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GitHub Pages vs Wix: What are the differences?
Cost: One key difference between GitHub Pages and Wix is the cost. GitHub Pages is completely free to use and host your website, while Wix offers various pricing plans that depend on the features and customization options you need. This difference in cost can impact your budget and the flexibility you have in building and maintaining your website.
Customization: Another difference is the level of customization available. GitHub Pages allows for more flexible customization options, allowing you to use any static website generator or directly upload HTML files. Wix, on the other hand, offers a drag-and-drop website builder with pre-designed templates, making it easier for beginners to create a website but limited in terms of advanced customization.
Coding Experience: GitHub Pages is a better choice if you have coding experience or want to dive into the code. It allows you to utilize version control systems like Git for managing your website's source code, making it ideal for developers and programmers. Wix, on the other hand, focuses more on providing a user-friendly interface for those without coding knowledge.
Hosting: When it comes to hosting, GitHub Pages automatically hosts your website using GitHub's servers, allowing for easy deployment and maintenance. Wix, on the other hand, hosts your website on its own servers, which may provide additional features and integrations but gives less control over the hosting environment.
Domain Name: GitHub Pages provides a free domain name in the format of "yourusername.github.io", which is suitable for personal projects or small-scale websites. Wix, on the other hand, offers the option to connect your own custom domain name, providing a more professional and brand-focused URL for your website.
Community and Support: GitHub Pages has a strong community and support system, where you can find extensive documentation, forums, and resources to help you with your website development. Wix also provides support, but its community and resources are geared more towards using the website builder's features and tools.
In Summary, GitHub Pages is a free, customizable platform that is ideal for developers and those with coding experience, while Wix offers a more user-friendly, customizable option that comes with a cost depending on your needs and preferences.
I usually take a slightly different tack because the technical level of people I usually am dealing with is lower. I tend to be pitching to decision makers and not tech people. A bit of my standard answer is below.
Wix and Squarespace are proprietary systems meant for unsophisticated users who want to build their own websites quickly and easily. While they are good for that specific use case, they do not offer any way to move beyond that if your needs arise. Since they are proprietary closed systems if you need something more advanced at some point your only option is to start over.
WordPress is an Open Source CMS that allows much more freedom. It is not quite as simple to setup and create a new site but if you are talking to me then you are not looking to build it yourself so that is really a non-issue. The main benefit of WordPress is freedom. You can host it on virtually any decent web hosting service and since it uses PHP and MySQL you can have virtually any developer take over a project without problem.
I believe in open source because of that freedom. It is good for me as a developer and it is good for my clients. If something were to happen to me or my company you would have no problem finding another qualified WordPress developer to take over the site in a totally seamless fashion. There would be no need to start from scratch.
Additionally the extensible nature of WordPress means that no matter what your future needs, WordPress can handle it. Adding things like e-commerce and custom quoting systems are just two examples of advanced solution's that I have added to WordPress sites years after they were first built.
WordPress is used by tiny one person businesses all the way up to major websites like the NY Times and I think it is right for this project as well.
We use Netlify to host static websites.
The reasons for choosing Netlify over GitHub Pages are as follows:
- Netfily can bind multiple domain names, while GitHub Pages can only bind one domain name
- With Netfily, the original repository can be private, while GitHub Pages free tier requires the original repository to be public
In addition, in order to use CDN, we use Netlify DNS.
Pros of GitHub Pages
- Free290
- Right out of github217
- Quick to set up185
- Instant108
- Easy to learn107
- Great way of setting up your project's website58
- Widely used47
- Quick and easy41
- Great documentation37
- Super easy4
- Easy setup3
- Instant and fast Jekyll builds2
- Great customer support2
- Great integration2
Pros of Wix
- WYSIWYG12
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Cons of GitHub Pages
- Not possible to perform HTTP redirects4
- Supports only Jekyll3
- Limited Jekyll plugins3
- Jekyll is bloated1
Cons of Wix
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