three differences.
| Point of comparison | WordPress | Wix | STUDIO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effort to get started | Requires preparing a server and a domain | You can start building as soon as you sign up | You can start building as soon as you sign up |
| Design freedom | Depends on the theme. Fully free if a production company builds it | Built by combining parts | High. Adjustable down to fine details |
| Adding features | Covers a wide range through plugins and custom development | Covered within the range of official parts | Covered within the range of official features |
| Ease of working on search | High freedom in settings | Basic settings are provided | Basic settings are provided |
| Ease of switching | Established methods for migrating data | Hard to move the whole site to another tool | Hard to move the whole site to another tool |
| Suitable uses | Company sites centered on attracting customers, sites expected to expand | Small shop or personal sites | Brand sites that prioritize appearance |
If you will keep updating the site yourself, choose by how easy the editing screen is to use
If you plan to update the site yourself, give more weight to whether you will stumble on the editing screen than to how beautiful the design is. The main reason websites end up neglected is that updating them becomes a chore.
With Wix, you edit the screen exactly as you see it, so even people who are not used to computers can easily get started swapping text and images. STUDIO also lets you replace text and images from the admin panel. In WordPress, the editing screen for posts and pages feels close to word processing software, so adding a news item takes only a short time. On the other hand, the core software and plugins need regular updates, so you need to decide who will handle that.
Before signing up, use a free trial to add one news item, change the text in one spot on an existing page, and check how it looks on a smartphone. If you could do all that without getting stuck, you can judge that the tool will not cause you trouble in day-to-day operation.
If your goal is attracting visitors from search, check whether the structure lets you keep adding articles
When you want to increase inquiries from search, the deciding factor is not whether the tool has search settings, but whether its structure lets you keep adding pages and articles without strain.
A website that gets found in search is one you grow by stacking up pages and articles after launch. With that in mind, check the following points.
- Can you set a title and description for each page?
- Can you decide the page URLs yourself?
- Can you specify heading levels correctly?
- Can you have listing pages and categories for articles?
- Can you add structured data (markup that conveys your content to search engines and AI)?
Every tool provides basic search settings. However, once you get into adding detailed structured data or managing dozens or hundreds of articles, WordPress becomes easier to handle because its system is open and there is far more room to extend it.
Check how hard it is to switch before you choose
One thing easily overlooked when choosing a tool is whether you can move to another tool later. A website is something you use for three or five years, and during that time your business will change and so will the features you need.
With WordPress, there are established methods for exporting your data and handing it over to another server or another production company. Even if you change the company you work with, the website itself stays in your hands.
Wix and STUDIO are set up so that you build and run your website inside the service. If you want to move to another tool, you will have to extract the text and images and rebuild the site in the new tool. You cannot take the design or the detailed settings with you.
This is not about one tool being better than another; it is a difference in character. It is not a problem if you can commit to staying with the same service for years to come. If your business is expected to grow, a structure you can move away from is safer in the long run.
Common mistakes when choosing a website building tool
Publishing on a free plan and running into trouble later
Free plans generally come with restrictions, such as displaying ads or not allowing you to use your own domain. For purposes tied to your company's credibility, a URL on your business card that is not your own domain makes a weaker impression. Do not keep a site shown to business partners published on a free plan.
Not deciding how the site will be run after launch
A site where all the energy goes into building it and no one is assigned to updates will have outdated information within six months of launch. A website whose latest news item is a year old makes visitors wonder, before they even inquire, whether the company is still active.
Three guidelines to use when you cannot decide
Here are guidelines for choosing, organized by purpose.
| Your situation | Suggested tool | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| A small shop that wants to build the site quickly and make its own changes | Wix | Quick to get started and the editing screen is easy to understand |
| You want to build a brand or portfolio site where visual impression matters most | STUDIO | The design can be adjusted down to fine details |
| You want more inquiries from search and plan to add more pages | WordPress | High freedom in article management and search optimization |
| You want to leave it to a production company and have them handle updates after launch too | WordPress | Many companies can take it over, and switching is easy |
| You just want a single page to serve as a digital business card | Wix or STUDIO | You can start with minimal effort and cost |
This table is only a guideline. In practice, the answer varies with your budget, who handles updates, and your future business plans.
Building it yourself is not the only option
Merci Ltd. offers two approaches for those who would like to leave production to us. site-factory, which is AI-led, starts from 30,000 yen in setup costs and 7,000 yen per month (excluding tax); you simply answer questions to generate a draft of your text, which is then checked by a person before publishing. Our creator-led custom production starts from 250,000 yen in setup costs (for around five pages) and 3,000 yen per month, with people dedicating time to strategy design and visual design. Both are built on WordPress, so the switching problem you were worried about when choosing a tool is unlikely to arise.
FAQ
For ease of getting started, it is Wix. Sign up, open the screen, and you can start arranging parts right away. However, that ease applies to the building stage. Once you reach the stage of adding articles after launch and getting found in search, WordPress becomes easier to live with over the long term.
It works for a simple page that serves as a digital business card. However, there are restrictions such as ads being displayed or not being able to use your own domain. For a company site that business partners and job seekers will see, choose a plan that lets you use your own domain.
You can, but the effort involved differs. WordPress has established methods for exporting and migrating data. When moving away from Wix or STUDIO, you have to extract the text and images and rebuild everything in the new tool.
Rankings are never determined by the name of the tool alone. What affects rankings is the quality of your content, the structure of your pages, display speed, and how often you update. When choosing a tool, look at whether you can manage these things yourself.
If you are outsourcing production, you will reach a decision faster by first telling the production company your goals and budget and then judging whether the tool they propose suits you. If you decide on a tool first, production companies that do not work with that tool drop out of the running.
Let's decide together in a consultation which approach suits you
With website building tools, the right answer changes depending on who builds the site, who updates it, and what it is for. If the steps above have not narrowed things down for you, tell us your current concerns and how many pages you want, and we will suggest an approach that fits.
AI-led site-factory and creator-led custom production differ in how costs are incurred and in how deeply the site is crafted. You can compare the two side by side on the next page.
