WordPress vs Shopify vs Wix for a Maltese business: which to pick
Three platforms, three very different jobs. Here’s how to pick between WordPress, Shopify and Wix for your Maltese business, without regretting it in a year.
- WordPress is the all-rounder. Best for company sites, content, SEO and anything custom.
- Shopify is built to sell. Best if your shop is the business.
- Wix is quick to start, but you hit walls fast as you grow.
- The platform matters less than how it’s built. A great WordPress site beats a messy Shopify one, and the other way round.
Every week someone asks us: “Should I go WordPress, Shopify or Wix?” Fair question. Pick wrong and you’re rebuilding in a year. Here’s the honest version, no sales pitch for any of them.
WordPress: the all-rounder
WordPress runs a huge share of the web, from small cafés to big media sites. It’s open source, so you own your site and can host it wherever you like.
- Great for: company websites, service businesses, blogs, bookings, multilingual sites, anything custom.
- Why we like it: total freedom. Custom design, clean code, strong SEO, and you can edit everything yourself.
- Watch out for: cheap themes and plugin overload. That’s how WordPress sites get slow and hacked. Built properly, it flies.
Shopify: built to sell
Shopify is an online shop first, website second. Payments, stock, shipping and orders are sorted out of the box.
- Great for: product brands where the shop is the business.
- Why we like it: rock-solid checkout, easy order management, a huge app store.
- Watch out for: monthly fees, app costs that stack up, and less freedom over how things work. You rent it, you don’t own it.
Wix: quick start, low ceiling
Wix is drag-and-drop. You can have something online in a weekend.
- Great for: a simple page while you test an idea.
- Why people pick it: no tech skills needed.
- Watch out for: you’re locked into their system. Moving away later usually means starting again. Custom features and serious SEO get hard fast.
Side by side
| What matters | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Company or service site | WordPress | Custom design, content, SEO, full control |
| Online shop as the main business | Shopify | Checkout, stock and orders sorted |
| Shop plus lots of content | WordPress | WooCommerce keeps it all in one place |
| Bookings, logins, custom logic | WordPress | Built around how you actually work |
| Testing an idea this weekend | Wix | Fast to start, easy to throw away |
The question nobody asks: who builds it?
Here’s the truth. The platform is maybe a third of the result. The rest is design, speed, structure and how well it’s set up for Google.
A slow, template-heavy WordPress site will lose to a clean Shopify store. A custom-built WordPress site will run circles around a Wix page. So ask who’s building it, how, and whether you’ll be able to update it yourself.
Ask any studio this: “If we part ways, can I take my site with me?” With WordPress, the answer should always be yes.
What we usually recommend
- Most Maltese businesses: a custom WordPress site. Fast, yours, easy to update, built to rank.
- Product brands selling online: Shopify, or WordPress with WooCommerce if content matters as much as the shop.
- Something truly custom: a web app built around your process.
We build on whatever fits the job, not whatever we sell most of. Big-agency quality, without the big-agency bill.
Still not sure?
Tell us what you sell, how you work and where you want to be in two years. We’ll tell you straight which platform fits, even if the answer is “you don’t need us yet”.